Dell Inspiron 1420

durability, performance, screen, design, price

portability, usability, image quality, reliability

67% of the reviews on Amazon.com give this product a positive rating.

Media Direct, Price, 2 megapixel camera

Windows Vista Basic (not Home Premium), Benchmark performance

For its price there's little worth complaining about. The Dell Media Direct feature is handy and the 2 megapixel camera is a nice upgrade from the standard 1.3 megapixel option.

Sturdily crafted ; Instant-on multimedia and app viewers

A little heavy

Midsize consumer notebook has a high-quality design, good performance, and stand-alone media buttons.

Excellent price. Discrete graphics. New color splashes. Better-than-average battery life. Feature rich laptop. Very good typing experience

You'll need the E-Value code to take advantage of this deal. Heavier than competing systems

The Dell Inspiron 1420 continues to be a bargain hunter's fantasy by giving you discrete graphics, 2GB of RAM, and color splashes for $1,099.

Media Direct, Price, 2 megapixel camera

Windows Vista Basic (not Home Premium), Benchmark performance

For its price there's little worth complaining about. The Dell Media Direct feature is handy and the 2 megapixel camera is a nice upgrade from the standard 1.3 megapixel option.

Fast Core 2 Duo processors, and up to 4GB of RAM provide plenty of system performance ; Dedicated graphics option performs well ; Solid build quality and sturdiness ; Good keyboard and touchpad ; Great screen if you select the higher resolution option

Not-so-impressive design ; Questional paint durability ; Average battery life ; A bit bulky and heavy for a 14.1" notebook

Bottom line, although it's certainly not perfect the 1420 is a strong, capable notebook that will make a great back-to-school system

And as there has been much discussion about the black lid being of a slightly different texture than the other colored lids, and its predilection to picking up fingerprints, I thought I would mention that the black lid does indeed easily pick up the...

Fourteen-inch size offers best mix of usability and portability; decent performance among its midsize competition; excellent battery life.

Dell has updated its 15-inch Inspiron models recently, making this model look a little dated.

The basic 14-inch Inspiron 1420 is a reasonable choice for budget buyers who want something a little smaller than the standard 15-inch chassis, but this laptop has missed out on recent updates other Inspiron models have received.

Good build quality ; Fast processor ; Reasonably cool operating temperature

Poor speakers ; No Windows XP option ; Loud DVD drive

The Inspiron 1420 is sure to make a lot of people happy -- it manages to pack in a lot of power for a good price, and will be perfect for almost any application you choose. If you're a gamer though, look elsewhere for a more powerful video card.