Well I have had my Dell 700m for about a week now and so far it is that and then more of what I have expected.
12.1 WXGA Widescreen
1.6Ghz Centrino Dothan
60GB HD
512MB Ram 1 dimm
8 Cell extended battery
Windows XP Home
Price $1,321 with $300 instant rebate through Dell Small Buisness.
More pics at http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=56092
First Impression
Well at first I was pist when I got home and I didnt have my 700m on new years like it was expected to be delieverd. But Lucky me my parents like pulling jokes by hiding it. First thing I said when I opened the box was WOW this thing is small. Turned it on right away and booted it up with a big smile on my face.
Appearence
Looks great. I like the silver and the white combo a lot better than the Blue and silver combo on other models like 8600 and 9100. Looks proffesional and sleak. When I was looking at possible options for a laptop I was looking at the Alienware Sentia as well and I like it more because of the 1" thin deal. 700m is slightly thicker but really right when you look at it in person the extra thickness is no big deal. This thing is still a lot thinner than others out there.
WXGA screen and Video
Picture quality is great. I love the screens crystal clear look. The 12.1 screen really doesnt feel as small as it is. I am used to it and really it isnt bad at all, my father has a 15" widescreen and I really didnt realize how small mine was till I looked at his again. Although its 12.1 I would say the widescreen makes it a lot bigger. The glossy screen does reflect some light off of it when there are a lot of lights shinning but really isnt too big of a deal. As for video my major concern was the Intel Extreme 2 64mb graphics. I reallly didnt know the actual capabilities of it untill I used it. So far I gotta give it a lot of credit. I have played Hitman 2 and Call of Duty non stop on this with no problems. I was worried that the intel graphics would be worse than my old desktops 64mb ati 7500 or whatever older model it was, but this intel integraded outperforms that easy. All you read when people refer to games on the 700m and even the Sentia is the first annoying comment by some einstein "not ment for gaming". Trust me in that it can handle decent games really well.
Audio
I wasnt expecting much from the audio when I got it but it is fairly decent. Its no theater but it puts out good audio.
Battery/Keyboard
I havnt really tested the extreme limits of the 8 cell battery but so far I can get several hours out of it before it goes dead. The 8 cell does stick out about a inch out of the back of the laptop but since the size of the laptop already its no big deal, its worth the extra battery life. Keyboard was somthing I had to get used to since having a desktop for so long. It is smaller but once you get used to that it is great. Kinda small and I hit the touchpad a lot with my thumb or whatever which kinda screws things up but its not bad. I got a bluetooh Microsoft mouse for the games that works great and makes it easier to use.
Conclusion
First thing I would like to say is the first thing you worry about, The graphics. If you dont plan on doing a ton of gaming and want it for basic purposes I highly reccoment this laptop. Its small and easy to carry around. Build quality is great and performance is amazing with the Centrino processor. I plan on upgrading to 1gb Ram soon but by far with 512 it still runs great. Out of a scale of 1 to 10 I would give this laptop a 9.
12.1 WXGA Widescreen
1.6Ghz Centrino Dothan
60GB HD
512MB Ram 1 dimm
8 Cell extended battery
Windows XP Home
Price $1,321 with $300 instant rebate through Dell Small Buisness.
More pics at http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=56092
First Impression
Well at first I was pist when I got home and I didnt have my 700m on new years like it was expected to be delieverd. But Lucky me my parents like pulling jokes by hiding it. First thing I said when I opened the box was WOW this thing is small. Turned it on right away and booted it up with a big smile on my face.
Appearence
Looks great. I like the silver and the white combo a lot better than the Blue and silver combo on other models like 8600 and 9100. Looks proffesional and sleak. When I was looking at possible options for a laptop I was looking at the Alienware Sentia as well and I like it more because of the 1" thin deal. 700m is slightly thicker but really right when you look at it in person the extra thickness is no big deal. This thing is still a lot thinner than others out there.
WXGA screen and Video
Picture quality is great. I love the screens crystal clear look. The 12.1 screen really doesnt feel as small as it is. I am used to it and really it isnt bad at all, my father has a 15" widescreen and I really didnt realize how small mine was till I looked at his again. Although its 12.1 I would say the widescreen makes it a lot bigger. The glossy screen does reflect some light off of it when there are a lot of lights shinning but really isnt too big of a deal. As for video my major concern was the Intel Extreme 2 64mb graphics. I reallly didnt know the actual capabilities of it untill I used it. So far I gotta give it a lot of credit. I have played Hitman 2 and Call of Duty non stop on this with no problems. I was worried that the intel graphics would be worse than my old desktops 64mb ati 7500 or whatever older model it was, but this intel integraded outperforms that easy. All you read when people refer to games on the 700m and even the Sentia is the first annoying comment by some einstein "not ment for gaming". Trust me in that it can handle decent games really well.
Audio
I wasnt expecting much from the audio when I got it but it is fairly decent. Its no theater but it puts out good audio.
Battery/Keyboard
I havnt really tested the extreme limits of the 8 cell battery but so far I can get several hours out of it before it goes dead. The 8 cell does stick out about a inch out of the back of the laptop but since the size of the laptop already its no big deal, its worth the extra battery life. Keyboard was somthing I had to get used to since having a desktop for so long. It is smaller but once you get used to that it is great. Kinda small and I hit the touchpad a lot with my thumb or whatever which kinda screws things up but its not bad. I got a bluetooh Microsoft mouse for the games that works great and makes it easier to use.
Conclusion
First thing I would like to say is the first thing you worry about, The graphics. If you dont plan on doing a ton of gaming and want it for basic purposes I highly reccoment this laptop. Its small and easy to carry around. Build quality is great and performance is amazing with the Centrino processor. I plan on upgrading to 1gb Ram soon but by far with 512 it still runs great. Out of a scale of 1 to 10 I would give this laptop a 9.
