Dell Inspiron 9300
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 750 Dothan (1.86 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™ Samsung
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800 (1920 x 1200)
80GB 5400RPM Seagate
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 + Single TV Tuner and Remote
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write capability NEC
Intel® PRO 2200 (802.11b/g 54Mbps) and Dell 350 Bluetooth Internal Wireless Cards
6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (53 WHr) Sanyo
I ordered this on Fri. Jul 21, 2005 and it was shipped Wed. Jul 26, 2005 with UPS Next Business Day delivery so I got it on Fri. Jul 29, 2005. Kudos to Dell, only 1 week wait time and it arrived 6 days ahead of schedule and it wasn’t shipped using 3-5 standard delivery as originally stated.
I bought this laptop to replace my aging
Sager NP3350E
14.1 Active Matrix
Intel Pentium III 600 MHz with SpeedStep
12GB HD
512MB Ram
ATI Rage LT Pro AGP 8MB SGRAM
which I bought in early 2000 so it's about 5.5 years old and getting a little long in the tooth. The 750.00 coupon that keeps coming around was still not enough to move me. I used a 40% off coupon for this purchase otherwise I may have bought another manufacturer’s. This machine is way too expensive without the coupon.
Initial Impressions
Large, thick and heavy. See Apple’s 17 inch for what thin and light should be for a laptop of this size. The silver colour is nice but the jury is still out on the white strip. I never did like two-tone cars so having a two-tone machine is a bummer but livable.
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™ Samsung
Sparkles and Light Leakage
I’ll get this out of the way first. It’s barely visible and I don’t think most people would notice unless someone told them. For sparkles, it’s more like a shimmer, the background needs to be white and you have to look for it, basically stare at a white background. Light leakage around the edge of screen is like a minor glow and the background has to be black, and it’s only on the bottom for me. Still, you have to look for it and these issues are overblown. My advice is to ignore these issues. I watched a widescreen movie so it had black stripes above and below the picture in total darkness and you don’t even notice the glow because it is so minor, miniscule minor. When was the last time you popped in a DVD to watch black stripes for 1.5 hours. Watch the movie instead and you’ll have a much better time. As I write this review in Word I am reading what I wrote in black text on a white background, who reads shimmer. I’m not too sure I would call this a deal killer.
Bright and big. A lot of real estate to work with here. With a screen this big you don’t need a mouse that has those tilt wheels to scroll side to side because everything fits and then some. With the TV Tuner and Media Center it is very easy to watch TV or a DVD and surf or write documents at the same time. If you work with big spreadsheets then a mouse with a tilt wheel would probably come in handy.
The resolution is really high (1920x1200) so text appears tiny. I have good vision, no glasses and I don’t need to squint at things far or near to read or look. Still, larger text would be nice. I tried messing with the DPI and screen resolution but text appears soft and fuzzy when you reduce the resolution and icons will appear jaggy when you increase the DPI.
I’m more used to the resolution now. I turned on ClearType and set the resolution to 1920x1200. Text is still tiny but both text and icons are crisp. Turning on ClearType also made the text much easier to read at this resolution. In Word you can set the default font size and I use Netscape/Mozilla to surf, can’t stand Internet Exploder. You can also set the default font size here so text appears larger but be warned, some web pages will appear wacky if you set the font too large. You will see words overlap graphics and graphics overlap words; it’s a give and take situation. Sites like ABCNews.com help out by providing an option to increase the font size when reading their articles; here the text won’t go out of whack because they allow for it. You can also increase the font size by using Ctrl-+ while browsing.
I have the UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™ so it’s the glossy screen “the wet look”. I think it’s great for watching movies. The downside is it gives off a reflection. I can see the ceiling lights in it but it doesn’t bother me and I just ignore it and it’s really not that noticeable because you focus on what you are doing, kind of like peripheral vision, you notice stuff around you but it’s ignored. I haven’t tried to use this in bright sunlight so I don’t know how it looks. You need to watch a current DVD to get a crisp picture. I was watching an old DVD and it was grainy so if the picture is not crisp it may be the DVD and not the screen.
There are 6 rubber feet around the screen so when the laptop is closed the screen won’t touch the keyboard; you can actually see a gap which definitely accounts for why this laptop is thicker when closed.
