I have a 5150 with the SXGA+ adapter as well. I happened to get the IDT LCD, although I believe others are used. Although I can't get an exact model number for the screen, most of the IDT SXGA+'s spec out at around 40 deg R/L. I have noticed that there is more vertical brightness "fade" than in other LCD's I've seen, mostly noticeable on dark backgrounds, nothing major, but not quite as good as some others. Otherwise I'm very pleased with the performance of the screen.
Interesting. 5100 gone from dell.com, but it's still on dell.ca, probably to sell off the last units.
I was thinking they might also stop the 5150 and use the 1150 as a replacement since it can take fairly fast chips like 2.8, but maybe they will keep the 5150 a while longer as it probably has some "power" options you might not be able to get on the 1150, like a faster video card and a higher resolution LCD.
How is the range of viewing angles on your 5150 SXGA? I believe it is a not an UltraSharp, while the UXGA is.
Hmm, its not listed in the compare notebooks screen or the drop down under the notebooks tab, so the featured system may be an attempt to sell of the remaining inventory, since they can pull it as soon as they sell off the last remaining systems.
Thats strange. Today I revcd Dell's March 2004 catalog in the mail and there was not a mention of 5150 ! In the notebook section they had XPS, 9100, 8600, 5100, 1100, 600m and 300m but no 5150 ???
My March Dell catalogue(Canada) came the other day and neither the Inspiron 5100 nor the 5150 are mentioned in this publication. However, the Inspiron 5150 is still being advertised in the Dell insert of the daily paper and both Inspirons are still on the Canadian Web Page: www.dell.ca.
In all honesty, this kinda has me up in arms! No more then 45 days ago, I bought a brand new Inspiron 5100, and have made numerous pricey upgrades, including a 7200RPM Hitachi hard drive, 1GB of crucial memory, and other odds and ends such as batteries and a 3 year warrenty, totalling slighty under $2000. Now, out of the blue, this model of Inspiron is seemingly obsolete?!? I know that it will still be covered by Dell's service and all, but if I had known when I bought this laptop that it would be discontinued within a few months, I would have gladly shelled out the extra $300 or so for a 5150. Guess this post doesn't serve any more of a purpose then to simply help vent some steam. Do any of you other new 5100 users feel let down slightly? Don't get me wrong, cause i still love this computer to death.....i'm just wonderin what's goin through the minds of others effected by this abrupt change in the product line......
Message Edited by Stavesacre on 03-30-2004 04:45 PM
Similar thing happened to me a year ago when I got this Dimension 8250. I knew the replacement would be faster and then it (the new 8300) came out, but they were really expensive at first. So I figured I could not afford one and ordered the 8250 knowing it might be discontinued. And next week they discontinued the 8250. And then they slowly dropped the 8300 price so it was a lot cheaper than the 8250, not nice.
But on the other hand I got my 8250 at the time for what was a good price. And it has been a great computer and is plenty fast for everything I do, and will serve me for several years I think. Many of the parts are the same or very similar.
Your computer is not obsolete at all - still very useful - just no longer for sale at Dell. Still, I know the feeling.
The only way to avoid this situation is to buy a model soon after it has been released. Dell is pretty smart about selling their computers at full price right until they are discontinued.
I'm pretty curious as to why they actaully did discontinue it......
My guess would be that they were getting really sick of hearing all the complaints about the heating issues, mostly due to the stupid ventilation design/flaw which causes the heat sink to act as a strong dust magnet. Anyone else have any ideas why they'd be casting this beauty off to sea? I actaully chatted with a service rep, and they had less of a clue then me as to what the deal was. However, none of this discontinuation junk will effect warrenties, so i say whatever.
In the end though, it's still a killer laptop, burning any of the competition i've worked with! The ole 5100 will live on......
The 5100 and 5150 are very similar so I guess they figured they would just sell the 5150. And even the 5150 might get cancelled too. They don't want to have too many models in one product line (Inspiron) because it makes it harder for the customer to decide which one to get. Also more models means a bigger variety of parts must be ordered.
