5 Responses for "Dell Inspiron 11 11.6-Inch Obsidian Black Laptop"

1. ballroom dance teacher March 20th, 2010 at 12:54 am 1

   I was surprised that the Dell Inspiron Laptop came with no Microsoft software, just Windows 7. I bought the computer to run a PC based application for gardening, but need a photo application to open the photo part of the application. So, now I have to buy a Microsoft package. . . .
   Rating: 3 / 5

2. Wallace Guy March 20th, 2010 at 2:42 am 2

   I’ve had the machine 2 weeks now. I love the computer. I was in the market for a netbook but backed away because of processor speed.

   PROS:
   It’s faster than my old Inspiron 300m that it replaced. No issues with speed for e-mail, documents or the web. I’m new to Windows 7, which I find refreshingly fast at start-up. It’s lightweight. The screen is bright. The keyboard is comfortable enough for extended typing, albeit more tiring than my desktop keyboard. Good key action. I’m very satisfied.

   CONS:
   The touchpad is terrible. I would not buy this computer unless you are willing to accept that you will be carrying a portable mouse to go with it. It’s so bad that I devoted the entirety of my initial version of this review to how bad it is . . . just nobody found that helpful. Fortunately, you can get wireless mice with itty-bitty usb transmitters that stay permanently plugged into one of the three usb ports on the machine. That works great. I have actually disabled the touchpad entirely.

   The screen has a relatively narrow viewing angle. The black plastic body is indeed a fingerprint magnet. I’m not super crazy about the extended battery raising the machine’s angle, making it just a tad more tiresome to type.

   ;;;; MY ORIGINAL RANT ON THE TERRIBLE TOUCHPAD ;;;;

   It is hard to imagine what fool thought this touchpad was a good idea. It’s not just the silly set of unusable finger signals to scroll, zoom, rotate and wash the dishes. Other reviewers are correct that these options may be turned off after you locate and install the correct driver. But your problems do not end there.

   The mouse buttons are integrated into the touchpad. If you are like me, while browsing the web you keep one finger on the left click button and one finger on the touch pad. That won’t work. It gets confused. When two fingers are on the pad at the same time, and assuming you have disabled all the two and three fingered magic tricks, the cursor just sits there . . . waiting for you to remove one finger. So, you have to get used to not having a finger on the button.

   OK. Fine. Now you have one finger moving your happy cursor around the screen, although not in a particularly smooth fashion, for even if there were no other problems this is not the most sensitive touch pad in the world. You position your cursor over the minuscule-sized little button that you would like to click. Time to click. You must now lower that other finger to the touchpad to click the integrated button and, ZOOM!, off zips the cursor to the other side of the screen. If you are lucky, you simply fail to click your button. If you are unlucky, you click something completely random elsewhere on the screen and open some utterly unrelated application. Good thing you’ve got that nice ULV processor to hurry this unwanted digression along.

   Now . . . you close that extra whatever-it-is . . . presumably by using the touchpad. In order for that to work, you must use the one finger to move the cursor, lift that finger up, and then set your other finger to poking the button, taking care to not slide while poking, lest you jiggle the position of the cursor. You might as well just operate the whole thing with one finger, like hunt-n-peck typing.

   If you are more coordinated than I, it may not be a problem. For me the experience is eerily similar to being at my desktop computer with my 2 year old son in my lap, grabbing and jabbing at the mouse while I work.

   There’s a little slider control in the touchpad options that lets you set the sensitivity. They say if your cursor moves erratically to increase sensitivity, and if your cursor is unresponsive to decrease sensitivity. This is the so-called Smart-Pad ™. The stupid thing is that no matter how much you mess with the settings, there’s nothing in-between erratic and unresponsive.

   Click-and-drag? Forget it. That necessarily requires one finger on the button and another finger on the pad, moving. It’s click-drag-jump-drag-back-hop-jitter-skip-drag-release, a complete tug-of-war with the machine. This is where the image of trying to click-and-drag with a 2-year-old fighting you for control of the mouse really pays off.

   Finally, if all of this wasn’t annoying enough, they designed the pad so that it doesn’t “click” when gliding your finger along it for moving the cursor. What this means is that in order to click the button, you’ve got to apply a reasonable amount of pressure. You have to really lean into it. By way of comparison, clicking the button requires substantially more finger pressure than pressing a key on the keyboard.

   ;;;; UPDATE AFTER 2 WEEKS ;;;;
   After two weeks of use I completely disabled the touchpad. I kept brushing against the touchpad as I typed, causing the cursor to jump to arbitrary spots in my document. I like the small usb wireless mouse transmitter a lot and it rendered the touchpad unnecessary.

   Rating: 4 / 5

3. David Krnavek March 20th, 2010 at 4:01 am 3

   J& #039; they received this portable computer (can& amp; #039; of t really called él netbook with a duel-núcleo and 4GB of ESPOLà “ N) the past week después around one week of deliberacià ³ n on the other options outside allÃ. In of the 11. 6& amp; quot; range, there& amp; #039; numerous limited its models enough that must be compared. If you& amp; #039; arranged re to pay aún one hundred dà ³ lares and to rise, podrÃa to obtain a treatment unit mÃs rÃI ask. In the same way, it can find a computer portable mÃs mÃcheap s with a processor of celeron or d& #039; Ãvolume. IN this point of the prices, nevertheless, this portable computer really is had outside.

   Trackpad takes s& #039; to accustom, but mayorÃa of the denunciations on the matter (as the humming gestures) can be deactivated in some seconds. BaterÃa nails outside rather ridÃculamente, but negociarÃa luckyly that for hours 6+ of duracià ³ n of life of the battery. The vÃdeo card is very bÃsica, but again c& #039; sub $500 in a very fine form factor is a portable computer. Of general way, for it is superior to the swindles, and I& amp; #039; totally happy ms with my purchase.
   Estimacià ³ n: 5/5

4. Earl D. Shelton March 20th, 2010 at 4:34 am 4

   I wasn& amp; #039; bitter t if acheté wanted to buy a warehouse netbook or uncomfortable a portable computer. J& #039; it&amp has pensé with netbook; amp; #039; s small, – insipid – insipid compact, to léger, popular, pleasant, à day, insipid. I même have essayé an outside à a warehouse, but the keys sacrées so small étaient, j& #039; étais ennui of havin l& #039; examining outside. I am allé in line and I have vérifié Amazon since I always do and à my surprise, this beauté of lil étais available. NEW! J& #039; it has cliqué on l& #039; IT BUYS NOW! ! No doubts or grief. I l& #039; it likes. It& amp; #039; s jeà nent, and right as weight to léger like netbook. Not so uncomfortable qu& #039; a portable computer and même the adjustments in my take all the purses to him. The wireless card immediately takes the signals and the HUMMING IN & amp; amp; The HUMMING OUTSIDE implies with the tiny amount of my inch and l& #039; index is right like having iphone, my next purchase s& #039; they keep that upwards. it buys of lol this portable computer! ! Peace!
   Estimation: 5/5

5. Mauro V. Monteiro March 20th, 2010 at 5:17 am 5

   Not even in Dell web site I would get a so good purchasing.
   I’m completely satisfied with my new note/net-book, cause is more than I expected to and Amazon. com was very quickly and prestative.
   Rating: 5 / 5