Keyboard
Very good but it does not light up based on ambient light. It only requires a light touch though; compared to the Sager I have to smash the keys. I also have a G3 PowerBook, I think this keyboard is much better as it requires even a lighter touch. I use a Gateway 450ROG laptop at work and the keyboard is about the same as the Dell. Thumbs down to Dell for not including a numeric keypad. There is so much wasted space just having the keyboard.
Touchpad
Very nice, responsive and only requires a light touch and tap. I never had a problem with touchpads, It was very intuitive for me to use them. I could never get use to the “eraser” thing that comes with IBM’s which is the very reason I will never buy one. In fact, any PeeCee that comes with that is an automatic no sale for me.
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 + Single TV Tuner and Remote
It works well but it’s external, thumbs down to Dell for this one as well. To me, Dell simply threw in a TV tuner as an afterthought so it could get in on the market with a ‘PC/Entertainment Centre’. They could have added a numeric keypad with all this room and if you’re going to have a machine this thick there should be enough room to move the tuner inside because the tuner itself is thinner than the laptop without the screen closed. You can buy tuners now that are nothing more than a PCMCIA card so there really is no excuse for this behemoth.
To watch TV is great because you connect to the net to get the guide for 14 days in advance. Boos to microSLOTH for requiring you to agree to have the software send back info on how you use the software. You can’t access the guide without agreeing to this crap. The infrared receiver is also external and separate from the tuner, why they couldn’t have it in one piece is beyond me. It’s also big like my external flash card reader, another haphazard design. If it’s going to be external make it small and provide a clip so I can attach it to the screen. I bought a laptop to reduce clutter and overall footprint size. I thought I was getting rid of external speakers with the Sager only to have that space taken up by the tuner and infrared receiver.
The remote works and looks like any other remote except in the middle is a green start button like on the winDOZE taskbar. You press this to start things up; you can also use the Start Menu if you lose the remote or the Media buttons. One thing I did find annoying is the standby button on the remote, pressing this does not turn off the Media Center but puts your whole machine to sleep. What’s up with that?
You can ‘pause’ a TV show for a bit and ‘resume’ picks up where you left off. I don’t know how long you can pause for, but it worked a few minutes for me. I pressed the play button again after a few minutes but I believe you can pause for as long as disk space allows. You can also record shows but in both cases it doesn’t allow you to choose where the file is saved. Thumbs down for this maneuver.
The final thumbs down for this external TV tuner is that it requires 2 USB ports, one for the tuner and one for the infrared receiver. It’s a good thing this machine comes with 6 USB ports.
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800 (1920 x 1200)
I’m not a gamer and I’m not interested in running benchmarks so I’m not going to. If it’s fast then it’s fast. Just like when it’s hot outside, who cares if it’s a dry heat, it’s still hot. At 40% off, I might as well try to future proof this machine. I like photography and own 4 cameras myself so this should help in editing and I’ve also done some film editing.
80GB 5400RPM Seagate
I was disappointed to see 10GB missing. Actually a hidden partition is used to restore the PC to factory settings, you know, when you first power up the machine and all these licenses come up that you have to agree to or nothing works. No wonder people pirate software, if you read the agreements, the software promises to do nothing and you promise to not hold the vendor liable if it doesn’t work. You are basically paying for an empty promise and non-functioning software. Maybe vendors should take note and make some promises. At the very least an OS image should be provided on CD so you don’t have this wasted 10GB of wasted space. How often does one reinstall. I do it once a year just to get rid of software that I thought would use but never did but that’s me.
Unless an application can be used without having to install it first then no application is uninstalled cleanly. Garbage is inevitably left behind, a folder, registry entry, something. It’s bull that an uninstaller will completely remove what it originally installed even when it says it will.
Intel® PRO 2200 (802.11b/g 54Mbps)
My router is only 802.11b, not the latest and greatest so there is no speed improvement and signal strength is the same. One of these days I’ll upgrade to 802.11g and who cares about 802.11a.
Dell 350 Bluetooth Internal Wireless
I bought a Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mouse off eBay from ICTCompany, refurbished for 50.00 delivered to my door to be used with this machine. Even though it came with a Bluetooth hub my original intent was not to use the hub. It was 80.00 retail + tax. The eBay seller had 100% positive feedback and other mouse buyers were happy so why not.
Having said that it came with everything except the original box (CD, manual, hub, mouse and batteries) and it was all sealed in plastic. I have also bought a refurbished Asante router off eBay and not a hiccup for the past 2 years. I’ll have to say, I should buy refurbished more often. Both items came without a scratch, like new.
