Slashdot Mirror
Dell Introduces Laptop With WUXGA
Cutie Pi writes "Dell has just released the Inspiron 8500, a new 15.4" widescreen notebook with a WUXGA screen--thats 1920x1200, high enough resolution to watch HDTV quality movies. Couple that with the new nVidia 64MB GeForce4 4200 Go (much faster than the ATI Radeon 9000), and you've got quite a notebook!! Can't wait to get my hands on one!"
If so, Apple's "vaporware" Mini-Me 17" is in trouble!
I was thinking of buying an Inspiron 8200, but now I'd rather wait for a bit longer ;-) The monthly price is a funny number, btw.
see a Text Widget
Now your eyes can go bad from glare AND squinting all at the same time. With accelerated 3D.
You realize some geeks are going to use this resolution to view more text on the screen at once and lose their eyesight that much faster, don't you?
... or must we wait until Asus releases a similar Laptop?
and weighs as much, too! 6.9 lbs w/o a media drive!! and 1.5" thick. I'll keep my TiBook (or even a new 17" AlBook), thank you very much. :)
With a screen at that resolution, I just might be able to view an entire slashdot advertisement at once. Wow, no scrolling for me.
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
Wow, with it's 15.4" display, that's going to look REALLY crisp. It sounds like a great laptop display wise to me. 1600x1200 on a 15.4"? wow...
I am a viral sig. Please help me spread.
... What is with Dell and their ugly-ass notebooks? Fucking BODY CLADDING, ala Landau roofs on Lincolns.. They're not fooling anybody..
Apple's got the prettiest notebooks by far, with Sony and IBM the only credible alternatives IMHO.. Dell stuff just looks like Taiwanese junk..
This looks too much like Apple's Powerbook. And what's with that blue trimming around the keyboard? I liked the 8000-8200 Inspirons better. Why can't companies be more innovative?
Now I can put this puppy on my visa, divorce, and get my Nissan 350Z... Of course you realize that would be waaay too easy... :)
Slashdot.. Land of nerds, trolls, and FlameBait..
Too bad I still can't order it without windows.
Sorry Dell, you're not getting my money.
Was it put together by "The Customizer"?
Apple Called... They want their laptop design from 2 years ago back.
Ads for nerds. Shit that we can't afford.
When is someone besides Apple going to release a laptop with a DVI connector?
As light as 6.9 pounds according to the specs, but hey it does come with some ugly facades you can stick on the back of your LCD panel. Seriously, as an owner of two dell laptops previously, they need to loose the weight fast. There is no excuse for a 7 pound 15in notebook.
It's still a Dell....
I'm wondering when Laptop Manafacturers will make laptops that people can put together themselves - much like we do now with desktops and servers... I would think that you buy a specific 'case' that includes a screen and keyboard, and everything else would be standardized, so you can get a mobo that you want, a proc that you want, ad nauseum... WHY HASN'T THIS HAPPENED???
>>
Looks like a bad copy of a 15" TiBook with some blue trim added.
---
eeww, I'll have a crab juice.
...and the NVIDIA video drivers cause the machine to blue screen once/week. Dell says that this is "an ongoing issue between Dell and Microsoft". There is no driver update available.
Dell sells a lot of stuff that's not ready for prime time - is the 8500 yet another example?
Despite the headline, one can't really call it a "laptop", since using it on one's lap would create safety (and fertility) issues. Dell's official term is "notebook", but I believe "mobile computer", "traytop", and "portable space heater" are also acceptable. I challenge anyone to actually sit through a two-hour HD movie with this on their lap.
That resolution is barely usable because windows and X are not vector-based. With that I mean everything will scale nicely from low res to hi res. No more pixel frenzy!
OR
You're soaking in it!
Gotta love this gouging, under the customization look at what they charge for extra ram:
512MB,DDR,266MHz 2 Dimms
512MB,DDR,266MHz 1 Dimm [add $200.00]
640MB,DDR,266MHz 2 Dimms [add $300.00]
768BM,DDR,266MHz 2 Dimms [add $400.00]
1GB,DDR,266MHz 2 Dimms [add $650.00]
1.5GB,DDR,266MHz 2 Dimms [add $1,800.00]
2GB,DDR,266MHz 2 Dimms [add $3,300.00]
I have an Inspiron 7500. The 15" display went out on it 3 times with the same problem. A hugh vertical stripe through the middle. Not to mention the video card went out, and so did the keyboard.
...for one hell of a price; From $2,299
It may be me, but I would rather have a cheaper, lighter notebook with a long (8 hours or there abouts) batterylife than a HDTV+DVD-player combo with a computer attaced. But hey, each to his or her own.
Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
And what are the chances of actually being able to see the end of that HDTV movie before the battery runs down?
Not good, I'd say...
much faster than the ATI Radeon 9000
What's that? The poster must have meant the ATI Mobility Radeon 9000, which is much different from the Radeon 9000 Pro AGP card.
I bought an Inspiron 7500 when the PIII 500 chips were first made available in laptops. It has been a few years now and this machine has been all over the US, banged up, dropped, kicked, etc. at jobsites, conventions & seminars. The only thing that has gone wrong with it have been the CD burning out playing CTP and the 'm' key jumping off. I hope the new line can stand up to the kind of abuse this one has because this machine is still kickin and I would certainly consider buying another one in the future.
Prospecting Stinks. Stop Wasting Time on Cold Calling.
I would definitely go thin and light. I bought the most powerful, largest screened laptop I could find (at the time). However, it's so unweildy, and drains battery power like nothing else. If I'm lucky (with two batteries in it) I'll be able to surf for 1 hour before it goes dead. Plus, by the amount of heat it generates, I know I'm going to have lap cancer by age 35.
In other words, I cant do a whole lot with it, and it's really heavy and awkward. My dad on the other hand, has a super small Sony Vaio that can go about 6 hours on a battery and still do everything I do, even though it's more underpowered.
I still prefer the Area-51 laptops by Alienware. A little more pricey, but damn, they put a lot of horsepower in there; perfect for LAN parties. And they are colorful as hell :).
Review is also very nice, though it is off of their own site. Customize your own here.
Suhit
I know from carrying around my laptop that weight matters alot. This laptop seems somewhat heavy for its size
Inspirotion 15.4-inch Wide-Aspect SXGA+ and 15.4-inch Wide-Aspect UXGA display
Height: 1.52-inch (38.6 mm)
Width: 14.22-inch (361.2 mm)
Depth: 10.87-inch (276.1 mm)
Weight: 6.9 lbs. (2.96 kg) with travel module, battery and Harddrive. (Specs)
Compared to the PowerBook G4 (17" model)
Height: 1.0 inch (2.6 cm)
Width: 15.4 inches (39.2 cm)
Depth: 10.2 inches (25.9 cm)
Weight: 6.8 pounds (3.1 kg) with battery and optical drive installed.
