Customer Reviews

Dell Inspiron i1764-6075OBK 1764 17.3-Inch Laptop (Obsidian Black)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

UPDATE:::: 3+ Weeks since I got this.... More bulky softwares(even ones that run during start up) / games / videos have gone in, but the performance is absolutely the same. Audio capabilities of this laptop is simply stunning.... I have a HDTV and a Sony Home theater system. When I connect this laptop to the TV and listen to MP3 songs, the audio output is just amazing.... Made me feel like dancing to the rhythm.... I am comparing this with a 2 year old Gateway laptop that I own (does not have a HDMI connectivity, so use VGA Cables instead... So I understand that I'm not comparing apples with apples :-), but still.... ). I don't use this laptop primarily for gaming... But I did try playing Tales of the Monkey Island in complete high settings, and the video and audio were awesome. Connect it to your HDTV and enhance the experience.....

I went and got this from a BestBuy store near my place.... I actually got to compare it with the core i3 laptops.... I restarted all the systems and then tried opening the programs at the same time and clocked them.... I5 has a way more superior load time as compared to the i3 and Core 2 duo systems. Note that BB has the same softwares installed on all of its laptops (as long as the OS is the same).

I loved the large screen... My requirement was a laptop to be a desktop replacement that would mostly be moved just within my home... So the weight of this product didn't bother me much. If your main requirement is mobility, DO NOT go for this laptop... It can be quite heavy....

After hearing loads of negative reviews about Win 7, I didn't expect too much out of it... However, I am beginning to like it a lot... It has some cool features that I find real user friendly.... Specially the shortcut tray on the top of your screen.... Its so customizable and handy... U don't have to minimize your open windows to access it... just take the pointer to the top portion of the screen and hold for a second or two, and it shows up... No more clumsy icons on the desktop.....

Aero theme on Windows 7 looks pretty stunning too.... Note that this takes a lot of memory though... The configuration on this system has no problems handling it.... I have loaded my system with loads of softwares and still the boot time is amazingly fast... Shutdown is even better....

Battery life is pretty good for a laptop with such huge screen size....

One last thing is this: Function keys are by default set to be used with the "Fn" key only.... For example pressing the F1 key on your keyboard would open up the chose monitor option and not help on a particular software..... In order to do that you will have to press the "Fn" + the F1 key... I felt this to be an annoyance, as I use Alt + F4 to close windows. This wouldn't work as F4 is assigned as a Mute button and the laptop mutes the sound instead....

However, I recently realized that this functionality could be changed by going into the BIOS. Just meddle around the various tabs and you should be able to find that option.... Once you change that to default to Function keys and not Multimedia keys.... everything would be perfect (at least it was for me :) )

Good luck with any laptop that you decide to buy....

I have had this laptop for the last 2 weeks. I just love it. The screen size is pefect. I dont have to travel much so the size suits me well. The laptop is quite fast and the screen is bright (HD LED). The audio is really great. Well one thing Dell ought to have improved is the noise of the fan. Otherwise no complaints.

I purchased an Inspiron 1764 laptop primarily because the combination of specs, features and price was unbeatable.

The system began to malfunction shortly after I installed basic security and office software. It would not connect to my HP printer. There were local network and driver errors, along with frequent hangs, bluescreen crashes and other problems. Dell tech support blamed me for "corrupting" their operating system and said I would have to pay extra for software service, since their "limited" warranty covers only hardware. I restored the machine to factory settings, only to see the problems reappear. Despite my extensive experience as a computer professional, I was unable to fix the software problems. Internet research showed I was not alone.

These issues appear to be specific to Dell systems, since I have another vendor's laptop also running Windows 7 and the identical application software, with no problems whatsoever. I have been a loyal Dell customer for twelve years, but their consumer unfriendly attitude and lack of proper support left me no choice but to return the laptop for a refund. Readers are advised to think long and hard before choosing Dell.

This is a huge laptop... But, you know that since it's a 17" laptop. It's quick... pretty quiet. And I also use this as a home multimedia computer. So, I'm often plugging it in to my TV via the HDMI connection. It has no problem enabling and disabling the dual monitor mode when plugged in and unplugged.

The only issue that I have is that it doesn't seem to like to wake up from hibernate. So, I just don't ever hibernate it. Not a big deal for me anyway. And, in my experience with computers, hibernate is a hit and miss thing anyway.

