Dell Inspiron 1720
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The Dell Inspiron 1720 is a 17" desktop replacement
targeted towards younger consumers, most of whom are
in school. This notebook competes against such notebooks
as the HP dv9500t and Toshiba P200/P205. The 1720
offers a wide range of hardware configurations, as
well as 8 different color options to be customized
exactly as you want it. Processors range from the
T5250 all the way up to the T7700, RAM from 1GB to
4GB, HD from 120GB to 500GB (250GB x 2), display resolutions
starting at WXGA+ up to WUXGA, and color ranging from
jet black to sunshine yellow.
Our review model came with the following options,
bringing the price up to $2,438 as configured from
a base of $899.
* Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
* Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.20GHz, 4MB L2,
800MHz FSB)
* Mobile Intel P965 Express Chipset
* Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (802.11a/g/n)
* 2GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM (maximum capacity 4GB)
* 320GB Total Space (160GB x 2, option no longer offered
at the time of this writing)
* 8x DVD (+/-R double layer) drive
* 17.0" diagonal widescreen TrueLife TFT LCD
display at 1920x1200 (WUXGA, Glossy)
* 256MB nVidia GeForce Go 8600M GT
* 2.0 megapixel webcam
* Bluetooth version 2.0 plus Enhanced Data Rate (EDR)
* ExpressCard slot (ExpressCard/34 and Express Card/54)
* 5-in-1 media card reader
* VGA out
* Mic/Headphone connectors
* IEEE-1394 (FireWire)
* Five USB 2.0 ports
* Dimensions (WxDxH Front/H Rear): 15.5" x 11.5"
x 1.7"
* Weight: 7.62 Advertised, 8lbs 13.2oz actual w/ 9-cell
battery
* 90W (19V x 4.62A) 100-240V AC adapter (1lb 1.4oz)
* 9-cell (85Wh) Lithium Ion battery (1lb 1oz)
* 1-Year Standard Limited Warranty
Build and Design
Gone are the white bumpers of old, replaced with
a solid shimmering silver paint, giving the body of
the Dell 1720 a much cleaner and refined look. The
body still allows some user configuration with its
custom top cover paint options, including jet black,
alpine white, espresso brown, ruby red, midnight blue,
spring green, flamingo pink, and sunshine yellow.
The high level of personalization can even go as far
as a color matched Logitech mouse as an added $29
option during checkout.
The cleaner look and feel is matched with an even
stronger and more durable chassis. During testing
no plastic creaks or squeaks could be heard, with
flex only apparent in the plastic painted screen cover.
The entire bottom shell is a metal alloy which gives
the laptop a strong footprint on your desk, and is
gives enough strength to resist bending if you hold
the laptop by the edge of the palm rest walking around
the room. The only downside to the chassis was the
metal HD bay cover had some movement, and would make
clacking sound if tapped with your finger, or placed
on an uneven desk. Overlooking that fact, the underbody
is strong enough to hurt your knuckles if you try
to punch it without giving up as much as a millimeter
of flex in the process.
One concern worth mentioning with the custom paint
process is long term durability. The review model
we received had a paint defect out of the box on the
upper right hand cover of the LCD cover. The rubbery
texture paint was already peeling; exposing the glossy
espresso brown paint underneath. Since this peeling
was visible straight out of the box, long-term day
to day use inside various cases or backpacks might
show more extreme peeling. Hopefully the paint issue
was fixed in production, as our review model has an
early May build date.
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