I'm sure by now people are getting sick of the I9200 reviews 
Well here comes another one packed with whole choclatey goodness... just minus the chocolate.
First Impressions
When I first recieved the laptop from UPS, the box was HUGE! I was really scared that my laptop would be some kind of behemoth that I wouldn't be able to handle.
Well, opened up the box and found that my bookbag was placed on top of the whole system, giving it coushin. The power adaptors and cds were placed in one box and the computer placed in the other. The I9200 was well packed and used foam and a cover to protect it. Kudos to Dell in packing it so nicely.
Appearence
The laptop almost reminds me of an apple computer. The white trim accents the alloy outside. The laptop is built really sturdy and looks like it could take a beating, but I wouldn't want to find out... The only complaint about the metal casing is that it gets cold/hot depending on use. I was using this thing in class and the place where my hands were was warm, but the outside was freezing cold. It does conduct heat! But honestly, its not that bad; the build quality is nice and the Dell logo on top really brings out the laptop.
Screen Quality and Video
I opted to go with the WXGA+ screen because I had an I9100 with WUXGA and couldn't stand it. Let me be one of the first to say that the screen is beautiful and the text is easily readable. One could compare the font size of this LCD to a 17" monitor set to 1024X768 resolution. Its perfect for those who use the laptop mainly for typing. DVD's look great on this laptop as well as anything wide screen; as for things with the 4:3 aspect ratio, the picture will appear as a box on the screen. Its not really that much of a bother, it just looks funny. One thing that I noticed, though, is that Samsung and LG Electronics have different types of coloration for their screens: Samsung has bright colors, whereas LG offers deeper colors but a darker screen. The main problem on LG is that it has the sparkle effect. Definiately a thing to watch out for!
The MR9700 has an output for svideo, vga, and DVI. I have personally used the VGA to run dual monitors - the I9200 allows for the laptop to run at native resolution and the other monitor to run at a different resolution. This is great for people with either widescreen monitors or old fashioned box like monitors. Dell will also include a splitter for the svideo out that splits it into svideo, composite video, and coax out if requested! I have yet to recieve mine in order to review it.
As for games, the MR9700 can handle anything that one could throw at it! I constantly use it to play HL2 and Doom3. Both games run fine at the monitor's native resolution. In HL2 I average around 30-50 frames at any given time. This laptop can even game on battery which I will discuss in a later section.
Audio
The I9200 has 2.1 speaker sound (although it said on Dell's website that it had 4.1 initially). The two front speakers are on the front of the laptop next to the multimedia buttons; the subwoofer is located on the bottom of the laptop. The nice thing about having an integrated woofer on the bottom is that it gives a more realistic replay on music. The woofer is weak, though, so don't expect it to rattle the whole building.
The main downfall on this setup though is that the woofer is usually muffled when using it on a soft surface such as your pants or on a bed. The next downfall is that the speakers are placed right under where one would put their hands to type, so the sound gets blocked.
The multimedia buttons make life easier when using programs such as Windows Media Player. Volume, even on the lowest setting, is pretty loud. I usually set my software volume low and use the keys on the front of the laptop to control the sound. The back, forward, play, and stop make it easy to navigate through songs or stop/pause a movie. The lights also accent the outer casing and makes for a more interesting setup.
Performance
I decided to upgrade to the P-M 2.0 because I had a 25% off coupon. One thing that's nice about the P-M series of processors is that it switches speeds depending on the power settings. If the setting is anything other then "Max Battery" or "Always On" then the processor runs at 600mhz and saves on battery life. If one selects "Max Battery" or "Always On," the laptop will run at 179MHZ and 1.9GHZ respectively.
One thing I will note is that the performance of the P-M in general applications such as photo editing is comparable to the P4 series. I would say that my P-M 2.0ghz processor runs faster then my P4 2.8C processor. If performance is one issue, don't worry, the P-M will handle just about anything you throw at it.
Battery Life
This is probabbly going to be the hardest part to review... Battery life depends mainly on which setting you use; as stated above, using "Always On" runs the proc at full speed, using "Max Battery" uses 179mhz (lowest speed), and using anything else will set the proc at 598MHZ. I personally use the "Minimal Power Management" setting when I'm doing tasks such as surfing or writing an essay - this generally yeilds 4hrs of battery life with the 9cell (80kWh) battery and around 2:40hrs of life for the 6cell battery. When using the 9cell for gaming and setting the battery to "Always On" I got around 2:30 . I will test both batteries out more in depth as I have more time on my hands now. I will edit this review as needed/requested.