For the first 2.5 days I was using the mouse straight out of the box, no recharging necessary. It works very well, smooth and accurate tracking. A little larger and a little heavier compared to a Logitech mouse I use at work which is wireless as well but it has that dongle. A friend had loaned me a Microsoft wireless mouse (not Bluetooth) to use with the Dell before I got the MX900 but it was erratic. The pointer would jump to a corner on occasion or it would disappear altogether and you would need to click a button to make it come back. Microsoft also has a Bluetooth mouse but I don’t like their design and who knows, it may have worked like my loaner.
You need to install SetPoint and connect the hub to your computer to program it. This software also lets you customize the buttons for other than the default settings. After that you can unhook the hub and run the mouse using the built-in Bluetooth. If you don’t have Bluetooth the hub acts as a Bluetooth receiver and you can also run other Bluetooth devices with the hub. A word of caution, you will lose the use of the Application Switcher button without the hub, the rest of buttons will continue to function.
The mouse is a little larger than what I am used to and I find it rests in my palm more which makes for a warm palm and mouse, no breathing room. The ‘Logitech’ logo on the back of the mouse is also raised so I feel it my palm as well. It’s not really bothersome but I would rather have it smooth like the Bluetooth logo that’s also on the mouse.
Having Bluetooth built-in can save you a USB port. Just use the hub to recharge the batteries, recharge them in a separate charger or just pop in regular AA batteries. Using regular batteries is handy because you don’t need to take the hub with you when traveling. A proprietary Lithium would require you to take the hub.
Since I bought refurbished I got 2300 mAh NiMH which are the strongest rechargeables out there. I read somewhere that the new ones come with 1800 mAh NiMH so it’s like getting a bonus buying refurbished not to mention cheaper. What’s odd is that Logitech says that NiMHs with a rating of 1500-1900 mAh should be used.
Distance testing from a good 7 metres away it worked like a charm so I believe the claimed distance of 10 metres. There is a slight delay of about 2 seconds to wake the mouse if it goes into standby mode, I didn’t see an option to specify standby time. No biggie.
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write capability
No LightScribe technology. I would have liked to have that. These drives allow you to etch your CD/DVD so you can do away with labels and/or Sharpies. I have an external that burns just as fast, just not dual. I’ll sell that one, don’t need two.
Media Keys and Status Lights
The Media Keys on the front allow you to control volume, play, fast forward, rewind and pause when watching a DVD or TV. You can press the middle button to start the Media Center as well; this also works when the computer is asleep. They turn blue when you press them. Great in the dark but it only lights up after you press them. Something got missed here or I missed the point that Dell wants users to memorize the button layout.
You have the regular status lights for Num Lock, Caps Lock and Scroll Lock. Additional lights are for WiFi and Bluetooth above the keyboard. Status lights for Power, HD Access and Battery are on the right hinge. Battery light turns orange when you are low on juice. You can see the lights on the hinge even if the laptop is closed.
Ports
Lots of them. 6 USB 2.0 ports (4 in the back and 2 on the left side), only 1 FireWire port on the right side and only 4 pin at that so it’s non-powered. At least 2 FireWire ports should be included and at least one of them should be FireWire 800, those who crave speed want this. The sustained transfer speed on my external hard drive is faster with FireWire even though USB 2.0 is rated at 420 and FireWire is rated at 400. Anyone else notice this on their peripherals, check the specs if your devices support both FireWire and USB 2.0. No legacy ports such as serial, parallel and PS/2. Those who have peripherals with legacy connections need to consider this. My printer uses parallel but fortunately my router is also a wireless print server and has a parallel port so I’ve been using that. Surfing and printing wirelessly is great.
Other ports include S-Video, DVI, Video, PCMCIA slot (1), audio connectors (2) Mic and Headphones, Secure Digital. Boos to Dell for not including a Compact Flash slot, again this machine is big enough and thick enough to have it.
I also find the USB ports too close together. If you use one of those flash/pen drives, they are too thick and block a slot. This is the same mess back in the day where powerstrips had the receptacles too close together and the majority of the devices needing external power had brick adapters so you ended up losing the use of one receptacle. Eventually powerstrips came with receptacles that were spaced farther apart. I guess we have to endure another engineering mess. Laptop vendors need to consider what type of devices that are popular these days, not everything comes with a flat plug. You can use 1 flat plug and a flash drive but try to use 2 flash drives where the ports are on top of each other.
Sound
A definite step up to what I had on the Sager where the speaker sound was tinny, crackly, mono and just bad and ugly for quality, there was no good except when hooked to externals. I have a pair of old big PC speakers hooked to the Sager, they are much louder and I find the sound better on these than what is on the Dell laptop. Make no mistake, the Dell speakers are very good and robust but I think external speakers are much better.
Heat & Noise
The 2 fans are always on but are very quiet. I’m glad I didn’t get a laptop with a Pentium 4 chip, too hot and the fans may have to run faster and therefore noisier. My Sager has the fan always going and it’s loud compared to the Dell but back then there wasn’t a Pentium M. The Gateway is also Centrino laptop but the fan only comes on once in a while, go figure… Overall, very little heat on the Dell and I will have it running for 6 hours or more. It is warmer (more like tepid) on the right side, left side is actually cool. The Sager is very warm to hot compared to the Dell or Gateway. The laptop feels warmer when charging but once charged it feels cooler.
Included CDs
WordPerfect and AOL, sigh…
No OS CD, no Drivers/Utilities CD and no Applications CD. If you go to Dell’s Knowledge Base it tells of an option on your machine to create your own OS CD but for reasons unknown this option was missing on my machine. I asked Dell via email where this option was and they just responded that they mailed the CDs to me without an explanation of why the option was missing but it was free of charge. Kudos to Dell for the 3 free CDs (OS, Drivers/Utilities and Applications) but I think all applications, drivers and utilities that come with the machine preloaded should be should be included on a CD regardless of vendor.
Software
Nothing short of “what the” when it comes to the pre-loaded software. You really need Norton’s Ghost to get around this. Remove the mess that comes pre-installed and then Ghost it so if you ever need to reload use the image instead so you won’t have to uninstall the mess again. Also, you should download and install all the patches as well before ghosting so the next time most of the patches will be there and you only have to download and install a few of the new ones if you ever reload (it’s Windows). It’s a lot quicker to restore an image than to reinstall the OS and apply the patches from scratch.
Battery Life
Poor. I tried running a 101 minute movie and it didn’t make it. I fell 20 minutes short. Your mileage may vary. The Gateway can run over 3 hours on a charge according to the battery meter. Dell’s website mentions a run time of 3.4 hours. This means I should get at least 2.5 hours but it comes nowhere close. I disconnected everything, even the mouse and disabled everything wireless and not even a run time of 1.5 hours. Using QuickSet and setting monitor brightness to 3 does not help. Dell sent me another battery that I’m testing now but it’s no better than the original maybe a little worse.
Dell Inspiron 9300
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 750 Dothan (1.86 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™ Samsung
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800 (1920 x 1200)
80GB 5400RPM Seagate
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 + Single TV Tuner and Remote
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write capability NEC
Intel® PRO 2200 (802.11b/g 54Mbps) and Dell 350 Bluetooth Internal Wireless Cards
6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (53 WHr) Sanyo
Pros:
Crisp screen, bright and big
Plenty of USB 2.0 ports
Nice keyboard (light touch required)
Quiet Fans
Low Heat
Responsive Touch Pad
Cons:
1 FireWire Port (4 pin only)
No FireWire 800
USB ports too close together
Speakers not very loud
No Compact Flash slot
Tiny Text (Other resolution settings make text soft and fuzzy)
Too many Pre-loaded Software
No OS CD
No Driver/Utilities CD
No Applications CD
Keyboard does not light up based on ambient light
No Numeric Keypad
Thick (See Apple for thin)
Heavy (See Apple for light)
No Floppy Drive (Who cares, so it’s really not a CON)
No LightScribe Technology
External TV Tuner
External Infrared Receiver, should be integrated into tuner or make it 90% smaller with a clip so you can attach it to the screen.
Poor Battery Life
Conclusion
Despite some minor short comings it is a very good machine. Even with my laundry list of CONS my biggest pet peeve was the missing CDs. Being able to reinstall can cure the most serious PC illness not withstanding hardware failure. If you plan on being away from a power supply several times per year I would opt for the 9-Cell battery but it will add 100.00 to the bottom line. Even if I applied the 40% coupon I still couldn’t justify the expense. I would rather buy an adapter that plugs into the car. I couldn’t see myself dragging this thing around and even on a 6 hour flight I never felt a need to use a computer. I dumped desktops in favour of laptops back in 1999 and the power of current laptops rival and/or match that of desktops today without the major footprint required.
