Build quality on DELL?

On the top of my list is a custom made laptop. If I decide to skip that I'd probably go for a 8600.

I have experienced HP, Compaq and Fujitsu laptops so I know the "feeling" of these ...

How about DELL? The only opinion I have about them is that they look cheap and very plastic ... am I wrong or?

 

Who's making your custom laptop? If its Alienware, expect it to break in about 1 week. There's a fair amount of guys (myself included), as well as a moderator, Andrew, who all use Dell Inspiron 8600. From my own limited experience with it, I find the build quality to be acceptable. Nothing made out of titanium, but nothing that will break when I leave for college in 5 days.

 

I am a student who needs a laptop for college this fall. Initially, I have purchased a hp zt3000, I was very satisfied with its build quality and performance. However, because there was a sale on the Dell Inspiron 8600 during summer, so I returned my HP and get a Dell 8600 instead. Although most laptops are made of plastic, the Dell Inspiron 8600 has no doubt the worst built quality among all the major brands. The keyboard has flex issues, the graphic card(Ati 9600Pro Turbo) overheats very quickly, the outer case is extremely soft. Do not purchase the Insprion 8600 unless the quality of the case is not an issue of your concern. Of course, 8600 does have its merits, it performas very well, the battery life is pretty long. Oh, one more thing, 8600 is big and heavy. It should not be considered if you want to use your laptop on the go. On the other hand, 8600 is very cheap if you purchase it from the Small Business Division. Anyway, I returned my Inspiron 8600 after 20 days(right before the dead line for returns), I bought another zt3000 instead. One more thing, if you decide to return Dell's computers, you have to pay for shipping. Overall, if you are a student like me who needs a lighter, thinner, better built quality notebook, don't buy the Inspiron 8600.

 

Arg.. I hate how you can't fix replies.

Contrary to binbinzhou, the ATI radeon 9600 doesn't "overheat". It gets hot.. Big deal.

When overclocking these cards, then difficulties occur. But serveral users on this msgboard can tell you how easy it is to overlock these ATI cards AND do it safely.

 

Don't get me wrong, this laptop is not THAT heavy, that it cannot be carried. (By the way, I'm 6'3" and 220 lbs.) But it's too heavy to carry around campus. Trust, I've read through a bunch of bad things about 8600, but I still decided to purchase it and try it out myself, it has every single problem I stated above. Overheating is the major issue, you'll have to mod your laptop if you plan to play games for more than 1 hour.
Everyone would probably defend his/her own laptop, it's understandable, but don't just say the good things, and confuse others who are planning to purchase a new laptop. At least state both Pros and Cons like I did.

 

I personally don't like the plastic feel of my 8600. I was really quite surprised by how much plastic they use in the laptop. That's probably my biggest complaint of the laptop. I also think the area where the memory is located gets way too hot for me.

I play games all the time on my 8600 and have never had overheating problems so far.


Just my 2 cents...

 

Contrary to binbinzhou, the ATI radeon 9600 doesn't not "overheat". I play UT 2004 for as long as I please with no difficulties. When overheating these cards, then difficulties occur. I don't find my keyboard to flex at all.... As for the weight of this thing.. well If your under 140 lbs and your not very strong, you "might" find this laptop heavy. But for most guys of reasonable strength, I don't find mine to be a burden to carry at all (or maybe I'm just naturally stronger than you binbnzhou?)...

 

It doesn't feel the sturdiest, except for the LCD cover which is aluminum. It may feel creaky, but it's not like it's falling apart. I find the statement "Dell Inspiron 8600 has no doubt the worst built quality among all the major brands" to be the most erroneous. Countless eMachines cusomers' hinges are cracking, and some of their LCD's won't even stay up. Alienware laptops have had defects, but they have all been rectified in good time.
The plastic actually does a lot to cut weight, aluminum is about twice as heavy. The whole "cheap plastic" thing only applies to the inspiron line. The Latitude D800 (i8600 equivalent) has excellent build quality. If sturdiness is a concern, you will not be disappointed with the latitude line.
My inspiron 8600 gets excellent battery life, about 4 hours under light use. It does not "overheat" per se. It does get about 100°C in the GPU core, but that has not contributed to a single stutter in gameplay. It simply limits your overclocking potential. I performed a heat spreader modification and dropped the high load temp to 75°C, allowing for 25% overclocking.
Dell's biggest merit is their Price/Performance ratio, which simply cannot be beat. Configure the latitude D800 and see what you think.