Buttons
The keyboard that I have has really firm buttons that pop back almost as fast as you can hit them. I love having firm keys! The quality of the keyboard is nice, although to me, the keyboard feels kinda small. Dell also did not include a full number pad, but one can enable numlock and used the blue number marked buttons as a keypad although its kinda awkward.
The mouse LCD has the scroll sliders specifically marked off which is a plus to me. No more guessing where the scrolls are located on the mouse. The left mouse button is firm, but the right is springy; I noticed this on both of my I9200s.
The multimedia buttons are also very firm and add to the asthetics of the laptop. When pressed, they illuminate blue which is very nice.
Dell also put a battery meter much like that of the iBooks on the battery. One can now check the remaining battery life by pushing a small button on the battery itself. It saves the time needed to install another battery in order to find out how much charge is left.
Extras
I decided to get the DVD/CD-RW combo drive because of cost. I would highly reccommend this option because it allows one to burn on the go; also, the hard drive on this beast usually fills up quickly, so its good to be able to burn things off when needed. Instead of getting a DVD burner, I would say get an external one, that way if needed, it could be hooked up onto another computer.
The I9200 also comes with 4 usb ports: two on the left and two on the back. It's kind of a strange configuration if you ask me as I would say put the SD card reader on the left side and put the usb on the right. It would definately help for those who use notebook mice.
The I9200 also includes a SD card reader for things like a digital camera and a firewire port. I personally use the firewire for things like video, so this would help those who love to take home video's and transfer it to a computer. On the back, there are standard modem and Lan ports. On the right side there is a panel which has a mic and headphone jack, a pci card, firewire and the SD card reader.
There are two main fans that cool the I9200 which are located on the back. Both are fairly quiet and only turn on when the laptop heats up some. There are air vents on the top near the top of the keyboard, back where the heat actually exits, and bottom of the computer. There are also small feet which prop the laptop up when its sitting on a table. One thing to note though is that the laptop is a fairly cool computer compared to other notebooks like the I9100 or XPS. It only becomes warm near the ram compartment.
Carrying Case
Comming soon
Final Thoughts
I personally love my I9200; it works well as a portable laptop and as a desktop replacement. I bought the laptop mainly for use around my campus - it has great battery life for typing and decent life for gaming. It is a pretty well rounded laptop that fits many needs. I would not hesitate to reccommend this laptop to anyone. The only problem with it would be the size; it is one huge beast so its not the best thing for mobility. Using a bookbag, though, makes it way easier to carry around.
Well here comes another one packed with whole choclatey goodness... just minus the chocolate.First Impressions
When I first recieved the laptop from UPS, the box was HUGE! I was really scared that my laptop would be some kind of behemoth that I wouldn't be able to handle.
Well, opened up the box and found that my bookbag was placed on top of the whole system, giving it coushin. The power adaptors and cds were placed in one box and the computer placed in the other. The I9200 was well packed and used foam and a cover to protect it. Kudos to Dell in packing it so nicely.
Appearence
The laptop almost reminds me of an apple computer. The white trim accents the alloy outside. The laptop is built really sturdy and looks like it could take a beating, but I wouldn't want to find out... The only complaint about the metal casing is that it gets cold/hot depending on use. I was using this thing in class and the place where my hands were was warm, but the outside was freezing cold. It does conduct heat! But honestly, its not that bad; the build quality is nice and the Dell logo on top really brings out the laptop.
Screen Quality and Video
I opted to go with the WXGA+ screen because I had an I9100 with WUXGA and couldn't stand it. Let me be one of the first to say that the screen is beautiful and the text is easily readable. One could compare the font size of this LCD to a 17" monitor set to 1024X768 resolution. Its perfect for those who use the laptop mainly for typing. DVD's look great on this laptop as well as anything wide screen; as for things with the 4:3 aspect ratio, the picture will appear as a box on the screen. Its not really that much of a bother, it just looks funny. One thing that I noticed, though, is that Samsung and LG Electronics have different types of coloration for their screens: Samsung has bright colors, whereas LG offers deeper colors but a darker screen. The main problem on LG is that it has the sparkle effect. Definiately a thing to watch out for!
The MR9700 has an output for svideo, vga, and DVI. I have personally used the VGA to run dual monitors - the I9200 allows for the laptop to run at native resolution and the other monitor to run at a different resolution. This is great for people with either widescreen monitors or old fashioned box like monitors. Dell will also include a splitter for the svideo out that splits it into svideo, composite video, and coax out if requested! I have yet to recieve mine in order to review it.
As for games, the MR9700 can handle anything that one could throw at it! I constantly use it to play HL2 and Doom3. Both games run fine at the monitor's native resolution. In HL2 I average around 30-50 frames at any given time. This laptop can even game on battery which I will discuss in a later section.
