This review is from: Dell Inspiron Mini Duo 3487FNT Convertible Laptop/Tablet (Foggy Night) (Personal Computers)
I got this a week ago and have been playing with it nonstop since.
There are three things you need to be aware of when purchasing this:
1) The screen is even smaller than on most netbooks because of the flip design. The versatility more than makes up for it though.
2) The battery is not removable and is good for about 3 hours.
3) Windows 7 Home Premium only likes to view drives on other machines running Windows 7. My home PC was running Vista. It could look at and access the drives on the Duo; but the Dou will only look at drives in it’s Homegroup. Only Windows 7 supports homegroups. I upgraded my desktop to Windows 7 Home Premium and now they network amazingly well. Setup was a snap.
I have thick fingers, but I haven’t found that I need to use the stylus (bought separately) with it. The keyboard is well laid out. The touch screen took a little getting used to. Voice recognition works very well in a quiet environment. Between the three, I haven’t even bothered to install the wireless mouse I got to use with it.
It boots up quickly. It’s nice and fast. It has a lot less bloatware than most machines come with.
I was surprized at how solid it feels because it’s so tiny. The entire unit looks and feels well made.
It’s small and light enough to go anywhere; but powerful enough to do real computing. It’s a great second computer. It syncs easily with my desktop now that both run W7. I was able to share my internal and external drives between both machines, including the DVD burner in my desktop.
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This review is from: Dell Inspiron Mini Duo 3487FNT Convertible Laptop/Tablet (Foggy Night) (Personal Computers)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program(What’s this?)
I will be updating this review in about two weeks, but I think what has happened with the product so far warrants review as it’s an experience I would want to know about when making my purchase.
I currently have an iPad but was given the opportunity to review the Dell Inspiron Mini Duo. My first impression out of the box was that this is an impressive product. The casing appeared to be high quality, with good button response and a firm swivel to the screen. The back was much nicer than my iPad, the grip is smooth and comfortable. Certainly on specs alone I was extremely interested in what this tablet / laptop combination had to offer. During set up I was also impressed with the the ease of using the touch pad. (Non-responsive lap top touch pads are a key issue for me.) All the signs were good. Setup took an extremely long time, with what seemed to be numerous unneeded ‘I Agree’ and set up screens. I expect that when working with Windows, so no points off there. Just as all of the set up was complete and it was time to configure the security software preinstalled, the screen went black. The system crashed completely, and the error beeps indicate a motherboard failure. Still no points off, while unfortunate, defective hardware can occur. I called the help line.
After 14 minutes on hold, I reached a person. She was extremely polite but it was very difficult for us to understand each other so a lot of repeating was involved. At 25 minutes into the call she had taken my name and we were discussing the problem. Despite telling her the screen had gone black she wanted to know what error code I saw. Nothing, the screen is black and the unit is beeping. (I can’t turn it off either.) Despite telling her I had gotten the unit less than an hour ago, she went over the data loss I would be experiencing and explained that I needed to return the unit for repair, sans attachments. I explained I had no attachments and asked why I was sending a brand new unit in for repair. Why wouldn’t it be exchanged? The answer was that it needs to be repaired. At 32 minutes into the call she had taken my address and explained it would be two weeks for the unit to come back to me. I let her know I had a review on the product due, was this the only option? It was.
If I had purchased this unit at retail price, I would be extremely upset with Dell. Here the points start coming off. She transferred me to a supervisor to rate her helpfulness. I said she was quite polite, and the supervisor asked if she had informed me there would be data loss. I told him there was no data to lose, the unit had arrived this afternoon and failed during set up. I explained I needed to review the product, was there an exchange option open? He assured me the unit would be back from repair in 8 to 10 days if I mailed the unit in promptly. I thanked him. I will update this review when the repaired unit arrives, but if I had purchased this product I would have refunded it. I am disappointed in the product so far and could not in good faith recommend it. Hopefully, my impression will be more favorable when I have the repaired unit to test.
