Hello everyone!
I have had my new Inspiron for almost a week and I feel ready to offer my own personal review. Please understand that I am somewhat of a power user (I can reformat harddrives, build desktops, etc) but I am not on the level of many people here. Also keep in mind that my last laptop was an IBM Thinkpad a21m, hence the name Dinosaur. ANY thing at this point would be an improvement to what I had. Ok! Enough caveats. On to the review! Please feel free to ask for info on specific areas I might not cover.
(I reserve the right to alter this review at anytime as more info becomes available!)
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Dino's Dell Inspiron 6000D
Gallery of 26 images available here:
http://www.pbase.com/elamont/i6000
Stock Specs:
Intel Pentium M 750 (1.86ghz) | Sonoma Chipset | 15.4" WSXGA+ Ultrasharp LCD | 512MB DDR2 @ 400mhz (1 DIMM) | 128MB ATI MR x300 | 40GB Toshiba 5400RPM w/16MB Buffer | 24x CDRW/DVD Combo Drive | Windows XP Home | Intel Pro Wireless 2200 | BlueTooth 350 | etc etc etc...
Out Of The Box Impressions:
Straight out of the box this laptop is very impressive. To me it feels extremely solid and well built. I can pick it up by a single corner and there is no "creaking" or other strange noises. Not sure about the white trim. I wish they could have just gone with pure silver all the way around. The silver finish seems a little....soft? Like it could possibly be scratched or wear away. I hope this doesnt happen but ya never know. The laptop is quite large, due mostly to wide screen format. My IBM had a 15" screen also, but it was a standard format which made it about two inches narrower. Basically it was only as wide as the keyboard on the i6KD. Personally I wouldnt want to go with anything that had a larger chassis. It would simply be too much to be mobile. Try opening it on an airline seat back tray. Yikes...
Startup & Overall Speed:
Before reformatting the harddive startup was what I would call average in length. Now that I have removed all the junk that Dell forces upon us, start up is extremely fast. A fraction of the time needed to boot my IBM.
Overall system performance is hard to judge. I suppose there is some kind of benchmark system out there but I dont know what it is. All I can say is that the system blows through anything I throw at it. Photoshop boots up very fast, and I can load approximately 10 2MB digital images (at about 1-2 seconds each to open) before there is any noticeable slow down. Even then it goes to only MAYBE 2-3 seconds each. Documents fly out of folders, web pages zip (of course highspeed cable helps), and iTunes rocks out. Its just fantastic.
LCD:
Cant say enough about this screen. Again, keep in mind what I am coming from. I didnt know what I was missing. The WSXGA+ Ultrasharp is not only ultra sharp, it is also bright, colorful, and just plain awesome. I actually feel guilty giving my IBM to my girlfriend now because of how bad the IBM screen looks compared to this. She doesnt care - she still wants the IBM.
I must say that the WSXGA resolution pushes my eyes to the limit. I'm only 26 with decent eyesight so dont dismiss this as just old/bad eyes. Text and icons are quite small. This can be changed by increasing the screen dpi to 120, but it appears to degrade the image quality of pictures viewed in Internet Explorer (and other programs perhaps - I havent tested it out much).
My only actual problem with the screen is that it is indeed so bright that I worry about editing photos on it. I am afraid I will process them to look nice on the LCD but when they are printed they will be underexposed. This is a major problem for photographers like me. I cant be processing orders multiple times because prints came back too dark. I had thought I would be able to connect my ViewSonic CRT and put the image on it and the Photoshop palettes on the laptop. This way I could edit them on a screen more true to life. However, my early tests with the extended desktop function have been disappointing. The image on the CRT looks muddy, dark, and just looks BAD. Someone gave me a link to a better utility for extended desktop though so hopefully when I give that a try it will yield better results.
Oh, one other small problem that bugs me is the casing on the screen. It bows out slightly at the base of the display leaving a gap between the case and the screen. Its by no means a huge deal but it doesnt seem right.
Concerning light leakage - there isnt much. Nothing I would call abnormal. There is just a little at the bottom that simply looks like a slight reflection from the silver casing on the keyboard. At first I didnt even realize it was light leakage. I have yet to watch a DVD in a dark room so I cant say if it is distracting during a movie.
Keyboard & Touchpad:
I love this keyboard. I can notice no flex whatsoever. It is very study. The keys are about the right height, with good feel. They depress just far enough, come to a solid stop, and then bounce back nicely. My only complaint is the texture of the finish. Not sure why but it feels like my fingers are skittering across the surface a little. I am sure it is just something that takes getting used to whenever you get a new notebook.