It seems that if Apple can make a laptop with a 17" screen that is 6.8lbs, Dell should be at least be able to get one that is lighter. (Specs)
Where notebooks go, desktop screens follow. This indicates that within a year, WXSXGA (or whatever that excessive i've-got-yet-a-longer-TLA word was) LCD screens will be priced to sell, and this is the final nail in the coffin of those 21" monsters sitting around our offices.
If this notebook sounds heavy, just consider the weight of the alternatives. Personally, though, I'm happier than a bishop in amsterdam with my ASUS. Three thumbs up.
Sig for sale or rent. One previous user. Inquire within.
geez, I've got a 16.1" screen on my Sony Vaio laptop, and the native resolution on that is 1600x1200. I couldn't imagine a _smaller_ screen with a higher resolution. Would make reading anything with a font size below 16pt impossible I'd assume. I can barely cope with 12pt on the 1600x1200 16.1" screen.
I wish someone would make a 1600x1200 laptop.
That way I could run it at 800x600 without losing screen realestate or getting bad jaggies.
Maybe I can get a headband-mount for it, that'll get the chicks to come a-runnin'.
Sweet, a new computer from Dell. Does it come with a free sample of Marijuana? Dude, you're gettin' some weed!
Ok, that's just cruel.
For every post, there is an equal and opposite re-post.
if you're not into the whole mac thing
Having never used a widescreen aspect ratio screen I was curious as to how games handle these odd resolutions. Do they actually recognize and adjust for the aspect ratio or simply default to the highest available 3:4 setting which means the graphics start to blur? Anyone know?
Eddy.WriteLinux.Com
It's nice to see that with everyone coming out with smaller and lighter laptops, Dell had decided to go bigger and heavier. Hey, it worked for SUVs... Personally I wouldn't give my (okay, my company's) Thinkpad X23 up for that.
Seriously, does the new fangled WUXGA screen make that much of a difference? Is it that much heavier? Or have Dells always been this porky?
And if you buy one of these, from the low cost of $2299, do you at least get a Windows XP CD? Or are they still foisting that recovery partition crap on people? (Altho that really is Microsoft's fault)...
This is a neat laptop, and I'm sure it would make a great desktop replacement, or even a good gaming laptop. That said, though, I can't bring myself to buy another Dell machine until they re-earn my trust.
The short version of the story is that I bought a laptop from them and tried to get it fixed under warranty. They failed to fix all of the problems when I sent it back, and failed to note the problems as unfixed. When I got it back, outside of warranty, with the problems unfixed, I called Dell, and Dell refused to fix them, saying that it was out of warranty. They did, however, fix the problems they caused while it was being repaired. When I got it back from the second repair, there was an additional problem, a cracked access panel. It took a good half-hour of arguing to get them to replace the panel. I did finally get them to fix the original problem, but it took a sternly-worded letter to senior management to make it happen. That letter details several of the problems I've had with Dell over the years; it also contains the full version of this story.
Short answer is that I have lost my faith in Dell, and until they prove themselves to me again, I won't buy their products, and I advise other people to do the same, no matter now nifty-cool they may be.
Moderate drunk! It's more fun that way!
Apple could take a shit on a piece of shit and you'd probably think it looks great. Go pimp your apple crap somewhere else...
You mean if he notices and after he stops laughing?
My next door neighbor bought a dell laptop for his wife's boss. It had a 14" screen, but it also had a default resolution that was greater than 2000 horizontal. I have yet to see such a resolution on an lcd since.
The image quality was amazing.
Has anyone else seen this. My neighbor was amazed since he hadn't ordered the high end screen.
So were we dreaming, or has anyone else seen this?
brad
God: "I don't leave footprints!"
ASUS got out of their laptop manufacturing. They will build OEM units to some smaller guys now.
WUXGA = Wide Ultra eXtended Graphics Adapter
That's a lot of adjectives, and a whole lot
of pixel lovin'.
With a screen that big and a video card that powerful, imagine the battery life that you'l
Can someone spend more than 10 secs looking at story submissions to make sure that they're not just (very) thinly disguised ads? That'd be quite an improvement!! Can't wait to get my hands on it!
We just purchased 6 Dell Latitudes where I work for field work (architectural). We chose them after much research on durability, continuity, stability. So far they are doing a very good job. It would be nice to see this display adopted into the Latitude series. For someone who does graphics, animation, CAD, etc this would serve as excellent work at home or field systems. Funny enough the reason we didn't choose an I book. was because you said it lack of compatbility with existing apps. AutoCAD, 3D Studio, Revit, etc.
I have an Inspiron 7500 as well, and it has been bulletproof for the 3 years I've owned it.
What I still can't believe is how my 3 year old laptop has a 1400 x 1050 15" screen, but even brand new regular flat panel 15" monitors still only support 1024 x 768. How lame!
No, they don't.
I think you missed the point about the aspect ratio being the attractive thing here.
"WOW! A shiny new Dell with a cool monitor!! Where can I get one? Slashdot likes it, so I simply *MUST* have one!!"
(Thoughts running through the marketing droids' heads at Dell 2 weeks ago when they submitted this "News Story" to Slashdot)
Slashdot: News for nerds, free marketing for corporations.
Mod me down!! DO IT! I *dare* you.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Well, as a Dell Inspiron 8100 user I would highly recommend waiting a little while prior to a purchase. Here's why:
My company loves Dell laptops (and they are very good)...however there seems to be a slight design flaw with the screens on the newer Inspiron body style...all of our keyboards are wearing through our monitors (when the laptop is closed and in the laptop bag)...The screen is too close. Now I cannot say if the newer ones will be the same, but all of ours have this problem. All of them. The tech supports guys say that it has something to do with the keyboards being screwed on too tight or something...I don't really care, what I do care is this, my screen will be broken way before this laptop needs replacing. Also I care that my screen looks really bad with all these scratches on the surface of it.
If you are considering purchasing a new Dell laptop for the clear crisp screen and all of it new real estate then I would try to determine that the new model doesn't have this same problem, otherwise your screen will look like crap in a couple of months.
Can't you apple bitches find something worth complaining about?
For that much money and weight, I would rather have a 17" Power Book.
That was exactly my response, too.
FWIW, an IBM salesdroid I talked with a few months ago said they might ship linux on their laptops this year. We'll see. Nobody's getting my money if I have to send a portion to Redmond, too.
Just gimme a friggin' laptop without Windows on it! [OK, at a reasonable price, Apple-boy.
--
Given enough personal experience, all stereotypes are shallow.
I went throught the customization/order process (I just accepted the default config) and the estimated ship date is April 10.
Kent
sdsdsdsdsdssd
Crikey, at that price, I might as well save up to get either a 17" PowerBook or get the 15" now.. both are way thinner, lighter and better looking. I think no discussion about notebooks is complete without a comparison to Apple notebooks and the obligatory Mac Vs. PC debate. However, I'd just like to point out that their [Apple's] notebooks are just *that* much better (IMHO) than anything that's on the market. Dell and co should take Sony's stand and actually try to build a)Fully featured notebooks b)Pay attention to asthetics c)light and portable enough to be actually used as a mobile computer. *start rant* I take my iBook everywhere with me and much to PC notebook owners, I don't feel it a hassel to open it up just to check on a date on my iCal or catch up on work anywhere. OS X's instant on makes it as if I'm using a palm top.. unlike XP's startup from sleep. It's those 20 seconds or so that puts people off from starting their computer *end rant* I took a look at the "bottom" of the Dell on the website and noted all the fugly holes, ventelatiion, battery compartments, compulsory Windows stickers and other bloat. Why can't they just keep it simple??
