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This is the last of the brands that I looked at but definitely not the least. DELL has always been known to slash prices and give great offers. So I was anticipating a good bargain. That and the chance to look at DELL’s new Axim51v which has been the buzz for a while now since its release. So lets see what I found at DELL’s booth.

DELL
We were actually ambushed while we were walking through Hall 1 of the PIKOM PC fair in KLCC. Promoters from DELL were running loose in the Hall handing out flyers and basically trying to steer people away from the beautiful models in the room and towards the DELL booth in Hall 4. I went to get one of the flyers and the promoter immediately started to talk about the DELL’s best promotions. We listened, looked at the brochures, and were impressed. But Hall 4 was far away from where we were. 10 minutes later, we were ambushed again by the same promoter in Hall 2. Damn, this gal and her support guy sure gets around! She didn’t really need to convince us since DELL was in our list of booths to visit anyway (DELL Axim51v!).

We got to the booth and immediately started looking at the DELL Inspiron 630m, which had the following specs:

• Intel Centrino Mobile Technology
• Intel Pentium M Processor 740, 2MB L2 cache, 1.73GHz, 533MHz FSB
• Genuin Windows XP Home edition
• 14.1″ Wide screen XGA TFT display
• 512MB DDR2 SDRAM
• 60GB Ultra ATA hard drive (upgraded to 80GB for free)
• Integrated Intel graphics media accelerator 900
• 24X CD burner/DVD combo drive
• 1 year limited warranty (next business day on-site service)
• Free deluxe nylon carry case
• Free delivery

It looks good for the price, I suppose. But I’ve seen too many high-end notebooks to settle for this one. DANGNAMIT! But to look at it objectively, I’ve always been impressed by DELL’s commitment to service. Their 1 year limited warranty actually covers ALOT! 3 years back, a colleague’s DELL notebook broke down due to motherboard failure. A phone call to DELL and they were there the next day with a new motherboard, no questions asked (well, a few asked but not too much hassle). Similarly, when the keyboard broke, we only had to take a picture of it with a digicam and forward the image to their help desk and they sent someone over to replace it. That’s just cool IMHO. Aside from the service, the specs for notebook on offer is probably best categorised as at entry level. There’s nothing flashy about the peripherals included in the package. You even have to pay extra to upgrade the 14.1″ monitor to ‘UltraSharp’ (basically, it means that the screen is viewable from all angles). Some of my colleagues are considering buying the model but no confirmed purchases yet.

Anyway, Eng Lee and I were after the Axim 51v. We managed to find the person holding the unit but it was out of power! See no touch, touch no play! Noooo… Apparently, the battery lasts for 3 hours. The saleslady told us to come back tomorrow (today… well, yesterday) if we wanted a look. Why didn’t they bring the charger along?? Anyway, I’m heading back over to KLCC tomorrow for a closer look at the VAIO U-series and maybe take a peek at the 51v. On a side note, Lincoln has BOUGHT the Axim51! So even if the batteries are dead when I get there, I can still have a look at Lincoln’s. Afterall, he stays only 3 houses down. I think I’ll just waylay him when the delivery arrives.