UPDATED to 2 stars 2/26 – I was called by Dell technical support today and told not to send the unit in as this was a ‘known issue’. Tech support said they found this problem could be solved by booting up in test function, and then ignoring the test. (In order to do this, I turned it on while holding down the FN key, then bypassed the screen when it did boot. I did not get a repeat of the black screen.) No explanation was offered or understood as to the cause of the black screen or not being able to turn the unit off, but the unit is working now. I am charging it overnight and should update the review again by the 28th. I still don’t know the cause of the initial failures, and tech says if the problem becomes chronic (we weren’t able to agree on a definition of chronic) that it should be sent in for repair. I spoke with two people at tech support today and they were as helpful in the phone call as they were unhelpful in the prior. Both apologized for the problem occurring and not being resolved prior, both urged me to contact them via an email they sent to me (received) for future need. A cynic would think they read the review, but I think it’s more likely someone caught the work order and questioned it.
UPDATED to 3 stars 3/1 – I’ve been using the Inspiron Mini Duo for a few days. I have my reservations about it because of the CS experience and the lack of explanation for why it bricked, giving a false code for motherboard failure. Knowing that could happen again at any time means backups have to be religious and external. (A good idea, but not one the average netbook user is going to follow). Setting that aside, I do like the design of this unit. The touch screen was responsive even before I calibrated it for personal use. Flipping the screen from netbook to tablet in the…
This review is from: Dell Inspiron Mini Duo 3487FNT Convertible Laptop/Tablet (Foggy Night) (Personal Computers)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program(What’s this?)
We got this computer Saturday and have not stopped playing with it. My first impressions were that the size was perfect and the flip screen was an excellent added bonus. Just the flip screen alone would make me buy this over other computers, and then the fact that it is a touchscreen sealed the deal. All in all this, is a wonderful mini computer with a few flaws, but nothing that is a deal breaker. This computer comes with all the features standard on Windows 7. Also comes with a trial version of Microsoft Office, but I do not find the need to buy the license since this is not my primary computer.
Touch Screen -The thing I was most excited to try out, it is responsive and easy to use. -when the screen is flipped a little slide out keyboard can be seen midway up on the left side, one touch and it slides out. -here you can type with the keyboard, or you can draw letters with your fingers and it will automatically turn it into text -the touchscreen takes a little bit to get used to in terms of learning where to touch to get the right letters hit, but what helps you to learn where you are actually touching the screen, is a little tiny diamond appears where your finder hits the screen, so you can see if you need to go more to the left or the right to get a precise touch. -if the computer included a stylus that would be a much welcome addition. -I love the fact that I can flip the screen and use it as an e-reader. Works will with the Kindle app as well, plus you get the bonus of a color screen when you’re reading.
Camera -We used google chat to test out the camera an it worked really well, no bells and whistles (there is a camera program that you can use to make different backgrounds, etc. But nothing special) -the camera program takes a minute to load, but works well once it is loaded
Storage -With a 320GB hard drive, it had more space than my first 4 computers did, combined! Need I say more? -Immediately loaded over 4,000 songs onto the hard drive and this did not slow down the computer or even put a dent in the available space.
Keyboard -I do not think the keyboard is small and the keys are just the right size -the keys are reasonably spaced, like that of a MacBook and look nice
Battery -The battery life isn’t spectacular, but 3.5 hours and it runs a whole computer I think is pretty good.
Flash -Love that it has flash (Sorry iPad)
Cons -with only 2GB of RAM to run most programs, sometimes things load slowly (well, most of the time things run slowly). When next to a MacBook Pro, the MacBook took 2 seconds to load most web pages while the net book too about 10 seconds. But this isn’t supposed to be a primary computer, and it has half the RAM that the MacBook has, so thats not a big deal. -no card reader, but it has 2 usb ports which is nice for loading media -I really wish it came with the dock, which has a card reader -I wish it came with a stylus, but this can also be ordered separately -sometimes the cursor gets lost on the screen while using the touchpad. The only way to bring it back is to touch the screen.
So long story short, this is definitely the best mini computer in its class because of the large hardrive (most are about $200 less and have 1GB RAM and a 250GB hardrive) with all the advances in technology, I think it is definitely worth the investment to get the bigger hard drive. This netbook is so portable, I cannot wait to travel with it, yet nothing is compromised or left behind because its large hard drive. Overall, I have to keep telling myself that this is a netbook, not a regular computer. As a netbook, this Dell does the job and does the job well. Dell hit the mark with the touchscreen, and I can’t wait to see what they come out with next!