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 750 Dothan (1.86 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™ Samsung
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800 (1920 x 1200)
80GB 5400RPM Seagate
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 + Single TV Tuner and Remote
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write capability NEC
Intel® PRO 2200 (802.11b/g 54Mbps) and Dell 350 Bluetooth Internal Wireless Cards
6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (53 WHr) Sanyo
I ordered this on Fri. Jul 21, 2005 and it was shipped Wed. Jul 26, 2005 with UPS Next Business Day delivery so I got it on Fri. Jul 29, 2005. Kudos to Dell, only 1 week wait time and it arrived 6 days ahead of schedule and it wasn’t shipped using 3-5 standard delivery as originally stated.
I bought this laptop to replace my aging
Sager NP3350E
14.1 Active Matrix
Intel Pentium III 600 MHz with SpeedStep
12GB HD
512MB Ram
ATI Rage LT Pro AGP 8MB SGRAM
which I bought in early 2000 so it's about 5.5 years old and getting a little long in the tooth. The 750.00 coupon that keeps coming around was still not enough to move me. I used a 40% off coupon for this purchase otherwise I may have bought another manufacturer’s. This machine is way too expensive without the coupon.
Initial Impressions
Large, thick and heavy. See Apple’s 17 inch for what thin and light should be for a laptop of this size. The silver colour is nice but the jury is still out on the white strip. I never did like two-tone cars so having a two-tone machine is a bummer but livable.
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™ Samsung
Sparkles and Light Leakage
I’ll get this out of the way first. It’s barely visible and I don’t think most people would notice unless someone told them. For sparkles, it’s more like a shimmer, the background needs to be white and you have to look for it, basically stare at a white background. Light leakage around the edge of screen is like a minor glow and the background has to be black, and it’s only on the bottom for me. Still, you have to look for it and these issues are overblown. My advice is to ignore these issues. I watched a widescreen movie so it had black stripes above and below the picture in total darkness and you don’t even notice the glow because it is so minor, miniscule minor. When was the last time you popped in a DVD to watch black stripes for 1.5 hours. Watch the movie instead and you’ll have a much better time. As I write this review in Word I am reading what I wrote in black text on a white background, who reads shimmer. I’m not too sure I would call this a deal killer.
Bright and big. A lot of real estate to work with here. With a screen this big you don’t need a mouse that has those tilt wheels to scroll side to side because everything fits and then some. With the TV Tuner and Media Center it is very easy to watch TV or a DVD and surf or write documents at the same time. If you work with big spreadsheets then a mouse with a tilt wheel would probably come in handy.
The resolution is really high (1920x1200) so text appears tiny. I have good vision, no glasses and I don’t need to squint at things far or near to read or look. Still, larger text would be nice. I tried messing with the DPI and screen resolution but text appears soft and fuzzy when you reduce the resolution and icons will appear jaggy when you increase the DPI.
I’m more used to the resolution now. I turned on ClearType and set the resolution to 1920x1200. Text is still tiny but both text and icons are crisp. Turning on ClearType also made the text much easier to read at this resolution. In Word you can set the default font size and I use Netscape/Mozilla to surf, can’t stand Internet Exploder. You can also set the default font size here so text appears larger but be warned, some web pages will appear wacky if you set the font too large. You will see words overlap graphics and graphics overlap words; it’s a give and take situation. Sites like ABCNews.com help out by providing an option to increase the font size when reading their articles; here the text won’t go out of whack because they allow for it. You can also increase the font size by using Ctrl-+ while browsing.
I have the UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™ so it’s the glossy screen “the wet look”. I think it’s great for watching movies. The downside is it gives off a reflection. I can see the ceiling lights in it but it doesn’t bother me and I just ignore it and it’s really not that noticeable because you focus on what you are doing, kind of like peripheral vision, you notice stuff around you but it’s ignored. I haven’t tried to use this in bright sunlight so I don’t know how it looks. You need to watch a current DVD to get a crisp picture. I was watching an old DVD and it was grainy so if the picture is not crisp it may be the DVD and not the screen.
There are 6 rubber feet around the screen so when the laptop is closed the screen won’t touch the keyboard; you can actually see a gap which definitely accounts for why this laptop is thicker when closed.
