Dell Inspiron 9300 Available

Dell has made its new Inspiron 9300 available via Dell.com, prices start from $1,599 for this Pentium M Sonoma based 17-inch widescreen notebook that also offers Windows Media Center and a TV-tuner as an option. Also offered as an option is the new NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 graphics card for those that want to game.

Dell Inspiron 9300 Configuration Page

 

Arg Dell! I want to hate you, but you make such lovable products. [ ]

-17" screen `check
-Centrino `check
-Latest PCI-E vid card `check
-Ok weight/size `check
-Relatively affordable `check

Well, with the $750 off(for a few scant hours), it looks like I'm stepping up from my Inspiron 8600.


I likey [ ]

I got one in my cart, but Dell's site is getting goofy...

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Buy it now, but just in case, you may have to cancel if the 35% off coupon really does work out for this model.

 

She's purchased [ ]

$1650, skimped on cpu(1.6ghz) and ram(512mb) as they can be upgraded cheap at a later date if I need to, and I've had no problems with the same config in my 8600.

35% off would have come out similar, roughly another $50 off
($2300 - $800 = $1500 + $100(tax) = $1600).

Not a bad $200 to upgrade from a 15.4" to a 17" and a 9600 to a Go 6800. ...now who wants my old Dell, lol.

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Just bought mine too. So hard to choose options! Especially with the new Truelife option. But a 100PPI monitor is enough for me.

Here's what I got:

1.6 GHz
1GB ram
40GB hard drive (I'll upgrade later to a 100/5400RPM)
DVD burner
128MB X300 (I hardly game. more for my girlfriend)
Intel 2200 wireless
Total: $1277

Too bad I live in Alaska and shipping is $89 additional.

 

Just great. I can't decide between this and the Asus Z71V.
How does Dell's monitor compare to Asus'? (Don't just say it's bigger);P

Thanks---

Huuuh.

 

Looking to buy a laptop (desktop replacement) and leaning toward the 9300. How did you get that down to $1200 with those options...I must be missing something?

Thanks!

 

The $1200 price was after rebates. It starts, even now with an initial 20% off, at a hair over $1200.

Note: 30% and 35% off deals don't work with the 9300 due to the now instant 20% off(20% final price). Squeezing in the $750 rebate last night/eary morning saved me $150[ ]


As far as screens go, I wouldn't worry too much. Pretty much anything you get now are decent. Most companies use the same screens anyways, a select few models from oem manufacturers like LG. What makes them different is how the notebook manufaturer sets up the computer around the LCD, from the backlight to the screen filters. (correct me if I'm wrong on this stuff)

The 15.4" on my Dell Inspiron 8600 looks quite nice: good color, even backlight(some show-through top/bottom on black screen, not noticable otherwise), quick refresh, wide viewing angle. My older brother got a 9200 for his girlfriend maybe a month back. I may have seen it on once or twice before it was wisked away to her in college. I don't recall anything special, looked normal, nothing odd or out of the ordinary. I don't recall if it was the regular wxga(or whatever the base version is) or the wuxga. Sorry I can't help too much, but from my vague memories, it was as good as my 15.4" screen.

There are better ones out there. For example, my brother's Sager 15.4" is brighter and a little more in your face(image appears to be flush with surfaces of screen, not recessed). I don't know if anybody beats Sony and their sreens. Their 17" Vaio screen is a thing of beauty. HP's right up there too. HP screens give strong, vivid coler and bright screens. All of this comes about how the manufacturer packages their screens. Some look better than others.

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I ordered mine.

2 ghz
True Life
60 gig 7200
1 gig 533
256 meg 6800
dvd burner
Complete Care
Next day shipping

$2250
The rep I orded with told me the price for my build was $2108!
I said sure, run the card. Ha, well I got charged a lot more. So, on to a supervisor and a then a manager and we are talking business. Mad discounts after I mentioned the words "credit card fraud" and for her being so stupid.

 

It's shipped and on its way! Woohoo!

I should get it Thursday.

I can then give it a once over and maybe do a little mini review of it for you guys by this weekend.

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Woohoo! I got it a day early.

Initial impressions:
Build quality-
Solid, very sold. You can pick it up at any corner and there's no flex. The build quality seems higher than my Inspiron 8600 as well, a little better fit and finish.

Weight/Size-
Despite going from a 15.4" to a 17" notebook, I won't notice much of a difference when its inside the carrying case. Dell's nylon case that I got with it is actually almost the same size as my Leather one that I got with my 8600. The 17" 9300 fits in a little more snug(won't go in the leather case by the way), and there doesn't appear to be as much padding. Still it all works well.

The weight of the 9300 actually come very close to the smaller 8600, actually beating it by a hair. That's right, it's actually lighter than my 8600.

The size of the 9300 isn't a whole lot larger than the 8600 either. When stacked on top of each other, the 9300 sticks out about an inch and a half to the side and about an inch front to back. From a side-by-side comparison on the floor, the 9300 is only about a quarter inch taller at the highest spot.

Screen:
17" wuxga with Truelife - It's not bad, it's no Sony. The screen is brighter than my 8600's screen. It's also more sensitive to angle. You really have to have it tilted correctly to get the full, deep color. If you don't have it tilted back far enough, the color gets much greyer, bright, washed out. Tilt it back too far and things begin to darken. Still the viewing angle is very wide, and at distance, it's not so much an issue. Once properly tilted, it does look quite good.

