I have had my Dell 8600 for almost 2 weeks. So far I really like it. It is fast enough for all the things I do. I will divide this review up into a couple of topics and also make comparisons to my other notebooks. This is my first Dell.
Screen: I have the Samsung 15.4 WSXGA screen. The graphics have been great. Minor light leakage at the bottom. I would not have even noticed the leakage if I had not read about it on this forum. So it is acceptable and should not be any problem. I have had a couple of problems getting the screen to come back on after the computer has set idil for a few minutes. I think I solved this problem by changing the settings in power management. This problem has also occured on my other laptops. It may also have been related to Windows Plus program that came with my order from the Dell outlet.
Keyboard: The keyboard has a better feel than the keys on my Compaq, but my finger tips seem to catch under the edge of the keys when typing. This may end up causing a broken key.
Touch pad: The touch pad / scroll mouse is ok, but the touch and dedicated scroll button on my Compaq works a lot better. But overall the touch pad is satisfactory.
Hard drive: Works great. Enough said.
Battery life: Excellent. I can get atleast 4+ hours just browsing. Have not gamed on the battery yet. My Compaq will get 2 plus hours gaming (with 2+ year old dual batteries.) I'm impressed by the battery life. That was one of the reasons I chose the 8600.
Wireless card: The 1450 internal wireless works very well with my Iogear wireless router/print server. Constantly getting 54Mbps connection. No problems at all. I have the Iogear card in my Compaq and so far no differences in performance between the 2.
Speakers: The speakers are ok..........not great. My Compaq has JBL speakers which blows the 8600 away hands down. I do have an external speaker set up with sub woofer when I want to watch movies on my 8600. Dell should have installed better speakers!! I have also had some problems with the sound while running games. I have to go into the dxdiag utility and ajust the sound accelaration all the way down.
CD-RW/DVD: Works great.
Video card: The graphics seem to be great. A lot better than the Compaq which actually has fairly nice graphics considering it's age. The 64 mb card should do me just fine.
Performance: The only time I noticed any performance increase over my other 2 notebooks is when running games. But I know that just browsing and surfing does not require a lot of CPU speed. The 8600 seems to run most applications with out any problem, including doing digital photography.
Build quality: While I still don't think the Dell build quality (external) is as good as the Compaq or Sony notebooks I have, it should be ok. The plastic on the 8600 feels weak and will not take the use that it should. Only time will tell if the Dell holds up.
Over all I like this 8600. Would I buy another? Ask me again in a year or so. Price was what lead me to the 8600. $1394.00 (tax included and free shipping) is what helped me make my decision. I was looking at the Compaq with the Pentium M, but they got worse reviews than the Dells. One thing I don't like is the left palm rest becomes hot...well very warm and causes my wrist to stick to it.
I was going to take some pics to post, but if you have seen one 8600 you have seen enough.
John
Screen: I have the Samsung 15.4 WSXGA screen. The graphics have been great. Minor light leakage at the bottom. I would not have even noticed the leakage if I had not read about it on this forum. So it is acceptable and should not be any problem. I have had a couple of problems getting the screen to come back on after the computer has set idil for a few minutes. I think I solved this problem by changing the settings in power management. This problem has also occured on my other laptops. It may also have been related to Windows Plus program that came with my order from the Dell outlet.
Keyboard: The keyboard has a better feel than the keys on my Compaq, but my finger tips seem to catch under the edge of the keys when typing. This may end up causing a broken key.
Touch pad: The touch pad / scroll mouse is ok, but the touch and dedicated scroll button on my Compaq works a lot better. But overall the touch pad is satisfactory.
Hard drive: Works great. Enough said.
Battery life: Excellent. I can get atleast 4+ hours just browsing. Have not gamed on the battery yet. My Compaq will get 2 plus hours gaming (with 2+ year old dual batteries.) I'm impressed by the battery life. That was one of the reasons I chose the 8600.
Wireless card: The 1450 internal wireless works very well with my Iogear wireless router/print server. Constantly getting 54Mbps connection. No problems at all. I have the Iogear card in my Compaq and so far no differences in performance between the 2.
Speakers: The speakers are ok..........not great. My Compaq has JBL speakers which blows the 8600 away hands down. I do have an external speaker set up with sub woofer when I want to watch movies on my 8600. Dell should have installed better speakers!! I have also had some problems with the sound while running games. I have to go into the dxdiag utility and ajust the sound accelaration all the way down.
CD-RW/DVD: Works great.
Video card: The graphics seem to be great. A lot better than the Compaq which actually has fairly nice graphics considering it's age. The 64 mb card should do me just fine.
Performance: The only time I noticed any performance increase over my other 2 notebooks is when running games. But I know that just browsing and surfing does not require a lot of CPU speed. The 8600 seems to run most applications with out any problem, including doing digital photography.
Build quality: While I still don't think the Dell build quality (external) is as good as the Compaq or Sony notebooks I have, it should be ok. The plastic on the 8600 feels weak and will not take the use that it should. Only time will tell if the Dell holds up.
Over all I like this 8600. Would I buy another? Ask me again in a year or so. Price was what lead me to the 8600. $1394.00 (tax included and free shipping) is what helped me make my decision. I was looking at the Compaq with the Pentium M, but they got worse reviews than the Dells. One thing I don't like is the left palm rest becomes hot...well very warm and causes my wrist to stick to it.
I was going to take some pics to post, but if you have seen one 8600 you have seen enough.
John