Fight Crime - Shoot Back!
no, I want that super-masculine antlerbone laptop with mudflaps and chrome! And I want a super-masculine PDA, MP3 player, headset, and computer! Because technology is SO FUCKIN' MASCULINE IT MAKES MY DICK EXPLODE WITH RAGE!!!
The display supports 1920x1200, but both graphics cards available only support 1600x1200, according to Dell's own pages.
What gives?
Confused here... What "resolution" exactly does HDTV run at?
I'm getting old, and my eyes are getting feeble. How many people are going to be able to read text on their laptop screen at this size and resolution?
Prime time for resolution-independent display technology, I think.
When all you have is an axe, everything looks like a grindstone.
I want a notebook computer that is small and light and portable, the iBook got it right with it's 12 inch screen. this trend, started by apple with it's 17 inch screens, seems to go against the very purpose of a portable computer... to be small and light. If I want a big screen to watch movies on then I'll sit my butt at home and watch them on the TV.
And are drooling about this thing.
I speced one as close as I could to my 1GHz TiBook and it was the same price and the Dell did not include a SuperDrive equivalent.
So considering that the keyboard/mouse thingy has been replaced twice in my Dell Inspiron in 18 months, I think I will stick with my TiBook.
Looks like a nice machine other than the fact that I have seen too many Dell portables fall apart.
Unless I messed up the numbers I get about 159dpi horizontal and 143dpi vertical. Time to get out a maginifying glass to read any overengineered web sites that still assume everyone is running 640x480(or maybe 800x600) at 72 dpi.
.84 => 13.4inch by 7.55inch
ps
I am assuming the widescreen is 16x9 and the 15.4 inch is the diagonal measurement. But the numbers are almost the exact same for a 4x3 screen (~155 horizontal)
pps
(16x)^2+(9x)^2=15.4^2 => x ~=
(4x)^2+(3x)^2=15.4^2 => x~= 3 => 12inch by 9inch
Thoughts on tech, Software Engineering, and stuff
I went through the adding to cart process, and made a Dell with roughly the same specs as my Powerbook, now lets compare. My Powerbook -15.2 In Widescreen -1 Ghz G4 -1 Inch Thick -5 lbs w/drive and battery -CD-RW/DVD-R (standard) -1 Gig RAM -60 Gig HD (standard) -ATI 9000 w/64 MB (standard) -OS X Included Free -Price $2,836 shipped Dell -15.4 Inch Widescreen -2.2 Ghz P4 -1.5 inch thick -6.5 lbs without drive -CD-RW -1 Gig RAM -60 Gig Hard Drive ($130 extra) -Nvidia GeForce 4 4200 64 MB ($99 extra) -Win XP Professional ($79 extra) -Price $3436 Funny thing those consumers... the Powerbook is lighter, sleeker, has a DVD Writer, and is $600 friggin cheaper. Apple is overpriced my ass....
-Alex
Thanks for the 'news', but I'm not in the market for a laptop right now.
And if I was, I'd have found this information myself.
BTW, I'm trying to sell an old waterbed. Do you mind if I stick a flyer up on the homepage? Thanks.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
I know people in the US don't know kilograms BUT :-)
6.9 lbs. (2.96 kg) and 6.8 pounds (3.1 kg) doesn't work
One not interesting fact at all here is that at approx 235 cubic inches for the Dell and 157 cubic inches for the Apple we can see that by volume the Dell is much lighter 0.03 lbs per cubic inch v 0.043 for the Apple.
So in fact the question is why is the Apple so heavy...
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
...he works for NASA.
Note: I don't wear glasses. Maybe I should?
Dell never ceases to amaze me. Until recently I was a diehard Toshiba supporter, that is until their Canadian division dropped the ball on their choice of adopting the Legacy Free BIOS design (bad for Linux) and issues surrounding desktop processors in their notebooks.
I'd written that article two months before I decided on a Dell Inspiron 8200 complete with a 64 meg GeForce440 and all its UXGA glory. Runs Q3A in a full-out 1600x1200 with nary a hitch. Typing this article on that same 8200 now actually.
Dell truly knows how to cater to geek needs. They're a progressive minded company with cool commercials and damn good laptops. So long as they maintain their high standards, I'll be a customer of theirs for awhile to come.
- IP
I have a Thinkpad T30 with their 1400x1050 14" screen and LOVE it. It's enough room for two side by side pages or a web browser and a couple of IM windows. It's not real heavy and has been a serious workhorse. It's crashed once in the last 4 months, and that was due to new ATI drivers (that weren't official).
lalalalalallala
Compare these two photos:
Inspiron 8500
PowerBook G4
I know, I know... it's just the bottom of the machine, but you gotta love style.
You know everyone at Apple is rubbing their hands together and laughing wickedly...
:)
But ya know, it figures that this comes out two weeks after my Inspiron 4150 shows up
Granted, it's kewl, sexy, and has a wide screen, but so does JLo.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
There used to be a joke that went around the kids at my high school in the 80s that was very funny. Sort of a signifying thing, but very enjoyable. It went a little something like this:
A: What do you call nuts on a wall?
B: Wall nuts?
A: Yeah.
A: What do you call nuts on a chest?
B: Chest nuts?
A: Yeah.
A: What do you call nuts on a chin?
B: Uhhh... what?
A: Nothin' because my dick's gonna be in yo mouth.
Well... being the teen nerds that my friends an I were... We made a variant of that that is just as funny for nerds:
A: What do you call nuts on a wall?
B: Wall nuts?
A: Yeah.
A: What do you call nuts on a chest?
B: Chest nuts?
A: Yeah.
A: What do you call nuts on a chin?
B: Chin nuts!
We still laugh at that today. All one of us has to do is look at the other one and say, "Chin nuts".
I also heard its so enormous you can open it up
and use it as a hang glider, or get under it
as a tent in a pinch.
RADICAL DUDE
The resolution is 1900x1200 which beats the hell out of 1440x900 not to mention Apple crippled their laptops by switching to the OLD Geforce 4 Go 420 which is like the POS Geforce 4 MX. The ATI was better. Now if the new 15" comes with a nVidia Geforce 4 Go 4200 w/128MB I'll buy it. Otherwise I may hold off completely.
... is still only $3000 compared to apples $3300 for the 17" AlBook.