The shiny screen isn't too annoying actually, even with the reflection of a window shining of it. It does depend on what you're looking at. A dark screen would be more noticable. I'll have to use it more to give a final verdict on it.

Audio:
Well, they were able to bump this up a notch. The "sub" actually does provide a little kick and richness to music. The stereo speakers are actually quite good, doesn't seem to have the tiny feel of the 8600 speakers.


I'll get picks up later comparing the two notebooks: size, screens, etc. As well, I'll post some performance score and maybe a general impression sometime this weekend when I get more time to play with it.

I still have to do a full format and reinstall of everything too(like to get rid of all the crap that comes with it and start fresh) I may just swap harddrives and then just update drivers.

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I placed my order earlier this week -- I think it's due to ship around 3/21.

I just realized something that put a damper on my excitement -- apparently this notebook doesn't support a docking station?! (You'd think you could almost assume that docking port functionality would be supported!)

So every time I take my laptop to a meeting, I've got to unplug/replug the monitor, mouse, network (am assuming the hardline will be faster than wireless), power, firewire, and speakers?!

Maybe I gotta seriously reconsider a decked-out Acer 8104 (which has a nice docking station)... I'd really miss the 17" screen on the Dell but the cable stuff sounds like some major hassles...

Thoughts?

 

mvw

IF you have any problems with the reformat of the hd, let me/us know. I want to do the same as soon as I get it and put xp pro on instead of the home.

IF i get all drivers and put on a cd first, then it shouldn't be a problem right.

Someone said something about the software or bios that controlled the dvd functions on the front when computer is off. That they were difficult to load or something like that.

just wondering before I redo my computer if it shows up tomorrow.

thanks

 

I haven't formatted it yet. I need to get all my drivers first. Oddly, I can't seem to find or it didn't come with a drivers CD like my Inspiron 8600 did. It has the Windows one, the Power DVD, and the Jukebox one but no drivers CD. I need to download them now. That'll come this weekend. I assume Dell would have the software needed for the front button control. I don't know, I haven't looked for drivers on their site yet. I'll let you know by this weekend.

I brought my 9300 to work today and watched Me Myself and Irene, lol. Anyways...I am liking the computer. Battery life is long enough for a whole movie(in 20 minute increments during my breaks) plus a full days hibernation and however many startup's and shutdowns(hibernate) it took to go through the entire movie. It seems pretty much on par with my 8600 for runtime.

Also, the screen does look very nice, and any glare from any light sources or reflections really do disappear if you're not just staring at a black screen. I still think Sony has a better picture. Dell's seems to be set up for gaming, darks are a little brighter than they should be, not a real, true black. Still, it has good light strength and good color to provide a pleasant viewing experience.

One small thing I have noticed is the odd behavior of the speakers. I'm not sure how they're placed, so I don't know why it does this. But, the tone of the sound varies by the angle you are listening. If you're up high above the notebook, the tone is quite warm, a hair too deep. As you move down, the tone gets to a sweet spot where everything sounds right. Then you move down farther more towards your head looking flat across the keyboard, the warmth fades away and only the highs remain. It's goofy. It's not horrible or anything. From a distance, there's no difference, but if it's right in front of you, it will sound different if you have it on your lap or up on a table. That's the only oddity that I've come across so far. That and the screen sensitivity to the verticle angle, but my 8600 is like that too as are most other LCDs I guess.

Pics should come this weekend too[ ]

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Good to know the screen looks good.

I will hopefully get mine TODAY so I can finally see for myself although I might miss the UPS guy cause I have a couple of meetings in the morning - oh well.

I will check on the speaker thing when mine comes but not too concerned as I don't plan on using them that much.

 

Ok, I switched the harddrives between my 8600 and 9300. Before hand, I went to Dell's site and downloaded all the drivers. Dell doesn't have a driver for the Go 6800. Neither does Nvidia...[8)] To get that, I went to http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/ and downloaded the ForceWare 76.10 drivers and the modified inf file. You run it to install the drivers and then overwrite the inf file with the modified one so the Drivers will recognize the Go 6800 as supported card. Other than dinking around with all of that and all of the reinstalling of the new drivers onto my old drive, it was a piece of cake with a side of hastle.

I got some gaming in too. Verdict...niiiiiice. I played CS:Source at full res, 1920x1200 with full in game and Windows graphics settings. Framerates varied by map but high 20's was the lowest I saw and average was mostly in the 50s to 60s range. The detail at distance is really neat, almost like cheating. The screen refreshes plenty fast, and I didn't notice any bluring. I also played some Warcraft 3, but other than a little larger size, it doesn't gain any additional benifits.

Nividia, at leasts the ForceWare(beta?) 76.10 offers a nice little overclocking utility built in. The non Ultra is clocked down by default but capable of more. The built in utility has a nice little detect mode that actually runs through and finds what you should overclock it to. It works ok, but the computer froze relatively easily when gaming. I dropped each down 10% and it works flawlessly.
Default: core - 290 mhz; ram - 590 mhz
Overclocked: core - 389 mhz; ram -778 mhz (software detected)
Stable OC(-10%): core - 343 mhz; ram - 698 mhz

I ran 3DMark 2005 with the default settings(Windows and 3DMark) using my Stable OC settings and got 3842, a little higher than what Tom's Hardware got with their Go 6800(running in Sager's notebook), 3010. However, that's a bit behind the Ultra version getting a whopping 5233.

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