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Ordering new 8600
Hi everyone,
Dell is offering I8600 on the web in Canada which seems like a nice offer (Free shipping,
Free HD upgrade, Free memory upgrade) and I am keen on purchasing this new notebook
for my wife. I do have two questions I would like to be clear about before I press the buy button.
First question is the notebook is offered with 15.4 WXGA screen and I am curious if this is
good enough and what would it compare like with my 14.1 SXGA on my I8100 which
I am perfectly happy with?
Second question is about the video card 32MB NVIDIA® GeForceTM FX Go5200 Go
which is the low end for I8600. Is there any pitfalls with this one?
The notebook will not be used for gaming and will mostly be used for word processing,
web surfing and occasional picture editing. We have never found problem with our 16MB
video card on my I8100. I may be buying too much horsepower which perhaps is not needed.
All suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.
Ratz
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Inspiron 8100 :) - P3 866MHz - WIN XP Home (Clean Install) -SP1
BIOS A15 (Floppy method )
14.1" Hitachi SXGA Display
External Monitor Dell 1504FP Ultra Sharp
512MB RAM (Crucial)
16MB GeForce2 Go Mobile Drivers 4.4.2.5 Video card Bios 3.11.0144
ESS Maestro Driver 5.12.01.1174
Hitachi Travelstar 40GNX 40GB ATA-5 2.5in 5400RPM
IBM (Hitachi) Travelstar IC25N30ATDA04-0 4200RPM in MediaBay
TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-C2502
Modular Floppy (Standard)
3Com 56K V.90 Mini PCI Modem-Product # 3CN3AC1556B
HP CD Writer Plus 8210e USB
Iomega 100 Zip Drive USB
EPSON Perfection 1650 Scanner USB
SanDisk CompactFlash Card Reader USB
HP LaserJet 6P 18MB Crucial RAM
MS Office XP Small Business
Burlwood palm rests
MS Optical Wheel Mouse
3 Year Limited warranty
I Love My Dell :)
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I just got my I8600 a couple days ago and love it. Everything works perfectly, which I was concerned about after reading all the horror stories on these board. I got the 64meg Nvidia 5200 which works great, If I didn't do some light gaming, I wouldn't need it. The size of things on the WXGA screens looks like the size of things on a 17" monitor at 1024, I went with the WSXGA which makes things look a little smaller, but it's great cause you can fit two 800x600 webpages side by side perfectly. If you goto one of the Dell kiosks in the malls to order it, they'll give you a discount, I got $500 off the final price when I ordered and they were able to swap items for things I didn't want, like the free DVD burner offer worth $250, I got a harddrive upgrade instead.
Jim
Thank you CrisNYC and MedK for quick response. It is appreciated very much.
Looks like I will order the WSXGA screen as it makes more sense.Would anyone know about RPM regarding this 60GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive Upgrade Dell is using in I8600? Is it 4200 or 5400 RPM?
Thanks
Ratz
PAUL ZIRIS
14 Posts
214
0
Posted November 30th, 2003 08:00
For the HD it's better to get 60 gb 7200rpm....if it's not an option on your dell's site you can still order it by phone...call dell before buying and ask for it- But then he looses all the online deals he got, i'll go check what the offering for the I8600 speed is.
Oh the 7200 rpm drive is available online :
Hard Drive
Help Me Choose
40GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
60GB - 7200rpm Ultra ATA Hard Drive [add $159 or $5/month1]
60GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive [add $89 or $3/month1]
80GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive [add $159 or $5/month1]
I'd go with that if I were you, it offers the lowest HDD bottleneck of all the choices. The other 60 GB is 4200 rpm, no good really. Thank you all.
Ratz
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New I8600 Ordered 12/3/2003 10:30PST Windows XP Home-SP1
Pentium M, 1.4GHz, 15.4 in WSXGA
512MB,DDR 333MHz, 64MB GeForce FX Go5200
60GB 7200RPM HDD
90Watt Power adapter
Floppy Drive
24x Combo DVD/CD-RW Drive
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Intel Pro 2100 miniPCI Wireless Card
MS Office XP Small Business
Venice Blue Snap Cover
3 Year Complete Care Warranty
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ChrisNYC
56 Posts
214
0
Posted November 30th, 2003 03:00
The computer specs you indicated should be fine for your needs. One thing you might want to reconsider is the screen. All of the 8600 screens are Dell's top-end "ultrasharp" screens and get great reviews, but you might want to consider one of the higher resolution screens. You said you're happy with the 14.1" SXGA+ screen on your Inspiron 8100. I have a 15 inch UXGA Inspiron 8100 -- I didn't remember that a 14 inch screen was offered -- and love the high resolution (and really want the brighter, wide viewing angle offered on the newer "ultrasharp" screens), although I actually ratchet down to SXGA+ resolution for most tasks including word processing and Web browsing. If you have a 14 inch SXGA+ screen, you have a higher-resolution screen overall compared to the larger (15+ inch WXGA screen), and you might (or might not) notice a difference. I have seen some quality WXGA screens on non-Dell models at local computer stores, and they're fine ; but I did open a Word document and do some typing on one, and there was a noticeable difference in the sharpness and clarity of the letters. So you might be best off with the WSXGA screen. Best if you could check out the different screens before buying. I'd be interested in hearing what you decide to buy and how it turns out. Thanks.