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Authors bio is coming up shortly. 
Awesome little machine,
I got this a week ago and have been playing with it nonstop since.
There are three things you need to be aware of when purchasing this:
1) The screen is even smaller than on most netbooks because of the flip design. The versatility more than makes up for it though.
2) The battery is not removable and is good for about 3 hours.
3) Windows 7 Home Premium only likes to view drives on other machines running Windows 7. My home PC was running Vista. It could look at and access the drives on the Duo; but the Dou will only look at drives in it’s Homegroup. Only Windows 7 supports homegroups. I upgraded my desktop to Windows 7 Home Premium and now they network amazingly well. Setup was a snap.
I have thick fingers, but I haven’t found that I need to use the stylus (bought separately) with it. The keyboard is well laid out. The touch screen took a little getting used to. Voice recognition works very well in a quiet environment. Between the three, I haven’t even bothered to install the wireless mouse I got to use with it.
It boots up quickly. It’s nice and fast. It has a lot less bloatware than most machines come with.
I was surprized at how solid it feels because it’s so tiny. The entire unit looks and feels well made.
It’s small and light enough to go anywhere; but powerful enough to do real computing. It’s a great second computer. It syncs easily with my desktop now that both run W7. I was able to share my internal and external drives between both machines, including the DVD burner in my desktop.
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|Epic Fail (to) Beautiful & Slow,
I will be updating this review in about two weeks, but I think what has happened with the product so far warrants review as it’s an experience I would want to know about when making my purchase.
I currently have an iPad but was given the opportunity to review the Dell Inspiron Mini Duo. My first impression out of the box was that this is an impressive product. The casing appeared to be high quality, with good button response and a firm swivel to the screen. The back was much nicer than my iPad, the grip is smooth and comfortable. Certainly on specs alone I was extremely interested in what this tablet / laptop combination had to offer. During set up I was also impressed with the the ease of using the touch pad. (Non-responsive lap top touch pads are a key issue for me.) All the signs were good. Setup took an extremely long time, with what seemed to be numerous unneeded ‘I Agree’ and set up screens. I expect that when working with Windows, so no points off there. Just as all of the set up was complete and it was time to configure the security software preinstalled, the screen went black. The system crashed completely, and the error beeps indicate a motherboard failure. Still no points off, while unfortunate, defective hardware can occur. I called the help line.
After 14 minutes on hold, I reached a person. She was extremely polite but it was very difficult for us to understand each other so a lot of repeating was involved. At 25 minutes into the call she had taken my name and we were discussing the problem. Despite telling her the screen had gone black she wanted to know what error code I saw. Nothing, the screen is black and the unit is beeping. (I can’t turn it off either.) Despite telling her I had gotten the unit less than an hour ago, she went over the data loss I would be experiencing and explained that I needed to return the unit for repair, sans attachments. I explained I had no attachments and asked why I was sending a brand new unit in for repair. Why wouldn’t it be exchanged? The answer was that it needs to be repaired. At 32 minutes into the call she had taken my address and explained it would be two weeks for the unit to come back to me. I let her know I had a review on the product due, was this the only option? It was.
If I had purchased this unit at retail price, I would be extremely upset with Dell. Here the points start coming off. She transferred me to a supervisor to rate her helpfulness. I said she was quite polite, and the supervisor asked if she had informed me there would be data loss. I told him there was no data to lose, the unit had arrived this afternoon and failed during set up. I explained I needed to review the product, was there an exchange option open? He assured me the unit would be back from repair in 8 to 10 days if I mailed the unit in promptly. I thanked him. I will update this review when the repaired unit arrives, but if I had purchased this product I would have refunded it. I am disappointed in the product so far and could not in good faith recommend it. Hopefully, my impression will be more favorable when I have the repaired unit to test.