GPU cooling (100°C->75°C)* Inspiron 8600 * 1.8ghz Pentium M * 128 MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo (337/242 -> 400/300) * 2x512 MB DDR2700 SDRAM * Aquamark 3: 24058 * 3DMark'03: 3404 * 3DMark'01 SE: 13120

 

I agree with everything nesbo said, what bothered me most was the extremely cheap plastic case. There are cracks on the hinges, etc. I went to Bestbuy, Circuit City and Micro Center to examine other Major Brands' notebooks after I received my Inspiron 8600, its built quality is worse than Sony, Hp, and Toshiba.(I'm not the only one thinks that, my mom and my best friend went with me, they both agree with me) Like I said before, Dell Inspiron 8600 performs well, and it has a good battery life. However, the built quality is also a very important factor that needs to be considered by laptop users. About the keyboard flexing issue, it exists in almost every INspiron 8600, if you don't believe me, just go to Dell's community forum. Inspiron 8600 gets at least twice as hot as my previous HP Zt3000 within the same amount of time, if you don't think that's overheating then there's nothing I can say. Well, except nesbo, who's stating facts patiently and peacefully, all the other Inspiron 8600 owners are just simply arguing to defend their "precious" laptop.
Lastly, the original poster svarreby stated "The only opinion I have about them is that they look cheap and very plastic ... am I wrong". My answer is everything that you heard about 8600 is true, so think before you make the purchase. My motive is to help out the original poster, not arguing with 8600 owners. So cool off a bit, I am simply stating facts.
nesbo, I respect your opinion, I agree with what you said. I hope other 8600 owners can be calm when others say negative things about your precious laptop.

 

"Dell Inspiron 8600's overheat" is quite honestly an ignorant comment that shouldn't be uttered unless proven true.
(1) Goto Dell Community Forums and ask anyone whether their video card overheats. It doesn't.
(2) I have a freakin Dell Inspiron 8600. I play UT 2004, Cstrike, Day of Defeat and BF1942 for hours and hours at LAN parties and such. Unless you've played these kinda games on the highest settings and HAD YOUR LAPTOP OVERHEAT, this ATI Radeon 9600 of mine doesn't overheat. AT ALL.
(3) It gets hot. Big deal. My pizza was hot this afternoon and I burned my tongue. I'm still living. The heat generated makes my left wrist kinda warm and tingly. I almost enjoy the feeling. The Dell Logo on bottom of the LCD screen gets hot. Wow.
(4) Ask anyone else in this forum that has this card. No one will stand by your comment that this laptop overheats. There's no fact behind your accusation.

Granted, I'll agree with you on the build quality to a certain degree. It does creak and moan when I open it. By alot of things moan when you open them.

Cracked hinges? Where are you getting this from? I threw my bag (containing my 8600 and rugby ball) across my floor in anger and nailed my fridge. I opened my bag up and nothing was cracked. Cracked hinges? This isn't an E Machines POS.

As for the extensive use of plastics, meh. I don't understand your comment about the keyboard flexing either.
I play first person shooters. I'm constantly slamming down my e d s f keys to strafe, my spacebar to jump like a mofo etc. I've probably put my laptop keyboard through more abuse in 1 month then most people will do in 2 years. I see nothing flex other than my fingers.

I'm not trying to get in a huge "flame war" or anything immature like that. But your comments are inaccurate. If anything, I'd swear you worked for HP.

 

I think we skeered off our original poster with our howard stern show lol

 

I actually got the chance to hold an HP pavilion, and it has told me a lot. The HP actually feels looser and creakier than my 8600.