If they had a really good deal on the 5150 I'd get one. But somehow since they've added more CPU chip choices, the price has gone up. And now there's a deal at the local Toshiba place that I must also consider.
jk79
412 Posts
0
March 25th, 2004 16:00
I have a 5150 with the SXGA+ adapter as well. I happened to get the IDT LCD, although I believe others are used. Although I can't get an exact model number for the screen, most of the IDT SXGA+'s spec out at around 40 deg R/L. I have noticed that there is more vertical brightness "fade" than in other LCD's I've seen, mostly noticeable on dark backgrounds, nothing major, but not quite as good as some others. Otherwise I'm very pleased with the performance of the screen.
JK
datsun240z
93 Posts
0
March 25th, 2004 16:00
Interesting. 5100 gone from dell.com, but it's still on dell.ca, probably to sell off the last units.
I was thinking they might also stop the 5150 and use the 1150 as a replacement since it can take fairly fast chips like 2.8, but maybe they will keep the 5150 a while longer as it probably has some "power" options you might not be able to get on the 1150, like a faster video card and a higher resolution LCD.
How is the range of viewing angles on your 5150 SXGA? I believe it is a not an UltraSharp, while the UXGA is.
MissMetal
18 Posts
0
March 25th, 2004 16:00
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/featured_notebook2?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
jk79
412 Posts
0
March 25th, 2004 17:00
Hmm, its not listed in the compare notebooks screen or the drop down under the notebooks tab, so the featured system may be an attempt to sell of the remaining inventory, since they can pull it as soon as they sell off the last remaining systems.
JK
madhav95
24 Posts
0
March 26th, 2004 00:00
Thats strange. Today I revcd Dell's March 2004 catalog in the mail and there was not a mention of 5150 ! In the notebook section they had XPS, 9100, 8600, 5100, 1100, 600m and 300m but no 5150 ???
Claire MacLean
20 Posts
0
March 26th, 2004 08:00
My March Dell catalogue(Canada) came the other day and neither the Inspiron 5100 nor the 5150 are mentioned in this publication. However, the Inspiron 5150 is still being advertised in the Dell insert of the daily paper and both Inspirons are still on the Canadian Web Page: www.dell.ca.
It seems that something is in the works!
Stavesacre
9 Posts
0
March 30th, 2004 02:00
Message Edited by Stavesacre on 03-30-2004 04:45 PM
datsun240z
93 Posts
0
March 30th, 2004 02:00
Similar thing happened to me a year ago when I got this Dimension 8250. I knew the replacement would be faster and then it (the new 8300) came out, but they were really expensive at first. So I figured I could not afford one and ordered the 8250 knowing it might be discontinued. And next week they discontinued the 8250. And then they slowly dropped the 8300 price so it was a lot cheaper than the 8250, not nice.
But on the other hand I got my 8250 at the time for what was a good price. And it has been a great computer and is plenty fast for everything I do, and will serve me for several years I think. Many of the parts are the same or very similar.
Your computer is not obsolete at all - still very useful - just no longer for sale at Dell. Still, I know the feeling.
The only way to avoid this situation is to buy a model soon after it has been released. Dell is pretty smart about selling their computers at full price right until they are discontinued.
Stavesacre
9 Posts
0
March 31st, 2004 05:00
I'm pretty curious as to why they actaully did discontinue it......
My guess would be that they were getting really sick of hearing all the complaints about the heating issues, mostly due to the stupid ventilation design/flaw which causes the heat sink to act as a strong dust magnet. Anyone else have any ideas why they'd be casting this beauty off to sea? I actaully chatted with a service rep, and they had less of a clue then me as to what the deal was. However, none of this discontinuation junk will effect warrenties, so i say whatever.
In the end though, it's still a killer laptop, burning any of the competition i've worked with! The ole 5100 will live on......
datsun240z
93 Posts
0
March 31st, 2004 06:00
The 5100 and 5150 are very similar so I guess they figured they would just sell the 5150. And even the 5150 might get cancelled too. They don't want to have too many models in one product line (Inspiron) because it makes it harder for the customer to decide which one to get. Also more models means a bigger variety of parts must be ordered.
If they had a really good deal on the 5150 I'd get one. But somehow since they've added more CPU chip choices, the price has gone up. And now there's a deal at the local Toshiba place that I must also consider.