Dell Inspiron 6400 Review

Dell is one of those companies that wouldn’t have been around if IBM wouldn’t let the others clone its original IBM PC, but since this happened, everything that followed is now history, and I am not here to teach you history. After all, I have in front of me a gorgeous Dell P991 CRT monitor that makes my hours spent in front of my computer a real pleasure, so I must admit that I may be a little subjective in my review, because I love Dell’s products, especially since this is not the only Dell product that I had to face so far, but enough with the chatter and let’s get down to business, shall we?

Today’s target is Dell Inspiron 6400, a laptop that can handle multimedia tasks for you, your family and friends without breaking a sweat, while keeping the performance flag up at the same time. With a weight of around 3 kilograms, the Dell Inspiron 6400 is available in a variety of user defined configurations, being able to fit your needs and your budget like a glove.
The heart of this notebook is a Core 2 Duo processor from Intel, while the large 15.4 inch display allows you to watch movies without problems, and the minimum of 512 MB of DDR2 memory are there to complete the brief components list. At last, the everlasting battery is a strong point that needs to be mentioned now, before moving on to the “Best features” part of this notebook, since this systems are capable of playing 3 DVDs before running out of power, for a total battery life of over 5 hours!

Best features:

• 15.4 inch WSXGA+ TFT display with a native resolution of 1,680 x 1,050 pixels and good display quality
• big keyboard, with excellent multimedia controls and comfortable touchpad
• excellent speakers for a laptop
• SD/MMC card slot

Other features:

• a four pin FireWire port and Bluetooth
• two USB 2.0 ports
• Ethernet, modem and 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi
• Express Card Slot
• built-in double-layer DVD burner
• TV out and external microphone ports

Cons:

• too heavy and bulky to carry on the road
• shortage of USB ports
• poor gaming performance
• minor design flaws (too large fan outlet openings, no hardware switch to activate the wireless adapter)
• lacks a Type II PC Card slot

Pros:

• excellent battery life (over 5h when playing DVDs)
• good display with wide viewing angles
• fast Core 2 Duo processor
• competitive base price
• wide range of configuration options

Just like other products from Dell, this laptop is not perfect, but it’s capable of replacing your desktop system easily, especially if you’re not a gamer, and its excellent battery life and fair price make it a good choice for budget conscious users.