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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!"
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?
Apple Called... They want their laptop design from 2 years ago back.
...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.
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...
There is no excuse for a 7 pound 15in notebook.
I once beat a man to death in Reno* using nothing but a Dell laptop.
*just to watch him die
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.
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.
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 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
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!
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!
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.
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!!!!
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.
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,
"notebook with a WUXGA screen"
Call me back when you have an Awooogah screen.
I want to use it on my submarine.
Dell: Weight: 6.9 lbs. (2.96 kg) with travel module, battery and Harddrive.
Apple: Weight: 6.8 pounds (3.1 kg) with battery and optical drive installed.
Interesting trick. The Apple weighs more if you use metric measurements!
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
- Charles Darwin
That's not true. Windows GUI elements are tied to 96 PPI. If your screen resolution goes up to 144 DPI, then all your 16-pt fonts are now half again smaller.
You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.
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 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?
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?
Here's what annoys me.. Finding laptops with screens 15-16" or so that do 1600x1200 and 1920x1200 is trivial, but it's almost impossible to find a desktop flat panel that does 1600x1200 at much larger screen sizes!
Who needs 1920x1200 on a 15" screen? yet we have to put up with 1280x1024 on 19" screens on the desktop...
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?).Damn, I have to do something about this dyslexia. I thought you said "I'm happier than a bishop in amsterdam with three thumbs up my ASS."
It's going to be a while before I forget that thought.
Which brings us to a good point: Why the fuck are we still using this naming system (answer to retorical question: marketing idiots)? How many people would know what size a WUXGA screen is? I wish they would just list the resolution--1920x1200--and be done with it.
Unfortutaly, in 3 years time, we will probably be seeing screen with XWDSUXGA (Extra-wide Double Super Ultra eXtended Graphics Adapter) etc.
Soooo....., the possibilities are narrowed. Fired NASA engineers either go to work for Apple, or Dell.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
"Would it help to set the fonts bigger or isn't that an option?"
Yeah, you can. Although my experience with Win2k (my laptop is XP and they MIGHT have fixed that) is that changing the font size can screw things up, especially web browsing. I've noticed that setting the fonts to larger can mangle table sizes on websites and break them. I've also noticed that text doesn't always fit in its buttons like the 'submit' button.
Also for me in particular, this is a problem because I bought my laptop to run Lightwave. The buttons on it are fixed-width fonts, and they do not respond to fonts designated by the Windows theme. I cannot change the font on it that I know of. So for me (I doubt a significant amount of people have this laptop and run Lightwave on it...) that's not an option.
Things might be different in XP, but I wouldn't count on it. Either the text will be the wrong size and break the page, or it'll be too small, thus defeating the purpose of it. Fortunately, I use Opera and it has a true magnification button instead of changing the font size.