The touchpad, well its a touch pad. What can I say? Its not my favorite type of pointing device but it does ok. The inclusion of the vertical and horizontal scroll surfaces is a nice touch. The buttons feel sturdy and well built. They click nicely and are not too loud. Personally, I will always prefer using a mouse whenever possible. With the bluetooth card installed I'd like to research the available BT mice.
CDRW/DVD Combo
Seems pretty standard. When spinning at or near top speed it can be alarmingly loud and vibrate pretty good. Luckily most applications dont cause the drive to wind up that fast. If it sounded like that all the time I'd have to return the laptop.
DVD playback is smooth. Burning of CDs is quite fast. Not sure what else to report on this. I will say that the optical drive seems to be the one area that the lappy feels a little cheap. It slides open with a snapping sound and I wonder how long it will be before that latch wears out. It is definitely not as sturdy as drive on my IBM.
Graphics & Gaming
So far I havent come close to hitting the limit of the x300. I dont have any of the current high end games like Doom3, Half Life 2, etc and have no delusions about them playing on this machine. However, I did load MS Flight Simulator 2000, crank up all the details and settings, and it breezes through it. I forgot how much fun it is! After awhile, say 20 minutes, the fan kicks to high gear but it is not terribly loud. Just sounds coming from the game cover it up. Its not until you quit playing that you realize its blowing pretty hard.
I understood the limitations of the x300 before I purchased and chose this route because I am simply not a heavy gamer. For the games I do play, my XBox does fine (the forthcoming XBox Next will do even better!).
Conclusion:
Overall I am extremely pleased with the Inspiron 6000D thus far. Great build, terrific screen, and awesome overall performace for the price. If you are not a heavy gamer, this laptop is for you.
Hope this review has been helpful to you. Please feel free to ask for more specifics on areas I may have skipped. Its hard to remember all the different things I wanted to comment on.
Eric Lamont (a.k.a Dinosaur v2.0)
I have had my new Inspiron for almost a week and I feel ready to offer my own personal review. Please understand that I am somewhat of a power user (I can reformat harddrives, build desktops, etc) but I am not on the level of many people here. Also keep in mind that my last laptop was an IBM Thinkpad a21m, hence the name Dinosaur. ANY thing at this point would be an improvement to what I had. Ok! Enough caveats. On to the review! Please feel free to ask for info on specific areas I might not cover.
(I reserve the right to alter this review at anytime as more info becomes available!)
==========================================================
Dino's Dell Inspiron 6000D
Gallery of 26 images available here:
http://www.pbase.com/elamont/i6000
Stock Specs:
Intel Pentium M 750 (1.86ghz) | Sonoma Chipset | 15.4" WSXGA+ Ultrasharp LCD | 512MB DDR2 @ 400mhz (1 DIMM) | 128MB ATI MR x300 | 40GB Toshiba 5400RPM w/16MB Buffer | 24x CDRW/DVD Combo Drive | Windows XP Home | Intel Pro Wireless 2200 | BlueTooth 350 | etc etc etc...
Out Of The Box Impressions:
Straight out of the box this laptop is very impressive. To me it feels extremely solid and well built. I can pick it up by a single corner and there is no "creaking" or other strange noises. Not sure about the white trim. I wish they could have just gone with pure silver all the way around. The silver finish seems a little....soft? Like it could possibly be scratched or wear away. I hope this doesnt happen but ya never know. The laptop is quite large, due mostly to wide screen format. My IBM had a 15" screen also, but it was a standard format which made it about two inches narrower. Basically it was only as wide as the keyboard on the i6KD. Personally I wouldnt want to go with anything that had a larger chassis. It would simply be too much to be mobile. Try opening it on an airline seat back tray. Yikes...
Startup & Overall Speed:
Before reformatting the harddive startup was what I would call average in length. Now that I have removed all the junk that Dell forces upon us, start up is extremely fast. A fraction of the time needed to boot my IBM.
Overall system performance is hard to judge. I suppose there is some kind of benchmark system out there but I dont know what it is. All I can say is that the system blows through anything I throw at it. Photoshop boots up very fast, and I can load approximately 10 2MB digital images (at about 1-2 seconds each to open) before there is any noticeable slow down. Even then it goes to only MAYBE 2-3 seconds each. Documents fly out of folders, web pages zip (of course highspeed cable helps), and iTunes rocks out. Its just fantastic.
