Dell FINALLY offers 8600 with ATI 9600 - Page 4

You know, if you can afford it, that IS the best thing to do (with any brand actually)..

Do you know if the 30 day return policy for Sagers applies to laptops bought through PC Torque? I notice that PC Torque doesn't charge for shipping out. Any idea how much it costs to ship one back?

I never said they had the same battery life - I said that with dual battery they are close (at least to the review scores). What I did say was that they are silent and not that hot. Oh and they do have the best 3dmark scores.

No they are not that silent. and Your marks arent that great..... And even with ur dual its not even close. enjoy your large brick...

are we done yet?

Ah yes.. back to the great all knowing loki... who doenst even OWN one.

Anyway, Bra, silence with our sagers IS nice, huh? Honestly, the only times the fans even kick in, is games...

In your signature how old is the 51m your roommate has?

Quote from Divine_Madcat

""Maybe if you actually OWNED the machine you were bashing, people might listen. But all you got is "my friend this, my friend that". Your experience is worthless, and even better, you dont even have any data facts to convince otherwise.....""


You're being a thickhead DM, and it's quite annoying.

I have an BMW 325i. My work mate has an Audi A4 2.4. We switched cars for a week last summer. My BMW has better punch, but the A4 is more "subtle", more confortable to drive. You see? I dont need to actually OWN the bloody car to know how it compares with mine. All I need to do is to test it for a reassonable period of time.

Loki said that he's used Sagers for an extended period of time himself. Therefore, he does indeed know how they are.

As a matter of fact, he probably has more first hand Sager knowledge than you do with Dells. And if he sais that the Dell is quiter and cooler after having used both systems for quite a while, then for fcuk's sake it is quiter and cooler.

Which, BTW, makes sense considering we're comparing a Centrino vs. a desktop P4.

I personally dont need the 4 hours of battery life since I always use my system indoors, and therefore near an electricity plug. Also, Im an avid gamer and Sagers got the edge in this field. In my case, Sager > 8600i. HOWEVER, for someone who DOES travel a lot, or needs his laptop on-the-move it would be pretty retarded to buy a Sager over a 8600i. The extra 15% or 20% performance gap you gain with the Sager wont safe you when you're out of batteries in the middle of a trip, or when you're tired of carrying that heavy brick on your backpack.

From all reviews I've read, the 8600i is an awesome laptop, and now with the 9600Pro it will be a mean ass machine! I dont think you will regret buying one.



Cheers.

Good post WTB... atleast someone can be nice and reasonable and not try to bach someone else without knowing what they are talking about.

If someone has used one, they have used one... I can tell you one thing, I have never actually used a Sager, but when I played around on it in the Best Buy (it was the Alienware model) I thought that the case was bugly (butt ugly) and quite large. Therefore it didn't make sense for me. However, it's power was still quite tempting.

The Dell D800 works for me....the Sager works for others, heck an Alienware is perfect for some people. Why don't we let each person like what they want and stop fighting over what they overspent on or how dumb of a mistake they made by buying something different.

Thank you.

My old room mate has a 51m(got it over the summer). My new room mate has a 5670? The one before the 5680, and a kid down the hall has a 5680.

Cool, I live in Asia also! I wanted the Dell shipped out to me here but the tax and duty costs would have bumped up the price 30-40%. Therefore hoping they get it shipped out in time to LA, coinciding with my trip to L.A. (Estimated shipping date is now Dec. 19th!)

On the shipping note...

Does both sager and dell allow 30 day returns?

Is this considered when you receive the pkg to when it is recieved back by the mfg?

Can it be returned for any reason?

Does it have to be reformatted with the original install before returning?

Does PCTorque take the 30 day return too or is this only good when ordering from dell direct or sager direct?

I assume the return shipping must be paid for. Does the shipping to me have to be paid for if it was given free (like with dell promos)?

Thanks

Is this considered when you receive the pkg to when it is recieved back by the mfg?

I believe it's when they ship it out that your 30 days starts.

Does it have to be reformatted with the original install before returning?