Keyboard
Very good but it does not light up based on ambient light. It only requires a light touch though; compared to the Sager I have to smash the keys. I also have a G3 PowerBook, I think this keyboard is much better as it requires even a lighter touch. I use a Gateway 450ROG laptop at work and the keyboard is about the same as the Dell. Thumbs down to Dell for not including a numeric keypad. There is so much wasted space just having the keyboard.
Touchpad
Very nice, responsive and only requires a light touch and tap. I never had a problem with touchpads, It was very intuitive for me to use them. I could never get use to the “eraser” thing that comes with IBM’s which is the very reason I will never buy one. In fact, any PeeCee that comes with that is an automatic no sale for me.
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 + Single TV Tuner and Remote
It works well but it’s external, thumbs down to Dell for this one as well. To me, Dell simply threw in a TV tuner as an afterthought so it could get in on the market with a ‘PC/Entertainment Centre’. They could have added a numeric keypad with all this room and if you’re going to have a machine this thick there should be enough room to move the tuner inside because the tuner itself is thinner than the laptop without the screen closed. You can buy tuners now that are nothing more than a PCMCIA card so there really is no excuse for this behemoth.
To watch TV is great because you connect to the net to get the guide for 14 days in advance. Boos to microSLOTH for requiring you to agree to have the software send back info on how you use the software. You can’t access the guide without agreeing to this crap. The infrared receiver is also external and separate from the tuner, why they couldn’t have it in one piece is beyond me. It’s also big like my external flash card reader, another haphazard design. If it’s going to be external make it small and provide a clip so I can attach it to the screen. I bought a laptop to reduce clutter and overall footprint size. I thought I was getting rid of external speakers with the Sager only to have that space taken up by the tuner and infrared receiver.
The remote works and looks like any other remote except in the middle is a green start button like on the winDOZE taskbar. You press this to start things up; you can also use the Start Menu if you lose the remote or the Media buttons. One thing I did find annoying is the standby button on the remote, pressing this does not turn off the Media Center but puts your whole machine to sleep. What’s up with that?
You can ‘pause’ a TV show for a bit and ‘resume’ picks up where you left off. I don’t know how long you can pause for, but it worked a few minutes for me. I pressed the play button again after a few minutes but I believe you can pause for as long as disk space allows. You can also record shows but in both cases it doesn’t allow you to choose where the file is saved. Thumbs down for this maneuver.
The final thumbs down for this external TV tuner is that it requires 2 USB ports, one for the tuner and one for the infrared receiver. It’s a good thing this machine comes with 6 USB ports.
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800 (1920 x 1200)
I’m not a gamer and I’m not interested in running benchmarks so I’m not going to. If it’s fast then it’s fast. Just like when it’s hot outside, who cares if it’s a dry heat, it’s still hot. At 40% off, I might as well try to future proof this machine. I like photography and own 4 cameras myself so this should help in editing and I’ve also done some film editing.
80GB 5400RPM Seagate
I was disappointed to see 10GB missing. Actually a hidden partition is used to restore the PC to factory settings, you know, when you first power up the machine and all these licenses come up that you have to agree to or nothing works. No wonder people pirate software, if you read the agreements, the software promises to do nothing and you promise to not hold the vendor liable if it doesn’t work. You are basically paying for an empty promise and non-functioning software. Maybe vendors should take note and make some promises. At the very least an OS image should be provided on CD so you don’t have this wasted 10GB of wasted space. How often does one reinstall. I do it once a year just to get rid of software that I thought would use but never did but that’s me.
Unless an application can be used without having to install it first then no application is uninstalled cleanly. Garbage is inevitably left behind, a folder, registry entry, something. It’s bull that an uninstaller will completely remove what it originally installed even when it says it will.
Intel® PRO 2200 (802.11b/g 54Mbps)
My router is only 802.11b, not the latest and greatest so there is no speed improvement and signal strength is the same. One of these days I’ll upgrade to 802.11g and who cares about 802.11a.
Dell 350 Bluetooth Internal Wireless
I bought a Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mouse off eBay from ICTCompany, refurbished for 50.00 delivered to my door to be used with this machine. Even though it came with a Bluetooth hub my original intent was not to use the hub. It was 80.00 retail + tax. The eBay seller had 100% positive feedback and other mouse buyers were happy so why not.
Having said that it came with everything except the original box (CD, manual, hub, mouse and batteries) and it was all sealed in plastic. I have also bought a refurbished Asante router off eBay and not a hiccup for the past 2 years. I’ll have to say, I should buy refurbished more often. Both items came without a scratch, like new.
