MY NEW INSPIRON 9300 Initial Review WXGA+ - Page 2

Reiview KEYBOARD UPDATE:

Hello again, I have an update regarding my keyboard for the 9300.

Originally I thought I received a "thai" keyboard with my system based on what others had to say about Thai versus Chinese Keyboard,

MY ISSUE: My keyboard has flexy keys, you can press a corner of the key and it flexes alot, also while typing my cursor would jump for no apparent reason so I called dell for a replacement asking them for the CHINESE keyboard as I thought I had received a THAI keyboard. Further research on these forums indicates there are about four keyboards used on the 9300 and 6000.

My replacement keyboard arrived today and when I removed the original keyboard I found out that it was a chinese keyboard though not the high quality one that other users report having, my original keyboard was made in china and has a model number on the back of it which is.....K051125X made by SUNREX TECHNOLOGY CORP and carries a dell part number of OH5639. My replacement shipping invoice states my new keyboard is a replacement kit item number R8690 which includes a small screwdriver, instructions and a special plastic tool for removing the keyboard hinge cover (thanks dell). the keyboard itself is listed as item number N8685 on the invoice but the model number on the back of the replacement keyboard is Model A196.

The original keyboard though made in china, looks like the keyboards made in Thailand and has the flexy keys, when you depress a key on the corner it flexes and you can hook a finger under them when you are really typing fast. when I removed the original keyboard I found it to be very cheapo and low quality, the metal back plate was full of hole where the keys attached to it and the metal was rather thin and flexed alot when holding it up ( this is model K051125X).

When holding up the replacement chinese keyboard Model A196 it has a much thicker/firmer backplate that is solid, no holes stamped in it to attach the plastice keys, on the front of the keyboard it has the soo called "rivets" that can be seen under the V B and N keys as well as some other keys on the keyboard and looks like the keyboard that others have posted pics of. There was no flex to it at all and it is obviously a higher quality keyboard and the keys do not flex when pressing a corner of them like the cheapo chinese model or the Thai model.

I am typing this review addendum on my new chinese keyboard and I am very happy with this replacement, no wild cursor jumping and the keys have a more solid feel when I strike them and make a more pronounced click when striking them, even if I hit just a corner of a key it depresses evenly. It is much more like the Ibm laptop keyboards which I think are the best. For those of you who are having similar problems with your keyboard you might want to contact dell and request this replacement, the keys are a bit noisier but not distracting and have a great tactile feel which I find much more comfortable than the cheapo piece of crap keyboard my 9300 originally came with.

Hats off to Dell for sending me the keyboard replacement I requested and sending it fast. At first dell wanted me to send the entire system back to them for the keyboard replacement but I insisted that they send me one that I could replace myself as it is a simple task and besides I didnt want to get a complete replacement that might come with other hardware that I wouldnt like. I told the dell rep that it would be alot cheaper for them to send me a keyboard than it would be for them to take my whole system back and they agreed for which I am also thankful as I am happy with my screen (samsung).

The experience has got me to thinking about a few things regarding other hardware issues users have complained about. In order to keep a steady flow of parts available for building the lappies, dell uses several vendors so they can fill orders without possible delays. Because of this, the consumer receives a product that can be wholly different from one machine to the next as can be seen from reviews on the lcd panels, keyboards and dvd or cdrw dvdrw drives. Depending on which vendors part you get, you either get a quality part or a sub par one as I did with my keyboard. With this in mind it is important that in all reviews on compontents whether good or bad, its important that reviewers include the part number/model number and not refer to it generically. I cant tell you how many reviews on lcd panels ive read for the Inspiron line where people love their LG or hate it, Love their Samsung lcd or hate it, but neglect to include the model number so that we can figure out which parts are good or bad quality and request Dell send us the GOOD ONES.

With this in mind I would hope that others will take charge and include the specific model numbers of parts they are either having problems with or enjoy very much so that as we browse through this forum we can better Isolate any issues.

I hope this has been helpful to others and would welcome any comments from others on their keyboards and model numbers as well as comments on their LCD panels and model numbers.