Software-wise, you should be able to do whatever when returning to Dell.

With Dell, the 30 days begins when the order is placed, not shipped. I think it is the same with Sager. I've seen a lot of posts on the board about people nearing their 30 day window that haven't received their PC yet (e.g., when the 8600 and various Sager models were first offered and there was a backlog on certain parts like the UXGA monitor).

Actually, it is from when it is shipped (for Sager)...

Actually dell IS 30 days from when you get it...I had one and def took advantage of that time before I returned it.

Thanks for the info. I'll have to double check when I get mine.

8600 for me

Well I took the plunge and just ordered an 8600.

$2501 shipped to my door and after tax through dell premier. I have a $150 rebate to send in too so that will be used for more ram .

1.7 M
128mb ATI9600
256mb ram (will be ordering another 512 through crucial or other - suggestions????)
15.4" WUXGA
60GB 7200RPM HD
4x DVD+RW
802.11 b/g
bluetooth
3 yr at home warranty

With the dvdrw free upgrade and the $150 mail in rebate and hard drive upgrade (worth $90) this seemed like a good promo to order on. Estimated ship date scheduled 1/1/04.

I was disappointed by the 8600 design not having 2 bays like my 8200. My 8200 has a separate dvd and cdrw drive in the computer at all times. I wanted a second hard drive in the 8600 along with the dvdrw but there isn't the second bay for it. They also took away the option for a D-bay or D-port (but kept it on the lower priced latitude) or whatever dell calls it so I can't even run an external one unless I use a powered external HD via usb2. This kinda sucks since I use nearly all of my 60gb drive in my 8200 now. Also sucks that in almost 1.5 yrs time they only increased drive capacity by 25% but it is unacceptable for me as the rpms are only 4200 on dells 80gb drives. Basically I am stuck with the same size HD that is 7200 rpm instead of 5400.

The M processor with the 400mhz fsb and 333mhz ram is also going to be a little slower but at least it has the good video card which was the most important change.

Positives are that it is a WUXGA which isn't offered much anywhere else yet and it will run cool, be fairly light, have good battery life, and good dell support/warranty. Dells also have great resale on ebay .

For $2500 this seemed like a lot of laptop for the money. I priced the sager 8890 at a couple dollars short of 3K and the only thing more it would have had is the second HD and a tv tuner. It would have been slightly better in performance but a bit worse in user friendliness. I think I will be happy with the 8600 and it should run most everything I need.

That eurocom that is supposed to come out had my attention with the 17" uxga and 256mb ati9700 and 2 hds but that would have been at least a grand but probably like 2 grand more right? Overall, for the money, I think I got the best bang for the buck. I am curious what the rest of you think.

Well, as much as wanted the Sager 4780, I took the I8600 plunge as well today. I figured battery life would be more valuable for me at this time. But I am not ruling out the 4780, it could be a possible desktop replacement for me someday. The news of the Sager centrino model not possibly coming out also kind of pushed me towards Dell. I flipped coins over the I8600 and 4780 and the Dell won best of 5.

Specs:

I8600
Pentium®M Processor,1.7 GHz,15.4 in WSXGA+
512MB,DDR,333MHz 2 Dimms
60GB - 7200rpm Ultra ATA Hard Drive
4x CD/DVD burner (DVD+RW/+R)
128MB ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600 PRO Turbo
AC adapter -90w, 19.5v
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home
and the other basic stuff

$2100 with tax/ship

Ill post a review once I get it.

Charger questions

Sounds like you got a great deal. What area did you order through (premier, home, small business)? Were you figuring the $150 rebate in that amount?
I am curious why you got the bigger power pack. I was wondering what the deal with that one is. On my 8200 I just looked at the power pack and the output is 20V at 4.51 amps which is about 90 watts if I remember my math right. I checked my order and I have the 65 watt default one. Does the bigger one just charge the battery faster? Any specs on that as far as time goes? Is there enough power to run the computer and charge the battery sufficiently with only 65watts? I know the M runs with less power but I am surprised that is all.

Thanks