Hi guys,
I received my Dell 700m recently and I wanted to share my first impressions on this product. I relied a lot on reviews to make my decision toward buying this laptop and I'll try to give you as many details to help you to make your choice.
ORDERING PROCESS AND PACKAGING
As you probably know, Dell offers the possibility to choose among a large variety of components and to design a custom hardware profile. I ordered the computer online on 9/22, it was shipped on 9/26, and I received it on 9/29 via UPS ground. I was surprised to see it only took 7 days between placing the order and the actual delivery, and anyway it would have been worth the wait.
CONFIGURATION
The hardware I selected is the following:
- Pentium M Processor 745 (1.8GHz)
- 512MB,2 Dimm
- 60GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
- Windows XP Home
- Integrated NIC
- Internal 56k Modem
- 24X Combo DVD/CD-RW
- Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 (802.11b/g) Internal Wireless
- 32 WHr 4-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
- 1 year at home, 1 year mail-in warranty
I actually had a really good deal for it since I only paid $1,461.40 (shipping included).
Specials were available for RAM upgrade, optical drive upgrade and hard drive upgrade. In addition, Dell had a free ground shipping offer at that time and I used a 20%-off coupon that I found online. I don't think I could have had a better price. I would suggest that you browse on the internet to find such coupons if some are available at the time you decide to place your order.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The laptop seems even smaller than what I saw on the pictures or on the video available on the CNET website. A lot of people complain about a "bulky aspect" but I disagree. Dell specifies a thickness of 1.5 in. That's actually the thickness measured at the back of the computer, the general aspect is much thinner than that. The laptop is very light. I might be a little bit biased on this since I've been using a Toshiba 2455-S305 during the last two years (a desktop replacement that weighs about 8 lbs). The Dell 700m is definitely of good size and weight to travel with.
The design really contrasts with all the other Dell computers. Dell adopted white, gray and black colors and this definitely improves the overall look.
When you open the screen, you can feel that the hinge is pretty sturdy and does not feel cheap. The AC adapter is also well designed. The cord can be wrapped all around and held in position by a plastic strap, so that everything stays very compact in your carrying case.
KEYBOARD
The keyboard is great for an ultraportable laptop. It's 90% the size of a standard keyboard and gives you enough space to type comfortably without hitting a key mistakenly. The only difficulty might be to hit the "." key for people with bigger hands. This key is smaller than the other ones. The keyboard does not look cheap. The keys respond immediately and are
pretty stiff. The keyboard is just as good as that on my Toshiba, and definitely better than on the Compaq Presario 1700 XL that I owned four years ago.
TOUCHPAD
The 700m features a Synaptics touchpad with two buttons (right and left clicks). The touchpad can be configured with the highly customizable Synaptics software. However, I'm not a big fan of touchpads and I prefered to invest in the new Microsoft Wireless Notebook mouse. The touchpad is of sufficent size and shouldn't cause you any problem. However, there seems to be an issue with the touchpad buttons. I read a few reviews mentioning about the fact that the right touchpad button depresses much less than the left button. One guy even mentioned that once pressed, the right button stayed stuck in position. On the laptop I received, the difference between the right and left buttons is actually very mild and I don't think I will have any issue with the touchpad during the lifetime of the product.
PORTS
A good thing about this laptop is the number of available ports. You will find a network input, a modem connection, 2 USB 2.0 ports, a VGA out, a SVideo out and a SD card slot. All those ports are located on the sides of the laptop which makes life easier when plugging peripherals. Not to mention the mic-in and headphone connectors located on the front of the laptop. The optical drive is mounted in a modular bay that can be replaced by a DVD+RW drive.
SCREEN
Most of the reviews done on the 700m converge toward the same point: "the screen is where the 700m shines". The wide aspect and the glossy finish along with a resolution of 1280x800 in 32-bit color depth make the quality of the display outstanding. I have never seen such a contrast on a laptop screen. Since I never owned a Vaio, I can't really compare the 700m display to the XBrite technology used by Sony, but I don't really see how a better
quality could be attained. Dell even provides a cleaning kit to maintain the screen without dust or finger marks.
The display is supported by a dynamic memory allocation. Depending on the application, up to 64MB of the RAM will be allocated to the video card. Although I ordered a configuration with 512MB or RAM, only 498 is available at all time since a minimum of 16 MB are used by the display. This is interesting to know, especially if you plan on purchasing less than 512 MB of RAM (which is not really recommended to run XP anyway).