For the first 2.5 days I was using the mouse straight out of the box, no recharging necessary. It works very well, smooth and accurate tracking. A little larger and a little heavier compared to a Logitech mouse I use at work which is wireless as well but it has that dongle. A friend had loaned me a Microsoft wireless mouse (not Bluetooth) to use with the Dell before I got the MX900 but it was erratic. The pointer would jump to a corner on occasion or it would disappear altogether and you would need to click a button to make it come back. Microsoft also has a Bluetooth mouse but I don’t like their design and who knows, it may have worked like my loaner.
You need to install SetPoint and connect the hub to your computer to program it. This software also lets you customize the buttons for other than the default settings. After that you can unhook the hub and run the mouse using the built-in Bluetooth. If you don’t have Bluetooth the hub acts as a Bluetooth receiver and you can also run other Bluetooth devices with the hub. A word of caution, you will lose the use of the Application Switcher button without the hub, the rest of buttons will continue to function.
The mouse is a little larger than what I am used to and I find it rests in my palm more which makes for a warm palm and mouse, no breathing room. The ‘Logitech’ logo on the back of the mouse is also raised so I feel it my palm as well. It’s not really bothersome but I would rather have it smooth like the Bluetooth logo that’s also on the mouse.
Having Bluetooth built-in can save you a USB port. Just use the hub to recharge the batteries, recharge them in a separate charger or just pop in regular AA batteries. Using regular batteries is handy because you don’t need to take the hub with you when traveling. A proprietary Lithium would require you to take the hub.
Since I bought refurbished I got 2300 mAh NiMH which are the strongest rechargeables out there. I read somewhere that the new ones come with 1800 mAh NiMH so it’s like getting a bonus buying refurbished not to mention cheaper. What’s odd is that Logitech says that NiMHs with a rating of 1500-1900 mAh should be used.
Distance testing from a good 7 metres away it worked like a charm so I believe the claimed distance of 10 metres. There is a slight delay of about 2 seconds to wake the mouse if it goes into standby mode, I didn’t see an option to specify standby time. No biggie.
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write capability
No LightScribe technology. I would have liked to have that. These drives allow you to etch your CD/DVD so you can do away with labels and/or Sharpies. I have an external that burns just as fast, just not dual. I’ll sell that one, don’t need two.
Media Keys and Status Lights
The Media Keys on the front allow you to control volume, play, fast forward, rewind and pause when watching a DVD or TV. You can press the middle button to start the Media Center as well; this also works when the computer is asleep. They turn blue when you press them. Great in the dark but it only lights up after you press them. Something got missed here or I missed the point that Dell wants users to memorize the button layout.
You have the regular status lights for Num Lock, Caps Lock and Scroll Lock. Additional lights are for WiFi and Bluetooth above the keyboard. Status lights for Power, HD Access and Battery are on the right hinge. Battery light turns orange when you are low on juice. You can see the lights on the hinge even if the laptop is closed.
Ports
Lots of them. 6 USB 2.0 ports (4 in the back and 2 on the left side), only 1 FireWire port on the right side and only 4 pin at that so it’s non-powered. At least 2 FireWire ports should be included and at least one of them should be FireWire 800, those who crave speed want this. The sustained transfer speed on my external hard drive is faster with FireWire even though USB 2.0 is rated at 420 and FireWire is rated at 400. Anyone else notice this on their peripherals, check the specs if your devices support both FireWire and USB 2.0. No legacy ports such as serial, parallel and PS/2. Those who have peripherals with legacy connections need to consider this. My printer uses parallel but fortunately my router is also a wireless print server and has a parallel port so I’ve been using that. Surfing and printing wirelessly is great.
Other ports include S-Video, DVI, Video, PCMCIA slot (1), audio connectors (2) Mic and Headphones, Secure Digital. Boos to Dell for not including a Compact Flash slot, again this machine is big enough and thick enough to have it.
I also find the USB ports too close together. If you use one of those flash/pen drives, they are too thick and block a slot. This is the same mess back in the day where powerstrips had the receptacles too close together and the majority of the devices needing external power had brick adapters so you ended up losing the use of one receptacle. Eventually powerstrips came with receptacles that were spaced farther apart. I guess we have to endure another engineering mess. Laptop vendors need to consider what type of devices that are popular these days, not everything comes with a flat plug. You can use 1 flat plug and a flash drive but try to use 2 flash drives where the ports are on top of each other.
