Crappy construction 600m

I notice the 1) when I first used 600m upon it arrived on last Tue. I did not notice the other issues yet thou.

I thought I might be picky, or I was hoping "it was supposed to be that way".

i wonder if i could send the laptop back and have them to fix it?

also, I saw laptops from bestbuy over the weekend, and they were cheap. they were even in the same spec (from HP and Toshiba) as my 600m or better (with the DVD RW) with the similar price.

check the keyboard flex mod in the FAQ section. I placed the tape in those areas you mentioned and made my 600m pretty solid

Elexon,

I feel your pain. I purchased a 600m during the $750 off, and was surprised how quickly it was shipped. On its 2nd day of use, the "m" key fell off the keyboard. Multiple keys were loose and the keyboard was of terrible build quality. After speaking with numerous individuals at Dell, we opted to return the 600m to Dell for a credit. Overall, I would say it is one of the worst built computers I have ever used. Maybe its an isolated case...that's my hope for those purchasing these units.

Best of luck in resolving your issues.

crappy display

i have a dell desktop, which is solidly built. i expected the same from the 600m i got in the $750 off supposed 'deal'. the border around the display seemed like it was pasted on, and i could see the metal through that crease. i could also see metal thru the border of the keyboard. i was very surprised at this since i had an HP laptop which was built so much sturdier. i called up support and sent it in to be fix, it was returned the same way i sent it. the 600m has totally changed my opinion of dell laptops.

#1.............yes, I noticed that the right muse button is also tilted. I googled & searched the dell forums & couldn't find anybody who noticed this, but so long as you're reporting the same, I'm not going to worry about it.

#2..............yes, but that doesn't bother me. There's really nothing under there so if you wanted to you could stick something under there, I suppose.

#3.............yes, it seems to be the consensus that the battery wiggles. My 5100 doesn't do it, but that one slides into a bay so different altogether. I wouldn't worry about the battery unless it caused power probs.

#4.............yes, hard drive definitely emits a whine. Apparently they all do. I was working in a dead-silent room last nite & it didn't really bother me so I suppose it's tolerable. There is, however, an elusive and occasional morse-code typed beeping/whine that is totally annoying.

#5............After looking all over for the ***poker*** button, I figured you meant *power*......... .........and I recall this one reeeeeally freaking me out at first, but a dell forums search quickly showed that this is normal simply because that big shiny plasti-chrome button is actually only pushing a tiny button underneath, thus every 600m's power button tilts down toward 7 o'clock when depressed.

#6............If I may add one, is that the heat bothers me. I've got it to a manageable level, but why Centrino?? My P4 5100 runs cooler. ??????

Aside from that, here are the things I like..........

#1.)-------> speed (boots up mega fast, and runs fast)
#2.)------->bright, beautiful screen. I have the XGA screen and it's just beautiful
#3.)------->small, fairly light, thin
#4.)------->onboard wireless (Centrino, not so impressive as this thing runs hotter than any laptop I've seen, but throttling down helps and being able to tinker with cpu speeds, onboard wireless are kinda' cool)
#5.)------->Radeon 9000 seems to be nice middle-road video card
#6.)------->Good battery life. Not the 4-5 hours advertised, but a solid 3 hours is fine with me.
#7.)------->Dashboard volume control is nice/quick access like my old thinkpad. My 5100 doesn't have this & I wish it did.

All that said, I have 6 days left to return it to Dell & tell 'em to pound sand. I, too, got a smokin' deal & just can't decide whether to keep it or give it back. ?????????????

I wonder if the heat issues have anything to do with the newer processors. I have the older M chip in mine and I have no heat issues, the left palm wrist gets a little warm when charging the battery but not enough to be uncomfortable. The bottom is just slightly warmer.
(I did notice on mine that when I ran speedstep, the machine ran hotter. No scientific data just my opinion and feel.)
You would think that all of them would be running hot if there was an issue with the design.

Sele

I've got a 600M and I'm pretty happy with it... mine's a banias 1.5 and I don't bet heat issues. Though the ram slot on the bottom gets quite warm and the palmrest on the left just barely.

I don't notice any abnormal harddrive noise, and I am quite anal about those things.

I sent my 600m back....could not tolerate the heat on my left palm. After several hours of work on it, I had to shut it down. Palm still felt the uncomfortable two hours after. But I'm a weenie. Currently checking into Dell desktop replacements....maybe a Latitude?

About the palmrest thing............

Dell incorporated a "band-aid" a short while back. This seems to have taken care of the palmrest heat. Mine really just gets warm which is not a problem, just that the A22M Thinkpad I'm typing on now is ice cold all over except for dead-center of the middle after being on for about an hour.

As for the bottom..........I've got the heat *under control* but it's only because I limit the machine's ability through speedswitchXP. Is it really fair that I do that when I paid for a 1.5M Dothan but run it at half to 3/4 that speed so I can control heat??

Dunno. Suppose I could hammer out the problems with Dell I just don't know if I want to go down that road. I think someone who builds a better laptop deserves my money more!!! ??

I like my 600m. The keyboard does flex a little, but I can still type just as well on it as a normal keyboard. I don't notice any odd hard drive noise or any of the other issues you mention. The SXGA+ screen is beautiful, battery life is good, and wireless connections never drop. I'm a happy customer with this laptop.