HARD DRIVE
The hardrive doesn't operate at 7200 rpm but is Ultra ATA. I haven't used any benchmarking software but it seems pretty fast. The boot sequence takes a few seconds, as well as the shutdown sequence. Overall, the hard drive is pretty silent.
PROCESSOR
The processor I have is a Dothan 1.8 GHz. I didn't know much about the Pentium M technology but I'm definitely very pleased with its performances. As compared to the Pentium 4 2.4 GHz that equipped my Toshiba 2455, common Windows tasks are performed faster. If you don't plan on running heavy computations, even the 1.6 GHz processor should be largely enough.
WIFI
I opted for the Intel 2200 PRO internal wireless adapter (802.11 b/g standard). I'm using a Dlink 514I router at home (802.11 b) and I'm connected to the 802.11b wireless network on campus. I haven't noticed any difference in the connection and signal quality as compared as those with the Dlink PC card (DWL 650G) installed in my Toshiba.
BATTERY
The battery is maybe the only bad aspect of this laptop. It does not last for long, especially if you run power-consuming tasks such as watching a DVD or increase the screen brightness. 50% of the battery was used after an hour spent on internet and on Microsoft Word, which is consistent with tests already performed by other users (an entire 4-cell battery lasts for 2 hours). I don't want to go for the 8-cell battery since it weighs more and makes the laptop a little bit deeper. On the other hand, I think I will buy an additional 4-cell battery in case I need more power while on trip.
CONCLUSION
I would highly recommend this product. All the features have been carefully designed by Dell and I am not disappointed with any of the options I have selected.
This computer is very fast, much faster than what I expected for an ultraprotable laptop.
The 60 GB hard drive is more than enough to store your applications, files, MP3s and even movies.
The new design proposed by Dell is really cool. When I study at Starbucks, people often stop by my table to have a better look at it and to ask questions. The look is definitely very attractive.
The screen is the best part of it. Crisp, contrasted, with beautiful colors. You couldn't find better right now in this size. Plus, it has a widescreen aspect, a really cool feature that allows to work on two documents at the same time, and watch DVDs in their native format with limited black borders.
Check for special offers on the Dell website or on the internet (look for coupons) and go for it! You won't be disappointed. I hope this review will be useful to you.
I received my Dell 700m recently and I wanted to share my first impressions on this product. I relied a lot on reviews to make my decision toward buying this laptop and I'll try to give you as many details to help you to make your choice.
ORDERING PROCESS AND PACKAGING
As you probably know, Dell offers the possibility to choose among a large variety of components and to design a custom hardware profile. I ordered the computer online on 9/22, it was shipped on 9/26, and I received it on 9/29 via UPS ground. I was surprised to see it only took 7 days between placing the order and the actual delivery, and anyway it would have been worth the wait.
CONFIGURATION
The hardware I selected is the following:
- Pentium M Processor 745 (1.8GHz)
- 512MB,2 Dimm
- 60GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
- Windows XP Home
- Integrated NIC
- Internal 56k Modem
- 24X Combo DVD/CD-RW
- Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 (802.11b/g) Internal Wireless
- 32 WHr 4-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
- 1 year at home, 1 year mail-in warranty
I actually had a really good deal for it since I only paid $1,461.40 (shipping included).
Specials were available for RAM upgrade, optical drive upgrade and hard drive upgrade. In addition, Dell had a free ground shipping offer at that time and I used a 20%-off coupon that I found online. I don't think I could have had a better price. I would suggest that you browse on the internet to find such coupons if some are available at the time you decide to place your order.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The laptop seems even smaller than what I saw on the pictures or on the video available on the CNET website. A lot of people complain about a "bulky aspect" but I disagree. Dell specifies a thickness of 1.5 in. That's actually the thickness measured at the back of the computer, the general aspect is much thinner than that. The laptop is very light. I might be a little bit biased on this since I've been using a Toshiba 2455-S305 during the last two years (a desktop replacement that weighs about 8 lbs). The Dell 700m is definitely of good size and weight to travel with.
The design really contrasts with all the other Dell computers. Dell adopted white, gray and black colors and this definitely improves the overall look.
When you open the screen, you can feel that the hinge is pretty sturdy and does not feel cheap. The AC adapter is also well designed. The cord can be wrapped all around and held in position by a plastic strap, so that everything stays very compact in your carrying case.
