Dell 700m Case Material

I've googled until my fingers fell off using all the possibilities of word combination I could think of.

I was wondering for all you 700m owners what it is actually made of on the outside? I have one on order; so far the reviews I have read indicate that it is a very hard and durable material. I have owned two Compaqs and they both were rendered useless by case failure. In other words they cracked about the hinges. This 700m looks like it will be a very durable unit and one that can be taken truly mobile. Unlike so many of these laptops I see today that you have to handle with kid gloves, this one doesn't look like it will snap in two if you look at it wrong.

Thanks.

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it's not as well constructed as a PowerBook or a ThinkPad. It's just a rigid plastic casing, nothing special. You should put it in a sleeve or a protective carrying case when moving it about, but I'd say that for any laptop.

As far as truly mobile, the battery life on this machine is 2 hours or less, I used it and I know that for a fact so if you're on a flight that lasts more than 2 hours (which most do including airport time, runway time + flight time) then you'd better take an extra battery. It's crazy that Dell didn't focus on the battery life aspect more closely for a "traveler".

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Interesting. It seems though from most of the reviews I have seen that it is a bit sturdier than some other laptops. I am actually going to this unit after considering an Apple iBook. It seemed to have too many quirks with build quality as well as problems with data syncing.

As for battery life I understand there is another option for battery which seems to be a pretty nice one. I will more than likely get another battery anyways, though.

Does the unit flex allot? I just read the review on this site and it nearly scared me. Howeverm then I remembered the iBooks falling apart at the seams randomly or nearly just out of the box because of heat. I need something that isn't flakey; this seems to be the unit.

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phiber-

so ibook is flakey and falls apart right out the box ?

I thought the 700m was flakey.

 

What?

First off, I didn't come here to discuss the iBook and its many documented build and quality problems.

Second, I would like an opinion as to how and why the 700m is flakey. All I asked about is build quality; I didn't need flame from fools like you. If you can help me and would like to not be a stuck up, snot nosed brat, I would much appreciate it. However, if you'd like to argue about things I didn't even ask about, go away.

Thanks

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The build quality of the 700m is actually better than I was expecting for a notebook in the sub $1000 price range. The material is a hard plastic, but the build construction seems to be good.

The hinges seem to be solid when I open and close the notebook, and pressing hard against the back of the LCD doesn't "ripple" the front of the screen, as I've seen on so many other laptops in the stores.

I'll really need to get a few months of good use on it before I can say more, but for the time being I'm satisfied.

I've had mine for about 2 weeks with only a minor complaint about how the extended-life battery moves around a bit in the back.

 

the battery is actually pretty good if you have the extended 8-cell battery and it was only a $40CND upgrade, it lasts at least 4.5 hours on medium brightness sightings and wifi on.
and it's not nearly as ugly or heavy as people put it or you see in pictures.

In terms of the casing, i really don't think it's sturdy at all...
i guess that's how dell makes it so light, with the cheap plastic casing. The hinges for the lcd is also pretty weak because the screen will shake with any kind of push or even if you're typing really hard. Gets annoying because it shakes for a while...haha...
the white trim on the cover of the screen really makes it worse because the cover is not made of one whole material and creaks if you press on the top part.

The keyboard quality is pretty good and the keys feel really nice. and everybody knows how bad the touchbad keys are. it makes a loud click whenever you touch the keys. then it produces an even louder click when you actually pres the button.

 

hey phiber

I messed around with the 700m when i saw it at a DELL kiosk, and in comparison to my rather old compaq armada e500:

the keyboard was pretty good, although i found the keys too small for my own taste. in general though, when i pushed into the case on various parts, it seemed pretty sturdy, and was tougher than the rest of the inspiron notebooks on display there. i didnt like the touchpad and its buttons, too small for me, but then again this is a small notebook.

other than it seemed pretty good, i like the design and the lcd screen was also good, this laptop should serve you well.

 

I got a 700m when they first came out. It seemed plasticky to mee. The keyboard flexed. I sent it back. If you want to look at a good small notebook, I would look at the Fujitsu s6231. It has magnesium case, very sturdy and a better screen. It is however a few hundred more than the Dell.






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