Beware the Samsung HDD (Dell Inspiron 1720)

Member Name: LevonH

Product:	Dell Inspiron 1720
Date:	27/02/09 (65 review reads)
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Advantages: Sleek, heavy, shiny.

Disadvantages: Arthur Scargill makes the HDD

I'll have to be careful here. I'm sure my laptop knows what I'm up to. As soon as I'm finished typing this it'll crash. Never the less, here we go. Overall, this is a nice bit of kit. Looks good, fast, nice and heavy and doesn't feel too plasticy. I've had it now for just over a year and up until very recently it's behaved like a schoolboy on the promise of a visit to the Cadbury Factory. However: be aware of the problem that I am know experiencing. SMART status failure. Apparently this means that at some point in the very near future my hard drive is going to flick me the v and depart for parts unknown. I've done a little squaffling around in forums and am led to believe that the Samsung HDD installed by Dell is a bit stinky and prone to cock ups like this. This is hard cheese indeed as I am one month outside the warranty. I've backed everything up and am now waiting for the inevitable. The goood news is that a replacement drive of around 300G can now be picked up for under £100. So, whilst I would love to sing the praises of the 1720, unfortunately for me its turned out to be a bounder.

Summary: Nice, but don't cross the picket line.

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