Dell Insipron 1100 1150 5100 5150 5160 laptops

In a nutshell, these are largely similar animals - same case, same guts, same batteries, same ac adapters, .... same strengths and same weaknesses.

Made by Compal Electronics - a perennial favorite of Dell's - these are pretty well made, good electronics, straightforward, but not without faults. The guts are good, okay? And that's important 'cause that makes for a reliable machine overall.

But are these true laptops, or are they really of the stationary variety? The latter is probably true: over 7 lbs in weight, and nearly 2" thick. Try lapping that around...

Here's the weaknesses:

(1) the screen lid is prone to breaking near the hinges - left or right, or both;

(2) the PCMCIA card slot is designed about the hard drive caddy, which is prone to breakage as well;

(3) wireless reception really, really sucks - the placement and the design of the antennas are at fault here. You have to be literally within earshot of your router to get dependable signals. I'd re-wire the darn things and stick something up the screen lid (the factory antennas are to the sides). Or, of course, you can use PCMCIA wireless or external USB wireless to get around that.

That's about it. I like them - wished the wireless antennas were done right to begin with, but ...