Inspiron 6000 review

Ok this is a review of a Dell Inspiron 6000. This is my first review ever so don't expect too much!
Just for the record, I switched from a Compaq Presario 2500, P4 2.66 GHz, ATI Radeon IGP 345M 128MB shared, 512MB RAM (383), 15" XGA.

The main reason I wanted to switch was because the video card was integrated and barely played any games and also because I've had it for 2 years and now the battery barely lasts for 25 minutes. As you can also guess, this is a P4 so it runs pretty hot and is EXTREMELY heavy for a 15" laptop. It actually weighs 4.3 kg. That's more than an XPS 2! First I thought about getting a iBook because of the really long battery life and I really like OSX but found them to be practically featureless for the money you pay. For the same cost as the Inspiron, you get a 12” XGA screen, 1.2 GHz processor, 256MB of RAM and no Superdrive. Don’t get me wrong, I like Apple but to get what you want you have to pay premium which I’m not prepared to do. Initially I had a very bad view of Dell and thought of them as a company with low grade budget computers but boy was I wrong! Eventually the price hooked me and I couldn't resist.

I ordered it with the specs in my signature. I bought it from Switzerland for 1,485 SFr. or approximately 1,140$. Not bad. Now off with the actual review.

Screen
I've always wanted a widescreen for watching movies so I was really happy with the screen. This was the first time I ever used a screen that had more than 1280x1024 resolution. I ordered WSXGA because the WXGA is not an Ultrasharp display and I really like wide viewing angles and for the high res. of course. WUXGA is overkill for a 15.4 inch screen in my opinion, I saw WUXGA in a store on a 17" Vaio laptop and even there text was getting too small. So I'm glad I stuck with WSXGA which has an extremely bright screen. I compared it to my sister’s Sony Xbrite monitor and found them almost identical in brightness. WOW!! Viewing angles are extreme, you don’t lose brightness from looking at it sideways or from the top. Perfect for watching DVD’s when you’re moving around or something. Text is not too small, but sometimes it is easier on the eyes when reading websites if you up the text size in Firefox. In Internet Explorer images start too look distorted but with Firefox, everything is crystal clear. One very minor complaint I have is that as much as I would like to play games at the native 1680x1050 res., the x300 is not up to it in many of the newer games. This forces me to scale down to 1280x800 which makes everything slightly blurry. But this is not the screen’s fault so I give it a 10/10

Keyboard and Trackpad
The keyboard is of excellent quality and has a satisfying click when you type and I found that I now type faster which is important if you’re a fast touch typist. I found that I type a lot faster than on my old computer. One con is that the keyboard doesn’t have short cuts to certain applications above it as in my old laptop. I find that it saves you a lot of time because you can launch your internet browser or your mail client by pressing only 1 button. But I can live without it.
The trackpad has a rougher texture than I’m used to, which is a good thing when it’s humid because you’re finger doesn’t stick to it. The trackpad buttons are the worst aspect of the computer though. They make an extremely loud cheap plasticky sound when pressed. On the bright side, they’re relatively large and pressing them near the bottom eliminates the noise. 8/10

Battery Life
Battery life on this computer is surprisingly good thanks to the Centrino processor. Dell states a 4h20min battery life and I was able to get 5 hours from the 6 cell battery by undervolting. I think that undervolting is a must, it reduced my CPU temperature by 5 degrees Celsius at idle and the fan comes on a lot less often. I used Centrino Hardware Control. I haven’t tested the battery watching DVD’s but I expect about 3-4 hours of DVD watching with brightness turned down. Enough to get you through 2 movies. If you want more battery life, you can opt for the 9 cell battery, but for me I didn’t need the extra battery and it is also a bit heavier. 9.5/10

Gaming
First of all, I am an avid gamer. So I was worried when I heard mixed reviews about gaming on the X300. Some said it was terrible, others said it was fine. So I bought the 128MB version not expecting much but I was shocked to see how well UT2004 played. I played it at 1680x1050 all settings set to high and averaged 20 fps. That’s not too bad. Morrowind and Need for Speed also played really well. I used the Omega drivers because I heard the Dell underclocks their videocards. I’ve heard that this video card was highly overclockable as well and could reach the Radeon 9700 levels. I haven’t tried yet but I will in the future. I also play San Andreas with 1280x800 because 1680x1050 is almost unplayable even if you turn everything down. This is not a gaming computer so I give it a 8.5/10.

Software
The computer came loaded with all different kinds of software and I uninstalled as much as I could but the computer felt a little sluggish at times, so I formatted the hard drive. The results were amazing, games ran much better and everything was extremely snappy. Before formatting there were 46 processes running in the task manager and that was after uninstalling unnecessary software. After formatting and reinstalling all my software I only have 32 processes running. So I recommend you format. I also recommend not installing the sonic software which comes on a CD because it hogs resources and isn’t really necessary unless you’re really into burning DVD’s and the like. 7/10

Aesthetics and Quality
This is one good looking notebook. Not something you usually expect from Dell but it really is good looking and I was shocked when I took it out of the box. It slightly resembles Apple’s Powerbook, which is in my opinion the best looking notebook there is. One thing I don’t like though is the Dell logo under the screen which is written in dullish grey. Frankly, I find the Dell logo to be very ugly and that detracts from the clean silver appearance of the notebook. The logo on the back of the screen is perfectly fine though because It’s in a chrome circle and shiny silver. The white trim goes very well with the notebook and prevents it from looking boring. The media buttons in front of the laptop also look cool and light up blue.
Another thing that surprised me about the notebook is the build quality. This thing is built like a tank! No matter how hard I press on the back of the screen, I see no ripples or deformities. Unlike my old laptop. I would have liked to have it made out of some metal alloy or some such but you get plastic, which is suitable for the price. It is very high grade plastic that looks like aluminum if you squint. 9/10

Sound
This is a laptop so don’t expect amazing sound, especially since you don’t have a built in subwoofer as in the 9300 and the XPS 2. Bass won’t make an earthquake in your house but it’s ok. Otherwise I find the speakers to be very good for a laptop and are extremely loud as well. I won’t elaborate on this because I usually use headphones. I give it an 8.5/10.

Conclusion
I’ve had the notebook for about 2.5 weeks and I don’t have one complaint except that the screen stopped turning off when you close the lid, but that is very minor. This is a very solid notebook that won’t turn you down. It is strong in almost every area but I think if you put an X600 or X700 in, it would be perfect. If you want to game, I suggest you go for the 9300 which I heard is also a nice laptop. The average of all the scores is 8.6/10 which is very good, the software that came with the computer is the really letdown here but that is a minor issue you can easily fix. I hope this was helpful. Overall this is a recommendation.

 

Great review!!!
Can't wait to get hands on mine!!! Hopefully it'll come next monday.

 

you gave no info on the amount of heat it gives off or how loud the actual system is. i read that the fan stays on at all times. that can get really annoying.

 

I've had mine only a few weeks now and I really like it. Now if you're looking for a light weight laptop the 6000 can be a bit on the heavy side, but if you have the right bag it carries just fine.

Thanks for the review.