Inspiron 9200 Review
Background:
I had gotten a Dimension 8400 as my primary system back in August. Due to my situation at the time (worked away from home 3 days a week) I figured out I should have gotten a laptop. Move the Dimension 8400 to replace the ageing family desktop (that both my wife and I used as server, for photo editing, and server). I was going to get a 9100 on the infamous $750 off day, but things got messed up so I didn’t get it. I was looking for a 15.4W system that would meet my requirements: minimum two hours battery life (e.g. view a movie on a plane); be able to play games (MR9700 or better), 1394, and DVD Recorder (wanted to be able to make movies away from home without a external recorder). The Inspiron 9200 meet the bill though it had a larger screen then I needed. I looked at systems from HP, Toshiba, Gateway, Acer, Fijitsu, …, and Dell. I wanted to spend under $1500 out the door.
Ordering Process:
I waited until an Inspiron 9200 came up at the desired price. Here are my order details:
Order Details
Order detail - order placed 2004-12-23 21:33:56
Inspiron 9200
Intel® Pentium® M 725 Processor (1.60GHz/400MHz FSB), Microsoft® Windows® XP
LCD Panel 17 UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display 17XGA
Memory 512MB DDR SDRAM at 333MHz 1 Dimm
Video Card 128MB ATI's™ Mobility Radeon™ 9700
Hard Drive 80GB Hard Drive
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home
CD ROM/DVD ROM 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write Wireless Networking Cards FREE Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless (802.11 b/g, 54Mbps) IP2200P
Productivity Software Productivity Pack including WordPerfect®
Primary Battery 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr Technical Support
Hardware Support Services 1Yr Ltd. Warranty , 1 yrTechnical Support , 1 yr Advance Exchange
Dell Media Experience Dell Media Experience™ Deluxe with Remote Control
DLXCOM
Unit Price: $2,113.00
Dell EPP/FSS Customers: Save $474 off this select Dell Inspiron 9200 system!
Expires on 2005-01-20 05:59:59 - $474.00
Free Dell Color Printer 720 Qty: 1
Dell EPP and FSS Customers: Free ground shipping on select Inspiron systems over $899.
Expires on 2005-01-06 06:00:00 - $45.00
Dell Employee/Member Purchase Program customers: Save $200 off Dell Dimension Desktops or Inspiron Notebooks totalling $1800 or greater. (before tax and shipping)!
Expires on 2004-12-23 23:59:59 - $200.00
Receive 6% off systems priced $1600 and up with 1/2 yr At-Home service.<br><a href= target=_blank ONCLICK=window.open(''http://www.dell.com/atg/program'', ''popup'', ''width=600,height=550,scrollbars=yes''); return false>Want to save more? Click here</a>
Expires on 2005-09-26 17:59:59 - $98.34
Total was ~$1445.
Web ordering was easy with no issues.
Delivery:
System was ordered 12/13/2005 and delivered as promised by 1/5/2005 (would have been one day earlier but was not home to sign). System was in good working condition. System came with a 5400 RPM HDD instead of 4200 RPM HDD.
Initial Impressions:
System was bigger than expected. Everything worked flawlessly. Initial tests (memory, HDD, buring, etc) show no problems. Screen had no dead or stuck pixels. Screen was a little funny.
Immediate Upgades: I ordered the system with 1 512MB so-dimm. I picked up a second so-dimm to bring the total memory to 1 GB.
Screen Issues: After reading about all the problems it made me unhappy with my screen. So I went to Best Buy and Fry’s and looked at other screens. The specially coated screens looked better. Then I did line tests and some other video testing. The specially coated screens are much better for watching videos, and photo editing. The screens are not as good for text input, web browsing with small fonts, etc. It is really a toss up. I felt the coated screens should have been an option from Dell and complained. Dell then took $50.00 of my system price. That was fair.
Actual Use:
Games: Half-Life 2 plays well. MAME plays most games well, but a few suffer from sound being slightly off. Overall it played the games I tested fine.
