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My Dell 8600 Review

post #1 of 26
3/28/04 at 5:54am
Thread Starter 
Hey guys ....
Just been playing w/ my new Dell I8600.
Here's my review (basically used the format of some of the reviews in the forum just to make it easy)!

Delivery: A
Arrived timely as scheduled.

Look & Feel: B
Looks fairly sturdy.

Sound: A
It's good enough for a lappy.

Input Devices: B
The touch pad is okay, but I would rather work with a wireless mouse.

Wireless: A
It's cool .... picks up the N/Ws at ease.

Screen: B
The reason I chose WXGA was that I did not want to hurt my eyes w/ the tiny fonts and for that I'm happy w/ the WXGA res.The screen is big and wide on the positive side but I have to say it's a Hitachi .... its good as it looks w/ no dead pixels but I haven't compared it w/ other screens. And for all the reviews I read here about Hitachi, I dunno if I still need to call Dell to for a possible replacement w/ a Samsung/Sharp.

Keyboard: B
Nice layout and large keys are the positives. Negatives would be the extra play and flex.

Graphics: C for now !
I know a "32MB nVidia GeForce Go5200" graphics card is not one of the good ones out there, but I went for it cos I'm not into a lot of gaming. But still I ran of the benchmark tests just to see. I'm confused here for the reason that the scores I got here are much much lower(w/ original settings and config ....haven't tweaked any) than U guys normally get.
PCMark04: 2587 ?
3DMark01SE: 4589 ?
Is it because of the poor 32MB G card I got or 'cos of the 256MB memory I got? I would definetly appreciate if any of you guys can help me get clarified w/ this issue. I'm wondering if my overall specs are too low for getting good scores. I can't afford to add more stuff right now .... so I want to know if I
should tweak any settings here.

Performance:
It's faster than most of the computers I've used at school and I can run a lot of programs at the same time fast. But I'm skeptical about what I read somewhere that a system "seems" stable but has hidden problems that might not occur during normal usage(keep wondering why the scores are so low? .... ).

Battery life: A+
Awesome. On an avg I can get like 4 hours of juice. Ofcourse I still want to test this w/ a lot of apps running simultaneously.

Noise: A
I agree this thing is really quite.

Weight: B
A lappy w/ a good perf at 7lbs is not bad. I'm comfortable w/ it.

I like it for what it does but having read a lot about it, maybe I was expecting some more or keep thinking if I can get more out of it. The screen issue and low scores are ones to be dealt with. Would be glad if I can get those things fixed.
*********************************************************
DELL I8600
PentiumM 1.4GHZ
WXGA
256 RAM (have to add another 512MB soon !)
60GB Ultra ATA HD
32MB Nvidia GeForce FX GO5200 Video Card
24X Combo - DVD/CD-RW
WinXP Home
Intel Pro 2100 MiniPCI Wireless Card
*********************************************************

Would like to hear some comments about those Benchmarks and possible tweaks.
Thanks in advance,
K.
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post #2 of 26
3/28/04 at 11:02am
Did you get the old model or the new model without the serial port, printer port and trackstick?
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post #3 of 26
3/28/04 at 4:12pm



I ordered on the 22 march, just trying to figure out what im getting.
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post #4 of 26
3/28/04 at 4:41pm
Just got mine on the 21st. It has parallel and serial ports. Came from Georgia if that means anything. Guess it is the older model.
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post #5 of 26
3/28/04 at 5:19pm
Thread Starter 
Hi ....
zelousmaximus: I do have the serial port, printer port and the track stick. If that means it is an old model, what do the new ones come with. Which one did U get and when did U get yours .... which ones are better?
K.
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post #6 of 26
3/28/04 at 5:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by netlaser9
Hi ....
zelousmaximus: I do have the serial port, printer port and the track stick. If that means it is an old model, what do the new ones come with. Which one did U get and when did U get yours .... which ones are better?
K.
The new models don't have the serialport,printerport, trackstick and those two buttons above the touchpad. I think the older model is better, the new model doesn't have anything like extra usb ports which would've been nice. No one to my knowledge has gotten the new model yet, at least not on this board.
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post #7 of 26
3/28/04 at 7:08pm
wow that's sad, i find the trackstick much more useful than the touchpad because it's more responsive. maybe if they take it out the touchpad becomes more responsive, and doesn't have the 1/4 sec lag.
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post #8 of 26
3/29/04 at 2:44pm

what ?

