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Dell Inspiron 9400

By Justin Jaffe, CNET.com on 29 March 2006

The Dell Inspiron 9400 packs a solid set of multimedia features, and when configured with Intel's Core Duo processor, it has enough power to speed through virtually any task, from editing video to playing games.

User rating:8.9

Comments (38)

  • lvlao gave 10/10 on 10/10/2006 20:24

    • Good: Performance
      Price!!!!!
      Display Quality (WUXGA)
      Gaming Performance (nvidia 7900GS)
      Quality HD (100GB 7200rpm)
      Not so Big (17'' screen)
    • Bad: No integrated MIC
      No serial port

    The Best Notebook at a good price

  • Anonymous gave 2/10 on 29/09/2006 21:45

    • Good: Speed! Thanks to the core duo, multi-tasking is a breeze
    • Bad: Poor Screen quality with the standard 1440x900 model. There is huge leakage reported on a large number of these laptops. There are also other weird display problems. If you look closely at the screen you get a 'zebra' effect. Odd numbered lines of pixels are lighter than the even numbered lines.

    Poor screen quality. Such a shame.

  • Alfonso del Granado gave 9/10 on 09/09/2006 07:47

    • Good: Comfortable work surface, decent battery life, good screen, fast CPU.
    • Bad: Heavy, no TV tuner, some chassis flex.

    Solid performer, and a steal at under $1K.

    Overall a good PC. Dell's recent price cuts make it a fantastic value. I tried both the nVidia and ATI and saw little difference. Although it's billed as a multimedia machine, it's such a solid performer that I'm buying several for our offices.

  • devnull gave 9/10 on 29/08/2006 19:15

    • Good: Fast, quiet, great screen. Runs kubuntu linux extremely well. 1920x1200 res is superb. 3D performance is good enough for my limiting gaming (ATI x1400).
    • Bad: A little heavy sure, but I lug it to work and back home again every day, so it cant be all that bad.

      Positioning of mousepad means I commonly hit the right mouse button while typing.

      Keyboard has already needed replacing, its too easy to accidentally flip a keytop off and break it.

      100G harddrive isnt actually 100G :)

    Im in love

    I think Ilias below needs to fix his/her OS. Ive seen nothing similar running the stock windows install or (now) kubuntu dapper.

  • Bhavik gave 2/10 on 28/08/2006 22:54

    • Good: it was fast.
    • Bad: way too big. cant travel. ruins the whole purpose of laptop. ill stick to the 9300 which is way better

    not the best.

    overall, 9300's better.

  • philby gave 9/10 on 23/08/2006 13:16

    • Good: Has Dual Core CPU & motherboard should support new Core 2 Duo CPU - new bios may be needed

      Great Graphic's card - up to the 256 7900 GO - Chassis with small mod for second cooling pipe will also fix 512 GTX 7900 card

      Good screen with 1900 x 1200 res display
    • Bad: Most have some light leakage (mine included)

      Not the best looking lappie

      no internal TV tuner

    A great option

    As far as bang for $$$ is concerned it's hard to past the 9400. With the option to be able to upgrade parts it allows the user to improve the components.

    I have not had any realiability issues with mine, and it's a factory second (see graysonline) cost me $2156 for a 9400 with all the bells 2.16gig CPU, GO 7800 GPU, 100gig HDD, 1900 x 1200 res, 9 cell battery. Battery lasts for 2.5 hours as a rule - will be less with hard gaming say closer to 1.5 with the GPU o/clocked.

    The unit is not the best looking but it's fast, scored 5500 in 3D mark05 & 3500 in 3D mark 06. GPU O/clocked to 361/900 using new video drivers.

    Display is really nice, I run 1600 x 1000 (keeping raito to 1.6:1) helps stop fuzzy text etc.

    An excellent desk top replacement, the unit feels very robust with metal chassis is a tad heavy but I do travel with this unit for work and the weight is similar to my Evo N800v (15inch).

    Have not had any issues with my unit - the DVD unit is not that great but I have yet to see a lappie which can give burns as good as a normal 16x DVD burner. So I normally only burn CD's on the lappie and use an external Benq DW1640 for DVD's.

    Runs vista fine, with all the graphic bells going so future performance should be fine. I expect to get around 3 - 5 years from this unit an will upgrade the GPU and CPU during this time.

    Overall I think you will be pressed to get a faster lappie for less $$$. It may not look like a beast but it sure run's like one.

  • Ilias gave 6/10 on 13/08/2006 23:23

    • Good: The computer is nice fast and all.
    • Bad: when running a CD or a DVD the performance takes a great hit, you can't use it while anything is playing on the CD/DVD. So even if the screen is awesome, you can't play DVDs because they will be skipping all the time due to the same issues.

    Issues with Playing DVDs

    Also, The resolution is very high 1920X1200, great but if you choose anything below that, the screen becomes very blurry.

  • Anonymous gave 10/10 on 10/08/2006 22:59

    • Good: very solid. i got the regular screen and i am very happy with it.i think if i got the glossy screen i would be seeing to many reflections.i got the 1400 ati vid card and its more than fine unless you want to do hard core gaming with mega frames then get the nvidea card. the 9400 is a power house.and should last a long time. no flimsyness.
    • Bad: dont install the mcafee privacy! the rest of mcafee is good, but when i opted to install the privacy section of mcafee that came pre loaded it causes the system to beep once and lock up, apart from that its a great lap top. just be warned ,do not be tempted to install the mcafee privacy or you will be reloading the opp system.

    solid as a rock! well built.

    if you need a good reliable hi performance solid well built lap top that is really a desktop replacemnt that can be mobile if need be than its got my vote.its very fast , i got the free double memory upgrade so i can only say that on 1056 mgs of mem it flies.get the case if you order online it suits the 17 screen size to a tee.highly recomended. LG.

  • Kavin gave 9/10 on 07/08/2006 12:16

    • Good: great screen, bright and detailed. i have a 2ghz dual core processor mated to 1gb of ddr2 667mhz ram so performance is good.
    • Bad: lacks a built in tv tuner

    Great laptop

    bought it a month ago and found no faults with it. i have read complaints about the faulty dvd burner and problems with the screen, well i haven't experienced any of these problems with my laptop. all my burnt dvds work fine.

    this is a great laptop

  • Anonymous gave a review on 22/04/2006 20:51

    do not buy unless you want a faulty DVD burner.

    A decent amount of my DVD collection will not run on this laptop.It'll say error and it just wont start up.Take this warning seriously before considering to buy a Dell Inspiron 9400.Its not worth it!I also have some problems with the DVD Burner,also I have 3 pc DVD type games and they have serious issues with this laptop.I have a older hp laptop and I dont have these problems with it.Trust me when I say this buy your laptop from an actual store not on line.Because if you have issues with it you'll be able to resolve better.

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