Photo Editing: Installed Digital Image Suite 9. It works well on the system. Seems slightly slower than Dimension 8400.
Office Work: I removed the Word Perfect suite and installed Office 2003. It works well. No issues.
Video Editing and DVD Making: Using Movie Maker 2.0 (included with XP) and made some nice movies. The include MyDVD worked well for burning the movies other than the 16:9 movie it converted to 4:3.
Sound: Plays music well. Have used Windows Media Player and Dell Media Experience 3.0 Deluxe. Have not tried DVD Audio yet.
Dell Media Experience 3.0 Deluxe: So far software has worked well and the remote works well. Have used my laptop to playback Tivo recordings and DVD in my bedroom hooking up the laptop to my TV.
Keyboard and Touchpad: Both work well.
Wireless: Hooked up easy to my home network. Better connection quality than Dell 1350 or D-Link card (can’t remember the number).
Wired: Hooked up easily to hotel wired connections.
USB 2.0: Worked well with External HDD and booting from USB Flash Drive.
Battery Life: Get an average of 2:30 to 2:45 hours. Slightly less than advertised, but I like my brightness on the screen up slightly higher it is as I expected.
Design: Laptop seems well designed. Wife even commented it looked nice.
Further Issues:
The free printer did not arrive in a timely manner, and was going to be delivered in March. I emailed customer service and they upgraded the printer to an all in one which arrived within two days. The 9300 is looming. The better video card was very tempting but after playing Half-Life 2 I felt the MR9700 was good enough. Plus I was changing jobs and would loose my EPP so I kept the 9200. The 9200 was two large to fit in my special carrying roller compartment. I will need to get a shock sleeve for it.
Conclusion:
The Dell Inspiron 9200 is a nice laptop. It is a cut above the usual Dell laptops I have used (Latitudes and Inspirons). The laptop has performed well, and Dell has given me great service. I would recommend the 9200 for user’s who need a desktop replacement or travel infrequently.
Regards,
Rabid Bunny.
.
Background:
I had gotten a Dimension 8400 as my primary system back in August. Due to my situation at the time (worked away from home 3 days a week) I figured out I should have gotten a laptop. Move the Dimension 8400 to replace the ageing family desktop (that both my wife and I used as server, for photo editing, and server). I was going to get a 9100 on the infamous $750 off day, but things got messed up so I didn’t get it. I was looking for a 15.4W system that would meet my requirements: minimum two hours battery life (e.g. view a movie on a plane); be able to play games (MR9700 or better), 1394, and DVD Recorder (wanted to be able to make movies away from home without a external recorder). The Inspiron 9200 meet the bill though it had a larger screen then I needed. I looked at systems from HP, Toshiba, Gateway, Acer, Fijitsu, …, and Dell. I wanted to spend under $1500 out the door.
Ordering Process:
I waited until an Inspiron 9200 came up at the desired price. Here are my order details:
Order Details
Order detail - order placed 2004-12-23 21:33:56
Inspiron 9200
Intel® Pentium® M 725 Processor (1.60GHz/400MHz FSB), Microsoft® Windows® XP
LCD Panel 17 UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display 17XGA
Memory 512MB DDR SDRAM at 333MHz 1 Dimm
Video Card 128MB ATI's™ Mobility Radeon™ 9700
Hard Drive 80GB Hard Drive
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home
CD ROM/DVD ROM 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write Wireless Networking Cards FREE Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless (802.11 b/g, 54Mbps) IP2200P
Productivity Software Productivity Pack including WordPerfect®
Primary Battery 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr Technical Support
Hardware Support Services 1Yr Ltd. Warranty , 1 yrTechnical Support , 1 yr Advance Exchange
Dell Media Experience Dell Media Experience™ Deluxe with Remote Control
DLXCOM
Unit Price: $2,113.00
Dell EPP/FSS Customers: Save $474 off this select Dell Inspiron 9200 system!