Had this model for 5 months and have contacted tech support at least 15 times.They were and still are unable to fix or diagnose problems.Was sent a new hard drive,still the same problem,which is the graphix and intermitently going to a white screen which after restart goes away.They offered for me to ship it to them I said no but opted to recieve a refurbished replacement.As soon as I recieve it I will put it up for sale and never purchase any Dell product again.

I just spent nearly 3 hours on the phone with Dell tech support trying to resolve yet another problem with my 3-month-old, barely used Inspirion 1764. They're now sending me a new hard drive. But that's ony after major headaches dealing with their customer support staff. The first 50 minutes of the marathon call with tech support involved being transferred between three different people. The last of them, after 10 minutes re-collecting more information, informed me that because my problem involved "software", it would cost me $249 to buy a premium support service to have them look into it. Only after refusing and making my displeasure known, did a supervisor take a closer look at the situation and admit that there's an issue with the hard drive. This computer has been lightly used in its first three months, yet this was my second (lengthy) call to tech support (the first involved the touchpad mouse ceasing to work). The computer, when it's functioning, is lovely. I chose it because it received a high rating from a national consumer magazine. But I'm tired of spending my weekends on the phone with Dell tech support.

Purchased this as our first laptop. It is great! Nearly full size keyboard and the number pad is a great plus. It is large so we will probably not travel with it very much but obviously could if we needed to take it with us. Screen size was the driving reason for making this purchase because the larger size makes viewing very easy as our eyes are not as good as they once were.

I bought an inspiron 1764 from dell. When the microwave gets turned on my internet is lost. Never happened with my Toshiba!! First off, I will say that Dell customer service is the worst!!! Never have I seen such bad service. I complained to the BBB and they sent out a technician with a new wireless card but we spent 2 hours trying to download the driver. Then the technician came out again and they sent the same damn wireless card and we had the same damn problem!!! They wanted to leave that card in my laptop and then have me call their software division to get it working...Since I knew how incompetent dell was I said no!! When I tried to call them back they said the person I was speaking to would call them back and I never heard from him!!! If you want to risk buying a laptop from dell with very bad customer service, then I wish you the best. My Toshiba was a great laptop and have heard people praise Toshiba and people say the same about dell as I have!!!

well, where does my tale of woe begin?

