I recieved my Dell 600M a few days ago and thought I would post a review. Let me preface this with: I had ordered a 14 inch Sentia and due to backorder in cases I cancelled my order after a mere 7 weeks of waiting.
Frist Impression:
My frist impression was to the lightness of the shipping box. I thought there cant be a laptop in here, but there was. The case is silver of course but it has a metal like quailty to it that makes me at times think that isn't plastic. Sleek, clean, clear lines and everything worked right out of the box.
Specs:
1.8 Intel 745 CPU
1 gig PC2100 from Cruical (shipped with PC2700 but site said PC2100)
60 gig hard drive
SXGA+ screen ( Lovin' it)
Combo drive, floppy drive and secondary battery
Intel B/G wireless card interal
ATI M9 64 mb Video Card
Price Paid
$2300 after Rebate. While not the best price in the world it was $100 cheaper than the Sentia and with better specs.
After making sure everything functioned and that there was no flaws in it,that I could see right away. I procdeded to reformat and install Windows XP Professional so as to get rid of any clutter that may have been there from the install and testing. Installed latest drivers and contuined to install my programs that I use and tweak it to within an inch of its life.
The frist real test came the following evening when I took it to class. I turned it on when I got there and used it to take notes and to test the examples that were written on the board. During the 2 1/2 hour letcure the battery alert popped up right at the end of class. I thought well (what holds the water back) cuz I thought both batteries were dry but it was only the secondary battery that was almost dead. It still showed 15 % left. I switched the battery for the CD/DVD drive and headed off to lab. I used it for 2 hours in lab and at the end of the lab I still had over an hour left on the meter. Needless to say I am well pleased with the battery life on this computer.
Now for the fun Stuff
I installed Halo and Unreal 2k4 on it just to see how it did. I have 64 mb card on my desktop and 3 GHZ chip. I espected slow downs and some lag on the desktop with above recommended settings but it wasnt too bad. And I also expected worse performance on the laptop since it was running on batteries. I was surprised to find that while Halo was choppy on it it wasnt all that bad. Does a lot better on AC power. UT2k4 was about the same as on the Desktop computer.
Overall I am well pleased with this little laptop. For a general all around notebook I feel that it will service me well till either my 4 year warrenty with Complete Care runs out or till Dell can no longer service and repair the notebook and has to give me something else.
Frist Impression:
My frist impression was to the lightness of the shipping box. I thought there cant be a laptop in here, but there was. The case is silver of course but it has a metal like quailty to it that makes me at times think that isn't plastic. Sleek, clean, clear lines and everything worked right out of the box.
Specs:
1.8 Intel 745 CPU
1 gig PC2100 from Cruical (shipped with PC2700 but site said PC2100)
60 gig hard drive
SXGA+ screen ( Lovin' it)
Combo drive, floppy drive and secondary battery
Intel B/G wireless card interal
ATI M9 64 mb Video Card
Price Paid
$2300 after Rebate. While not the best price in the world it was $100 cheaper than the Sentia and with better specs.
After making sure everything functioned and that there was no flaws in it,that I could see right away. I procdeded to reformat and install Windows XP Professional so as to get rid of any clutter that may have been there from the install and testing. Installed latest drivers and contuined to install my programs that I use and tweak it to within an inch of its life.
The frist real test came the following evening when I took it to class. I turned it on when I got there and used it to take notes and to test the examples that were written on the board. During the 2 1/2 hour letcure the battery alert popped up right at the end of class. I thought well (what holds the water back) cuz I thought both batteries were dry but it was only the secondary battery that was almost dead. It still showed 15 % left. I switched the battery for the CD/DVD drive and headed off to lab. I used it for 2 hours in lab and at the end of the lab I still had over an hour left on the meter. Needless to say I am well pleased with the battery life on this computer.
Now for the fun Stuff
I installed Halo and Unreal 2k4 on it just to see how it did. I have 64 mb card on my desktop and 3 GHZ chip. I espected slow downs and some lag on the desktop with above recommended settings but it wasnt too bad. And I also expected worse performance on the laptop since it was running on batteries. I was surprised to find that while Halo was choppy on it it wasnt all that bad. Does a lot better on AC power. UT2k4 was about the same as on the Desktop computer.
Overall I am well pleased with this little laptop. For a general all around notebook I feel that it will service me well till either my 4 year warrenty with Complete Care runs out or till Dell can no longer service and repair the notebook and has to give me something else.