I'm a huge apple fan but some of the most critical things I need to do for my company are either not available for Mac or are exponentially more expensive. BTW I develop software for Linux (2.2+), Windows (win32), Mac (OS X) and Solaris (7+). I have seen the 17" AlBooks at the Apple Store and while impressive it doesn't do much more for me than the old 15.2. If the 15.4 comes available for a decent price (see note) I'll get one as soon as they are available (not the lovely preannouncements Apple has been giving). Otherwise, I'll just get an old TiBook 1GHz for 2550 or so.
Note: the Dell with 2.4GHz proc, 512MB 1 DIMM, GF4 4200, 60GB, 1920x1200, Extra Battery,
I totally agree. This isn't news; it's a plug. Actually, it might be nice if they had a "cool new product" section with its own icon, so I could block it in my user preferences. I like real "technology" stories, but I hate this sort of crap.
Switch to Linux
My machine is solid w/ NVIDIA drivers.
OK, for a Geoforce4 4200 Go with 64MB RAM, a 2.4 GHz processor, and 1 GB RAM using 2 DIMMS, I managed to run the price up to $3,277..........
Now I can get a Shuttle SB51G case for ~325, a 3.06 GHz P4 for $548, 2x512MB DIMMS for $88 [total], and a Built by ATI Radeon 9700 Pro for $320, total = 1281.... mind you I still need HDD, Display, and CD-ROM drive, but can I manage to rack up another 2K for that? Especially if upgrading and using my old CD-ROM, Display, and HDD???
Don't get me wrong, I love Dell; I think they typically make superior PC's/Servers&Notebooks. But, is portability at the sake of performance, and that whopping price tag worth it???
So in fact the question is why is the Apple so heavy...
The Apple is made from Aluminum -- skin, frame, and all.
You get a 17" screen, which is quite a big bigger. It's only 1440x900, which might not even make this a worthy comparison.
With the Dell configured to G4 specs, it costs more, doesn't even have all the features, and is heavier and the battery doesn't last as long.
Not to mention if you order from a Mac reseller, they'll double your RAM, throw in a printer, carrying case, and maybe another goodie for FREE.
Why PC makers can't get their laptops right, I'll never know.
Does anyone even have an app that would need that kind of screen on a laptop? 1600x1200 on a 15 inch LCD is nuts enough.
The 15.2" Powerbook is as big as screens need to be. WIDER is better. Personally, I'd rather have a 12" Powerbook or an iBook. It's a portable, after all.
Just released and already looks old school.
I got an Inspiron 8200 for Cristmas and it's already a paperweight... crap.
~SL
"notebook with a WUXGA screen"
Call me back when you have an Awooogah screen.
I want to use it on my submarine.
And, since it doesn't have a floppy drive, Dell is happy to charge you $59 for one for the modular bay. I know that this is inevitable, it has a cd-rw, blah blah blah, but for $2400, it seems like they could include a floppy.
yeah! damned apple and it's retarded pink laptops. gotta hate those pink laptops apple made. yeah.
um
dude
apple never made pink laptops. lay off the cheap bourbon.
And just how do they prove themselves to you again if you won't deal with them?
I note that we have 5 Dells in our immediate family, including the 5 year old Dimension I'm typing this on. I've also worked closely with another dozen, and never had any problem with Dell service or support. I submit that your experience is not universal to all Dell owners.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
...And the Dell has a faster CPU (the 1 GHz G4 isn't going to beat a 2 GHz P4M in most tasks)...
...Both have CD-RW/DVD-R's...
Very true, but keep in mind that the hardware will have to throttle down the P4M to less than 2 GHz for maximum battery life. The PowerBook can run at full speed without much impact. (Though the PB *can* throttle down for low-cpu tasks -- watching a DVD, etc -- for even longer battery life). Maybe a good laptop spec could be "number of cpu cycles per battery". In my experience, a laptop needs to be fast *and* have a long battery life.
The Dell, at the price you quoted, does not have a CDR-RW/DVD-R -- it only has a CDRW/DVD-ROM, it cannot record DVDs. The PowerBook can.
I got my Dell Latitude when the P3 1GHz were first available in notebooks. It has been well over a year and been travelled little but used daily. The only things that have gone wrong are the mobo flaking out and needing replacement, the LCD going bad and needing replacement and the keyboard falling apart and needing replacement. I hope the new line is better quality than this p.o.s. I got...
And go update your drivers. You're obviously NOT running the latest ones.
My dad had bluescreen problems with his I8000 and obtained new drivers from *Windows Update* of all places. This was months ago.
I was using the latest Dell drivers from their website with no problems whatsoever. I don't think my 8200 has ever bluescreened even once.
And if you bothered to do ANY research at all, you would've found the D-Force (and related) modified INFs that are regularly maintained so that you can use your latest Detonator release with "Go" series of GeForces. Yes, I'm running the 41.09 Detonator release on my 8200 with full functionality.
BTW, Dell has some excellent user-to-user support forums if you go to their support website.
Oh yeah, and it runs Linux beautifully too.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Cool!
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
Homer! You've ruined me!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise. - William Shakespeare
The Alienware systems use desktop CPUs, not mobile CPUs. No SpeedStep and less efficient GHz for GHz (usually the mobile chips have more recent manufacturing process technology than the equivalent desktop version)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
The site says up to 72 watt-hours ... How long will that much juice last with a 2.4 GHz P4M? In other words how many watts does that processor suck down?
-- shayborg
I seriously just dropped a chunk of change on the baddest ass 8200 money could buy yesterday and now those bastards come out with the 8500 with a better video card?
Ass-hats oops, can I say that?
Big Damn VGA (it's so big, our insurance provider won't let us tell you how big it is for fear of killing you)
For games, that is :) Under Windows, for sure.
:( But at least the underlying mechanics are OK.
I can't play one game under Windows across two monitors - no games recognize either true dual head, or the "single" workspace hack that most video card makers provide these days. Dual monitors, properly supported, would rock for most RTS games. I have two 15" LCDs, but all games refuse to go beyond 1024x768 on my setup. No custom resolutions available.
Of course, this isn't an issue under Linux. UT2003 works just fine across two monitors, although things are centered where the bezels meet, which isn't that great
jonathan
Check out www.avsforum.com - The WinTV-D/HD cards suck. (Design-wise, not so bad, but Hauppauge's software support is HORRENDOUS.)
Most popular cards out now are the Telemann HiPix and the MIT (not the educational institution in MA) MyHD. The MyHD is the cheapest, at $300. (Others are $400). Another Korean company, DVICO, is releasing an HDTV tuner card for approx. $160 that depends on software for the MPEG decoding. (The other cards have hardware MPEG-2 MP@HL compliant decoders, which is a significant portion of the cost. Cheapo decoders such as most RealMagic ones only support MP@ML. Of course the hardware cards have been used successfully in a 233 MHz Pentium while the SW card needs approx. a P3-1 GHz)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Sorry, but it is useful now. Sharper, better.
The real reason why they don't put them in is because the port takes up more space, and they'd need to spend an additiona $.50 for an adapter.
jonathan
And just how do they prove themselves to you again if you won't deal with them?
