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The Dell Vostro 1720 is a business laptop designed to appeal to people who want to hang onto the resolution of a desktop but don’t have the space for it. The Dell Vostro 1720 is also ideal for people who want a 17” widescreen portable thinking machine and wouldn’t mind carrying an extra-large laptop for extra weight. An entry-level configuration of this laptop weighs around 6.8 lbs, around 26% heavier than the entry-level version of its 15” cousin, the Dell Vostro 1520. It should be noted though that it is lighter than its competition in the 17” category.

 

Like the Dell Vostro 1520, the Dell Vostro 1720 comes in a wide variety of configurations, suited to the needs of the computer user. A budget configuration of Intel Celeron 900 for the processor and a standard 160GB SATA for the disk storage may do. However, if the user wants a desktop replacement unit, it is recommended to upgrade to Core 2 Duo T9550 2.66 GHz and 128 GB Solid State Drive.

 

Work-and-play computer users may also upgrade the graphics card from an integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD to NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS, which would make the Dell Vostro 1720 powerful enough for photo editing, video editing and even 3D rendering and design work.

 

Specifications
Central Processing Unit	Intel Celeron 900, Intel Core 2 Duo T6600, P7550, P8600, P8700, or T9550
Display	17″ WXGA+ Anti-Glare LED, UltraSharp WUXGA w/TrueLife
Read Access Memory	2 GB Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800 MHz
	2 to 8 GB of Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800 MHz
Optical Drive	8X DVD+/-RW drive, Blu-ray Disc Combo drive
Video Card	Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD,
	NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS
Hard Drive	160 GB SATA at 5400 RPM, 250 or 320 GB at 7200 RPM w/Freefall Sensor
	250GB Encrypted Hard Drive at 7200RPM w/ Free Fall Sensor & Wave software
	128 GB Solid State Drive
Wireless Connection	Dell Wireless 1397 or 1510 mini card, Intel WiFi Link 5100 or 5300 mini card
Bluetooth	Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth 2.0
Battery	6-cell or 8-cell Lithium Ion battery

 

Pros

While other laptops in the Dell Vostro 1720’s size category offers few configurations, this machine’s specifications could be configured to suit the computing and budgetary needs of a buyer. Although not the most powerful laptop in its class, Dell Vostro 1720 owners will find that playing older games is possible as this computing machine could handle some 3D graphics once equipped with Nvidia 9600.

 

The Dell Vostro 1720 has a large native resolution of 1920×1200, which allows users to multitask. This is also great for video viewing.

 

The Dell Vostro 1720 has a solid built and has full-sized keys like the ones used in a standard desktop. The keyboard’s buttons are likewise touch-sensitive and very responsive.

 

Cons

The Dell Vostro 1720 doesn’t look good enough to warrant a second look. Upon looking closely, it has a glossy finish on top and a matte finish under but is far from being a stylish icon. Its weight would probably pose a problem to most users.

 

Even with Nvidia 9600, Dell Vostro isn’t the ideal laptop for rendering 3D graphic. Desktop gamers would not want to replace their stations with this one.

 

The Dell Vostro 1720 lacks a digital video output, so one may not be able to use this laptop as a DVD player. This laptop also lacks eSATA port for fast external hard drive access.

 

Conclusion

The Dell Vostro 1720 is a computing device that could do a variety of tasks and functions almost like a desktop except that the user could carry it around. It may not have a high portability score due to its dimensions, but the Dell Vostro 1720 would appeal to medium-to-large business people who want a high-resolution screen for multi-tasking while replacing the PC and monitor setup.

Related posts:

1. Dell Vostro 1520 – Review
2. DELL Vostro 1710 – Review
3. Dell Vostro A860 – review
4. Dell Vostro 1220 – Review
5. Dell Vostro 1320 – Review

Tags: business laptop, Dell, Dell Vostro

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Dell, and is tagged with business laptop, Dell, Dell Vostro. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.