Why would they remore the trackstick and printer port ?
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post #9 of 26
3/29/04 at 4:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mint-Sauce
Why would they remore the trackstick and printer port ?

Most new printers hook up with usb ports now.

All the news has been on them removing stuff that might be redundent, no news on additions or any superficial changes to the case.

So far no one has mentioned getting the new 8600,
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post #10 of 26
3/30/04 at 12:45am
Hello Net Laser 9- I am new to this Dell post so I apologize in advance for any mistaks!! I just received my Dell 8600 and I agree 100% with your review.My question to you is how do I tell who makes my screen?? It is also a WXGA.Thanks!
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post #11 of 26
3/30/04 at 12:58am
Hi REDDEVILVS

got the same question for you? Do you have serial and printer port? or just 2 usb ports?

I wish i had my 8600 by now, i really want to know what im getting

How do you guys like your wxga?
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post #12 of 26
3/30/04 at 1:03am
Rosky,
I received my 8600 on 3/16/04 from Texas and I have the seriel and printer ports and trackstick mouse.If that's the "old" system than I am glad! Even if I don't use older ports now who no's if I bring it to a friends house with older printer! I am looking into a wireless mouse.here Logitech works the best.My screen is nice and so far 100% A-OK
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post #13 of 26
3/30/04 at 1:13am
thanks red devil, I would prefer the old system too, this waiting is killing me.

I have a wireless logitech mouse for my desktop, its a good mouse, my only grouse is it dos'nt have a on/off button like my targus mouse
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post #14 of 26
3/30/04 at 1:19am
Rosky, I still hear that Logitech works better all around compared to wireless Microsoft or Kennsington mice.Would you suggest the Targus? I really just want a wireless mouse that has a 6 ft. range as supposed to the Kennsington which only claims a 3 ft. range. Thanks!
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post #15 of 26
3/30/04 at 1:31am
My logitech feels a lot better, Its heavier and has a better balance. But i would check and make sure it has an on/off switch, i never considered it and regret it.

The targus was a lot cheaper, it is lighter and it is raised on 4 curved legs which are slightly off balance.

Logitech the pick of the lot.
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post #16 of 26
3/30/04 at 1:34am
Thread Starter 
Hey Reddevilvs ....
Good to see someone accept my review than just the ones w/ positive results.
I came to know about this tool Sandra (google it or d/l from Download.com) from this forum. It will let u know about all the details of the sys.
I felt the screen was okay ..... until I compared w/ my friends lappys which were brighter w/ the same settings. Also the white is a lil pinkish (which is known to be the issue w/ hitachi)
Did u get a chance to run the Benchmarks and what r ur scores? Again what r ur complete specs for the system u r getting?
Let me know if possible.
Thanks in advance,
K.
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post #17 of 26
4/24/04 at 4:01pm
Thread Starter 
Just because you came this far viewing this thread to get an idea about I8600 .... FYI .... I would also suggest you look at the revised version of review for my new I8600 I got as a replacement.
I would surely recommend the I8600 and do not want to give any negative impressions .... except for the patience U need to handle Dell's Customer care incase U get a problem.

My revised review
K.
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post #18 of 26
4/25/04 at 2:50am
what does serial port do??
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post #19 of 26
4/25/04 at 11:17am
its an old old port used for various devices like say... the mouse which of course was replaced with a PS/2 port and then the USB port im glad its gone
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post #20 of 26
9/30/04 at 7:19pm
(obviously new to this board)

I just bought an Inspiron 8600. One major reason for choosing it over the compaqs and toshibas in any old store is the track stick.

But it doesn't have one! I hate touchpads to death. I don't want to have to move my hand every time I need to move the mouse. I don't understand how anyone can get used to these things. :-( They're fine for scrolling but I can't use this to navigate everywhere.

I was also hoping to use the parallel port and serial port for some custom projects, too. They have vanished as well. They only had a few small pictures on their website, so I was going by the large ones I found everywhere else, which have the track stick and other ports. This is very disappointing. Their response is to return it and get a model that has a track stick. Grr...

Does anyone know if the motherboard has been changed as well? I assume it has, since the other ports are gone and were probably on the motherboard. If not I was hoping I could buy a keyboard and palm rest with trackstick on ebay and do it myself. But I'm afraid they've changed the entire layout of the mobo in the "new version".

I think the audio input is mono, too. I'm getting the impression that I've been ripped off...
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