Simple. I ask around. When I stop hearing horror stories from other owners (Did I mention I'm a sysadmin at a major university? Even their corporate support has been spotty for us.), I'll reconsider. As long as I hear people (sysadmins, people I know and respect) saying "steer clear," I'll avoid them.
Moderate drunk! It's more fun that way!
Who cares? Does 7 pounds really kick your ass that much? Look how much is packed into that 7 pounds! All of this complaining about these "heavy" notebooks is ridiculous. You're actually complaining about a 7 pound laptop that you can carry anywhere, watch DVDs on, burn CDs, and play 3D games on? I own a Dell 8100 w/ 2 batteries always in it and the weight doesn't bother me a bit because I can appreciate what I've got. Maybe all of these people whining about "heavy" notebooks should try joining the military and humping a pack, weapons, body armor, food, water, and ammo. That might change their persepctive...
This guy is way out there
Quake 3 engine based games are known for being quite well suited to widescreen resolutions, same for UT and its descendants.
Other games - It depends.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
P4m is a must never use processor for any portable device !
... how can intel still make people beleive it is mobile viable ?
Drain power, heat surface,
Ever seen a Tablet PC running P4m ? No, there is no, they either run C3 or crusoe processor.
-SLK
Outside of the one that SGI released a few years ago, there have been no widescreen tubes or panels for the PC (perhaps some very high-end models).
Widescreen is nice. The Mac world proves that.
So, why aren't the PC makers and monitor vendors come out with 16:9 displays and give everyone a reason to upgrade?
jonathan
Mentioning that machine, My boss uses that machine and often uses it with an external monitor or projector frequently, but very very often it automatically turns off clone mode for no reason after a reboot. Do you know of anyway of leaving clone mode on permanently??
are dell laptops just looking worse and worse. I'm not talking about features.. I'm talking about physical looks. they've release 3 different laptops recently of varying economics, they all look the same.. and they all are ugly as SIN!
..
At least teh old inspirions.. standard black.. with the wildly overprice clip on color pads.. were neutral looking. It was black.. it went with anything. Now these things area light blue and odd shade of gray. Seems like colors you'd have as baby-shower decorations than on a laptop.
Laptops are a fashion statement.. if your gonna be lugging one into your local starbucks it better not be an eye-sore. I looks like they cut the side off some old computer cases and formed them to a laptop case.
The laptop I will get next will need to be power efficient and powerful(not so concerned about weight).. But if I have to pick i'll choose mroe power than power efficiency. Thats why i've got hopes for Centrino.. or some variant with the Pent-M
This laptop is neither of my requirements.. and its an ugly monster to-boot
Who makes you Sig?
I bought an Inspiron 7500 when they were top of .
the line, a couple of years ago. It was too heavy
to carry anywhere, the hard drive died, the power
connection died, the battery died, tiny springs
would fall out of holes in the side .
My new laptop? Powerbook G4!
Imagine hibernation with 2GB ram... You're gonna need a SCSI drive, too, unless you want to go smell the roses in the meantime. That'll be $1000 more.
I bet they're going to be relatively expensive though - the only link I could find on google - Looks like it will be
Never got an answer to this one:
Why is this sort of resolution available in Dell (and a few other brands) laptops, but not in stand alone displays, where pretty much every 15" unit has only 1024*768?
I have been brushed off with this question here before, when somebody replied that this isn't actually the "real" resolution of the display, but hey, take a look and you'll see that it is.
I've had the misfortune to have two Dell laptops (Inspiron 7000 back in '99, Latitude C840 presently). They were not my choice - work machines. Both have been heavy, cheaply made junk. The Inspiron had multiple hardware repairs before I got rid of it (screen failure, memory, casing). The current Latitude is only 5 months old and the hard drive crapped out last week. It takes the patience of Job to deal with Dell Support, particularly when you are an IT professional and you already know what is wrong! It only took 3 days to argue the drive replacement out of them.
Also I'm not sure why Dell bother putting Nvidia graphics adapters in these 'high-end' laptops. Check out the most recent update available for the Geforce 4 440 Go drivers for the Lat C840 (v28.35 anyone?).I bought a 5000e from them about 2 years ago
but it had/has tons of problems but what has always made dells worth it for me is the splurge on the 3 year *onsite* warranty. Basically it means they come to your house/work at your convienence (w/in a day or two). I have had pretty much the entire machine replaced at this point (motherboard twice, the casing inside and out etc etc). The 5000e was a compal outsource and they stopped selling it pretty quickly but i'm impressed by how quickly/diligently they replace the parts *in warranty*. I appreciate your issues (i.e. once it was out of warranty) but I think it is the dell warranty that makes the machine worth it.. i.e. they can sell me any old piece of shit but I have a $100 (at the time) 3 year guarantee that they fix it on the fly w/out any downtime.
-avi
excuse a dumb question, but is it not so that hdteevee is 1090 virtical lines? could not 1280 by 1024 support this?
does it run Mac OS X ???
Sunny Dubey
I'm sorry, but that high of a resolution on a 15in monitor seems kind of idiotic to me. Everything would be tini-tiny, it would only be good for watching DVDs.
Dell should of produced a 17in 1440-900 laptop like Apple. That'd be a hell of a lot cooler.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
Yeah, it's been asked before, but I'll ask it again: how much does one of these front-page, disguised as 'article', advertisements cost exactly?
Different compainies actually make dell's notebooks... The Inspiron 5000 (which is similar to the 7000 and 7500) is made by compal, while your Latitude was made by Quanta. That's got to be quite a problem for Dell... you'll only hear the horror stories from the worst notebook they sell. Personally, my PII Inspiron is still going great after 5 years... I cleaned/jiggled the backlight inverter board to fix an intermittent outage, and replaced a broken hinge (It's stood up very well to the abuse I give it!), and it still works like new!
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
see subject.
Or at least available as an accessory. I have that resolution on my 23" Cinema Display and it's perfect... I'm just not cut out for it on a 15" display. I don't have Steve Austin eyes :-/
Oldmanrant
I used to carry a Mac SE with a jerry-rigged hard drive home every night from work on the train. The damn thing was 35 pounds by the time it was in the bag.
I was happy when we switched to the Compaq Portables. Happy, I tell you!
Oh yeah, we ate sand.
/Oldmanrant
the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur - A.N. White
somebody mod parent up! it made me laugh
If you want the Radeon 9000, you have to settle for only 32MB, if you want 64MB you have to switch to the nVidia chip.
With the 8200, you can get the Radeon 9000 with 64MB, so why not this machine? Wierd.
While this may not bother MS-Windows fans, this sucks for Linux users, as the nVidia drivers are still buggy (yes, I've made bug reports... yes, they've been ignored).
With regard to the resolution... I've seen the 1600x1200 Dell screen side by side with a 21" Sun monitor with the same image (connected to the notebook) and the 15" LCD was FAR more easy to read, even though it was smaller. The reason why is obvious if you think about it... the basic design of a CRT versus an LCD means the LCD will always be sharper. People think 600dpi is horribly grainy on a printer, but 100dpi is way too high a resolution to read with a display - that just doesn't make sense when you think about it. The obvious answer is to use a bigger font.