UPDATED to 2 stars 2/26 – I was called by Dell technical support today and told not to send the unit in as this was a ‘known issue’. Tech support said they found this problem could be solved by booting up in test function, and then ignoring the test. (In order to do this, I turned it on while holding down the FN key, then bypassed the screen when it did boot. I did not get a repeat of the black screen.) No explanation was offered or understood as to the cause of the black screen or not being able to turn the unit off, but the unit is working now. I am charging it overnight and should update the review again by the 28th. I still don’t know the cause of the initial failures, and tech says if the problem becomes chronic (we weren’t able to agree on a definition of chronic) that it should be sent in for repair. I spoke with two people at tech support today and they were as helpful in the phone call as they were unhelpful in the prior. Both apologized for the problem occurring and not being resolved prior, both urged me to contact them via an email they sent to me (received) for future need. A cynic would think they read the review, but I think it’s more likely someone caught the work order and questioned it.
UPDATED to 3 stars 3/1 – I’ve been using the Inspiron Mini Duo for a few days. I have my reservations about it because of the CS experience and the lack of explanation for why it bricked, giving a false code for motherboard failure. Knowing that could happen again at any time means backups have to be religious and external. (A good idea, but not one the average netbook user is going to follow). Setting that aside, I do like the design of this unit. The touch screen was responsive even before I calibrated it for personal use. Flipping the screen from netbook to tablet in the…
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|Little guy packs a lot of punch!,
We got this computer Saturday and have not stopped playing with it. My first impressions were that the size was perfect and the flip screen was an excellent added bonus. Just the flip screen alone would make me buy this over other computers, and then the fact that it is a touchscreen sealed the deal. All in all this, is a wonderful mini computer with a few flaws, but nothing that is a deal breaker. This computer comes with all the features standard on Windows 7. Also comes with a trial version of Microsoft Office, but I do not find the need to buy the license since this is not my primary computer.
Touch Screen
-The thing I was most excited to try out, it is responsive and easy to use.
-when the screen is flipped a little slide out keyboard can be seen midway up on the left side, one touch and it slides out.
-here you can type with the keyboard, or you can draw letters with your fingers and it will automatically turn it into text
-the touchscreen takes a little bit to get used to in terms of learning where to touch to get the right letters hit, but what helps you to learn where you are actually touching the screen, is a little tiny diamond appears where your finder hits the screen, so you can see if you need to go more to the left or the right to get a precise touch.
-if the computer included a stylus that would be a much welcome addition.
-I love the fact that I can flip the screen and use it as an e-reader. Works will with the Kindle app as well, plus you get the bonus of a color screen when you’re reading.
Camera
-We used google chat to test out the camera an it worked really well, no bells and whistles (there is a camera program that you can use to make different backgrounds, etc. But nothing special)
-the camera program takes a minute to load, but works well once it is loaded
Storage
-With a 320GB hard drive, it had more space than my first 4 computers did, combined! Need I say more?
-Immediately loaded over 4,000 songs onto the hard drive and this did not slow down the computer or even put a dent in the available space.
Keyboard
-I do not think the keyboard is small and the keys are just the right size
-the keys are reasonably spaced, like that of a MacBook and look nice
Battery
-The battery life isn’t spectacular, but 3.5 hours and it runs a whole computer I think is pretty good.
Flash
-Love that it has flash (Sorry iPad)
Cons
-with only 2GB of RAM to run most programs, sometimes things load slowly (well, most of the time things run slowly). When next to a MacBook Pro, the MacBook took 2 seconds to load most web pages while the net book too about 10 seconds. But this isn’t supposed to be a primary computer, and it has half the RAM that the MacBook has, so thats not a big deal.
-no card reader, but it has 2 usb ports which is nice for loading media
-I really wish it came with the dock, which has a card reader
-I wish it came with a stylus, but this can also be ordered separately
-sometimes the cursor gets lost on the screen while using the touchpad. The only way to bring it back is to touch the screen.
So long story short, this is definitely the best mini computer in its class because of the large hardrive (most are about $200 less and have 1GB RAM and a 250GB hardrive) with all the advances in technology, I think it is definitely worth the investment to get the bigger hard drive. This netbook is so portable, I cannot wait to travel with it, yet nothing is compromised or left behind because its large hard drive. Overall, I have to keep telling myself that this is a netbook, not a regular computer. As a netbook, this Dell does the job and does the job well. Dell hit the mark with the touchscreen, and I can’t wait to see what they come out with next!
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