Audio
The I9200 has 2.1 speaker sound (although it said on Dell's website that it had 4.1 initially). The two front speakers are on the front of the laptop next to the multimedia buttons; the subwoofer is located on the bottom of the laptop. The nice thing about having an integrated woofer on the bottom is that it gives a more realistic replay on music. The woofer is weak, though, so don't expect it to rattle the whole building.
The main downfall on this setup though is that the woofer is usually muffled when using it on a soft surface such as your pants or on a bed. The next downfall is that the speakers are placed right under where one would put their hands to type, so the sound gets blocked.
The multimedia buttons make life easier when using programs such as Windows Media Player. Volume, even on the lowest setting, is pretty loud. I usually set my software volume low and use the keys on the front of the laptop to control the sound. The back, forward, play, and stop make it easy to navigate through songs or stop/pause a movie. The lights also accent the outer casing and makes for a more interesting setup.
Performance
I decided to upgrade to the P-M 2.0 because I had a 25% off coupon. One thing that's nice about the P-M series of processors is that it switches speeds depending on the power settings. If the setting is anything other then "Max Battery" or "Always On" then the processor runs at 600mhz and saves on battery life. If one selects "Max Battery" or "Always On," the laptop will run at 179MHZ and 1.9GHZ respectively.
One thing I will note is that the performance of the P-M in general applications such as photo editing is comparable to the P4 series. I would say that my P-M 2.0ghz processor runs faster then my P4 2.8C processor. If performance is one issue, don't worry, the P-M will handle just about anything you throw at it.
Battery Life
This is probabbly going to be the hardest part to review... Battery life depends mainly on which setting you use; as stated above, using "Always On" runs the proc at full speed, using "Max Battery" uses 179mhz (lowest speed), and using anything else will set the proc at 598MHZ. I personally use the "Minimal Power Management" setting when I'm doing tasks such as surfing or writing an essay - this generally yeilds 4hrs of battery life with the 9cell (80kWh) battery and around 2:40hrs of life for the 6cell battery. When using the 9cell for gaming and setting the battery to "Always On" I got around 2:30 . I will test both batteries out more in depth as I have more time on my hands now. I will edit this review as needed/requested.
Buttons
The keyboard that I have has really firm buttons that pop back almost as fast as you can hit them. I love having firm keys! The quality of the keyboard is nice, although to me, the keyboard feels kinda small. Dell also did not include a full number pad, but one can enable numlock and used the blue number marked buttons as a keypad although its kinda awkward.
The mouse LCD has the scroll sliders specifically marked off which is a plus to me. No more guessing where the scrolls are located on the mouse. The left mouse button is firm, but the right is springy; I noticed this on both of my I9200s.
The multimedia buttons are also very firm and add to the asthetics of the laptop. When pressed, they illuminate blue which is very nice.
Dell also put a battery meter much like that of the iBooks on the battery. One can now check the remaining battery life by pushing a small button on the battery itself. It saves the time needed to install another battery in order to find out how much charge is left.
Extras
I decided to get the DVD/CD-RW combo drive because of cost. I would highly reccommend this option because it allows one to burn on the go; also, the hard drive on this beast usually fills up quickly, so its good to be able to burn things off when needed. Instead of getting a DVD burner, I would say get an external one, that way if needed, it could be hooked up onto another computer.
The I9200 also comes with 4 usb ports: two on the left and two on the back. It's kind of a strange configuration if you ask me as I would say put the SD card reader on the left side and put the usb on the right. It would definately help for those who use notebook mice.
The I9200 also includes a SD card reader for things like a digital camera and a firewire port. I personally use the firewire for things like video, so this would help those who love to take home video's and transfer it to a computer. On the back, there are standard modem and Lan ports. On the right side there is a panel which has a mic and headphone jack, a pci card, firewire and the SD card reader.
There are two main fans that cool the I9200 which are located on the back. Both are fairly quiet and only turn on when the laptop heats up some. There are air vents on the top near the top of the keyboard, back where the heat actually exits, and bottom of the computer. There are also small feet which prop the laptop up when its sitting on a table. One thing to note though is that the laptop is a fairly cool computer compared to other notebooks like the I9100 or XPS. It only becomes warm near the ram compartment.
Carrying Case
Comming soon
Final Thoughts
I personally love my I9200; it works well as a portable laptop and as a desktop replacement. I bought the laptop mainly for use around my campus - it has great battery life for typing and decent life for gaming. It is a pretty well rounded laptop that fits many needs. I would not hesitate to reccommend this laptop to anyone. The only problem with it would be the size; it is one huge beast so its not the best thing for mobility. Using a bookbag, though, makes it way easier to carry around.