shall i start with the part where i got the laptop, spent two weeks installing all my software and getting the system just the way i wanted it, only to find out that for some reason, the screen would not dim down with the f4 key? it was stuck on high bright. yack. so i made the mistake of calling dell, instead of immediately returning this P.O.S. as fast as i could, in order to remove this most unclean thing from my possession. unaware of my impending doom, and proceeding with the former, i pushed those fateful phone buttons. as other reviewers have stated, after about 40 min of verifying my info, only to have to do this 2 more times with two more people (3 call transfers!), i explained the problem to someone on the other end of this phone line (pray tell, where might that be - ha ha), who had as much grasp of the english language as i would have of a greased pig. going over the problem and having him incorrectly paraphrase the problem back to me 5, yes fffiiivvveee times, i should have cut and run. ugh. he takes remote control of the machine, and wanders around the computer as a young child would attending a birthday party at which they know no one. opening the same dialog boxes 3 times, looking for a setting (this is insanity - doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results) and not finding it. clicking on things COMPLETELY unrelated to the issue, and i know this because i have been a professional engineer for the last 30 years, starting with using the very first IBM PC XT when it came out in 1980. after an hour of aimless wandering, making me feel like lawrence of arabia in some backwards parallel universe, he concludes (without any evidence mind you), that the registry is corrupted. repeating this over and over like a parrot from hell. braaahhhkkkk. he adds a new user, saying this will solve the problem as each user has their own ENTIRELY separate copy of the registry. NOT! he doesnt know about HKLM, or the Handle to a registry Key of the Local Machine, meaning there are settings for the machine to be a machine, independent of the user. his fix fails miserably. duh. we spend three hours on a marathon call, tells me this is a SOFTWARE issue as I IIIIIIII have done something to the system to corrupt it, again with that same f*****g parrot. for $250, i can talk to their software dept, this being only 1/3 of the purchase price of the laptop. barf. or, he says we can bring the system to factory default. NFW! i have spent SO much time on it. i clone the drive, swap it out, and call back again to try to fix the problem. he tries to restore it, only to have THAT not work, saying i have corrupted the HIDDEN restore partition on the hdd. UN-effing-BELIEVABLE. so as new systems dont come with a windows 7 cd (because dell is going green), a guy comes out, takes the original hdd out of the machine, puts in one with a new image, gives me cds this time, so that should do it. after a day, the machine blue screens a ton, has strange behavior, programs dont work right, and is highly unstable. another call, they say to reinstall from cds. infuriating. all while telling he how committed they are to my satisfaction and will move heaven and earth to make that happen. all lies. i get to the escalation person, say that i want another disk that was like the one in the laptop when i opened the box. he says the machine i bought has been discontinued (after a matter of 2 months!!!), and has no way to give me what i ask for. after going 'round-n-'round for 45 min, he says he has no way of knowing what software i installed on my system, and cannot rebuild it for me on his own. OMFG. LIGHTS GO ON. alllll this time, hes been thinking i wanted him to give me a disk with all my stuff installed, just before things went south. NOOOO you big dummy. like the one out of the box, u rat b*****d! this guy doesnt know engrish. or linglish, rather. he says he cant do that either. hahahahah. he says he has now way of knowing what disk shipped with my system. USE YOUR OWN DELL SERVICE TAG SYSTEM, nincompoop. he still says he has no way of knowing. he starts talking about multiple disks, i say theres only one, and that hes just plain wrong. hes talking about cd disks, im talking about a hard disk. he goes on the explain he has been trained by americans that a disk means a plastic disk, and never a hard disk, as there are no disks in a hard disk. WTF do things get recorded on inside a hdd? rhinoceros toenails? he goes on to explain that only something that is plastic and has pits burned into it can be called a disk. a hard disk is not a disk because it records magnetically. oh sweet jesus. the lack of his language understanding is atrocious. i told him if he was an AMERICAN, who grew up in AMERICA, this convo would have taken 2 mins, not an hour. he gets defensive, yada yada. i dont mind talking to people who are white, black, red, green, brown, or purple. AS LONG AS THEY KNOW AMERICAN ENGLISH. fudge and popsicles. he AGAIN tells me that my satisfaction is his only goal in life. now im boiling. i tell him ive bought dells for nigh on two decades, have been loyal, and that these last few calls to tech support will make me never buy a dell again. ill tell my friends not to buy dells, blog about it, broadcast it on facebook, write it in smoke signals, etc. i tell him to close all cases regarding my service tag, lose my phone number, never call me again, and that i am DONE with dell. DDDOONNEEE. they keep calling. i keep not answering.

or shall i start with the fact that the system still has intermittent problems, blue screens now and then, and is overall a heap of stinking garbage? reiterating others here, getting the phone shuffle and multiple re-info verifying treatment, and them wanting $250 to talk to an AMERICAN in AMERICA, dell should just die off as more and more people stop buying dells. darwins law. badly designed things die off. i just wish it had been before i bought this last laptop.

so in summary, dell has shipped tech support offshore to parts unknown, where they probably ride camels to work, or brahma bulls, rather. they dont know the english language good enuff to be helpful, are so disgustingly under trained, lie about how satisfied i will be... which brings up another point. i have a favorite supplier of network equipment. stuff works great. i had to call them because im new to setting up networks, not to computers. they ask for my phone number, and ask how they can help, while their files are coming up. they dont need to tell me how satisfied i WILL be. they just plain satisfy me. its like a guy in a bar, telling a girl how good he is in bed. so she lets him have a shot at the title, only to find an appaling lack of performance. if he was good, he would just do it, and not TALK about HOW GOOD he can do it. getting back to this company's tech support, BEST OF ALL, i get to talk to someone who is LIKE ME. MEEEEEEEE. oh the sheer joy. communication! a god send. and no messed up thick accents. i returned all the networking stuff i had bought from other manufacturers, and got only stuff from them. there stuff is priced very competitively, so theyre doing something right.

so in conclusion, even the dell hardware is of such low quality, it leaves a metallic taste in my mouth. americans want low prices. we get stuff made in china, supported by people in india. and dell ships all the jobs out of america. i would pay double to get a quality product.

asus for me from now on.

After reading some of the other reviews, I thought twice about buying this computer. However, I have had no problems with it at all. I followed the instructions for setting up the system and the operating system loads very quickly. Setting up the wireless internet connection was very simple. It detected the router and I was online in a few minutes. The screen is very clear and movies look very good, however the sound coming out of the built in speakers is not as good as I expected.