The best laptop below $1000 : Dell inspiron 5100

Dell inspiron 5100 : the betterment of inspiron 1000

Key Specs

• Processor manufacturer: Intel


• Processor model: Pentium 4


• Clock speed: 2.8 GHz


• RAM installed: 512 MB


• Wireless LAN: Dell TrueMobile 1180 WLAN Mini-PCI card (802.11b)


• Hard drive size: 40 GB


• Graphics processor: ATI Mobility Radeon 7500


• Graphics RAM: 32 MB


• Display diagonal size: 15 in


• Dimensions (W x H x D): 33.5x4.65x27.5 cm


• Weight: 3.69 kg


• Operating system: Windows XP Home


• Dell Inspiron 5100 battery OEM code : 312-0079
  

The Inspiron 5100's silver case and striking blue lid and mouse buttons herald a new look for Dell portables. Part of the company's high-performing desktop-replacement line, the Inspiron 5100 comes with a FireWire port, a 16MB or 32MB ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 AGP graphics card (our review system had 32MB), and a Wi-Fi antenna. To complete the notebook's wireless setup, you'll have to pay $49 for an 802.11b/g Mini-PCI adapter.

Notebooks below $1,000 may grab your attention, but features can get a bit light. If you're willing to let the price float up a few hundred dollars, you'll get far more for your money. With the Dell Inspiron 5100 desktop replacement notebook ($1,456 direct, as tested), for instance, you get productivity software, decent multimedia abilities, and surprisingly good battery life.

Design:


A bit on the hefty side, the Inspiron 5100 weighs 8.1 pounds (not including its power adapter) and measures 1.9 inches thick. The Inspiron 5100's battery life, at 1 hour, 48 minutes in our tests, is far from impressive.
Equipped with Intel's 2.66-GHz Pentium 4 desktop processor, the Inspiron 5100 performed well for its price class, earning a PC WorldBench 4 score of 117. (We've tested relatively few notebooks with desktop processors, but the closest competitor for the Inspiron is a Toshiba Satellite 2455-S305 equipped with a 2.4-GHz chip; it, too, earned a score of 117.) Currently, the 5100 can also be had with a 2.4-GHz or a 2.8-GHz Pentium 4.Our review unit had a 15-inch screen with a 1400 by 1050 resolution; the notebook can be configured with a 14-inch screen, as well. The large keyboard has quiet, steady action, but boasts few extras--just a power button and one programmable quick-launch button at the top. You can't miss the Inspiron 5100's mouse buttons; they're bright blue and twice normal size. Like mouse buttons on too many notebooks, though, the 5100's are rather stiff. Audio was somewhat disappointing: The stereo speakers are loud but slightly buzzy at their highest volume, and the 5100 has no physical volume control--you must use the Windows volume slider. All of the 5100's removable components--the battery pack, memory slots, and hard drive--are easy to access. To remove the hard drive, you simply remove two small screws on the bottom of the notebook and pull it out by its cover plate. We received a preproduction copy of the notebook's user manual; it thoroughly covered parts, troubleshooting, and upgrades, with nice drawings. The help screens provide mostly generic information about the notebook's hardware, and are not specific to the 5100. Dell inspiron 5100 battery is Li-ion, 14.8v.

Features

Dell provides a long list of options for the Inspiron 5100 so you can configure it to suit your budget. The desktop Pentium 4 processors come in speeds ranging from 2.4GHz to 2.8GHz. Fast, 266MHz DDR SDRAM is available from 128MB up to 1GB. The ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics chips come with either 16MB or 32MB of dedicated video memory. Hard drive choices consist of 30GB and 40GB units. Display options range 14.1in. with a native resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels, to 15in. at a graphics-friendly 1,400 by 1,050 pixels. You can choose among CD-RW, DVD and DVD/CD-RW drives to fill the system's internal fixed bay. The system we tested included a 2.8GHz Pentium 4, 512MB of RAM, a 32MB ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics chip and a 40GB hard drive spinning at 5,400rpm. The 6600mAh Inspiron 5100 battery is powerful and rechargeable can work in 14.8v.

With the included MusicMatch Jukebox 7.1 (called Dell Jukebox), Roxio Easy CD Creator 5, and Jasc Image Expert 2000 (rebranded Dell Picture Studio), you're adequately set up for tasks involving music and photos. But beyond its FireWire port, our 5100 was less suited for video editing—there's only a 30GB hard drive, no video software other than the clunky Microsoft Windows MovieMaker 1.1, and no writable DVD drive option.

Performance & Dell Inspiron 5100 battery life


The 2.8GHz Inspiron 5100 showed impressive speed in our performance tests, while battery life was reasonable considering the power of this system’s desktop CPU.


The Dell Inspiron 5100 delivered record-breaking scores of 59.5 and 42.4 respectively under the application-based Business Winstone 2001 and Content Creation Winstone 2002 tests, beating Compaq’s workstation-class 2.2GHz Evo 800w by a clear margin.



The system performed pretty well in our battery life tests, lasting for 2 hours 38 minutes under BatteryMark 4.01 and 2 hours 42 minutes under MobileMark 2002. The Inspiron 5100's hefty 6,450mAh battery obviously has its work cut out when handling a high-speed 2.8GHz processor and a 15in. display, but anything over 2.5 hours isn't bad at all.

