Can you help me pick a Dell laptop? - Page 2

Actually, that was exactly my point.

Thanks, but I think the 9300 will be too big, even for just moving around the house comfortably.

It's down to the 6000 or the 700m for me. A lot will depend on:
A) how reflective the screen really is on the 700m. If the reflection is too distracting, it might be a dealbreaker.
And B) how hard it is to type a "period." I type ".com" a TON of times a day. If I can't correctly hit the period key, I'm in big trouble.

Any 700m owners have any comments on A or B above??

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I think I was typing this while you were posting it.

This is EXACTLY what I'm starting to think, and why I'm starting to lean towards the 700m.

I really hope I like the smaller glossy screen and smaller keys!

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Thanks. Actually I found that thread earlier. Amazing comparison shots, aren't they?

Looking at them again I realize that the 700m is really quite small compared to the 6000. Hmmm.... I hope it's not TOO small.

I just read somewhere that the 700m screen attracts a lot of dust and dirt.

True? False?

Wow... now *that* is one cool setup! What is the computer resting on??

Excellent shots! (thanks for sharing). The glare here doesn't seem that bad -- I've certainly seen a lot worse. For example, look at the reflection from the blinds in this picture I came across:

http://netryder.osnn.net/700m/open.jpg

Question for the 700m owners, please:

If an external monitor and keyboard are attached, the cover will be down (closed). Since the speakers are inside and not on the front, can you still hear the sound okay from the speakers? Or does the cover really need to be up/open all the time for decent sound?

As a matter of fact, I'm going to a Dell kiosk TODAY!

But certain things can only be discovered after actually using the computer for a while in real-life situations. Not in a crowded, noisy mall with other people waiting to "play" with the computers. That's why I'm asking actual owners. Know what I mean?

By the way, I REALLY appreciate the feedback from everyone. You have been an awesome resource!

Great info, thanks hellfire!

I actually took a look at all 3 of these today. It's getting pretty late, so I won't post my findings right now -- but if anyone is interested in more info just let me know. I know others are in the same boat as I am, so I'd be happy to type it all out... after I get some sleep.

Okay, here goes…

First off, I was disappointed to find that the computers were severely disabled. For example, you are only able to look at websites that Dell had bookmarked (not many). I really wanted to go to sites that I was familiar with (like Yahoo or NotebookForums) but I couldn’t. I wanted to see how things were set up in the Control Panel, but I couldn’t. Heck, I couldn’t even right-click – it too was disabled.

Anyway… I was happy to find the 6000 sitting right next to the 700m (I’ll bet I’m not the only one comparing these two models).

** The 6000 was surprisingly nice. It looked strong and solid, and got a lot of attention. The keyboard looked good and had a nice “feel” to it. The monitor was big. The resolution was WSXGA+. At this resolution the text looked a little small in places. I really wanted to see some other sites that I knew used smaller type, to see if I could read the smaller type, but I couldn’t – again, disabled. Can you tell that this bothered me? I also wanted to change the resolution to WXGA setting, just to see the size difference, but that function was disabled as well. The only negative I found in the 6000 was its size and weight. It’s a bit on the large side (it’s pretty wide), and a little heavy. If it were just a little bit smaller and a little bit lighter, it would be perfect for me.

** The 700m was pretty small. The size might seem better if you don’t have anything to compare it to, but sitting next to the 6000 it seemed MUCH smaller all around (body, screen and keyboard). I wasn’t too crazy about the keyboard. It was small, seemed a little cramped, and didn’t have the nice feel the 6000 keyboard had. The screen was shiny and VERY dusty (the guy said they have to clean it several times per day). To be fair, there was bright sunlight on the 700m due to a sunroof in the mall, so it was hard to fairly compare the screen to the 6000 (I couldn’t move it too far thanks to the security cable)… but from what I could tell the 700m screen did appear to be sharper than the 6000 (although it was obviously much smaller).

So which one am I getting? The truth is, I don’t know. I’ve never had a wireless laptop before, so I have to do some serious thinking about how I *think* I’ll be using it. Will I really be moving it from room to room, into the backyard, out and about? Or will it mostly be sitting on my home-office desk. Will I be using the laptop's built in screen and keyboard, or will it mostly be hooked up to an external monitor and keyboard? Hard to say, since I’ve never done it before. Again, I gotta think about this.

Any comments? Questions? Suggestions?

Can you help me choose??