8600 more popular than 6000?

6000 seems pretty popular to me....i would say in fact, that most dell laptop customers (on this forum or not), decided upon the 6000d.

Well, i8600 was (two years ago) considered one of the best gaming laptops -- the models with nv go5650 and ati 9600. You won't surprise anyone with the graphics performance offered by x300, now would you? Looks like 6000 is nice solid machine, but not very exciting.

So, two years later -- can you say that performance-wise 6000 is much better than 8600? I don't think so

I agree with Victor, when the 8600 came out it was pretty much the only mainstream laptop the combined the pentium-m and a high powered graphics card, at the time the FX 5650 and 9600 pro turbo. If Dell had produced a true successor, a 15.4 inch machine with a 6800 or similar (the M70 doesn't count as it's not a consumer model) then I think you would see a lot more interest.

John

I'm going to third all of this.

The i8600 was the top of the line notebook for a long time at Dell. The i9100 and iXPS came out, but they wern't very different from the i8600, and they were very large and bulky.

The i6000 is now considered a mid-range machine, with the i9300 and iXPS2 are taking the high-end spot, and you see lots of those selling, so much so, they got their own sub-forum, whereas everyone else has to post in the 'Centrino Notebook' section.

Well seeing the 8600 is 2 years old, it is more popular, but only because it has been out for a long time. As performance, being that the i6000d is new, you can get a more stable performance out of it than a laptop with older technoligy. I myself have a i6000d, play BF2, do photoshop, autocad, and maya. And i dont have any problem with the performance. (in bf2 just have some graphics quality turned down so i can run the game super fast.

I have played around with the 8600, not my cup of tea. I think the 6000 is a SOLID as a rock laptop. And i would of chosen anything different

The i8600 wasn't a HUGE change (chassis, screen, HD wise) over the i8500 [granted the CPU and video card options changed with the market, but as people have mentioned, it was pretty much top-of-the-line most of the time, either as the 8500 or 8600], and its production run (combined) was pretty long. It's pretty natural, then, that you'd see a few of 'em. The i6000 has been out for, what, less than a year... so don't worry about it too much. You'll see more coming along.

i would take my 6000 over any 8500/8600 ANYDAY!

why? because its purty (: you cant compare the x300 to anything. the card sucks, i knew it sucked when i bought it, but i got a great deal, and integrated graphix is laughable. the x300 gives good resale value.

also- the 8600 was the top dog when it came out, the 6000d is just a middle of the road laptop. why dont you compare the 8600 to a 9300? thats more of a comparison, oh wait....6800go! nevermind (:

Actually not to burst anyones bubble but according to sales charts (cant show here) the 700m is by far dells best selling and most "popular" notebook to date trailed by the i6000 (non Dedicated) laptops. But if you mean by underground popularity clearly the 9300 has recieved the most fanfare IMO

^ Boo that, Dell should offer the M70 with $1500 discounts and make up in volume the money it loses in each sale.

your not bursting my bubble. i already knew the 700m was the most popular (according to sales #'s) most people buy a laptop for the size, and i would think the 700m would suit a lot of people for that matter.

To give you an idea of what sales looks like for dell

14.1 inch and below 50%
15-15.4 inch 30%
17 inch 20%

Roughly but it kinda gives you perspective on mhow many power monsters dell has sold huh?

What's the 8600? I don't see an i8600 laptop on Dell's site. Was this an older model that has since been replaced?

Your i6000 replaces the i8600 directly.

I find these facts very interesting as the 700m is not even available in the UK! smallest inspiron is the 510m.... which is the same as the 600m except it has integrated graphics.

You can get a 6000 direct from dell for £400 with a celeron.... bargain, and as a result i'd imagine this is the best seller in the UK.

IMO the 6000 was NOT a replacement equal to the 8600.
The 9600 Pro Turbo still kicks arse compared to what is offered with the 6000

I was thinking about including that in there, because the x300 isn't as awesome a GPU as people were hoping, but in the 15.4" class, the i6000 was designed to supercede the i8600... even if the i9300 is more of a true "replacement" in terms of gaming capability. For size and cost, however, the i6000 is decent enough.

Who knows what Dell's thinking.

The M70 like the D810 is targetted at business, but is also a great home machine. Both the D810 and M70 are superior to the i6000 for gaming, whatever Dell's primary focus for them. It is up to the consumer whether they want to go for the Inspiron line or the Latitude. If the Latitude/Precision lines were of comparable cost to the Inspirons, of course no one would buy the i6000. Dell have decided that the i9300 with a 6800 gpu and a 17" screen is the perfect gaming machine, and they are right - except for the XPS2, in countries where it is available. For those of us who prefer a 15.4" footprint, there is the i6000, the D810 or the M70. Amongst these machines, other features are so similar that for gaming the choice is mainly a mater of which gpu, and at what cost. For older generation games the X300 is OK - it is also the stock gpu for the i9300. For gamers the X600 is not different enough from the X300 to make a huge difference, but the D810 is definitely superior to the i6000. For most users, the M70 is the equal to the 6800-configured i9300. But serious gamers would find the 17" screen of the i9300 much superior to the 15.4" screen, which is markedly smaller than the standard ratio 15" screen on the old Inspiron 8600. But no gamer who could afford it would choose the i9300 over the XPS2, if it were available, just as within the 15.4" form factor the M70 is daylight ahead of the D810 and the i6000 as a gaming machine. For the ultimate machines in each form range the limiting factor is cost: is the extra cost warranted for the markedly superior gpu in each case? That's for each consumer to judge. However, I was surprised that Dell didn't bring out an Inspiron equivalent of the M70 with a 6600, X700 or even 6800 gpu - or a i6000 with a gpu fan and the same gpu options. Quite a big policy shift from before.

Still playing the most recent games with ease with my trusted 8600 baby.... Half Life 2, Rome Total War, Area 51, ect ,ect, just like the energizer bunny my 8600 keeps going and going and going....

Specs 8600 1.7
Nvidia 5650FxGo
15.4 WSXGA+
768Mb 333DDR
60Gig Hd
4XDVDR+RW

I wish I had purchased an i8600 back in 12/03 when I picked up my i1100. At that time, the $500 difference seemed like too much, although if I could do it again I would.

The problem with the first i6000 was in the graphics. Once the i6000d came along, it was better, yet the 8600 still has the better cards.

I think the 8600 gets and will always get more publicity because it was the first mainstream "Centrino" machine. It was also one of the first with the "Widescreen" LCD. I'll always think of the i8600 as the computer I should be typing this on...