The Inspiron 5100 doesn't have the most inspired design we've seen, but it's a fine, relatively basic desktop replacement with good performance as its main attraction. For the price, the Inspiron 5100 is a good deal, and you're better served by picking the more fully equipped model than the $1,099 entry-level model. Conversely, those who do little more than Web browsing, e-mailing, and word processing can save $200 with the $899 Celeron-based Inspiron 1100.

Dell's Inspiron 1100 review

Dell's Inspiron 1100 Offers complete desktop functionality in a mobile package for increased efficiency and productivity. An Intel Celeron processors at 2.0GHz or Intel Pentium 4 processors of up to 2.40GHz deliver sustained performance. Dell's Inspiron 1100 budget system is a hit or miss product. Its base configuration is nothing special, but good deals can be found through Dell's special offers.

Dell's Inspiron 1100 budget desktop replacement is probably one of the oldest systems available for under $1000 and its components show that age. The base configuration comes with an Intel 2.0 GHz Celeron processor which is sufficient for most computer users, but lower than most of its competitors. the biggest drawback to the system is the normal capacity battery that ships with it to reduce costs also reduces its possible battery life. The system displayed the fastest performance and the longest battery life among its Celeron-based competitors The other area that it lacks is the optical storage. It ships with a 24x CD-ROM drive. On the plus side of things, Dell offers many upgrade special offers that can allow one to get memory or optical drive upgrades if they are willing to shop for the deals.

Design of Dell Inspiron 1100

You can't mistake the Inspiron 1100's lineage: it sports the same "Venice blue and moonlight silver" case as all new Inspirons, including the 600m and the 8600. In fact, the Inspiron 1100 shares its case design with the more expensive Inspiron 5100, which carries more cutting-edge components than the 1100.

\With a 14.1-inch screen, the Inspiron 1100's case measures 12.9 by 10.8 by 1.7 inches and weighs 7.4 pounds, average for a mainstream notebook. There's also an optional 15-inch display that jacks up size and weight slightly. You won't want to travel a lot with either one, but taking them on occasional jaunts won't do you in, either.

Features of Dell Inspiron 1100

The Inspiron 1100's base configuration gives average users just about everything they need for work or play, including a 2GHz desktop Celeron processor; 256MB of fast 266MHz DDR SDRAM; a 14.1-inch screen with a native 1,024x768 (XGA) resolution; a CD drive; and a 20GB, 4,200rpm hard drive. For various prices, you can choose higher-end specs such as a 2.4GHz desktop Pentium 4 CPU; up to 1GB of memory; a DVD, CD-RW, or DVD/CD-RW combo drive; a 40GB, 5,400rpm hard drive; and a 15-inch XGA display. All configurations come with the same graphics chip: a 64BM Intel 845G. Our evaluation system shipped with a 2GHz Celeron processor, 256MB of RAM, a 30GB hard drive, a DVD drive, and a 14.1-inch screen.

Performance of Dell Inspiron 1100

The Inspiron 1100 was the fastest system in our small test group, beating its nearest competitor, the HP Pavilion ze4200, by one point. The Dell also handily beat another Celeron-based notebook, the Gateway 400E. While the Inspiron 1100's first-place rank is impressive, and it will excel in most tasks you throw at it, we had hoped that it would show even more speed. The victory margin between the Dell and the HP might have been wider because the HP uses an ATI graphics chip that borrows video RAM from main memory. The Dell's graphics chip is independent.

Battery life of Dell Inspiron 1100 battery

With its powerful 14.8V, 6,450mAh inspiron 1100 battery, the Inspiron 1100 had little trouble clobbering the competition in battery life. The battery Inspiron 1100's four-hour score is the longest battery life we've seen in a Celeron-based system, and it even bested a couple of Pentium M systems--the new battery-life champs. With the Dell Inspiron 1100, you'll be able to work unplugged without eyeing the power meter every 15 minutes.

Description

• Intel Celeron 2.0 GHz Processor
• 256 MB PC2100 DDR Memory
• 30 Gigabyte Hard Drive
• 24x CD-ROM Optical Drive
• 15" XGA (1024x768) LCD and Intel Extreme 3D Graphics with 64MB Shared Memory
• AC'97 Audio
• v.92 56Kbps Modem and 10/100 Ethernet
• Two USB 2.0 Ports and One Type II PC Card Slot
• 13.1" x 10.8" x 1.8" @ 7.8 lbs.
• Windows XP Home Operating System
• Dell inspiron 1100 battery : Li-ion, 14.8v, 6450mAh. OEM CODE: 312-0079

Sytem can overheat using processor intensive functions, like games, video rendering. Cleaning of fan/heatsink will restore proper function. New BIOS supports 1024 MB RAM, download from Dell. Not for gamers, multi taskers, or long distance carrying. Great for word processors, web surfers, digital photos, mp3. Not lightweight or thin, but not excessively large either. If you can find a used one at a good price and are capable of performing a clean windows reinstall, buy it. If you need something that works perfect without you tweaking it, think Apple, but think at least twice the price.