Sorry for being long winded but since we all seem to be a bit obsessive about our notebooks, I felt it was important to lay out my two cents as every review I looked at before my purchase was very helpful although they would have been more soo had there been more details other than "I love my samsung panel" or " I hate my LG panel" or "this samsung has light leakage" or "my LG is sparkly" or " I love my keyboard" etc.

Cheers

It's been a long time since we've had a poll. What, like an hour? So, tell us which keyboard your 9300/XPS2 came with and how you like it.

The Thai keyboard has no distinguishing marks, but the Chinese keyboard has rivets on both sides of the "B" key like this:

sorry, having trouble posting pictures, maybe I'll jsut post some of my own of the keyboards for reference.......

http://www.notebookforums.com/showth...light=keyboard

Here's a shortcut to some pics of the Chinese keyboard (the good one) and a few other pics of the Thai I think, check it out and see for yourself!!

Thats correct, the WXGA+ is ultrasharp but not glossy like the true life screens.

Boxing for me was three or four days, once out of boxing, things move quickly. but this depends on demand also at the time you order.

Glad I am able to help some of you put worries to rest. Many of these forum threads had my stomach in knots worrying about what I should order and what I should do. Especially where screen resolution was concerned. Im very happy with my ultrasharp WXGA+ Samsung X4766 screen. Nice and bright, sharp, games look great and so do DVD movies. Like Spritzup I dont like glossy screens. One thing I should like to add is that you will find many posters talking about their WUXGA or WXGA screens describing them as bright or dark or having light leakage etc. these qualities have nothing at all to do with the resolution you choose, they have everything to do with what manufacturer made your lcd panel.........LG or SAMSUNG. People had me soo worried that my WXGA screen wouldnt be brigth enough, WELL IT IS, in fact I use it regularly two to three settings lower than the brightest setting available. Having used both wxga and wuxga on the 9300 I can tell you that my eyes appreciate the wxga resolution alot better for reading text and surfing the web. You will be hard pressed to find a web page that takes advantage of resoultions higher than 1024x768. Please see the Dell FAQ thread and stop by the fujitsu.com sight for detailed information on screen resolution as well as matte/glossy finished screens. I find that ALOT of people have misconceptions about what a WUXGA resolution brings to the table, many just think hmmm brigther,sharper, more.........better. Only to be disappointed after purchase of have to use non native resolutions which diminish that "sharpness" they wanted with the high resolution to begin with. I dare say you will find a wuxga screen user who doesnt adjust their resolution settings to a lower, non native setting for everyday use and there in lies the moot point of the higher resolution to begin with, not to mention the money you pay for it its general uselessness. In the case of the 9300 perhaps a WXSGA resoulition would have been a better happy medium for some?

sorry my digital camera is missing in action, will post some pics as soon as I find it though in all fairness I should mention its hard to get perspective from a picture. If you look at some lappies at best buy, all the 17 inchers are 1400x900, be sure and check their dpi settings, I use mine at normal 96 dpi and plenty of screen real estate for whatever I can throw at it. what is your current resolution???

The reason your text may seem large enough is because dell shipped your laptop set to a higher DPI than normal, probably 125 dpi instead of the normal 96 dpi. Check your serviced tag number now that you have one at dell's site, select support then log in to your account, then select "knowledge base" then you will be prompted for your service tag number, enter this and select "original system configuration" and you will be able to find out which lcd panel you got. Judging from your viewing angle troubles I am guessing you got an LG screen. Check it out and let us know.

setlzered, many users are reporting problems with the 7200 60 gig drive,

Tom's hardware guide has a detailed review on these drives both 7200 and 5400 rpm drives, just go to tomshardwareguide.com and click the storage tab, the article should be there its a fairly recent review, tests dont show a dramatic performance gain with 7200 rpm over the 5400 rpm drives, for this reason I went with the 80 gig drive 5400 rpm, mine is a toshiba. Works great, no lag.

TO JACMERT, if your lcd panel doesnt increase in brigthness between settings two and three, then you most certainly have an LG panel and not a samsung, this is a trait of the LG panels, not sure why, but Id bet the farm you actually have an LG panel.