8 responses so far ↓

• 1 Clements

  Dell computers are JUNK, to put it in the nicest words I can think of. My Inspiron was lousily constructed, couldn’t handle the carefullest of treatment. Had to be repaired umpteem times, and service? SERVICE?! Forget it. If I had a dime for every hour I spent on the line with New Delhi, I could have purchased MicroSoft by now.

  Pure Junk. Pure, unadulterated junk.

• 2 DiFilippo

  I am an IT person, and have used and tested many and many laptops. My Dell B130 works well as any other Dell I have had on the past (about 4) – However, I know its keyboard will fail within 1 year or so. The reason I know is that all my Dell laptops did. I still have an Inspiron 700m which I already replaced its keyboard twice in 3 years. The average is if you use the laptop daily, you will start having problems with your keyboard in about 1 year.

  I am not saying that the rest of the computer is bad, but I believe Dell is making a lot of monye just selling keyboards for $25.00

  GOOD TIP:
  ========
  If you want to know if your laptop has a WEAK keyboard, just go to ebay and look for its keyboard… if you find MANY of them, it means that it has a weak keyboard and will fail some keys in 1 year or less. This tip works for any laptop.

  I believe my next laptop will be a LENOVO.

• 3 Qu

  Bought this Laptop in June 2006, and I am typing my review with it now.
  Search around for best prices I paid $499 during one of Dell Days specials. It was reg. $859. I use this computer for surfing the net, emailing, and video editing.

  the only thing I have experienced that is a problem is that my cat chewed on the charger cord, I ordered one off eBay, but dont waste your money… they fit at first but soon wear out FAST. you will see that the plastic ring is a different color and will not fit tight. I ended up splicing the original charger cord together and back in business!
  The battery lasts for about 50 mins. but I dont have a need for that as I am always near a outlet.
  No overheating at all. Quiet fan

  NOTE: FOR FULL SYSTEM RESTORE HOLD ” CONTROL + F11 KEY ” AT BOOTUP.

  SPECS:
  Intel Pentium M 735 (1.70GHz/2MB Cache/400MHz FSB)
  15.4 inch WXGA Display
  1GB,DDR2,533MHz,2 DIMM,
  Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900
  60GB 5400rpm Hard Drive
  8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability

• 4 Ewing

  Order was filled and shipped within promised time and arrived in good condition. Will be glad to recommend seller anytime to my friends, etc.

• 5 Carlos

  Had mine since December 1999 but noticed that the battery failed after about 3 years, like the other poster wrote, APC didn’t list a replacement at first but now they do and I finally got around to replacing it. Battery type is RBC2 for those wondering.

  Solid unit, having a telephone line/out and USB controller is a plus.

• 6 Orue

  I have owned five of these UPS units over the past four years. I purchased three for my Mac and PC at home. Then I had to purchase two replacements for units that simply quit. Currently only ONE still works! I have very infrequent power outages, perhaps three in the past four years. These units work well to allow you to save your work and shut down. My G5 mac was so power hungry that I had to use one for the computer and another for the 23 inch LCD. I can’t comment on other UPS brands such as Belkin, but I have seen many competing brands on the web and at the computer stores. There seen to be quite a few dealers selling refurbished APC products but this may be a reflection of APC’s popularity rather than the poor reliability of their brand. My experience over the past four years has been mixed. These are not inexpensive units and you have to decide how precious your data becomes. If you really fear the loss of data during a blackout then the answer is clear. I chose to switch to high quality surge suppressors and never work during potential storms. Many users do not have that flexibility so a UPS is essential insurance. The units I puchased were identical and only one unit is still operational after four years. I can accept the need to replace the battery every one to two years; three of the batteries failed and alarms beeped until I bought new batteries. Prices vary from $15 to $50 depending on the vendor. Battery life depends on many factors so I don’t begrudge APC for wear and tear on the battery but to have 4 out of 5 units simply stop working is unacceptable. I bought APC branded batteries and can’t explain why the recurrent failures. I’m frustated with my APC products but it may be a problem with this model. Just beware of the hidden costs of battery replacement when purchasing an UPS!

• 7 Quispe

  I have owned one of these UPS’s for about 3 years. Earlier this year the alarms went off indicating that the battery needed replacement. I thought that was odd considering the age of the unit. No problem though, I’ll just log onto APC’s website and order a replacement battery. Wasn’t I surprised to see that APC indicates that this model doesn’t have a replacable battery. This didn’t make much sense to me since the unit has an access door to the battery compartment.

  Well, I removed the battery and found a web vendor that had a replacement for $18. It is a very common 12volt cell and was available from several vendors. The unit is back up and working well again.

  I have experienced several black-outs in the past few years and this UPS can keep my CPU, 19″ monitor, cable modem & network switch operable for enough time to save any work in progress and shut down my system.

  In closing, it is a well designed unit with adequate power for most home or small office systems. But I was a little put off by the short life of the original battery and incorrect replacement information listed by APC.

• 8 Unbedacht

  I have had three of these units for the past 5-6 years (one for my PC, one for the wife’s and one for the Tivo & cable box). We have relatively unreliable power here with it going off an average of once a month — usually for seconds at a time but occasionally for hours. Anyway these units have kept our stuff safe and running. However they don’t last too long on battery power. Just long enough for short power outages or long enough to shut things down.

  The batteries wore out after about 2-3 years so I replaced them using batteries from a web vendor. Now the first battery of this second round has failed so I’m buying another round of three batteries.

  Hopefully these units will last many more years.

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