The ethernet card, when you're "configuring" your model, is listed as a 10/100/1000! This is the first gigahertz ethernet notebook implementation I've heard of!
Once inconsistancy is the front page lists the WiFi as 802.11a/b, but the configuration page lists it as 802.11g/b - big difference, but the latter makes more sense.
As far as looks go, I like the 8200 better. I wonder if this one cooks your hands like most Dell notebooks... (my Vaio cooks my lap instead, much preferred, I don't like typing with sweaty fingers - not that I'd ever recommend a Vaio to anyone).
And as others have noted, you have a choice of O/S - MS-Windows XP personal or professional editions... no option for ordering it without MS products. (this will probably get moderated as a troll for this comment by a MS zealot)
- Preferences: Solaris 10 (servers), Ubuntu (desktops), Solaris 11 (personal servers) -
An Aluminum Powerbook (no paint, no flaking)
A Geforce 4 4200 Go or ATI Radeon 9000 (or better)
15"+ wide aspect ratio screen (1920x1200)
I have a 22" cinema display at home and my only complaint is 1600x1024 instead of 1920x1200 like on the 23"
And an option to get it without a damn DVD burner (I have zero need and by the time I do need one they will be better anyway)
Oh yeah how about $3300
I'm actually quite satisfied with the TiBook with the exception of the Airport Reception and the Flaking and easy scratching.
Once the new 15" book comes out I'll buy the old 1GHz one (DVD Burner be damned).
Another reason to switch to Linux.
You might want to try using more recent drivers (Such as the most recent Detonators plus modified .INF hack - Best place to find info is the community forums on Dell's support site.) - They might be more predictable.
I've never been very happy with the state of multiple monitor support under Windows. It seems very unpredictable.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
I just recently broke the 15.4" LCD display on my Dell Inspiron notebook. Cost to replace: $1060.
Ummm, you may try updating the bios (and possibly the video drivers). I had a similar annoyance with my docking station after I put XP on it. The bios update solved that problem and a couple others.
Lets see $2299 or $899 + $1400 of Beer
assuming $1 per bottle (good stuff) or $.50 per can so-so stuff thats 1400 - 2800 bottles of beer on the wall your eye sight is going to be shot anyway so drink up!!!!
My 1ghz powerbook (15.2", latest model) came with a combo drive (no DVD-R), 1gb ram, Radeon 9000, wide screen (12something by 8something) and was under $3300 *with Applecare*. It sounds like it's everything you're asking for, minus the ultra-high-resolution screen that's too hard for normal people to read. My tibook doesn't flake, and the airport reception is a lot better than on previous models. So what are you waiting for?
True, you don't know me, but I am a sysadmin for a division of the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs... I've got about 150 machines that I support with regularity (and another 150 or so that I support on an as-needed basis), a growing number of which are dells (rather than whiteboxes that were built by my predecessor's predecessor... none to well cared for either, dust contamination out the kazoo, but anyway). I have found Dell's support to scale directly with the amount of money that you spend on their systems. For low-end machines, you get crap, but if you spent 6500 dollars per box decking out one of their top of the line systems (inspiron 8200 when it VERY FIRST came out... 12 of them....eesh) or a couple of dozen Precision workstations, their tech support is on your doorstep within hours after you call them (even if you're like me and hate letting them touch the boxes... half the time I don't let them, I'm very particular about who I trust with them (one chance to prove yourself to me, if you screw it up and try coming back too bad for you) it's sad that I'm on a first name basis with half of the Dell support techs in the state) but yeah... it's still ENORMOUSLY better than compaq/hp and IBM put together (and I'll not even get into my problems with sony). Dunno where I'm going with this really, maybe trying to say that they're the best you can get from a big OEM? Probably that, yeah.
-----------------------------------------
Remove the Greed which plagues mankind.
up yours, motherfucker (no - you rock)
...and I quote, "Aspect displays deliver impressive DVD viewing and additional screen area for increased productivity." This is an interesting cross between poor writing and corporate toy purchase psuedo-rationalization.
With LCD's being pushed so hard, even to the point of some predicting the extinction of CRT, why do $3,000 notebooks only come with 15-pin VGA connector outs? high resolution LCD panels running through analog signals suuuuucckkkk.
I'm Rick James with mod points biatch!
I ran my numbers assuming 16:9 (since HDTV was mentioned) when in fact this panel is 16:10 wich gives square pixels.
... I was just explaining why circles wouldnt be perfect circles on a standard 4:3 crt running at 1280x1024(5:4) to a very picky lUser the other day and I guess it made me jump to conclusions here. This particular user still can't understand why taking a 1inch by 2inch image and blowing it up to 2inch by 3inch distorts things.
I guess I got a little carried away
I guess the only nonsquare-pixel panels I know of for sure are in PDAs.
Thoughts on tech, Software Engineering, and stuff
Seriously, the resolution on this display or the 1400x1050 on my Sony laptop are excellent. I, for one, can use all the real estate I can get. Yet, if I want to buy a 15" LCD monitor for home, I'm stcuk with 1024x768. Why aren't there stand along LCD monitors with higher resolutions, like these laptops? Geoff Fox
You know...
This while discussion centers on what you use the laptop for. In a desktop replacement that gets moved around occasionally -- sure 7-8lbs is fine. But my T23 is in for repair and I'm back to a Inspiron 7500 and I've noticed the difference. On the other hand, I haul it around a lot, move from office to office on customer sites etc, and one of my primary reasons for the IBM was weight.
As to the military? Last time I was packing that sort of load and gear, the webbing was MUCH better designed to distribute it than the average laptop bag. And. Well. Why should I suffer if I don't have to?
... that it's a Dell, dude. Prepare to carry around a heavy, ugly chunk of black plastic that will have it's keyboard malfunction once every six months.
:-)
Think different
"Politicians find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the people."
Apple does not offer a 1920x1200 laptop display,
although it does offer a desktop display with
this resolution, right? It's described at:
http://www.apple.com/displays/acd23/
Surely, though, Apple's operating system with
Quartz Extreme rendering system is well-suited
to these higher resolution displays. I think they
have yet to really exploit the smooth image
scaling performance of Quartz Extreme,
which sends all windows images through the
OpenGL pipeline as textures. 60Hz scaling and
compositing is just waiting to be used...
``(much faster than the ATI Radeon 9000), and you've got quite a notebook!!''
But can you actually take notes with it? I mean, does it have a decent battery life, or are you basically tied to the wall by it's hunger for power?
If it has a limited battery life, why not get a desktop machine that has better specs for a lower price? Desktop machines for speed, notebooks for battery life.
---
`NT' (as in Windows NT) is short for `No Thanks'.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
You people do nothing but complain sometimes. The fact is that Dell has the best notebooks available for the pc platform (non-Mac). I won't even compare to Mac, they have two different thigns.
Dell offers the best product, the best available options and the best service and support of any company making computers in the world.
