Comparison of Inspiron 6000 to 8600

Can anyone briefly compare the 6000 to the 8600 on screen quality, build quality, benchmark results (just if it keeps up), etc. I want to use that sweet coupon and get a 6000 with the x300 dvram but i'm still on the fence. Thanks in advance!

 

I FORGOT: the screen i'm interested in is the SXGA+ ultrasharp and the video card is the x300 128mb; proc. 1.86 PM; 1 GB RAM

thanks!

 

It is usually cheaper to get your second stick of ram after market.

 

much better? From what I read, 9600 and X300 have similiar performance. Well, someone is doing benchmark now, lets see what the results are.

Dell i6000D 1.6Ghz
512MB 1Dimm, 60G 7200RPM
X300 128MB, 8X DVD-RW
Wireless b/g, Bluetooth

 

The 8600 comes with a much better video card, and you can put an additional battery in its modular bay.

 

I'm a little bias here but..

The 8600 has a superior video card (ATI 9600). I can't imagine a difference, if any, between the two laptop's screens. As for the RAM, unless its a free upgrade to 1 GB, get only 512 from Dell and buy yourself an additional stick of 512 from an online vendor (there are several that people on this forum can recommend). It'll make your 8600 (if you get that model) much cheaper.

 

Yes, don't upgrade to 1 gig with Dell, they charge too much, do it yourself.

 

ok, sounds good. if u upgrade the ram, it has to operate at the same frequency as the other module right? thanks.

 

I just orderd and I6000, For me the main difference was the fact the 8600 offers a proper port replicator and the i6000 does not. Other then that the i6000 is 915 chipset and 8600 is 855. This means that the i6000 run a FSB of 533mhz and the 8600 runs 400mhz. The pci Express should allow for faster video performance but I don't know the details of the x300 compared to the better x700 already being offered on the Acer 8104. This was a big selling point for the Sonoma platform was faster graphics from the pciexpress plus the ability to upgrade. You might want to check that thread for more information on x700 benchmarks. Supposidy the pciexpress should allow you to upgrade from x300 to x700 but too early to confirm that, You could check with ATI. I don't play games but if that is important to you the x300 might not be what your looking for.

I ordered mine with a 2.0 ghz 760 processor. The acer 8104 with the same processor posted pi 2m results of 1 minute 36 seconds. Since that benchmark is testing the CPU the i6000 with the same processor should be close to that. The 1.86 processor is probably going to be about 1 minute 40-50 seconds range. Anyway my biggest problem is with the memory.

All the other new laptops that Dell is offering with the 915 have options for 533mhz memory. This includes the Latitude D610/D810 and when I checked crucial they are showing 533 for the new i9300 also. So I think this is just a marketing thing to not offer the 533 mhz memory on the i6000. Because of this I ordered my system with just 256MB. I plan on purchasing DDR2 PC2-4200 533mhz dimms on my own. Crucial has them for 129 each so that adds another 280 or so with tax for two of them. I think it is very important to use 533 mhz memory in a laptop running the 915 chipset with a 533 Front Side Bus speed. If it turns out the faster memory is not supported, I will just exchange it for the 400 mhz PC2-3200 memory and it would have only cost me 30 dollars for buying the memory from crucial and not with the Dell in the first place, So I feel I had nothing to loose. If it turns out that I am right about this I think the people who have ordered i6000 with the slower memory will not be happy about this.

I would also recommend getting the 60gig 7200 rpm hd.

 

thanks for the advice everyone. i think i'll do what you said and just get the 256mb of ram and upgrade myself. Is there a cover over the graphics card to facilitate replacing it in the future? Also, i've heard rumors that the 6000 wsxga+ display doesn't display whites correctly and may even have some of the sparkle mentioned on the 9200's display.

Also, to all those planning on getting the 6000, remember that the optical drive is a FIXED drive. i do not believe there is anyway to upgrade this, but please correct me if i'm wrong.

 

Keep in mind for the memory to operate in dual channel mode both sodimms must be exactly the same. Also if you upgrade by adding one 533 to the existing 400 sodimm they will both operate at 400 mhz.

Incorect color accuracy does not bother me that much but what is that sparkle issue about. Can you be more specific about that issue.

 

CNET review of the 6000 mentions this problem and I also remember the 9200 having the problem as well. I'm not sure whether or not this is a problem in the 6000 as I have not seen anything definitive yet.

 

Just received the 6000 and its sparkling like hell, its like have a crt screen with a low frequency. really makes me feel dizzy.

 

I think that's a shame selling a product knowing an issue like this that is affecting the majority of the users. who doesnt work on word processing, damn it !

Read this from Dell : http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1091681&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19

WUXGA LCD Panels With Anti-Glare Technology

Discussion
WUXGA LCDs are the highest resolution panels available in the market today. These displays use an industry-standard process that applies a textured coating to the inside of the polarizer to reduce glare and improve light distribution. The WUXGA panel offers nearly twice as many pixels as a WXGA panel [1.3MPixels vs 2.4MPixels]. These pixels are much smaller and denser than on WXGA panels. The smaller size, higher density, and textured coating may cause the display to create a sparkling or blurry effect while using light-colored backgrounds or on a white background, such as word processing applications. This is typical of this technology and is needed to prevent glare and increase viewing angles