Ok, so I received the laptop yesterday and as promised here is a review at first glance:
First off, the Dell ship data was supposed to be July 28th, nearly a month from the data I ordered it. This was a bit dissappointing but for the deal I got and the price I was fine with it. I am even more happy that it showed up a week and a half sooner than I expected.
Packaging - I've always had a thing about not purchasing expensive electronics from brick and mortar stores because they get bounced around more than they need to. (I used to work at both Wal-mart and Radioshack when in high school and I can tell you that we literally just threw stuff out of the truck) It looks like dell took a note from Apple in making packaging part of the dell experience. The laptop was shipping a large box, the charger and adapter came in a seperate well marked / marketed box and the laptop itself came in another similar box, both snuggly secured in the first box. The laptop also had additional foam padding suspending it in the box to prevent extra jarring, and it was secure in a somewhat decent laptop sleeve.
Shipping - Dell used DHL, I was notified at every step of the process, box arrived in perfect shape and took 3 business days.
Overall, I was pretty impressed.
Now for the laptop itself:
First off let me preface this by saying that I've only owned 1 other laptop (Toshiba Tecra S1) and I'ved used many a handful of others. By no means am I a professional when it comes to evaluating laptops.
First Boot - pretty standard, pretty fast. Had to go through the initial set up steps of entering my name, setting the clock, downloading updates. The laptop seems to be very snappy - as expected.
Bloatware - crapware - There appears to be a number of dell applications / utilities pre installed, I will need to do a format / re-installation of windows to get rid of that crap.I was given a re-installation cd for the laptop so that is pretty nice. (might have had to pay for it though) Other apps that are installed that I do not necessarily need: google toolbar, google desktop, intel storage manager - do I need this?
Either way, a format will solve these issues its something I expected to have to do. I will note that there is not nearly as much crap on there as I expected (last computer I bought came installed with an ISP and at least a dozen useless products)
Physically - I like the new way the screen is affixed to the base, it seems much sturdier. Overall I really have to say the laptop feels solid. Much more so than the Toshiba I had or the HP I used while visiting my parents.
Another thing is I opted for the 9 cell battery and I was afraid it was going to jut out the back of the laptop, but instead it juts out the bottom and keeps the laptop at a tilt allowing for better airflow and it makes it easier to type.
Styling - I think it looks pretty sleek, my girlfriend also agrees. It's a laptop, I'm not really sure what I expected. It's better looking than the old IBM ones, it's not super glossy like the HP one I used, its black with brushed aluminum trim.
If you have anything you want me to look at and tell you let me know. I will post again in a week with more stuff pro/cons.
Overall, I am very happy with my purchase through dell so far.
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