Sound
A definite step up to what I had on the Sager where the speaker sound was tinny, crackly, mono and just bad and ugly for quality, there was no good except when hooked to externals. I have a pair of old big PC speakers hooked to the Sager, they are much louder and I find the sound better on these than what is on the Dell laptop. Make no mistake, the Dell speakers are very good and robust but I think external speakers are much better.
Heat & Noise
The 2 fans are always on but are very quiet. I’m glad I didn’t get a laptop with a Pentium 4 chip, too hot and the fans may have to run faster and therefore noisier. My Sager has the fan always going and it’s loud compared to the Dell but back then there wasn’t a Pentium M. The Gateway is also Centrino laptop but the fan only comes on once in a while, go figure… Overall, very little heat on the Dell and I will have it running for 6 hours or more. It is warmer (more like tepid) on the right side, left side is actually cool. The Sager is very warm to hot compared to the Dell or Gateway. The laptop feels warmer when charging but once charged it feels cooler.
Included CDs
WordPerfect and AOL, sigh…
No OS CD, no Drivers/Utilities CD and no Applications CD. If you go to Dell’s Knowledge Base it tells of an option on your machine to create your own OS CD but for reasons unknown this option was missing on my machine. I asked Dell via email where this option was and they just responded that they mailed the CDs to me without an explanation of why the option was missing but it was free of charge. Kudos to Dell for the 3 free CDs (OS, Drivers/Utilities and Applications) but I think all applications, drivers and utilities that come with the machine preloaded should be should be included on a CD regardless of vendor.
Software
Nothing short of “what the” when it comes to the pre-loaded software. You really need Norton’s Ghost to get around this. Remove the mess that comes pre-installed and then Ghost it so if you ever need to reload use the image instead so you won’t have to uninstall the mess again. Also, you should download and install all the patches as well before ghosting so the next time most of the patches will be there and you only have to download and install a few of the new ones if you ever reload (it’s Windows). It’s a lot quicker to restore an image than to reinstall the OS and apply the patches from scratch.
Battery Life
Poor. I tried running a 101 minute movie and it didn’t make it. I fell 20 minutes short. Your mileage may vary. The Gateway can run over 3 hours on a charge according to the battery meter. Dell’s website mentions a run time of 3.4 hours. This means I should get at least 2.5 hours but it comes nowhere close. I disconnected everything, even the mouse and disabled everything wireless and not even a run time of 1.5 hours. Using QuickSet and setting monitor brightness to 3 does not help. Dell sent me another battery that I’m testing now but it’s no better than the original maybe a little worse.
Dell Inspiron 9300
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 750 Dothan (1.86 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™ Samsung
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800 (1920 x 1200)
80GB 5400RPM Seagate
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 + Single TV Tuner and Remote
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write capability NEC
Intel® PRO 2200 (802.11b/g 54Mbps) and Dell 350 Bluetooth Internal Wireless Cards
6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (53 WHr) Sanyo
Pros:
Crisp screen, bright and big
Plenty of USB 2.0 ports
Nice keyboard (light touch required)
Quiet Fans
Low Heat
Responsive Touch Pad
Cons:
1 FireWire Port (4 pin only)
No FireWire 800
USB ports too close together
Speakers not very loud
No Compact Flash slot
Tiny Text (Other resolution settings make text soft and fuzzy)
Too many Pre-loaded Software
No OS CD
No Driver/Utilities CD
No Applications CD
Keyboard does not light up based on ambient light
No Numeric Keypad
Thick (See Apple for thin)
Heavy (See Apple for light)
No Floppy Drive (Who cares, so it’s really not a CON)
No LightScribe Technology
External TV Tuner
External Infrared Receiver, should be integrated into tuner or make it 90% smaller with a clip so you can attach it to the screen.
Poor Battery Life
Conclusion
Despite some minor short comings it is a very good machine. Even with my laundry list of CONS my biggest pet peeve was the missing CDs. Being able to reinstall can cure the most serious PC illness not withstanding hardware failure. If you plan on being away from a power supply several times per year I would opt for the 9-Cell battery but it will add 100.00 to the bottom line. Even if I applied the 40% coupon I still couldn’t justify the expense. I would rather buy an adapter that plugs into the car. I couldn’t see myself dragging this thing around and even on a 6 hour flight I never felt a need to use a computer. I dumped desktops in favour of laptops back in 1999 and the power of current laptops rival and/or match that of desktops today without the major footprint required.
