Very Reliable (had it roughly 4/5 years) (Dell Inspiron 640m Mobile Advanced)

Member Name: Tom

Product:	Dell Inspiron 640m Mobile Advanced
Date:	21/02/09 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reliable, good battery and good wireless reception.

Disadvantages: Screen is useless outside and low space on hard drive.

I've had this laptop for roughly 4/5 years. It's the only laptop I have owned but it's a good one. The battery life is still as good as it was when I first got it. I can watch a 90 minute film on this and still have some battery left on it. Which I think is good even to today's standards.

The design isn't bad either. It's nothing special and the grey can get a bit dull over time. But it's more neutral then dull really. The keypad is nice and you quickly get used to it.

The only thing that bugs me is the screen. It can't be used in the sun, it's just impossible to see it. You don't get glare, it's more that you just can't see the screen. With today's laptops the screen is that glossy type which can also have a problem with sunlight, but it gets glare.

I've recently updated the operating system to Windows Vista Ultimate and it works fine, although the fan and hard drive seems to be working harder than when I was running Windows XP, and is therefore quite loud.

The speed compared to today's laptops isn't too bad, but it's not great either, and for that reason I am buying a new laptop. But this laptop has lasted a long time as far as laptops go. And it's still in the condition it was when I had it (except for a few scratches).

Since this is so old now I can't see many people buying one, I don't even know if they are still sold. But it would make a great second hand laptop for a young child's first. I can't really accurately say what a good price would be for one of these second hand. But I plan to sell mine for roughly £70 as I've had it so many years. Remembering that the speed will increase once I get the hard drive wiped clean.

One more note is to mention how good the wireless is. It picks up everything. Even in the car when I first used it out in the car I was able to pick up signal of houses along that road. Admittedly I had trouble connecting as I wasn't there for long enough. But around the house I can take it anywhere, and even in the garden it has 2/3 bars (and I have a third of an acre garden). Of course this depends on the router's signal too.

I did experience some trouble with the BT HomeHub v2.0 when I got it. It detected the HomeHub but couldn't connect without the HomeHub being restarted. But I will happily blame this on BT as they are a pretty shocking company with even more annoying routers.

The hard drive is pretty poxy. It has 65GB, which by today's standards is really bad. An easy way around this is buying an external hard drive. I got a 500GB one which I store all my music, pictures and videos on which solved the problem. But once I updated to Windows Vista Ultimate I was left with about 16GB free space, which really isn't much. This is also another reason I plan to get a new laptop.

I just thought I had an obligation to comment on how well this laptop has treated me over the years.

Summary: Buy it second hand, not brand new (unless it's under £60)

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