If you buy a wireless router and wireless cards from them. Not only will their wireless team setup the network for you on all of your non-Dell computers as well, but they'll also help you install and setup the workgroup network for file and print sharing. Find another company that will do that, I dare you...
Craenor
I was all set to eBay my 9 month old Inspiron 8200, but there's no docking port on this new machine, the modem/network connectors have been moved to the back, only one PC card slot is available, and there's no difference in the video hardware, save for the wider screen.
Instead of calling it the 8500, they should have named it the 9200 or something because it's a completely different case and LCD design. Most of the parts in the 8000 class are interchangeable, save for the memory, processor, and motherboards.
Nope, I'm keeping my trusty i8200. A wide screen really isn't THAT important of an upgrade, and I really like the handy docking station for at-home usage. Nine months on Windows XP Pro with no blue screens, and it still dusts off ever other notebook, except for the other i8200's, in my law school class. Even the Macs :)
WTF? You guys let me down...
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
Note that a 512M 1-DIMM configuration costs $200 more than a 512M 2-DIMM configuration.
But... if you can point me at a source of cheap 512M or 1G DIMMS for notebooks, I'd be really happy.
My company BRIEFLY bought Dell desktops and laptops. (This company purchases between ten and twenty thousand PCs a year, and about 500 servers.)
:)
My Dell Latitude c600 has been nothing but junk. It sits on my desk all day (since I do VPN from home, I don't need to tote the machine), and yet it has had two failed hard drives. The screen has started to develop bizarre blue and magenta artifacts, which can only be cleared up by wiggling and flexing the display. The trackpad "jumps" if you try to use it (I switched to an external trackball). When the CPU is under heavy duress, a hairdryer-esque fan turns out and shoots plasma-hot air aross my right hand on the trackball.
The first time I actually had to travel with it, it lost it's battery charge in 15 minutes and threw up a warning to shut down, and then shut itself down.
Our desktops proved to be generally OK, but well above the price IBM was offering (once service contacts were negotiated).
Our company buys IBMs now. I'm getting a T30 this month. Woot.
Their business level machines are alright, the personal machines are pretty much shit, and the service and support requires a lot of patience. Sad to say, they're one of the better PC manufacturers despite their shoddy service department.
When I took delivery of my iMac, I was astonished to discover that the brushed metal underside of it was more beautiful than any part of any computer I'd previously owned.
Would it help to set the fonts bigger or isn't that an option?
see a Text Widget
If I get it from a dealer (like ClubMac). I don't pay tax $207.92 (8%) on the 1GHz model if I don't custom configure without the drive from Apple.
So A) I can buy it from Apple for $2599 (w/o DVDR) and pay 8% tax which is $2806.92 (free shipping) OR
I can B) buy it from ClubMac w/o Tax and (free shipping) for $2699
Hmmm... which makes more sense? I'll wait for the new 15.4" (since dell beat them to the punch) and it should (hopefully) push the prices a little lower on the TiBook. If they cost the same I'll get the new one (compare the Old 1.25GHz Dual G4 Tower to the new one, the new one is significantly cheaper).
I'm mildly surprised that no one picked up on the link to Dell's new LCD technology: UltraSharp. The WUXGA screen is less impressive to me than the fact that the viewing angle and image quality have increased dramatically.
I will assume you have never spec'ed a TiBook...
The 15" and up models have Gig-E and have had it for quite a while.
(I know you have no idea who I am.)
I worked at a school district in the upper midwest; we were an almost entirely-Dell shop. We had around 6000 network nodes when I left, and 3,000+ of those were Dells. We loved the Dells; in contrast to the Apples, they never broke down. In fact, the only time I needed to get a Dell machine repaired was when I blew out a motherboard with some faulty RAM. We hated installing new machines, but we always knew that we could plug the Dells in and they would work.
PIII 900
etc
Got a new hard drive out of own pocket because of the Hitachi "clicking" problem. No the bios update didn't help that much.
The trackpad is a piece of shit and goes nuts if I don't have the Synaptics software's "Plam Check" feature turned all the way up. This btw makes using Linux impossible for more than 5 minutes because of the random mouse freakouts. (Great I'm stuck with POS windows, thanks Dell)
The lower part of the screen makes a buzzing noise like a fluorescent light about to burn out. I'm told this may be due to some sort of faulty fan.
I had to replace the POS Actiontec network card/modem because it couldn't do 100MB without crashing.
In short my impression of Dell laptops is that they are pieces of shit. I won't ever be buying another one again nor allowing any of my clients when possible.
The only thing those assholes at dell would replace for me is that NIC/modem. Fuck dell and their shitty trackpads and poor quality laptops. Next time I'll buy an IBM.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
My Inspiron is a total piece of shit as well. If your interested in the details click my profile, my last post before this was all the problems I had.
Dell may make decent whitebox/generic desktops, but I don't have that good an impression of their laptops. A trip to their support forums confirms that for me.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
Well, timothy, I bet you can buy one with what they paid you for this slashvertisement.
You are setting the DPI in Mozilla itself, right? (Edit -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Fonts -> Display Resolution)
Alex Bischoff
HTML/CSS coder for hire
Seriously. I was happy with Linux when I ran that on my desktop for 7 years. I was even happier when I bought my ibook (my first Mac ever) last March.
I've used my roommate's Inspiron 8200 with XP a few times. It's an expensive laptop -- probably cost a pretty penny more than my ibook.
It's crap. I mean, I think Dell does an OK job, and I know their support (at least for servers) is quite good.. If I were to buy a PC rather than build it, Dell would be the way to go... But XP is just a joke. I think not using Windows for so long led me to believe that it was probably catching up to the rest of the world, just not quite for me.. Well, it's not. The Mac really has spoiled me, to the point where I can't even imagine why someone would buy an ugly, heavy PC notebook running a clunky, kludge of an OS like Windows. At least when I used Linux, I could use a Windows box, and say "hey, at least it has some worthwhile apps." Now I can't even say that about Windows anymore, it's just a nightmare experience.
- reid
You cut the FUD. I also own a 8200. I'd take a wild guess and say the guy has a Geforce2. This has been the shittiest card made to date. It would either have a fatal error or lock up just about once a day. Dell never released any working drivers with acceptable performance. This problem doesn't exist with the GeForce4, which I upgraded to recently.
