Dell 700m, 600m, or 8600?

I am interested in purchasing a Dell notebook to take with me to college and would appreciate your recommendations. I am specifically researching the Dell 700m, 600m, and 8600, but am willing to consider any Dell laptop computer. This is my first laptop (and third Dell) and I hope to use this computer for 3 years.

Primarily Will Be Used For: Internet/email/AIM (wireless card is important to me); viewing DVDs (often); playing CDs/MPS (and transferring files to iPod); basic word processing- no video games or intense 3D computer programs

The Dilemma: I've never owned a laptop before, but I plan to travel with the notebook several times a week (I realize many users start out with this expectation and then rarely travel.) I don't know if its worth sacrificing portability for a bigger screen.

 

My opinion

It seems portability might be of overall benefit to you. While the 8600 is a great machine (and owned by many) it is the heaviest of the 3 you are looking at, but not specifically too heavy.

I would really look into the 600M at this point, it is lighter at 5 pounds but packs a punch with power and DVD playback etc. The 700 is lighter, but be advised it has a clear screen verses the LCD screen (this preference seems to be a love it or hate it relationship in people). I know that the 600M has free shipping, free wireless card integrated and free printer at the time I write this. Also keep an eye on techbargains.com for daily coupons (often stackable) there are reports of people getting 20% off coupons on top of other deals.

I get my information by studying various forums and gathering users inputs. I have owned a 5150 which was junk, I sent it back.

 

Hey, Laura. I am also taking my laptop to school. I have the D600, which is the business version of the 600m. I think it's a good medium between portability and power. One problem you might face with the 600m is the fact that there is not firewire port for which to plug in your ipod. For my ipod, I bought a 10 dollar cable, and there is also a 20 dollar cable (which allows you to charge the ipod at the same time). I believe the 700m also has this problem, but, the 8600 has a firewire port. This may steer you either way. But, if it isn't that important to you, I recommend the 600m since you won't be using it for gaming, because one of the main differences between the 600m and the 8600 is the graphics cards which are available with the 8600. (One last thing to consider is the battery life, where the 8600 beats the 600m. I think the 8600 gets about 4.5 hours while the 600m gets about 3.5. However, the 8600 is harder to carry around, which defeats the need for a longer batter life in the first place) Ok, I hope this information helps. Good luck in your decision.

 

The 700m does have a firewire port and 2.0USB (two). See CNET's review on it. The latest review of laptops was this 700M but they got a decked out one with 60GB HD, etc.
After reading this review and monitoring this forum and Sony's, the Dell was ordered sight unseen.

I recently traded in a 41/2 week old T42P/flexview15"screen for a IBMx40 due to weight and bulkiness. Then sold the x40 (to humbug to carry peripherals - cd/r, etc) to an associate(she is happy) and went back to Apple. Now this forum had a post on the new 700m and I went hunting. CNET's last notebook review and this forum's input on Dell's line made me use my credit card agan. Sight unseen (only reviews) made me buy this laptop. This would be my first windowbased pc of anykind. I fell confident that I will not be disappointed.
Anyway, I believe that the computers are as good as the support it gets from the manufacturers. Apple and Dell (So far) have not given me pause in purchasing their products.
Hope this helped.
Macmac

 

I too was just in that situation and if you are worried about durability, product longevity, and kick rear service (3 years standard with the Latitude) and a solid non plastic case (the 600m is a bit flimsy and has that UUUUUGLY blue crud), I would go with the Dell D600. It has CDRW/DVD drive, 3.8 hour battery life, Pentium M processors, and a good selection of wireless cards. It hase been GREAT for me.

Nater

 

i just got this 700m friday. i upgraded it to 60gb 7200rpm hdd and installing chinese version of winxp. problem is that i can not resolve a problem at device manage regarding to one of the usb driver can not be recognized. dell tech suggest me to install NSS but the program kicks me out by saying " this computer does not support this OS". i went through with dell tech but at the end they gave up and manager just go they will not support non-english windows. they were nice but can't solve my problem. so finally i have to go back to xp home which came with the system and now works ok. another complain i have is the keyboard. it's very small.

other than these two complains, this is a good notebook

 

From what I heard and see through the dell forum, it seems like the built of the 8600 is much better than the 600. Also both offer a modular bay for the extra battery of which you can use to double your battery life to approximately 7 or 8 hours or more with either of these model. But from your stand, I would go with the 600 simply cuz it's lighter. If you don't mind the weight and a gamer, then go with the 8600. Good Luck

thietlong

 

That is rather odd, since windows XP picks up the USB drives. Anyways, here's a link to the USB driver from windows. there is a drop down window that you can select chinese language. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=733dd867-56a0-4956-b7fe-e85b688b7f86&displaylang=en
also, did you buy the HD from dell? anyways, you should delete ALL the partitions, repartition, and format using the chinese version. hope this helps.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by jsrac

 

I have the 600m and the config is

Dell Inspiron 600m
Pentium M Centrino 725 (1.60GHz)
14.1-in SXGA+ 32MB Video
2x 256MB RAM (going to upgrade to 1x 1Gb Ram + 1x 256Mb)
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 b/g
60GB Hard Drive
Windows XP Home SP2 --> upgraded to XP Pro SP2
24CD-RW/DVD

I would wantto get the 8600 but I missed the deal few weeks ago (at the same time, i got the 600m).

nice laptop and i like it.

