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My new Dell Inspiron 6000d was delivered on 8/16 and I have had the chance to play with it for the past two days. Since, I have only had it two days; I might update this review in the future.

I’m going to be attending UB in the fall and I needed a laptop computer that would function mainly as a desktop replacement that could be portable if I needed it to be. Although, I already own an Apple Powerbook, I wanted to take a Windows laptop with me to college for software compatibility.

At first, I considered smaller notebooks with 14” screens or smaller. I considered the Sony S series, the Asus W3v, and the IBM T series. I took a look at the Sony S series at my local Best Buy store and was not impressed by the XBrite screen – the glare and reflection was a nuisance and text was almost painful to read. The ubiquitous heat and screen issues that many have complained about with the Asus W3v made me look elsewhere. The IBM T series was a solid contender except its professional look was a turn off.

I hadn’t even considered Dell until I began to read some of the reviews that were posted here, and the 40% off coupon was just too appealing to pass up.

Dell Inspiron 6000d
1.86 Pentium M
256 MB of RAM (Upgraded to 2GB of DDR 533)
60GB 5400RPM HD
128MB ATI X300
15.4” WSXGA+ LCD
8x CD/Dual Layer DVD burner
Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection 802.11 B/G
Dell 350 Bluetooth Internal Wireless Card
9 Cell Battery
3 Years On-Site Warranty

Build Quality, Design, Aesthetics

I have heard that Dell Build Quality is to say the least, horrible, or not up to par. However, after my experience with the 6000d, build quality is superior to any laptops that I have seen at the retail stores.

There is little to no flex. I pressed the back of the screen to see if I could produce ripples on the LCD and even after considerable pressure, there were no ripples on the screen whatsoever. The rest of the unit is built just as solid and I could produce only a slight flex on the keyboard and the palm rest. Many people do not like the silver and white trim look, but I think it looks very sleek.

The Screen
I was especially worried about the screen after reading about the “sparkle” syndrome. But I was, once again, pleasantly surprised at how great this screen is. It is matte, but Dell describes it as “Ultra Sharp.” Right now, I am writing this review in Micrsoft Word and the text is sharp and the white background is pure white. Colors are rich and vibrant and watching DVD movies on this screen is a pure delight.

I was also worried about buying the WSXGA screen because, although I am only 17, my eyesight is horrible. But now, I almost regret not buying the WUXGA, the extra screen real estate is great and as of right now, I have a Microsoft Word document and a Firefox window side by side.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard, though not as good as an IBM keyboard, is great to type on. There is no flex in the keys, the keys are responsive and the depth is just the right amount. I type faster on this keyboard then I do on my desktop keyboard.

The touchpad does what it is supposed to do. I, especially like the horizontal and vertical scroll bars – it’s intuitive.

Processor and Video Performance

The 1.86 Pentium M is comparable to my 3.4 Pentium 4 on my desktop. It blazes through the basic tasks like word processing and surfing the web, but it does well during heavy duty gaming as well. Super Pi calculated 2 million digits in 1M 45S and I had Norton Anti Virus and Firewall running in the background with Windows Media Player.

I wasn’t expecting the X300 to be as good as it is, but it handles Guild Wars flawlessly and the game does not stutter at all. I’m sure it won’t do as well with games like Doom 3, but for the games that I play, it does what it needs to do and then some.

Speakers

The speakers aren’t horrible, in fact for laptop speakers, they are quite good. At low to medium volume, the speakers sound pretty good, but at their loudest, it doesn’t sound as good. They lack bass, but I have great headphones for listening to music. The Audio buttons at the front are great.

Battery Life, Heat, Noise

I opted for the 9-cell battery, and I am glad I did. At the medium brightness setting with wireless and music on, I am consistently getting around 3:45 to 4:00 hours. At the lowest brightness setting with wireless and music on, I am getting around 4:30 hours, and at the brightest setting with wireless and music on, the battery lasts about 3:20.

This laptop does not get hot. During gaming it gets warm, but not warm enough to make my hands sweat. Doing everyday normal tasks like word processing, surfing the net, checking e-mail, listening to music, etc. the laptop is cool. The fan is always on, but it is very quiet. It’s a very subtle humming that you need to listen closely to in order to hear.

Dell Bloatware

Dell loads their computers with the most unnecessary of programs that should be removed as quickly as possible! After reformatting the computer, it ran smoother and faster.

Customer Service

I called customer service once because I wanted a copy of XP Home. Dell does not include a copy, but instead you can burn one using your own blank CD. Unfortunately, I used all my blank CDs and did not want to buy more only to use it for an OS CD that I should have gotten anyway. I chatted with a Dell customer representative and they sent the OS CD via express air mail. I got it a day later.

Pros

Very Solid Build Quality
Amazing Screen
Good Keyboard/Touchpad
Intuitive/Aesthetically Pleasing Design
Customer Service
Battery Life (with 9-cell)

Cons
Loaded with Unnecessary Software

Conclusion

I apologize for such a long review. I have read all the reviews posted on this forum before buying and I can honestly say that, had I not, I probably would have ended up buying a sub par notebook that I was not happy with. I am glad I got the Dell Inspiron 6000d and I hope that this review will help future buyers.

If I was not thorough enough or if you would like more benchmarks, I’ll gladly do it.

nice review!

Thanks for that review, I purchased a similar system, not as good obviously (no ram, no burner, wxga), but I found your review helpful and more eager to finally receive my 6000d, if it ever gets out of In Production. And damn, I wish Canada got those awesome coupons.

I upgraded the RAM myself, Dell charges insane amounts. It's actually extremely easy to do.

I wasn't excited about a Dell at first ever since hearing about those horror stories about build quality and customer service/support. After receiving my laptop, my perspective about Dell products did a complete 180.

I think you'll love your laptop, because if you couldn't tell, I love mine. LoL

thanks for the great report ordered my first "good computer" tonight and its a laptop only computer ive ever had was a 500.00$ emachine so I'm sure this will by far exceed my expectations

What was the final price?

what is this about burning the OS on a cd? id like to have an extra copy of it if possible.

6000D is the best laptop ever if you need one laptop to be your travel laptop, your office laptop, your design laptop and your game laptop.

Trust me, I went through quite a few in the past few months.

But since I can afford the luxury of having two, I split it to 700m for travel / office and 9300 for design / content creation. unfortunately, I am not a gamer.