Dell 8600 help!! Buy or no.. Feedback

Hi, i am looking at buying a new laptop in the next few days and am wondering what have your guys expereince been with the 8600 fully loaded with the 128 ati and 1.7 ghz pentium m. I have a dell inspiron 8000 and it was good but had some display problems. I would like to know who has an 8600 and how much they like it, problems etc. I will be using the laptop for gaming, word processing, and general computing use like a desktop replacement. Also i am looking at the IBM t41. I know it has a lesser graphics card then the dell but is lighter and also a very attractive option. Suggestions comments? Feedback on expereinces with the dell would be great. Thx.

 

The Dell 8600 has quality control issues. You should also look at the HP zt3000 series notebooks.

 

The t41 and the 8600 aren't even in the same class, I'd go with the IBM right away.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

It's all about price. The IBM T41 is a better built and nicer to use laptop no doubt. It's also majorly expensive. If you're on a budget and want the best specs for the cheapest price go with Dell -- but purchase a warranty as there's a greater likelihood you could have issues with the machine that requires a fix. If money is not an issue and you want a top of the line machine that's superbly built, and don't mind paying for the specs you want, go with the T41.

 

I have done a lot of research, and I agree with the previous post:

IBM is known for durability, but it comes at a price.

I would like to buy an IBM, but in order to make it include the specs I want, it becomes way too expensive, so I turn to Dell, which is not as durable, but inexpensive.

http://www.ibm.com

 

and so good luck with your Dell purchase, a lot of people are totally happy with Dell purchases and certainly Dell is making strides to provide the best customer service possible so there's a good chance you'll be happy and feel you paid a good price at the same time.

 

Thx guys for your answer. I would like anyone who has had an inspiron 8600 to post in here and tell theri personal experiences. I know the IBM is great but the 32 meg graphics card is not what i want but its still enough, would i be able to upgrade the graphics card in the t41 later on if i wanted or when ibm offered a 64 meg version in the near future?

 

Hey Kaotic,

I've ordered an 8600 with the following specs:

PM 1.7MHz
1GB 333MHz RAM (2x 512MB)
WUXGA screen
128MB ATI Radeon Mobility 9600 Pro
Modular 4x DVD+RW Drive
Dell TrueMobile™ 1300 Wireless (802.11b/g) Mini-PCi Card
60GB 7200rpm Hitatchi HD

Also got a Dell backpack with it and free MP3 player. Once I receive it, I'll post a review. By the way, if you decide to buy one, make sure you find out about all of Dell's special offers and DON'T just go to the website, select the model and customise it. If buying from the UK, go to "Recommended Systems", on the left you'll see a whole bunch of links. One of them is "Award and Reviews". You'll see a list of special offers, one of them is the above but with an 80gig drive. Make sure you ask for the 60gig 7200rpm one as it makes the system much faster!!

If you order by phone, the laptop will ship much earlier and you might be able to get a really good deal by "bartering" with the sales rep. Presumably, they get commission for selling you one over the phone, so want to make a sale.

I got my 1GB RAM upgrade from 512MB for free. Unless there's a special offer, don't buy RAM from Dell; it's a rip off (buy it online instead, much cheaper). Also, if you ask for the 60GB drive, MAKE SURE they send you the 7200rpm one. You have to really badger them otherwise they'll send you the 4200rpm one.

I paid £1490 pounds for my setup. Don't know exactly how much that is in $...... There are some lighter and better built laptops out there, but for the price, the 8600 is the highest spec'd one. Make sure you take out an extended warranty as well.

Good luck!

 

One thing to note on the free things dell throws in with you is that for example with the free ram upgrade form 512 to 1GB. It is an upgrade form the 400MHz to the 333MHz which is as you can tell slower and you are better off with the 400 MHz so make sure you pay attention to these free upgrades becuase in the fine print they are different!

On the way I hope!!! Dell Inspiron 9100
P4 3.0, 15.4 UXGA Wide Screen, 512 DDR SDRAM 400MHz, 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9700, 60 GB Ultra ATA HD, 24x CD-RW/DVD, TrueMobile1400 WLAN!

 

I just received my 8600 yesterday and so far I must admit that I am impressed with it. I had exchanged my Inspiron 5150 for it, and let me tell you hands down, the 8600 is much much better than the 5150, and in my opinion runs almost as fast, if not faster than the 3.06 ghz processor of my 5150.

I received the 1.7 ghz with 1 GB RAM, 128 MB ATI 9600. I just played Freedom Fighters on full resolution and it worked flawlessly.

I got about 3.5 - 4 hours battery life while using the wireless miniPCI card.

It's not too heavy, but not very light, I would guess it feels about 6 to 7 lbs. The thing I really don't like about it is the center area of the bottom of the machine where the memory is placed gets incredibly hot.

I also got a 3 year warranty with it because of the terrible quality problems I had with the 5150. Obviously I haven't had this new one long enough to give my opinions on quality.

Hope this helps.