 

I'm composing this while on my couch using my 2-day old 700M and my overall recomendation is - GET ONE!

I'm REALLY terribly happy with this machine, but let me tell you what my greatest considerations were.

I've never had a laptop before, either and after 16 years in the IT field I was getting 'portability envy'. I did loads of research and it came down to the Sony S260, Apple 12" Powerbook and the Dell 700M.

I wanted light and portable - while I don't know how much traveling I'll be doing I do know that I want to use my computer anywhere - kitchen table, my office, on a plane, in bed, etc.

I didn't want to sacrafice power or a good video card, though.

And the disqualifying factor for the Sony was that it didn't come with an internal DVD burner. It does have a SWEET video card and display, though. And I you can get a DVD burner with the S270, but you must have to call 'cause the website doesn't let you choose that configuration, although the specs on the machine say it's available. I couldn't justify the price, though - around $2500 when I could get the Dell or Apple for around $1800 and it'd be pretty comparable.

This is also replacing my desktop which is a P4 2.4Ghz and I couldn't see downgrading even for portability.

So, I ordered the Dell 700M just so I could see it figuring I'd take it in to some shop and compare it side by side with the Apple.

I did more research while waiting for the 700M to show up and found that really the 12" Powerbook and 700M meet all my needs/desires pretty evenly and are comparable in price (in truth the Powerbook you can probably get a couple hundred dollars cheeper on eBay). So after playing a fair bith with the Apple I've decided that the 700M is for me simply because of the learning curve. The Apple OS is MUCH more stable, but I've been working on PC/Windows machines for 16 years - they're familiar and this is mostly a toy for relaxing with - I don't want to have to spend a lot of time figuring out new things on my down time. And all my additional software is for PC - I'd have to reinvest.

So, all in all I highly recommend the Dell Inspiron 700M - the display is very pretty - I just watched a movie and while it is shiny I find it much easier on my eyes than my old monitor or my girlfriends Inspiron 8000 laptop screen.

And she's VERY quiet. No over heating. The greatest complaint I read in reviews before I ordered was about the battery so I got the 8-cell. I haven't timed it, yet, but I've had several hours completely wireless and am pretty impressed.

My spechs are: Pentium M 2Ghz, 512mb RAM, 60gig hard drive, wireless card, DVD burner/CDRW, 8-cell battery. She does come with a firewire plug and there's a PC card slot and a little memory card slot (I think it's SD - I have xD in my digital camera so didn't pay attention to what type this was - just knew it wouldn't work for me - but I can connect via USB), 2 USB, a monitor out plug and an SVGA plug.

And if you go this route and are interested in cases here's what I got:

The ZeroShock 12" sleeve from www.shinza.com - fits nicely

And the Case Logic NPE2 (www.caselogic.com or $5 cheeper at CompUSA). It will hold a 15" laptop so the 700M fits in there with some room for an optical mouse and the power supply. This case has rigid sides so I'm hoping it'll take a bump on its edge better than a soft case without the bulk of a lot of padding.

Best of luck in your search and thanks for letting me ramble on all excited-like about my new toy!

~L'aura

 

laura007, I think your best bet is the 700m. It best meets your needs. I bought it for the same reasons as you did: portability for college, transfering between my IPOD, watching dvd's, playing cds/mp3s, internet, email etc., etc. The 8600 is way too heavy. I had a similar weighted 5000e and it did not travel well and it was way too heavy. the 600m and 700m are basically the same cost if you configure it the same. they will change depending on promotions (currently dell is offering 9% versus 5% off of the 700m). The 700m comes with mini firewire port (your ipod came with a mini adapter), which the 600m does not. i prefer the ports on the side of the computer rather than in the back. the 700m is lighter too. The 700m is 90% keyboard, but i've gotten use to the layout and typing on it. i think people with smaller hands will not have a problem with it. the 4-cell battery is weak, though. i think the 700m just feels better built than the 600m. the plastic is tight and no creaking. currently, dell took of its bios A01 update, b/c people have been having problems updating to it. also, many of the new 700m seem to come with Hitachi HTS series hard drives which suffer from clicking problems. mine did and i called dell and they sent me a replacement hard drive. i would recommend more at least 512MB RAM, but i'd buy from a different source (i like www.oempcworld.com they will buy back your old memory, lifetime warranty, satisfaction guarantee, cheaper than other places i've seen) rather than with the computer, just buy the basic 256MB (unless dell has free upgrade). i'd buy the computer with the 8-cell as the primary battery. also get the largest hard drive you can afford when buying it. dell also has a special on their complete care 3 year warranty currently (it includes accident protection and at home service). I also bought a 12" zeroshock from www.shinza.com as listed in another response. I also ordered a lcd protector from http://www.lcdprotector.com who will cut custom size (these are the same things as the film protectors for PDAs). after my last laptop lcd kept getting ruined, i figured i'd invest $29 is worth it.