Dell 700 Important & Subtle Things

I had an HP (ze5385us) before this 700m

1) This thing is unbelieveably quiet. Must quieter than my old HP
2) The border is metal, but the center is plastic
3) Seems pretty solid.

1) Is the the fan loud? and how often does it come in? My friend has a compaq x1000 and it is whisper quiet...the fan comes on only when it is working really really hard.

You'll be happy to know that the fan on the 700m is very quiet and rarely runs. You'll never hear it if you're just doing some casual computing (surfing, word, etc). When it does turn on it seems to run slow and quiet for only 10-20 seconds. I'm partial to quiet machines too (some would say fanatical). I returned my last machine a Fujitsu P7010 because the fan ran almost continuously. With no apps running the Fujitsu's fan would run for 3-5 minutes then turn off for 1 minute, repeat. Very irritating. The same test on the Dell nets ZERO fan activity...EVER.

2) what material is the back casing? It looks like its some sort of metal alloy or did Dell go cheap and just painted the plastic over with silver paint...

The case appears to be magnesium with a powder coated black finish. It is VERY stiff. I would say you could prolly run over the bottom casing with your car..but I wouldn't suggest it.

3) how is the hinge construction? does it feel solid or will be break off like the previous generation Apple Powerbooks.

The hinge feels good to me. The screen stays where you put it and it moves smoothly. The screen doesn't wobble like my X1000 did.

any input would be great, those are pretty much my deciding factors in whether to get this so far great laptop...thanks guys and gals.

I'd have to agree with you in every point except for that. I don't think the case is magnesium alloy. I think it's plastic, painted in silver.

Yep, I misread and thought he meant the bottom case (which is magnesium). The display cover does appear to be plastic. I had it apart the other day and didn't look, but it feels like a very rigid plastic.

Are you sure the bottom is magnesium? It sort of feels like it, but I couldn't be sure. I know that it feels sturdier than the plastic, but I really couldn't be 100% sure. If it certainly is magnesium, then that's good news.

I took my 700m apart (don't ask) and the case bottom does appear to be magnesium. It's a very well built machine.

how do you take it apart? One of the buttons below my friends mouse pad seems lower than the other, kinda tickin' him off. So i wanna open it up and fix it for him. i can't seem to pry off the plastic strip above the keyboard that has the power button.

-Yi Chen

The x1000 is a nice laptop. A few of my friends have one. The major drawback is, that it's 6.5lbs. That's over 2lbs heavier than the 700m. Also, you get the Banias processor, rather than the Dothan that you get with the 700m. Also...the LCD of the 700m can't be beat!

http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...n/SM/index.htm

sweet, thanks!

The biggest issues I have/had with the 700m.

1. One of the mouse buttons was lower than the other and both buttons were fairly loose. I fixed that by placing shims (small pieces of tape) in between the buttons and the switches they contact.

2. The thin piece of plastic trim directly in front of the mouse buttons was arched up in the center (in line were the two mouse buttons meet). I'm not sure if that was intended or not, but after a few seconds with Mr. Hairdryer I was able to flatten the arch. I did that at the same time I fixed the mouse buttons.

3. The speakers are loud but they have a tendency to buzz when hitting certain frequencies. I had the display apart trying to fix this but I've pretty much given up. It's not bad at all if you have the volume at reasonable levels, but crank it up a little and I get a buzz every now and then. Of course just about every notebook does this.

4. Every once in a while I get a creaking key on the keyboard. It started with the C key, but has progressed to other keys. The fix is easy I just exercise the offending key a little and the problem goes away.

5. I don't like the 3/4 size punctuation keys. I've had other notebooks with the same style keyboard and I no likey. I never use the right shift key so I would rather they make the punctuation keys full size and axe the shift key.

6. I like hardware volume controls. It's a minor complaint but it would be nice to have.

7. I don't like the white too much. It's OK, but I would have preferred black, silver, or something other than white.

That's about it as far as complaints go. Everything else about the machine is great. To balance out the negatives here's a list of the good stuff:

1. I LOVE the screen. I've been waiting for what seems to be forever for this style of screen to be available in a decent resolution and size.

2. I like the status indicators under the display. They are actually useful. My last notebook had the indicators underneath my wrists. Lot of good they do there.

3. QUIET!! I hate noisy machines. If designed properly there is no reason why a Pentium M notebook has to be obnoxious unless some serious number crunching is going on.

4. The overall design is well layed out and servicing is quite nice. I like the case style and where the components are played. It's easy to get the the memory, hd, WiFi, etc.

5. The keyboard has good feedback and response. Except for the occasional missed punctuation key (see above) everything is good. Oh yeah...the freakin' Ctrl key is in the correct position!!! Hello IBM, Alienware, ASUS, and everybody else smoking crack and trying to reinvent the wheel or in this case the keyboard.

6. While not directly related to the 700m I have to give props to whoever designed the latest Dell power adapters (yeah I know they been that way for over a year now)! They are so much better than the old style with the funky plugs that cause strain and eventual failure of the power connector. Good idea with the rubber strip to hold everything together.

That's about it.

How do you guys find the screen glare, is there any?

Do the wrist rest areas get very warm?

thanks.

my friend had the same mouse button problem. So we just took it apart and did the same tape deal as duffy. Lemme say, 700m is a lot harder ta take apart than the 8600. wires runnin' all over the place. I guess this is because there are a buncha indicators and speakers under the LCD. Been playing Far Cry and Call of Duty on it for an hour or two, and really doesn't get that hot. Fans don't really come on. You'd think after an hour or two of gaming on a dinky notebook they would kick in. Even when it does, like others have said, only stays on for a coupla seconds. it's a hot lil machine. Get one now. I've heard you can pick one up for less than $1200 on dell.com

-Yi Chen

The glare is no different that what you get with a traditional CRT display. So I don't have problems at all. The benefits definitely outweigh the disadvantages. No real heat problem. The left palm rest is warmer than the right palm rest. I only mention that because the right one is perfectly cool while the left one is only a hair warmer. Believe me it's nothing like the D600/600m/D800/i8600 sweat inducing palm rests. The whole machine runs really cool.