Sure, it's a 15.2 instead of a 15.4 (at least until the update, expected in the next couple of weeks), but check out this side-by-side comparison: If you configure a 15 inch PowerBook with the best processor (1GHz) and make the components match as much as possible: Apple Titanium PowerBook: 15.2 inch Widescreen Display (Max. Res. 1280x854, plenty for a screen this size!) 1GHz PowerPC G4 Processor 60GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) Wireless Networking (AirPort) 512 MB SDRAM - 1 DIMM ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 w. 64MB DDR SDRAM Height: 1.0 inch (2.6 cm) Width: 13.4 inches (34.1 cm) Depth: 9.5 inches (24.1 cm) Weight: 5.4 pounds (2.45 kg) with battery and optical drive installed Price: $ 2,699.00 Dell Inspiration 8500: 15.4 inch Widescreen Display (Max. Res. 1920x1200) 2.4GHz Mobile Pentium 4 Processor 60GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) Wireless Networking (802.11a/b) 512 MB DDR SDRAM - 1 DIMM nVidia GeForce 4 4200 Go w. 64MB DDR SDRAM Height: 1.52-inch (3.86 cm) Width: 14.22-inch (36.12 cm) Depth: 10.87-inch (27.61 cm) Weight: 6.9 lbs. (3.13 kg) with travel module, battery and Hard Drive Price: $ 2,927.00 Price difference: the thicker, taller, wider, HEAVIER, insanely hideous Dell costs $228 more. Sure, we could have another endless MHz myth discussion. But seriously, step back a second and just think about this. You can get the Mac for less than the Dell. Some of you may want to look out the window and check for porcine aviators.
I ordered an Inspiron 8200 back in August '02 and still didn't get it! And I paid in advance, in cash, $2150. Dealing with this company (German branch) was the nightmare of a lifetime. They screwed up my order on every level, in every way imaginable or unimaginable. And after each screwup, the respective droid would be unattainable over the phone or email, and I would get another one.
After a mindboggling amount of my time and patience had been wasted, I finally just got my money back last January (not a dime in compensation). Surprise: they screwed up and wired me the money twice, then sent me a rude dunning letter asking for the extra amount, even before I discovered the double refund!
Then the other day, the mess lands on the desk of an escalation manager, who offers me a $100 discount if I try to order it again! That's the absolute top offer they're making! The manager told me that something like this lands on his desk about once a week! Other European countries are supposedly similar. Small wonder they don't have customer forums on the European web pages! Be forewarned!
What is with some of you guys who bring up the whole mac vs PC fight?
STOP IT just STOP IT! I'm so so sick of it.
They are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BEASTS, they run different software etc etc!
Sure a mac might be useful for somethings, hell it might be easier, faster and cheaper? (?) for some things but here's the key word - SOME THINGS.
If you're a "PC guy" like myself a mac isn't an option - it's as simple as that - I don't want one EVER it doesn't suit my NEEDS.
Sure some of you will say I'm therefore one of those "short sighted" PC guys, but that's how it is, if you don't know it, don't understand it, and you know it's not as common as a PC notebook (I've never seen a modern mac notebook in real life) then you simply won't want to buy it.
Last time I checked (31/01/03) Nvidia's linux drivers will not suspend to disk or ram without a (very questionable) hack of the source code. What good is this machine for a Linux user?
'nuff said...
Remember, there are people out there who actually _create_ content, not just consume it.
There are people out there who are still running Proprietary Dell Systems?
You cant go above 12x10 on a standards LCD because a stardard single DVI-D link can only supply that much information to the monitor. A dual DVI-D link could provide 1920x1200, but no videocards seem to implement dual DVI.
See http://www.rell.com/pdfs/DSG_ssLCD-240t.pdf -- Maximum Digital Resolution: 1280x1024 @60Hz
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
I have had nothing but trouble with the Inspiron 5000e, and from what has happend with it, and with tech support with he^h^hdell I will never (I will repeat that NEVER) buy a dell computer ever again.
I have trouble with the Bios (see the linux source code the problem with the bios and apm is well documented)
The flamable battery
Bad had drive controller
bad ir port
Having problem with the power in it, it will just lose power for no reason. (the batterys are fully charged and pluged in) Then it will not turn on wene I press the power button, I have to open it up to redo the connection in there.
Tech support even for just hardware problems, oh the nightmares
for those reasons I will never get a dell again.
Be Careful you brought all the Apple fanboys out who had to say how much better their apple notebooks are!
Processor: Mobile Intel® Pentium® 4-M up to 2.4 GHZ. The Intel 845MP chipset is optimizd for use with the Mobile Pentium 4 processors and ratchets the Processor Support Bus (PSB) to 400MHz.
Do I get a free laptop?
The last batch of Nvidia drivers blue screened my desktop (GeF3 Ti200) every couple of weeks, the first set to do so in three years of using their cards. The Windows Update version were very old last I checked.
much faster than the ATI Radeon 9000
Wow... it beats the shitty version of the directx 9 compatible cards produced by ATI... that says a lot...
The nVidia cards (the GeForce2Go, anyway) keep APM suspend/hibernate from working under Linux. Pretty and fast, yes. "Running beautifully," perhaps not. I'd trade a few 3-D FPS for the ability to suspend the machine.
Problems with Dell products and support may not be universal, but they are definitely not unusual.
fifth sigma, inc.
Maybe it's time for someone (who knows how) to start a thread about Dell's current service -- good or bad.
Does seem that most of the complaints here are about laptop/notebooks, which I believe Dell outsources.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
If anybody is interested, Cnet has a review of the machines (dated 5th March).
0 89 3611.html?tag=ld
http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-1027-404-2
It received 8.3/10, the machine's strong point were it's performance, screen size (aspect more suited for viewing DVDs) and surprisingly battery life. Another factor is the two inbuilt WiFi antennas, which Dell's 802.11b/g mini-PCI card takes advantage of.
Weaker points mentioned in the review were the flimsy keyboard and mouse buttons.
No mention was made as for the machine's build quality - but I guess that is rather subjective.
The 8500 also appears to be lighter and thinner than it's predecessor 8200 (6.9lb 1.5" vs 7.6lb 1.7").
COOL! Both this and the parent were modded down to -1 at the same time, by the same moderator, and with the same rating, "Overrated". Yeah, an AC with a rating of Zero is overrated.
But it's not a "troll", it's just "overrated", something that should be lowered down for no good reason except that we don't want it to be seen by others...
Censorship is alive and well, and it lives here in Slashdot! Viva la Macintosh!
It's an issue with anything running NVidia's binary drivers.
It's possible to get APM working with those drivers with a minor source tweak and disabling AGP.
Everything else under the laptop works flawlessly.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
I understand your point completely, but since I don't game much, I need the lcd's. The eyestrain is so much lower after hours of coding. Or reading slashdot ;-)
I haven't looked at the datasheets for the displays but is it possible to upgrade the 1280 x 800 15.4" with the 1920 x 1200 15.4" panel? Are they the same form factor? Are they electrically the same? Same LVDS drivers? I assume the OS would detect the max resolution of the panel? Just wondering if it's an option...
I've tried it and had no luck. Even the people who've made it work say it still crashes occasionally. The closest I've come is that I can close X, remove the NVdriver, and then suspend the machine. That's not much use.
"I said I hope it is a good party," said Galder, loudly.
"AT THE MOMENT IT IS," said Death levelly. "I THINK IT MIGHT GO
DOWNHILL VERY QUICKLY AT MIDNIGHT."
"Why?"
"THAT'S WHEN THEY THINK I'LL BE TAKING MY MASK OFF."
-- Terry Pratchett, "The Light Fantastic"
- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...