Comments on: Dell Inspiron 1470 14-Inch Cherry Red Laptop Up to 5 Hours 29 Minutes of Battery Life

By: John F. Cassidy

John F. Cassidy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:23:31 +0000

So I was concerned that the ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) processor would not have enough “umph” but I was wrong. This is a nicely assembled machine and I even like Windows 7 (mostly). Background – I’ve worked in tech for 24+ years in a lot of different ways, but everyone who knows me says I’m a gadget freak. I’ve got all the toys – PNAV devices, iPods, iPhones, PCs, Macs, wireless networks – you name it. I’ve got the TV hooked to a cable box, iMac, and AppleTV and love them all. I’m typing this on my favorite computer of all time – a Macbook Air. So when my wife’s 3+ year old 17″ Dell notebook announced that it’s battery was no longer doing well and we had three blue screens in a week’s time – I knew we had to get her onto a new machine. We thought it would be either a 13″ or 15″ Macbook Pro, but she decided that spending twice as much for a Mac was too much. So I went in search of the best PC alternative. This Dell 1470 is pretty close in size and features to the 13″ Macbook Pro including claimed 6 hour battery life. And it largely lives up to its promise. It’s the fastest PC in the house and for the $584 we paid Amazon right before Christmas is turning out to be the bargain of the year. I did have to reformat the hard drive to get rid of multiple partitions so the Windows Easy Transfer program would work correctly, but that only served to conveniently getting rid of all of the unwanted junk that Dell feels compelled to load onto the hard disk. Positives: light weight – fast enough speed – abundant memory and hard disk space – and a cool red color. Also – the power supply is both smaller and lighter than past Dell models included, and it’s compatible with all of the old Dell power supplies we have around here. I would have given this machine 5 stars if it had a backlit keyboard which you can get on the Studio 15, but not on this model. Don’t forget the crappy hard drive partitioning which brings it down, AND I don’t know what Microsoft is thinking – you can’t back up to a network drive (I use a DROBO with Droboshare) without paying $89 to upgrade Windows 7 to the Professional version. Also – if you configure a Dell Inspiron 14Z (same model, different name) comparably on the Dell website, you’ll be north of $900 so Amazon has the bargain here. Also – Best Buy stocks this machine so you can do like I did, and go test drive it for yourself before buying. Recommended! Good luck! Rating: 4 / 5

By: Robert T. Desautel

Robert T. Desautel — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:05:56 +0000

The I1470 is a top performing Win7 optimized thin and lite business package. Packed with DDR3 4gigs of ram and an ultra low voltage CPU for outstanding battery life. The laptop is not an ultra lite but it is a great lite weight package that does it all with few frills and all the hard working ports and output requirements. Great battery life and enough processing power to do most anything required (but not gaming) this is a hard hitting low cost package with Dell quality and reliability. The omission of wireless N is the biggest mistake here (what were you thinking Dell?). Rating: 4 / 5

By: S. Rifaey

S. Rifaey — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:29:15 +0000

I bought this laptop about 2 months ago. The screen is very bright and images are crisp. The computer has enough power for daily computing needs; email, web, spreadsheet, etc. I run a software company and only buy Dell computers now. I used to buy HP products until 7 years ago. Dell by far has a superior product line. I especially like the fact that most of Dell laptops, including this one, run very cool. This is in direct contrast to HP laptops which run very warm. PROS:- Great display. – Fast- Wakes up from sleep mode almost instantly (every time)- Runs cool (keyboard stays cool)- Great battery life (over 6 hours)- Comes without any pre-installed trial softwareCONS:- No bluetooth so you have to use a USB mouse. – Power plug on right side interferes with mouse (if you’re right handed). I like the power plug to be on the left side so that I can have more room to move the mouse around. Rating: 4 / 5