I can't believe nobody's written up a review of this laptop on here yet. I think I'm the last person to order on the release day (May 31st) to get his/hers.
Well, here are the specs:
1.86ghz Yonah Core duo
1GB of PC-5300 DDR2 667 (upgraded immediately to 2GB of same speed)
nVidia 7400 TC
60GB 7200rpm 8mb (Seagate Momentus)
Bluetooth
DVD+/-RW
9 cell + 6 cell batteries
Initial Thoughts:
No Keyboard Flex!! (check pictures) and No Dead Pixels!!!
Looks badass!!! I'm glad that I didn't get the AV package. I think the built in camera takes away from the smooth lines and I would have never used it. I have a webcam at home and have never used it...plus, I've been to certain "sensitive" areas where they forbid the use ot anything with a built in camera.
Very similat in size to the 700m and similar screen.
Screen:
Glossy WXGA looks glossy, but not overly glossy. I would say somewhere between the Sony and the Fujitsu in terms of glossiness (with Sony being less glossy and Fujitsu being more).
Speed:
Seems very quick. The first boot up did take a while, but once I popped in my 2Gb of RAM, and uninstalled all the dell software in favor of all my preferred ones (Dell Media > PowerDVD, Sonic > Nero, etc..) and uninstalled some of the stuff I don't use, as well as a little cleaning up on msconfig...it boots VERY fast now. I'll be doing some benchmarking later.
Wireless:
No problems. Picked up my router, plugged in the WEP and it's crusing along.
Sound:
Speakers seem better than most other laptop speakers. I turn the volume up and could hear the music playing loud and clear from a few rooms away.
Battery:
The 9-cell came completely charged. I plugged it in and noticed that it had 100% charge. I unplugged it about 4.5 hours ago and have been doing quite power intensive things (installing, uninstalling, music, running DVDs, etc...) with everything on and brightness set to 2 clicks below full (which is still plenty bright) I just got the "low battery warning stating that I have about 20 minutes left. That's AWESOME! I was worried that I wouldn't get more than 3 hours or so even with the 9-cell.
Oh, and I love the XPS wallpaper.
And now for the pics (Oh, and this is the only notebook I've owned so far that had a card reader built in that read XD cards and I'm using it to read the pictures off my card now to post these pictures!)
No "Bulge" causing the Keyboard Flex!!!
So in summary:
The good:
Awesome looking
Very quick
Good screen (I got the AUO panel)
Good battery life
Good speakers
Quiet Drive (I have the Sony DVD Burner)
Good multimedia card reader
Good trackpad/responsive click buttons
Very quiet! (Fan noise is bearable, unlike most other "ultraportables")
Stays cool! (Was on my lap the whole time and barely got warm)
The Bad:
Don't like the "chrome" buttons and the trimming around the trackpad.
On the heavy side for such
Thick a small laptop
On the thick side for such a small laptop
The black backing is attracts fingerprints
The memory upgrade is a little harder than it should be (where one stick is under the keyboard
....gaming benchmarks to come later in the week.
*edit* couple of Benchies added:
Well, here are the specs:
1.86ghz Yonah Core duo
1GB of PC-5300 DDR2 667 (upgraded immediately to 2GB of same speed)
nVidia 7400 TC
60GB 7200rpm 8mb (Seagate Momentus)
Bluetooth
DVD+/-RW
9 cell + 6 cell batteries
Initial Thoughts:
No Keyboard Flex!! (check pictures) and No Dead Pixels!!!
Looks badass!!! I'm glad that I didn't get the AV package. I think the built in camera takes away from the smooth lines and I would have never used it. I have a webcam at home and have never used it...plus, I've been to certain "sensitive" areas where they forbid the use ot anything with a built in camera.
Very similat in size to the 700m and similar screen.
Screen:
Glossy WXGA looks glossy, but not overly glossy. I would say somewhere between the Sony and the Fujitsu in terms of glossiness (with Sony being less glossy and Fujitsu being more).
Speed:
Seems very quick. The first boot up did take a while, but once I popped in my 2Gb of RAM, and uninstalled all the dell software in favor of all my preferred ones (Dell Media > PowerDVD, Sonic > Nero, etc..) and uninstalled some of the stuff I don't use, as well as a little cleaning up on msconfig...it boots VERY fast now. I'll be doing some benchmarking later.
Wireless:
No problems. Picked up my router, plugged in the WEP and it's crusing along.
Sound:
Speakers seem better than most other laptop speakers. I turn the volume up and could hear the music playing loud and clear from a few rooms away.
Battery:
The 9-cell came completely charged. I plugged it in and noticed that it had 100% charge. I unplugged it about 4.5 hours ago and have been doing quite power intensive things (installing, uninstalling, music, running DVDs, etc...) with everything on and brightness set to 2 clicks below full (which is still plenty bright) I just got the "low battery warning stating that I have about 20 minutes left. That's AWESOME! I was worried that I wouldn't get more than 3 hours or so even with the 9-cell.
Oh, and I love the XPS wallpaper.
And now for the pics (Oh, and this is the only notebook I've owned so far that had a card reader built in that read XD cards and I'm using it to read the pictures off my card now to post these pictures!)
No "Bulge" causing the Keyboard Flex!!!
So in summary:
The good:
Awesome looking
Very quick
Good screen (I got the AUO panel)
Good battery life
Good speakers
Quiet Drive (I have the Sony DVD Burner)
Good multimedia card reader
Good trackpad/responsive click buttons
Very quiet! (Fan noise is bearable, unlike most other "ultraportables")
Stays cool! (Was on my lap the whole time and barely got warm)
The Bad:
Don't like the "chrome" buttons and the trimming around the trackpad.
On the heavy side for such
Thick a small laptop
On the thick side for such a small laptop
The black backing is attracts fingerprints
The memory upgrade is a little harder than it should be (where one stick is under the keyboard
....gaming benchmarks to come later in the week.
*edit* couple of Benchies added:
