Dell I9200 Review - Page 2

Thats cool to know.

What's brand name is your cdrw/dvd?

OK. First of all thanks for the props on the review style CatFan. Rock On.

Ohhhhh baby…..what a laptop.

Delivery = A
Delivery was flawless, sort of. The unit has arrived three weeks early. I was supposed to get it on December 9. How can I really bitch when it comes three weeks early. However, it was supposed to ship via overnight air on the day after Thanksgiving and it was shipped ground so it got delayed by three days until the following Monday. Anyways....still early and boxed great as usual from Dell.

Look & Feel = A+
The computer is big, no getting around that. However, I am 6'4" and weigh 210 pounds, so it is actually regular size for me. I typically use it sitting on my desk or on my nice laptop stand, so size doesn’t matter when it is used in that functionality. However, I like being able to carry it around too and it is not that much bigger or heavier than the Dell 8600. Any increase in size or weight is easily surpassed by the fact that the laptop looks sharp and professional. This week I took it to two client meetings and that is all I carried. Each time I entered into the office the everyone would say "Wow, now that’s a nice laptop." Put simply, this is the best laptop I have seen. When comparing this to the Dell 8600, there is no comparison. This thing is rock solid. The Dell 8600 squeaks, cracks, and bends when you play with it. The 9200 could be thrown around like a toy and probably still work. The metal case is perfect and I like the lighter colors - white and silver, instead of dark gray and blue.

Sound = A+
Sound is great. I am no audiophile, so sound is meaningless to me. However, the sub woofer is a good surprise and my video games sound really good (BF 1942, Call of Duty). The only issue is that if you are playing the games with the laptop on your lap, you get an odd surprise every once in awhile when the subwoofer comes on and puts a blast of air into your lap. Of course, for some people that may be a pleasant surprise.

WUXGA+ Screen = A+
The screen is perfect. I got the upgraded screen and it is well worth it. It’s not the glossy finish that I really wanted from Dell, similar to the Toshiba G15 or Sony A series, but its just as good. The games are bright and most importantly the colors are great for web design. There is a huge difference between a 15.4" laptop on 1920 pixels wide versus a 17" laptop with 1920 pixels wide. Icons are bigger and you can still open up as many windows (basically two full programs side by side and sometimes three).

Keyboard = A
Keyboard is fine. I would like to see a keypad in a later model, but of course then the laptop would not look as nice. I guess I would have to see both as I don’t really use the keypad that much. After using this thing for a week, I have started to hear some squeeking from the keyboard. Nothing major, just a few keys that are breaking in I figure. Otherwise the keyboard is perfect size and location.

Graphics & Video Games = A+
Graphics are flawless. I have only played BF 1942 – Forgotten Hope edition, of course, for about 15 minutes, but I can shoot better and everything looks crisper. I will need to test on more games, but since this is an upgraded 8600 with a bit faster graphics cards (ATI Mobile 9700 vs the 9600) and a faster processor (2.0 Dothan vs. the 1.8 Centrino), I expect great things.

Battery life = A
I got the 9 cell and can confirm that it boots up and reads 4.5 hours of life in the setting. If you turn off everything, you probably can get over 5 hours on a low screen settings. I have never burned it all the way down, of course that is a lot of use in a row – I probably will on my next trip. For games, I expect to get about 2 or more hours. I will post an update when I test it fully. One thing I would like to note is that the new software disables certain things that I never use, such as the network card (not the WiFi) when not in use, thus saving power. Very Cool.

Noise Factor = A+
This thing is quite. Nuff said. The fan comes on every once in awhile, but you cannot really hear it.

Software = A
Typical stupid software I had to delete (AOL, Earthlink, and a few other programs). However, I have a feeling everyone deletes software when they get their new computer. Took about 4 hours to transfer all my files from my Dell 8600. That is the worst part of transferring files. I did it manually to get it just right, plus I had to remove content and programs from the previous computer. I do like a couple of new features. The first is that when I disable WiFi or sound, I get nice screen prompts. Nothing major, but its nice to see what setting I am instead of having to guess.

Overall = A + +
Best lap top on the market. Period. It plays games, does graphics, and at about 7 to 8 pounds the thing is light enough to travel. The music is great, the screen is bright, and everything is put together well. It’s almost as if Dell read my 8600 review when creating this laptop.

Finally to answer some of the questions in the forum.

1. Laptop does not get hot at all. The Dell 8600 can get warm, in fact after one year of use, some of the text on the bottom of the laptop has runbeed off do to heat exposure. This one does not feel warm at all. Nothing like a laptop without a graphics card of course, but still not warm by any comparison.
2. Laptop is not heavy. I have not weighed it, but it is just about 8 pounds. Good feel to it. Nothing like a 12 inch laptop, but good weight for its 17 screen.
3. Laptop does not feel heavy on the lap. I have the 8600 and it feels lighter, but this one is well balanced and solid.
4. Brand name on the CDRW is SONY DVD+-RW DW-56A

Nice review!

Do you watch high definition video ?

http://www.wmvhd.com/

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=477235

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...88#post4653988

I'm glad to see that Dells new notebooks, so far the 700m and 9200 are much better looking than the old ones like the 8600. These look nice, sort of emulating Apples Powerbooks a little, the old gray with blue notebooks are hideous looking IMHO.

I think the sound is only 2.1; I did some sound tests and could only find the two speakers on the front of the comp. Even though dell said 4.1 to begin with, go back and re-read the info on the I9200 and it says only stero sound .

I'll be posting a review as well soon (using the same format). I have both batteries so I can give more testing on that end. Also, I have the WXGA+ so I can help with that as well. And I have two carrying cases, but I'll namely review the backpack.

4.1 built into a notebook would be kinda silly.

Thanks for your review!
By the way, what do you mean by 'The screen is perfect'? What is the maximum viewing angle of this screen until colors turn pale? And when you say 'similar to the Toshiba G15 or Sony A series, but its just as good', so do you think really that the screen is bright as a Vaio screen? Colors are less or more vivid?


Thanks for reply

I compared the screen to a sony w/ xbrite and its like the difference between night and day. Sony has such powerful colors whereas dell kinda has faded colors... I still love the lappy though

I'm just about to post my review on battery life (I'm running the test as we speak). If anyone wants me to review the leather case I have, I'll review it too but i'm mainly looking at reviewing the backpack. I'll have a full review posted by sunday.

I just completed my battery test. I ran this test using the 80W 9cell battery. I listened to music the whole time and used the laptop for surfing the web via wifi and did text editing with word; I also had my notebook mouse hooked up. If you notice from the results, windows has a hard time telling how long the battery will last. One thing I did notice though, my processor was always running at 1.99ghz... I did use the laptop for over 4 hours yesterday so I can't really explain the low battery life this time. I'm thinking it may be winamp or the high use of wifi. I will run the same test with the 53W 6cell battery sometime this week hopefully.

*I found out why the battery time was so low... I had the "Always on" setting on! When that setting is enabled, it always uses full power. Expect these results if you were playing a game while on batteries.

6:00 100%

6:10 94% 3:20hrs

6:40 76% 2:01

6:55 67% 1:51

7:00 %64 1:42

7:05 61% 1:39

7:10 57% 1:32

7:15 54% 1:27

7:20 51% 1:23

7:30 44% 1:11

7:40 38% 58

7:50 32% 52

8:00 26% 41

8:10 20% 31

8:20 13% 20

8:25 10% 15

8:30 4% 7

8:35 2% 2

8:36 1% 1

8:37 dead

total time: 2:37min

Today I had to cancel my order on my XPS system, and after a ton of trouble I ended up ordering a 9200 instead. I was somewhat worried, but now that i've read this I cant wait!!!! Too bad my shipping time is somewhere between the 24th and 28th of December. Oh it hurts =(

Wow I ordered earlier this week and it's supposed to ship the 14th.

delll is screwy, I had to place 2 orders for my I9200. My first one got delayed badly and my second went through before my original order. I placed my first on 11/11 and my second on 11/22 and my second went into production before my 11/11 order

I ordered my 9200 yesterday morning and it's already in boxing since last night. Pretty quick for me.

I ordered my i9200 late last Sunday night. As of 12:30am last night it is at the Orlando UPS station. I can't get it until Monday and it is just sitting right down the street!! With a Monday delivery, it officially arrived one day earlier then projected.