Yesterday I reformatted the new 8600 and can confirm 3 issues.

As a prelude, it's a good idea to copy the WINXP activation key off the bottom of the laptop before you start to avoid repeated flipping it over mid install. The good news is that windows will activate after the installation without requiring another re-input of the activation key.

As another prelude, the Resource CD has to install itself before it will let you explore it.

1) 1350 WLAN PCI minicard: as reported in another thread, (http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=23118) after a reformat using the Dell Windows Install disk the 8600 detects an unknown network controller, but doesn't smack itself upside the head when you try to install the 1350 driver and say to itself "duh! that's what that is!". Instead when trying to install the driver it reports that there is no hardware compatible and shuts down the install process. I tried everything: removing the device, installing the driver from the Resource CD and the Dell site, booting into safe mode, removing and reseating the card.

It turns out the issue, as reported in the above-referenced thread, involves hacking into the setup.ini in the folder where the drivers are unzipped and pasting in substitute instructions, repeated here. Note that the poster used this for the 1450, and I'm confirming this also works with the 1350. Once applying the patch, the install went flawlessly.

Here is the workaround: in the directory where you have uncompressed the TrueMobile drivers, open setup.ini in Notepad. At the bottom of the file there is a section called [WAIVED_HARDWARE_IDS_NT] with four lines under it for DEVICE0, DEVICE1, DEVICE2, and DEVICE3. Change that section completely to look like this:

[WAIVED_HARDWARE_IDS_NT]
DEVICE0=PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4320
DEVICE1=PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4324

Note: if you call Dell tech support, they likely will try to convince you it's a bad or improperly installed card. I had used the 8600 for 2 days with a flawless wireless connection, so I knew this was not the case.

Note that there are several different versions of this driver, only one of which is good for North America, if that's where you are.

2. ATI Drivers: I hadn't bothered to go find the omega drivers and wade through the posts on issues associated with them and attempted to install the drivers from the Dell website. This did not work, claiming that a VGA driver had to be installed first. Installing from the Resource CD did work; I've not yet tried to update them from the website, as I had HAD it by then.

3. Bluetooth drivers: not posted on the website that I could find, requiring installation from the resource CD.