Expires on 2005-01-20 05:59:59 - $474.00
Free Dell Color Printer 720 Qty: 1
Dell EPP and FSS Customers: Free ground shipping on select Inspiron systems over $899.
Expires on 2005-01-06 06:00:00 - $45.00
Dell Employee/Member Purchase Program customers: Save $200 off Dell Dimension Desktops or Inspiron Notebooks totalling $1800 or greater. (before tax and shipping)!
Expires on 2004-12-23 23:59:59 - $200.00
Receive 6% off systems priced $1600 and up with 1/2 yr At-Home service.<br><a href= target=_blank ONCLICK=window.open(''http://www.dell.com/atg/program'', ''popup'', ''width=600,height=550,scrollbars=yes''); return false>Want to save more? Click here</a>
Expires on 2005-09-26 17:59:59 - $98.34
Total was ~$1445.
Web ordering was easy with no issues.
Delivery:
System was ordered 12/13/2005 and delivered as promised by 1/5/2005 (would have been one day earlier but was not home to sign). System was in good working condition. System came with a 5400 RPM HDD instead of 4200 RPM HDD.
Initial Impressions:
System was bigger than expected. Everything worked flawlessly. Initial tests (memory, HDD, buring, etc) show no problems. Screen had no dead or stuck pixels. Screen was a little funny.
Immediate Upgades: I ordered the system with 1 512MB so-dimm. I picked up a second so-dimm to bring the total memory to 1 GB.
Screen Issues: After reading about all the problems it made me unhappy with my screen. So I went to Best Buy and Fry’s and looked at other screens. The specially coated screens looked better. Then I did line tests and some other video testing. The specially coated screens are much better for watching videos, and photo editing. The screens are not as good for text input, web browsing with small fonts, etc. It is really a toss up. I felt the coated screens should have been an option from Dell and complained. Dell then took $50.00 of my system price. That was fair.
Actual Use:
Games: Half-Life 2 plays well. MAME plays most games well, but a few suffer from sound being slightly off. Overall it played the games I tested fine.
Photo Editing: Installed Digital Image Suite 9. It works well on the system. Seems slightly slower than Dimension 8400.
Office Work: I removed the Word Perfect suite and installed Office 2003. It works well. No issues.
Video Editing and DVD Making: Using Movie Maker 2.0 (included with XP) and made some nice movies. The include MyDVD worked well for burning the movies other than the 16:9 movie it converted to 4:3.
Sound: Plays music well. Have used Windows Media Player and Dell Media Experience 3.0 Deluxe. Have not tried DVD Audio yet.
Dell Media Experience 3.0 Deluxe: So far software has worked well and the remote works well. Have used my laptop to playback Tivo recordings and DVD in my bedroom hooking up the laptop to my TV.
Keyboard and Touchpad: Both work well.
Wireless: Hooked up easy to my home network. Better connection quality than Dell 1350 or D-Link card (can’t remember the number).
Wired: Hooked up easily to hotel wired connections.
USB 2.0: Worked well with External HDD and booting from USB Flash Drive.
Battery Life: Get an average of 2:30 to 2:45 hours. Slightly less than advertised, but I like my brightness on the screen up slightly higher it is as I expected.
Design: Laptop seems well designed. Wife even commented it looked nice.
Further Issues:
The free printer did not arrive in a timely manner, and was going to be delivered in March. I emailed customer service and they upgraded the printer to an all in one which arrived within two days. The 9300 is looming. The better video card was very tempting but after playing Half-Life 2 I felt the MR9700 was good enough. Plus I was changing jobs and would loose my EPP so I kept the 9200. The 9200 was two large to fit in my special carrying roller compartment. I will need to get a shock sleeve for it.
Conclusion:
The Dell Inspiron 9200 is a nice laptop. It is a cut above the usual Dell laptops I have used (Latitudes and Inspirons). The laptop has performed well, and Dell has given me great service. I would recommend the 9200 for user’s who need a desktop replacement or travel infrequently.
Regards,
Rabid Bunny.
.
