Dell XPS 14

Manufacturers: Dell

Class: Dell XPS

Model: XPS 14 Laptop

Specs Overview:

• Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i5 460M (2.53GHz)
• Graphics card: 1GB NVIDIA GT420M GeForce
• RAM: 4 GB DDR3
• Hard Drive: 640 GB, 7200 RPM
• Battery: 6 cell, 5 hours 23 Minutes max
• Display: 14” (1366 x 768)
• DVD-ROM: 16x R/RW with Blue Ray Disc burner
• Webcam: 2.0 MP Integrated HD Webcam
• Wireless: 802.11b/g/n
• Bluetooth: Internal Bluetooth 3.0

Great Appearance:

This laptop beats many others in the same range with its beautiful appearance. It has volume, play/pause, rewind, Bluetooth, wifi and some other functions that offer single touch activation. Unlike its HP competitors, it will not get your finger prints all over it self and would remain tidy.

Gaming and Designing apps:

If you aim to play games requiring high end systems, this is certainly the system for you. With its 1GB NVIDIA card, you can play almost any game released till date. Moreover 1GB card is only in the base configuration, if you choose to customize the laptop yourself, you can also add a 2GB card.

It would also work great with graphics designing apps that require high graphics processing capabilities.

Pre-Installed Software:

The preinstalled software include the McAfee Anti Virus (30 day trial) and Dell’s own Data Safe online backup software (12 months) only. However, it will also offer you to buy some more software for your laptop for less than the market price. Dell has also stopped giving the win-7 recovery Discs and you will have to make them yourself.

Back Lit Keyboard:

One of the most impressive features of the laptop is its backlit keyboard. In a country like Pakistan, where electricity is a problem, many time we try to type in the dark and have to adjust the screen so we can get some light on the keyboard too. But in this model there is an option to light up the keyboard by built in LEDs. This is very useful when typing in the dark.

Small Speakers, Great Sound;

The speakers are somewhat small and occupy less area than those of HP or ACER laptops but their sound is better than most of their competitors. The Speakers are not Dell manufactured but of JBL, which is reputed to having one of the good speakers in the market.

Grainy Display:

Although the display is fine and easily usable but it is certainly not an improvement over the previous models. By just putting a drop of water on the display you will be able to see the small darks spots between the pixels and the display would appear washed. However, this problem is not your to worry about if you keep your display clean and tidy.

Bad Design:

Although the looks of the laptop are appreciative, the design is not. The most weird thing about the design is that Dell has put Hard Disk activity and Battery Charge LED indicator to the back of the display. Most of the times when the laptop is a little sluggish, users like to take a quick peek at the LED indicator. Here this isn’t possible because you will have to tilt the display every time you want to see the LED indicator. Same goes for the battery indicator too.

A Load to Carry:

This system is a little heavy to carry around with you. With the standard 6 cell battery it weighs about 2.43Kg. If you have a 9 cell battery, it would be even heavy weighing some 2.8Kg. A laptop this heavy is a little difficult to carry around if you are constantly on the move.

Official Rating: ............

Underline:

It is a good system for gaming as well as office applications but if you have the money, upgrade the processor and graphics card to make it the best.

Dell Vostro 3700

Manufacturers: Dell

Class: Dell Vostro

Model: Vostro 3700

Specs Overview:

• Operating System: Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i3 370M (2.4GHz)
• Graphics card: Integrated Intel Graphics Card
• RAM: 2 GB DDR3
• Hard Drive: 250 GB, 7200 RPM
• Battery: 6 cell, 5 hours max
• Display: 17.3” LED Display (1600 x 900)
• DVD-ROM: 8x DVD R/W with Double-Layer R/W capability
• Webcam: 2.0 MP Integrated Webcam
• Wireless: Wireless Network Card 802.11b/g/n
• Bluetooth: Dell Wireless Bluetooth 2.1 Module

“Looks Good”:

Vostro series has made an impression with its humble but resourceful appearance. It has volume, play/pause, rewind, Bluetooth, wifi and some other functions that offer single touch activation. Its surface, unlike its competitors (HP Pavilion), is not glossy and will not get your finger prints all over itself. Overall it’s a tidy and neatly designed system.

Gaming gone bad:

If you aim to play games requiring high end systems, this is not your system. The base configuration has a built-in Intel Graphics card which lacks in quality as compared to NVIDIA or ATI graphics card.

I have experience with all three cards and Intel cards lack much behind in terms of video quality and effects. There is an option to add a 1GB NVIDIA card to the system but that would cost you  more . So if you have the money, you can certainly go for a better gaming card.

“Runs like the Wind”:

The laptop is pretty impressive in terms of speed even with an i3 processor and 2GB RAM. On this system multi tasking is faster as compared to the systems having core2duo processors and larger RAM capacity. If you are still hungry for more speed, the laptop can be upgraded with an i7 processor and a RAM up to 8GB.

Overheating Cores:

Although the system is pretty good in terms of speed, its cooling system isn’t able to keep up with it. Vostro 3700 has had overheating issues with many users. This problem is not much in systems having i3 processors but if you have an i7 processor, this problem will be much more evident. This is also pretty much the problem if you have a high end graphics card added to your configuration.

Some users also face issues of loud noise from the power supply and fan. However when this problem was reported to Dell by a user, they were of the view “its normal”.

Pre-Installed Software:

The preinstalled software includes the latest Microsoft Office with reduced functionality (which means nothing besides Excel and Word would work), Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security services (15 month Trial) and of course a legal copy of Windows 7. It must be mentioned that giving a 15 month subscribed anti-virus software is very generous of Dell and most companies don’t give subscriptions for more than 3 months mostly.

Dell will also offer you to buy some more software for your laptop for less than the market price. Dell has also stopped giving the win-7 recovery Discs and you will have to make them yourself.

Poor Speakers:

The speakers are somewhat small and lack in terms of quality as well. Sound is usually very low and if you don’t use a headphone, it will be difficult to hear properly most of the time. Since Dell has had very good quality speakers on its other models such as XPS, these speakers are a big drawback to the system.

Heavy Machinery:

This system is a little heavy to carry around with you. With the standard 6 cell battery it weighs about 2.7Kg. This weight is a little too much because dell has had much lighter laptops is both, high and low end systems.

This weight also comes as a surprise because a weight around 3Kg can only be justified if you are using a 9 cell battery.

Official Rating: .......

Underline:

It is a good system for office, home and business applications but would not let you play heavy games or use very heavy software. If you have the money go for a better system.