GPU cooling (100°C->75°C)* Inspiron 8600 * 1.8ghz Pentium M * 128 MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo (337/242 -> 400/300) * 2x512 MB DDR2700 SDRAM * Aquamark 3: 24058 * 3DMark'03: 3404 * 3DMark'01 SE: 13120

 

I agree with IllegalOperation, my motive is to help out the original poster, but this is getting out of hands. Ramadoss29, you said that you think I work for HP? I didn't say anything good about HP in my entire post. Again, I am not trying to make Dell look bad or anything. I am simply stating facts. My post is not targeted toward Dell INspiron 8600 owners. It is my advise for the original poster. And also "I actually got the chance to hold an HP pavilion, and it has told me a lot. The HP actually feels looser and creakier than my 8600.", I don't know which HP model you held, but in the case of ZT3000, this is simply not true. And it's not just HP, like I said before, I went to Bestbuy and Circuit City with my best friend, and I can honestly say that Sony, Toshiba, and HP/compaq's laptops all have better built quality than Dell INspiron 8600. If Dell 8600 is
really so perfect like what some 8600 owners said, I would have kept it. Dell even offered me a $200 discount to keep the 8600, but I refused and returned it. I believe the original poster svarreby already have some ideas regarding the Dell Insprion 8600, so let's just end this post right here.

 

****
I'm hungover as hell and more than willing to end this post.
Just as long as you admit your were really wrong about the overheating video card, absolutely outta your mind with that "cracked hinges" comment, somewhat wrong on the build quality and just in general, off your rocker.

 

The components do not overheat to the point that it damages the computer or crashes the OS. The hinges dont crack, but I think you meant creak. I dont remember what HP model it was, but the case kinda sagged in when I pressed it. You cannot, however, put Dell's quality below eMachines.
If you want something really solid, get an IBM, but you pay a premium for it. I'll give you two the last word before I lock up this thread.

GPU cooling (100°C->75°C)* Inspiron 8600 * 1.8ghz Pentium M * 128 MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo (337/242 -> 400/300) * 2x512 MB DDR2700 SDRAM * Aquamark 3: 24058 * 3DMark'03: 3404 * 3DMark'01 SE: 13120

 

Ramadoss29, you sound like you dissagree with everything I said, but that's fine. I did not make anything up just for the record . Why do you think I didn't keep the Inspiron 8600 after Dell gave me a $200 discount? Quite honestly, I don't know about other Dell models, but the Inspiron 8600 does have Cracked Hinges. And it's not just the one I received, I called Dell and they told me that the cracked hinges are normal. But we keep arguing about the same things are pointless if the orginial poster already made his decision. Lastly, just to quote the original poster svarreby, "The only opinion I have about them is that they look cheap and very plastic..." That should explain everything. 8600 owners, please do not argue anymore, like I said, I am only stating my unbiased observations. 8600's quality issues are pretty infamous around the net, so it's not just me, let's end this once and for all.

 

Sweet. I get the last word before Andrew closes this post.
Binbinzhou, you are officially an idiot.
Cracked hinges? And you "called Dell and they told you its normal?" Your telling us that a Dell Representative told you that "oh yah there buddy, cracked hinges are the norm. suck a nut"
Smell that? Stinks like a extremely large pile of BS. You sound like a wayward politician.

EMACHINES laptops have cracked hinges. Unless your snorting crack, a Dell Inspiron 8600 will not produce cracked hinges.

"8600's quality issues are pretty infamous around the net"
I swear to god that only a crackpot would say this. A Dell Inspiron 5150 could easily apply to your above statement. But an 8600? Where the hell on the net do you visit? HPcomputersareAwesome!.com? or perhaps DownwithDell.com??

If you wanna post false and misleading information, there's FOX news for all your needs. But otherwise, goto the HP forum. There's enuff 8600 owners in here (myself included) that use this laptop, pound away at it and generally treat it like a football and yet to have suffered ANY possible problems with it.

 

Whoa people, let's not be calling anyone idiots. These posts are meant to share our opinions on our laptops, whether we disagree with them or not. Putting people down is defintely not appropriate in this forum.

Let's try to move on now...

 

Ramadoss29, you really should learn some manner from nesbo and others. I did not say one disrespectful thing in my entire post. On contrary, you first made fun of my strengh, then calling me a liar, and now calling me an idiot. I am not going to lower myself to your level, I was not raised that way. Why would I make up things like the cracked hinges? Again, I did not say Dell is bad company, because I don't about Dell's other models. However, I have purchased Dell INspiron 8600 and used it for 20 days, so I believe I do have the right to state my observation unbiasely. I believe anyone who looked at this post would not approve your vulgar language and lack of manner.