Dell Latitude D620 – the worst experience

Have to say some nice words about this thing. I bought it 2 years ago in August 2006. Dell Latitude D620 Core Duo T2400 1.83/14.1/512Mb. Of course RAM was upgraded to 1.5Gb at once. I took it for several reasons:

1. Had no time to wait for something better.
2. I liked screen resolution 1400×900 – I was looking only at something like this.
3. It was claimed having 3G modem included (HSDPA).
4. Vista ready.
5. Some other nice features like weight, battery life, expandability via the drive bay, optional docking station.

Overall decided it is good price and value ratio. Soon I started to doubt about the decision and later even regretted. First of all – it had not HSDPA support included. It had slot for sim card, but there were not the modem! I was told such configuration came to Lithuania for the lower price… Bad luck – 3 months later the same vendor started sell it widely and with HSDPA and for the same price… and later with core 2 duo.

Next thing I missed – the laptop had no video output. It is possible to make it only via docking station.

I’ve read a lot of reviews about the laptop and would agree that screen lacks brightness but it is possible to get used to. The graphic card is quite good and it is possible to make some work with Photoshop.

Battery life was not so good as I expected – probably a little more than 1 hour. Good I owned additional drive bay battery. The default battery served me only one year after that the laptop popped me message it’s time to replace it. Battery meter stopped working – laptop just turns off without warning.

Next thing – laptop heat is just terrible – I doubt anybody would like to hold it in hands or on the lap. I really don’t understand why it is so. I am really disappointed about core duo performance and the heat. Coolers are on all the time generating noise that I don’t like. Suppose experience with core 2 duo is better.

Durability. So battery included served just one year. Laptop speakers stopped working after 1.5 year. Laptop screen stopped working nearly 2 years later. It’s just matter of seconds to take off button keys from the laptop keyboard for my child. Good thing I learned how to put it again quickly too.

What happened with the speakers and screen – is it graphic card or something else will find soon as it is now in warranty service.

Anyway, now I’m angry – cannot use it at all.

Will update later.

Tags: D620, Dell, latitude

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 3:58 am and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.