Inspiron 9100 Status?? - Page 6

I got it!

Damn, after getting home a bit early I find the note from the UPS guy that they made the first attempt. I call to have it held for pickup and they say come down any time after 6:30. I get there at 6:31 (literally) but they don't have it yet. An HOUR later they finally admit the UPS driver forgot to drop it off at the right facility and called to have him bring it to me there. Well an hour of waiting and I FINALLY got it!!

Typing on it now! Only disappointment is the Geil memory I ordered will not let it boot up! I power up and all three LED's flash one time and then the middle one flashes 9 more times and then powers off. I tried every combiniation and reseating etc.. but no go. Just in case anyone else was planning to order Geil, be wary... Well its not the end of the world, just have to return and get some Crucial or other.

Well I ran 3DMark03 with the Dell factory install and the measley 256mb RAM I ordered with. It scored 3354. That was the basic tests you get from the unregistered version you download for free. Will run more extensive test later. The only thing I did was delete a bunch of apps that came with the system and closed any unnecessary processes.

Not sure if that score is good or bad. Looking forward to what I get with the full version and the 1gig ram.

This is not really a review but real quick: No dead pixels WHOHOOO By default Dell has turned on the 120% DPI for the icons, so changed it back to 96 DPI to get the clearer picture. If you notice blurred text or web pictures, you should do the same. Things might be a bit smaller, especially with the WUXGA, but it will be sharp and clear.

Speakers sound very good. for a laptop. Had to turn up to max in the Control Panel/Multimedia/Speaker Volume area. Headphones sound awesome too. It will save on battery using them because it only took a fracton of the volume level to crank them up. I mean if I ran at 100% unplugged and maybe 20% on the headphones, which is very loud watching a movie or music.

Great Wifi signal. I just have a B router, but may consider upgrading to G now. Checking pcpitstop for speedtests I get 3.2mb down, dslreports.com I get 2.5 down on the Megapath test (it was in the "busy" status though) This was all wireless.

This sucker is THICK, but feels pretty solid. I was glad I had the "table legs" because I knocked over a drink and it ran down toward the laptop. Talk about MAD, but it was ok. Just the rubber feet got wet. I guess I was too excited!

Well off to play some more. I plan to use a USB drive instead of a floppy, for little stuff or for reformatting. I plan to blow away the XP home and put on XP Pro. I will download all the drivers and put them on the USB drive. Maybe install COD or something, but not expecting much with the 256mb ram. No big deal.

Well once I get the proper memory installed I will post an update on the 3DMark03 and others. Please let me know what you all get (when you get your systems - and how much memory you have - an if you use the Dell factory install). Heres to a speedy shipment of your systems (unlike mine!)



Edit 4/6: I installed COD and two mixed results... 1) I was surprised how well it ran! It loaded at a good speed and ran smooth! The only negative was a occasional studder and then it continued running smooth! I was playing with only 256mb RAM on a wireless connection and every so often, it would studder for a second. Maybe it was the wireless connection (will try wired) Maybe it was getting some data from the CD?? I assume it won't need to do that if I have more memory, but we shall see. Ordered a different brand and should get it tomorrow. Oh.. last bit.. after about 45 minutes of gameplay the system froze up on one of the "studders". Now I am not going to panic yet! I know others with Video card problems would hang up after only a few minutes, so I am holding my consern until I have the system configured properly.

I9100 -- P4 3.2ghz, 60G 7200rmp HD, 256MB DDR400 (will upgrade to 1gig), 15.4 WUXGA, 1300 b/g WiFi, CDRW/DVD Rom, Venice Blue Quick Snap cover (Ordered 3/3 - Rec. 4/5)