Dell Inspiron 5100 | ZDNet
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`https://www.zdnet.com/product/dell-inspiron-5100/
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`Dell Inspiron 5100 | ZDNet
`
`https://www.zdnet.com/product/dell-inspiron-5100/
`
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`Dell Inspiron 5100
`
`Dell's first model in its revamped consumer notebook range, the mainstream
`Inspiron 5100, is different both inside and out. Gone is the buttoned-down grey
`case, to be replaced by a two-tone 'Venice blue and moonlight silver' design --
`no, we're not making this up. Things are different under the lid as well, with a
`new keyboard and touchpad configuration. Inside, you'll find cutting-edge,
`dual-band wireless antennae, a fast Pentium 4 processor, and an enormous
`battery. These specifications made for excellent performance and reasonable
`battery life in our performance tests. Must cost a pretty penny, right? Wrong.
`The Inspiron 5100 range starts at £801 (ex. VAT). For the home user, the
`Inspiron 5100 is faster, longer lasting, and lower priced (in some
`configurations) than other mainstream notebooks, making it an Editors'
`Choices in this category.
`
`Written by Stephanie Bruzzese and  Charles McLellan on March 3, 2003
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`Dell Inspiron 5100 | ZDNet
`
`https://www.zdnet.com/product/dell-inspiron-5100/
`
`8.0 Dell Inspiron 5100
`
`Excellent
`
`Like
`
`Excellent performance
`
`reasonable battery life
`
`attractive price
`
`big display
`
`integrated dual-band 802.11a/b wireless antennae.
`
`Don't Like
`
`Big and heavy
`
`media bay is fixed rather than modular.
`
`Dell's first model in its revamped consumer notebook range, the mainstream
`Inspiron 5100, is different both inside and out. Gone is the buttoned-down grey
`case, to be replaced by a two-tone 'Venice blue and moonlight silver' design --
`no, we're not making this up. Things are different under the lid as well, with a
`new keyboard and touchpad configuration. Inside, you'll find cutting-edge,
`dual-band wireless antennae, a fast Pentium 4 processor, and an enormous
`battery. These specifications made for excellent performance and reasonable
`battery life in our performance tests. Must cost a pretty penny, right? Wrong.
`The Inspiron 5100 range starts at £801 (ex. VAT). For the home user, the
`
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`Dell Inspiron 5100 | ZDNet
`
`https://www.zdnet.com/product/dell-inspiron-5100/
`
`Inspiron 5100 is faster, longer lasting, and lower priced (in some
`configurations) than other mainstream notebooks, making it an Editors'
`Choices in this category.
`
`Design
`The mainstream Inspiron 5100 series shows off a refreshing new colour
`scheme for Dell. The blue-and-silver case also has blue accents on the lid, the
`touchpad, the two standard mouse buttons and the strip above the keyboard.
`The case, which measures 33.5cm by 27.5cm by 4.65cm, has changed in
`another significant way: it now weighs a hefty 3.5kg. The blame lies primarily
`with its big 15in. display and giant 6,450mAh battery. Why such a big battery?
`Dell had to compensate for the 5100's power-hungry, desktop Pentium 4
`processor, which lacks the battery-conserving capabilities of mobile CPUs. You
`can keep weight (and cost) down a bit by specifying a 14.1in. display instead.
`Dell has also reworked the keyboard. The new layout is less familiar but is
`comfortable nevertheless. There’s a single programmable button above the
`keyboard, but another cool Dell trademark, the dual touchpad/pointing-stick
`option, is gone -- the 5100 comes with a touchpad only. Floppies take another
`step toward oblivion in the new Inspiron range, as Dell omits them as a
`standard feature, although you can add an external USB floppy drive.
`Secondary storage now comes solely in optical form, with your choice of CD-
`RW, DVD or DVD/CD-RW drives filling the single internal bay. Unfortunately,
`the bay is fixed -- meaning you can't swap out a drive to insert another module
`such as a second battery or hard drive. Also, the primary battery bay only
`accepts batteries and doesn't take any other media drives. This big
`mainstream notebook offers all the right ports and slots. The left edge sports
`headphone and microphone ports, one Type II PC Card slot and your choice of
`integrated secondary optical storage drive (our review system shipped with a
`DVD/CD-RW combo drive). The right edge includes a 56Kbps modem jack,
`while the rear edge provides S-Video out, VGA, FireWire, Ethernet, two fast
`USB 2.0 ports and the grill for a big fan that keeps all of the components cool.
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`Dell Inspiron 5100 | ZDNet
`
`https://www.zdnet.com/product/dell-inspiron-5100/
`
`Features
`Dell provides a long list of options for the Inspiron 5100 so you can configure it
`to suit your budget. The desktop Pentium 4 processors come in speeds
`ranging from 2.4GHz to 2.8GHz. Fast, 266MHz DDR SDRAM is available from
`128MB up to 1GB. The ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics chips come with
`either 16MB or 32MB of dedicated video memory. Hard drive choices consist
`of 30GB and 40GB units. Display options range 14.1in. with a native resolution
`of 1,024 by 768 pixels, to 15in. at a graphics-friendly 1,400 by 1,050 pixels. You
`can choose among CD-RW, DVD and DVD/CD-RW drives to fill the system's
`internal fixed bay. The system we tested included a 2.8GHz Pentium 4, 512MB
`of RAM, a 32MB ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics chip and a 40GB hard
`drive spinning at 5,400rpm. One unusual feature of the Inspiron 5100 is its
`built-in, dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) wireless antennae, which should
`optimise signal reception. Although Dell currently offers only an 802.11b
`wireless option for the 5100, the antennae will support nascent 802.11g
`technology when Dell begins selling it in the future. All 5100s ship with the
`antennae regardless of whether you configure your system with mini-PCI
`wireless when you buy. You can conveniently add a mini-PCI card yourself at a
`later date by flipping open the small plastic ‘door’ underneath the system. The
`Inspiron 5100 is stocked with all of the software you need for work or play.
`Two operating systems are available: Windows XP Home and Windows XP
`Professional. Office suite choices include Microsoft Works and Microsoft Office
`XP (Small Business or Professional). Third-party applications include
`InterVideo’s WinDVD for DVD playback, and Roxio’s Easy CD Creator for CD
`burning.
`
`Performance & battery life
`The 2.8GHz Inspiron 5100 showed impressive speed in our performance tests,
`while battery life was reasonable considering the power of this system’s
`desktop CPU. The Inspiron 5100 delivered record-breaking scores of 59.5 and
`42.4 respectively under the application-based Business Winstone 2001 and
`Content Creation Winstone 2002 tests, beating Compaq’s workstation-class
`5/20/22, 4:52 PM
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`Dell Inspiron 5100 | ZDNet
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`https://www.zdnet.com/product/dell-inspiron-5100/
`
`Content Creation Winstone 2002 tests, beating Compaq’s workstation-class
`2.2GHz Evo 800w by a clear margin. The system performed pretty well in our
`battery life tests, lasting for 2 hours 38 minutes under BatteryMark 4.01 and 2
`hours 42 minutes under MobileMark 2002. The Inspiron 5100's hefty
`6,450mAh battery obviously has its work cut out when handling a high-speed
`2.8GHz processor and a 15in. display, but anything over 2.5 hours isn't bad at
`all.
`
`Service & support
`A standard one-year collect and return warranty is the baseline warranty for
`the Inspiron 5100. Of course, you can substantially enhance your warranty with
`a variety of options, including three years of service, on-site repair, accidental
`damage protection and express service. Dell holds your hand tightly with its
`helpful Solution Centre software, which the company preloads on each 5100.
`This extensive application supplies a user guide, how-tos, links to online
`support options such as Dell's customer communities and more.
`
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`Dell Inspiron 5100 | ZDNet
`
`https://www.zdnet.com/product/dell-inspiron-5100/
`
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`Dell Inspiron 5100 | ZDNet
`
`https://www.zdnet.com/product/dell-inspiron-5100/
`
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