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Dell 5160 Review OUTSTANDING SYSTEM!

post #1 of 11
10/26/04 at 8:55pm
Thread Starter 
Alot of people have been knocking on the dell 5160. I just wanted to take a second and tell you my review of it. I recieved my 5160 today and was suprised how fast it was. I go the 5160 with the 3.2GHz P4 512MB Ram 64mb video card and an 80GIG HD. The second i took it out and booted it up i knew it was time to reinstall windows. Dell puts so much crap on there, also they tweak things like mouse latency and things of that nature. After a clean install the mouse speed across the screen and worked AWSOME!. That was one of my worries when i purchased the system. According to some people the mouse moves slow, but with a fresh install it moves great , couldnt ask for a better touch pad. Next i looked into the actual speed of the machine. It is a 3ghz p4 , but dell preconfigures the system to run the cpu at 1.7GHz stock. This is to save on battery life, but its pointless in my opinion. If you pay for a 3GHz i want 3GHZ! Anyway with the fresh install that wiped the dell configurations clean and i am now running at a full 3GHz. I couldnt be more happy with the speed of this baby. Next some of you may have heard that there were screen issues. The screen is absoulte STUNNING!!! Im running it at 1200 x768 and it looks awsome. Next comes the over heating issues that have been spread around the forums. Its a 3GHz P4 people of course its going to run hot... But so far it hasnt been an issue. The rear fan is pumping warm air out and heat doesnt seem to be an issue. Finally weight. Yes it may be on the heafty side, but people this is a desktop replacement. Its still very portable and packs plenty of power.

So all in all i love my 5160. If you want speed and performance and want to save a few bucks the 5160 is for you. My only suggestion for all dell laptops is to reinstall your own copy of windows to remove all the dell software, and dell settings.I would also like to mention that i got this using the $750 coupon, and i loaded the system up to over 1800 bucks and it was the best $1,050 ive ever spent.
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post #2 of 11
10/26/04 at 9:24pm
Some pics would be greatly appreciated
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post #3 of 11
10/26/04 at 9:47pm
Thread Starter 
wish i had my camera tonight, i will try to get some pics in the morning
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post #4 of 11
10/26/04 at 11:47pm
Pics pics!

I have had a 5150 for almost a year now and I am happy with it. It does everything I need it to.
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post #5 of 11
10/27/04 at 10:13am
On average, how long does the battery last while just using internet/microsoft word etc?
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post #6 of 11
10/27/04 at 11:18am
Thread Starter 
there is a power save option that will run the 3ghz p4 at only 1.7 this will slow the system down a bit but will alllow you to get almost 4 hours out of the battery. If im surfinf the web, or using word on power save mode i can easily get 4hours, also dell sells seconds batteries for the laptop so u can get 8hrs if you used 2 batteries
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post #7 of 11
10/31/04 at 12:18pm
Hi Winux,

I have also purchased Dell 5160 under $750 scheme, I have few concerns, lemme know if you facing it too or shall i go for a replacement:
- During a start-up, I see a blank dark blue screen 2/3 times, though only for 1 second or less, but it comes, and after system starts/running it never comes.
- To eject a CD out, sometimes I have to use a pin.
- Sometimes during shut-down, the system hangs, i.e. at the final stage, the message "Saving your setting" never seems to disappear and I have to manually shut down the system using the power button option.

Are you facing this too? Is it something normal with this model or dell laptops?
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post #8 of 11
10/31/04 at 10:50pm
Hey Purple,

I've had the same problem with the CD/DVD drive - sometimes I can eject, but sometimes I have to resort to the old bent paperclip. Just got my 5160 a few days ago and haven't really thought about whether or not I was going to call Dell about this issue.
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post #9 of 11
10/31/04 at 11:20pm
on all 3 of my 5160's they have ejected when i press the button. I have the CDRW/DVD

I agree, the 5160 is one sexy MF and no blue!
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post #10 of 11
11/1/04 at 12:38am
I've got the CDRW/DVDR, how about you Purple? Which drive do you have?
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post #11 of 11
11/1/04 at 3:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pennicat
I've got the CDRW/DVDR, how about you Purple? Which drive do you have?
same. well i called up dell, they asked to switch off laptop, take the battery off and after that re-start. It's working for me (till now atleast).

Blue screen issue is still pending, will try else will go for a replacement
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