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First time Dell Owner, i8600

post #1 of 4
1/26/05 at 9:43pm
Thread Starter 
I bought a i8600c laptop on 1/20/2005 and I was pretty amazed on fast it came out. It shipped on 1/23/2005 and I got it on 1/26/2005!

It was amazing when I went to pick it up, there was 4 people in front of me and all of them got a dell laptop box

My specs are:

1.6 GHz Intel Pentium (R) M with SpeedStep Technology (2 MB Level 2 Cache)
1024 MB DDR 2100/2700 Memory (Running at 2100)
80 GB Hard Disk Drive @ 4200 RPM
CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive (24x Burn)
128 MB ATI Mobility 9600 Turbo (403/301) (Temp only at 40 idle...)
15.4" Samsung WXGA Screen (1280x800)
Windows XP Professional English SP2
Windows XP Professional Chinese Simpified SP2
Intel Centrino Mobile Technology - Intel Pro Wireless 2100

Pros:

Fast, Speedy 1.6 GHz Pentium M Dothan Processor
Compatable with PC2100 Ram and pretty stable
Easy to install programs/drivers
Nice screen (1280x800 - WXGA Screen)
Wide Keyboard (From using a tablet keyboard.. its paradise)
1 Click Fan control (from Fangui )
Good speakers, pretty good and even better then the Compaq JBL from my view
Very light for such a strong laptop
Good battery life, better then my tablet

Cons:

Fan @ Max is a bit loud (After using the HP for a while, I don't really mind)
No light for battery charged
Weird Touchpad
Warm left palm rest
Weird fan exhaust positions
No Printer port or PS/2 port
No subwoofer for such good speakers... lol
Hard to find the button for the DVD drive.
Too much dell junk pre-installed...
No light for mute (Sorry, just had to say it :P)

Currently, this laptop is capable of taking over the world
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post #2 of 4
1/27/05 at 5:23pm
thought i'd chime in, too, though i haven't done much with mine yet. as you know, the battery light also confused me. annoys me, too, since my main problem with my i5000 leading to getting 8600 is that the machine isn't reading adapter right and that green light was my only confirmation that it was operating on a/c vs battery.
-Agree on the touch pad feel - creates a lttle friction, vs the smooth surface on my i5000. will try to fool around with the tension setting (assume there is one).
- Noticed the keyboard issue others reported, but just once, so far. (finger getting caught on underside of key). and the keyboard is a tad flimsy, but overall unit is decent quality.
-Screen: bigger (positive) difference than i expected going just from a 15" to 15.4" screen - nice surprise. And it is nice and bright!
- Swappable drives are difficult to remove ( I got the modular floppy), but maybe that will loosen up over time
-I'm not literate enough to comment on fans, temperatures, or attempt to reformat anything -- and this is my 1st computer with xp, so i'm trying to figure that out, too.
Kakarot, did yours come with McAfee. i didn't order , but have it and am not sure if it is some free trial (those are usually listed though) or if is just there if I want to activate/pay for. the mcaffee firewall is working---pops up when i use a new program.
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post #3 of 4
1/27/05 at 9:37pm
Thread Starter 
Yes, mine came with a anti-virus... I didn't know why it came with it since I never ordered one either..

I was play Far Cry.. and amazing, I have everything on "very high" and I still get a playable FPS (30 - 40)! I also have "Highest Quality" in the control panel too... wow... this card is already beating my desktop
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post #4 of 4
1/29/05 at 4:03am
Quote:
Easy to install programs/drivers
??

Quote:
Nice screen (1280x800 - WXGA Screen)
Should've got the WSXGA+

Quote:
Wide Keyboard (From using a tablet keyboard.. its paradise)
True.

Quote:
1 Click Fan control (from Fangui )
And now, it's even BETTER. Samurize has a plugin for i8KFanGUI. (Check Samurize beta forum)

[q[uote]
Good speakers, pretty good and even better then the Compaq JBL from my view [/quote]

Bleh.

Quote:
Very light for such a strong laptop
I completely agree! No one seems to acknowledge this. 7-7.1lbs is NOTHING for this powerhouse

Quote:
Good battery life, better then my tablet
Agreed.


Quote:
Fan @ Max is a bit loud (After using the HP for a while, I don't really mind)
Only under heavy gaming.

Quote:
No light for battery charged
Um, ....ok. I suppose that could be cool. Can't Windows report this though

Quote:
Weird Touchpad
Weird how?

Quote:
Warm left palm rest
Yes. This is one of the 8600's biggest problems.

Quote:
Weird fan exhaust positions
I disagree. The positions are perfect.

Quote:
No Printer port or PS/2 port
Printer port?

Quote:
No subwoofer for such good speakers... lol
??????

Quote:
Hard to find the button for the DVD drive.
??????????????

Quote:
Too much dell junk pre-installed...
Reformatting is your friend.

Quote:
No light for mute (Sorry, just had to say it :P)
wtf? Do you want your computer to look like a casino?


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