LCD:
Cant say enough about this screen. Again, keep in mind what I am coming from. I didnt know what I was missing. The WSXGA+ Ultrasharp is not only ultra sharp, it is also bright, colorful, and just plain awesome. I actually feel guilty giving my IBM to my girlfriend now because of how bad the IBM screen looks compared to this. She doesnt care - she still wants the IBM.
I must say that the WSXGA resolution pushes my eyes to the limit. I'm only 26 with decent eyesight so dont dismiss this as just old/bad eyes. Text and icons are quite small. This can be changed by increasing the screen dpi to 120, but it appears to degrade the image quality of pictures viewed in Internet Explorer (and other programs perhaps - I havent tested it out much).
My only actual problem with the screen is that it is indeed so bright that I worry about editing photos on it. I am afraid I will process them to look nice on the LCD but when they are printed they will be underexposed. This is a major problem for photographers like me. I cant be processing orders multiple times because prints came back too dark. I had thought I would be able to connect my ViewSonic CRT and put the image on it and the Photoshop palettes on the laptop. This way I could edit them on a screen more true to life. However, my early tests with the extended desktop function have been disappointing. The image on the CRT looks muddy, dark, and just looks BAD. Someone gave me a link to a better utility for extended desktop though so hopefully when I give that a try it will yield better results.
Oh, one other small problem that bugs me is the casing on the screen. It bows out slightly at the base of the display leaving a gap between the case and the screen. Its by no means a huge deal but it doesnt seem right.
Concerning light leakage - there isnt much. Nothing I would call abnormal. There is just a little at the bottom that simply looks like a slight reflection from the silver casing on the keyboard. At first I didnt even realize it was light leakage. I have yet to watch a DVD in a dark room so I cant say if it is distracting during a movie.
Keyboard & Touchpad:
I love this keyboard. I can notice no flex whatsoever. It is very study. The keys are about the right height, with good feel. They depress just far enough, come to a solid stop, and then bounce back nicely. My only complaint is the texture of the finish. Not sure why but it feels like my fingers are skittering across the surface a little. I am sure it is just something that takes getting used to whenever you get a new notebook.
The touchpad, well its a touch pad. What can I say? Its not my favorite type of pointing device but it does ok. The inclusion of the vertical and horizontal scroll surfaces is a nice touch. The buttons feel sturdy and well built. They click nicely and are not too loud. Personally, I will always prefer using a mouse whenever possible. With the bluetooth card installed I'd like to research the available BT mice.
CDRW/DVD Combo
Seems pretty standard. When spinning at or near top speed it can be alarmingly loud and vibrate pretty good. Luckily most applications dont cause the drive to wind up that fast. If it sounded like that all the time I'd have to return the laptop.
DVD playback is smooth. Burning of CDs is quite fast. Not sure what else to report on this. I will say that the optical drive seems to be the one area that the lappy feels a little cheap. It slides open with a snapping sound and I wonder how long it will be before that latch wears out. It is definitely not as sturdy as drive on my IBM.
Graphics & Gaming
So far I havent come close to hitting the limit of the x300. I dont have any of the current high end games like Doom3, Half Life 2, etc and have no delusions about them playing on this machine. However, I did load MS Flight Simulator 2000, crank up all the details and settings, and it breezes through it. I forgot how much fun it is! After awhile, say 20 minutes, the fan kicks to high gear but it is not terribly loud. Just sounds coming from the game cover it up. Its not until you quit playing that you realize its blowing pretty hard.
I understood the limitations of the x300 before I purchased and chose this route because I am simply not a heavy gamer. For the games I do play, my XBox does fine (the forthcoming XBox Next will do even better!).
Conclusion:
Overall I am extremely pleased with the Inspiron 6000D thus far. Great build, terrific screen, and awesome overall performace for the price. If you are not a heavy gamer, this laptop is for you.
Hope this review has been helpful to you. Please feel free to ask for more specifics on areas I may have skipped. Its hard to remember all the different things I wanted to comment on.
Eric Lamont (a.k.a Dinosaur v2.0)
Just working out of my living room today so no room for a full background and multiple lights. This was a single strobe with a bounce umbrella. Cheesy background but oh well. 
is a nice camera).. enjoy
What I can say is that I have had ZERO problems with it. It easily detects my wireless router, connects, and stays connected. I was over at my parents house this afternoon setting up her 700m and both her lappy and mine (both with 2200's) connected immediately to her wireless router too.