KEYBOARD
The keyboard is great for an ultraportable laptop. It's 90% the size of a standard keyboard and gives you enough space to type comfortably without hitting a key mistakenly. The only difficulty might be to hit the "." key for people with bigger hands. This key is smaller than the other ones. The keyboard does not look cheap. The keys respond immediately and are
pretty stiff. The keyboard is just as good as that on my Toshiba, and definitely better than on the Compaq Presario 1700 XL that I owned four years ago.
TOUCHPAD
The 700m features a Synaptics touchpad with two buttons (right and left clicks). The touchpad can be configured with the highly customizable Synaptics software. However, I'm not a big fan of touchpads and I prefered to invest in the new Microsoft Wireless Notebook mouse. The touchpad is of sufficent size and shouldn't cause you any problem. However, there seems to be an issue with the touchpad buttons. I read a few reviews mentioning about the fact that the right touchpad button depresses much less than the left button. One guy even mentioned that once pressed, the right button stayed stuck in position. On the laptop I received, the difference between the right and left buttons is actually very mild and I don't think I will have any issue with the touchpad during the lifetime of the product.
PORTS
A good thing about this laptop is the number of available ports. You will find a network input, a modem connection, 2 USB 2.0 ports, a VGA out, a SVideo out and a SD card slot. All those ports are located on the sides of the laptop which makes life easier when plugging peripherals. Not to mention the mic-in and headphone connectors located on the front of the laptop. The optical drive is mounted in a modular bay that can be replaced by a DVD+RW drive.
SCREEN
Most of the reviews done on the 700m converge toward the same point: "the screen is where the 700m shines". The wide aspect and the glossy finish along with a resolution of 1280x800 in 32-bit color depth make the quality of the display outstanding. I have never seen such a contrast on a laptop screen. Since I never owned a Vaio, I can't really compare the 700m display to the XBrite technology used by Sony, but I don't really see how a better
quality could be attained. Dell even provides a cleaning kit to maintain the screen without dust or finger marks.
The display is supported by a dynamic memory allocation. Depending on the application, up to 64MB of the RAM will be allocated to the video card. Although I ordered a configuration with 512MB or RAM, only 498 is available at all time since a minimum of 16 MB are used by the display. This is interesting to know, especially if you plan on purchasing less than 512 MB of RAM (which is not really recommended to run XP anyway).
HARD DRIVE
The hardrive doesn't operate at 7200 rpm but is Ultra ATA. I haven't used any benchmarking software but it seems pretty fast. The boot sequence takes a few seconds, as well as the shutdown sequence. Overall, the hard drive is pretty silent.
PROCESSOR
The processor I have is a Dothan 1.8 GHz. I didn't know much about the Pentium M technology but I'm definitely very pleased with its performances. As compared to the Pentium 4 2.4 GHz that equipped my Toshiba 2455, common Windows tasks are performed faster. If you don't plan on running heavy computations, even the 1.6 GHz processor should be largely enough.
WIFI
I opted for the Intel 2200 PRO internal wireless adapter (802.11 b/g standard). I'm using a Dlink 514I router at home (802.11 b) and I'm connected to the 802.11b wireless network on campus. I haven't noticed any difference in the connection and signal quality as compared as those with the Dlink PC card (DWL 650G) installed in my Toshiba.
BATTERY
The battery is maybe the only bad aspect of this laptop. It does not last for long, especially if you run power-consuming tasks such as watching a DVD or increase the screen brightness. 50% of the battery was used after an hour spent on internet and on Microsoft Word, which is consistent with tests already performed by other users (an entire 4-cell battery lasts for 2 hours). I don't want to go for the 8-cell battery since it weighs more and makes the laptop a little bit deeper. On the other hand, I think I will buy an additional 4-cell battery in case I need more power while on trip.
CONCLUSION
I would highly recommend this product. All the features have been carefully designed by Dell and I am not disappointed with any of the options I have selected.
This computer is very fast, much faster than what I expected for an ultraprotable laptop.
The 60 GB hard drive is more than enough to store your applications, files, MP3s and even movies.
The new design proposed by Dell is really cool. When I study at Starbucks, people often stop by my table to have a better look at it and to ask questions. The look is definitely very attractive.
The screen is the best part of it. Crisp, contrasted, with beautiful colors. You couldn't find better right now in this size. Plus, it has a widescreen aspect, a really cool feature that allows to work on two documents at the same time, and watch DVDs in their native format with limited black borders.
Check for special offers on the Dell website or on the internet (look for coupons) and go for it! You won't be disappointed. I hope this review will be useful to you.
. anyways, the machine i configured is as follows
.
and welcome to the forums!
) puahahahaha.
