General reliability.

I'd offer the observation that except for a few geek types (myself included) the only time people post here is when something goes wrong with their Dell product.  People who aren't having any problems at all are doing ... well... something other than posting compliments here...

RE: the hinges -- I think the problem they had was with the 5xxx series, not the 8xxx series of Inspirons.  I examined my 8600 at the point of failure and it seems quite beefy.

RE: Toshiba -- I'd imagine that with minimal effort you could locate a forum or two that contains a bunch of disgruntled Tosh users. 

RE: keyboard -- I put this and the trackpoint button complaint in the same category as one's personal wardrobe choices.  What's great for me may s-u-c-k for you, and vice versa.  Personally, I'm a pretty light touch-typist and I can fly on the 8600 keyboard with no noticeable bending.  However, my gf pounds away like she's wearing lead-based nailpolish, and she thinks the keyboard feels flimsy.

Hey, great info, thanks!

Ya I see what you mean about these rather minor problems.  I guess it's sometimes luck, too, with regard to these little traits that might bother some, and not others.  But then again, my order priced out to about $2400.00, so it's not cheap.  Sure, notebooks run higher, but it should correlate with higher quality, too. 

Well, as for the keyboard thing, a rather flimsy one will definitely annoy me, and quite possibly, to the point of notebook return to Dell.  I'll just have to wait and see, of course.

So, about the components, though... isn't Dell high quality??  It's a no-brainer if you ask me.  My 8200 desktop has top-notch hard-drive, and motherboard, etc... right?  Aren't all Dell motherboards Intel, designed specifically (or not) for Dell?  I vaguely remember something like that, though quite a while back.

Oh!  I'm still torn between the 1.6 and 1.7 processors!!  I feel stupid for not ordering the 1.7, just because.  Ahhhhh, how things change pre and post order!! akls;dfj;alsjdkf!

Now how much of a difference are we really talking about here?

And what about the speed comparison betwen the Centrino's and P4-M's?  What'd be the direct comparison to the 1.6Ghz M?  I remember somebody had posted some simple formula for this.

Thanks

Varsev, you will NOT be able to notice a difference between the 1.6 and 1.7... no way. 

Rule of thumb I've heard for Pentium M to P-4M is 1:1.6.  In other words, your 1.6 equates to a 2.5GHz P4 or so... roughly.

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@Varsev wrote:

Hi guys

I hadn't been on this board for a while, until yesterday.  I just ordered a new i8600.  I went through the famous cooling/fan threads, and other minor isolated problems as well.

I'm just trying to get a recent consensus as to the reliability degree of recent Dell Inspiron notebooks.  Aside from the rather prominent cooling issues, what are some other common problems?  Like for instance, I've read numerous even a while back, about the famous "hinges."  Does this refer to the hinge (if you will) where the notebook folds between the screen and keyboard?  Does this problems seem to find itself through most models or just a certain batch, perhaps?

Also, I've read a few posts which state that the Toshiba 5200 series are great, and higher quality than a comparably spec'd Inspiron?  What's the deal with these Toshibas, anyway?  One poster said the keyboard was firm, but on the Dells 8600's, i've read good and bad posts about the firmness or looseness of the keyboard base, respectively.

Any ideas?Thanks.

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I'll vouche for the 5200!

I'd just like to comment on screen panel hinges (again). Many people are in the habit of grasping the screen (with one hand) by the side. You don't have to be a rocket scientist (I'm not ) to realize that this action will exert undue pressure on the opposite side (the hinge in particular) of the screen. In time; no doubt, this will lead to failure on the part of the hinges. I recommend ALWAYS grasping the screen with both hands (equal pressure all around), or in the case of my 5200 (when it's on the coolpad), by the top center of the lid (that's the lid (case); not the LCD itself)).

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@Varsev wrote:

Oh!  I'm still torn between the 1.6 and 1.7 processors!!  I feel stupid for not ordering the 1.7, just because.  Ahhhhh, how things change pre and post order!! akls;dfj;alsjdkf!

Now how much of a difference are we really talking about here?

And what about the speed comparison betwen the Centrino's and P4-M's?  What'd be the direct comparison to the 1.6Ghz M?  I remember somebody had posted some simple formula for this.

 

Thanks

 

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get the cheaper processor now, and later on when you are ready get the new dothan processor with double the cache.  much much more noticable than a meager 100mhz bump.

Dell Latitude C840 BIOS A12
WindowsXP Media Center Edition
15" Samsung ASV UXGA 1600x1200
Intel Pentium4 2.5GHz-M
512MB PC2100 Crucial
512MB PC2100 Dane Elec
Hitachi 60GB 7200rpm Primary
IBM 60GB 5400rpm Modular
Hitachi 40GB 5400rpm USB2
HLDS 8x DVD-Rom Fixed
Matshita 24x CDRW Modular
Teac 1.44MB Floppy Modular
Sanyo 66Whr Battery
Sony 66Whr Battery
Nvidia Geforce4 440 Go 64MB
(53.03 Forceware with Teraphy's Modified Inf)
Dell TrueMobile 1300 802.11b/g Mini-Pci
NEC 4Port USB2.0 PCMCIA

Latitude X200, XP Pro, pIIIm 800, 384MB, 30GB 4200, TM1150

Latitude X300, XP Pro, P-M 1.2GHz, 640MB, 40GB 5400, TM1300