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!"
When is someone besides Apple going to release a laptop with a DVI connector?
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]
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...
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.
"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."
Ditto
check out http://www.dynamism.com. Japanese laptops with a US warranty.
The sharp MM1 looks sweet, and it doubles as a USB2 hard drive.
Cheers,
prat
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.
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!
...or just to have the same amount of text, but much sharper due the the increased resolution.
It may be sharper, but it's going to be much smaller.
My coworker bought a Dell not too long ago that has a 15.0" screen with a screen resolution of 1600x1200 (for the purposes of software development, natch). It's very hard to read at more than a few inches.
On the other hand, I have a Gateway laptop with a 15.7" screen at its native 1280x1024. Now, I'll grant you that I can't cram the same amount of stuff on the screen as my coworker can. However, it's significantly easier to read my screen -- especially from more than a few inches -- that it is to read the screen on the other laptop.
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???
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.
By sharper but not smaller, I mean that I can make the fonts larger (in pixels) so that the keep the same "real size". That means that there are now more pixels that define each letter, making it sharper.
Opus: the Swiss army knife of audio codec
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
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!
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?).Sunny Dubey
Taiwanese junk, you said?
Ha ha
Would it help to set the fonts bigger or isn't that an option?
see a Text Widget
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.