Inspiron 8000... Inspired notebook design or huge brick?
Written: Jul 03 '01
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Pros: Options Galore, up to 1GHz processor, nearly as powerful as desktop, Eye-Popping Screen, Stylish
Cons: Weight, Price, Mediocre Sound, minor details (read review)
The Bottom Line: If you're looking for the most powerful notebook out there, then this should be near the top of your list, but it's pricey and heavy unit.
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| yusakugo's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 8000 Series |
So you're looking for that all-in-one notebook. Something to replace that huge desktop computer you have on your desk. Something you can take anywhere you want to go... to work, to play, on vacation, or just play in the car or on a plane flight. You've heard of Dell... a computer company with an excellent reputation with excellent computers.
The Inspiron 8000 is the top of the line notebook model from Dell. One of the most monsterous and powerful notebooks available that has received praise from just about every publication out there. It is a nice notebook to say the least... but it isn't for everyone.
The very basic configuration will cost you $1519 from the Home store before any mail-in rebates, rebate web sites, or extra bonuses from Dell.
My configuration
Pentium III 1 GHz
128 MB of RAM (I bought extra RAM elsewhere)
GeForce2Go 32 MB
DVD/CD-RW Combo drive
Extra Battery
56K built-in PCI modem with 10/100 network
Leather Notebook Case
Additional color face plates
15 inch UXGA Screen
20 GB HD
2nd battery
This still cost me approximately $3000 after using the mail-in rebate and web site rebates.
I admit that this is an expensive yet very powerful notebook configuration. This is not what most people will likely purchase off the bat.
How does it perform then?
As a desktop replacement, the Inspiron 8000 in this configuration works very well. It is still a little slower than a similarly equiped desktop, but you will not be disappointed with the overall performance. The notebook handled everyday applications with ease... like MS Word, MS Excel, PowerPoint, and the such. The 15 inch screen is absolutely stunning! Graphics are crisp with excellent details evident. The keyboard was very comfortable and not mushy. The notebook would run hot after an hour or so of continuous use... which made it uncomfortable to place on your lap at that point. The DVD/CD-RW worked well... although I prefer the BurnProof technology on my CD-RW on my desktop. Batteries would run about 2 to 2 1/2 hours with moderate power saving features on. Two batteries would usually allow me to watch 2 full length DVD movies with little trouble. This configuration did not beat out my home computer however.
My home computer is a Dell Dimension XPS PIII-650MHz with a ATA-66 30GB Hard Drive and a ATA-100 60 GB Hard Drive, 512 MB of memory, GeForce 3 graphics card, 6x DVD-ROM, 20x12x40 Yamaha CD-RW drive with BurnProof technology with a 19 inch monitor. PC-133 memory is being used. System is not being overclocked.
Things that do slow down the notebook include the slower hard drive compared with those found in desktops. Notebook hard drives spin at about 4200 rpm except for the 48 GB hard drive by DELL which spins at 5400 rpm. Consider that most desktop hard drives spin at 5400 rpm minimum and upwards to 7200 rpm (some SCSI models spin up to 10,000 rpm!). All this means is that data is accessed faster with higher a rpm.
The video card chosen was a GeForce2Go 32 MB 4x AGP card. This is the equivalent to a GeForce 2 MX card with 32 MB of memory. You are not getting desktop cutting edge graphics... but it's the best in the notebook market currently with possible exception of the ATI Mobility Radeon graphics chips.
The sound from the notebook's own speakers is a bit weak... however, this is a finding in most notebooks with the exception of the Toshiba 2805-S402 notebook. The Toshiba model has a built-in subwoofer... the sound of that Toshiba notebook is plain awesome!
An oddity I found on DVD playback was that close up viewing of the screen showed a kind of filmly layer to the picture. Colors separated with skin tones especially. I didn't notice this as much with my friend's Inspiron 8000 running the ATI M4 mobility chipset however. This odd coloring with the GeForce2Go detracted from the overall DVD viewing on my Inspiron 8000. I should note that Quake III and other computer games did not show this quality on the notebook screen or at least to a much lesser degree than on the DVD movies. I tried The Matrix, Jet Li's Fist of Legend, My Dog Skip, and Dark City with similar results.
The Inspiron 8000 is a heavy notebook! It weighs almost 7 lbs if you remove the two optical drives from the unit... however, with my setup, I approached the 8 lbs catagory. The extra battery and DVD/CD-RW drive really add some weight to the computer. Some will definitely find this a hard notebook to carry around.
Options galore!
I'm only adding this section to give you an idea of how much you can customize the Inspiron 8000.
Processor choices range from Pentium 700, 900, and 1 GHz processors.
Memory is based on PC-100 speed and can be expanded to 512MB maximum via 2 easy to access SODIMM slots. 128MB (2 SODIMMS) is the standard memory configuration for the notebook.
AGP 4x graphics via 815e chipset. Graphics cards from the ATI M4 mobility and GeForce2Go chipset are available for the system with up to 32 MB of dedicated graphics RAM.
14.1 or 15 inch screen are available with Super XGA+ (1400x1050 on 15 inch screen) or Ultra XGA+ (1600x1200 on 15 inch screen) resolutions!
Hard Drive choices from 10GB to 48GB.
Up to two Optical drive devices from 24x CD-ROM to 8x DVD to 8x4x32 CD-RW to DVD/CD-RW combo drive.
2nd battery can be installed into the 2nd optical bay.
Choice of no modem, 56K modem, or 56K with 10/100 connection.
And all the additional accessories like port replicators and the such.
Final Thoughts
As a desktop replacement, the Inspiron 8000 is definitely near the top of the class. It has amazing versitility and power for any notebook computer on the market currently. It can certainly handle most of the high powered tasks that similarly configured desktops can. The advantages of possessing such a powerful notebook are quite numerous... from lower overall power consumption by the computer, to a smaller desk footprint, to portability, to the overall style. Also the ability of the Inspiron 8000 to accomodate 2 Li-Ion batteries gives it around a 5 hour battery life as well.
However, the price you pay for all of this is quite high compared to the cost of a desktop system. For example, my brother will have spent $1000 for his Dell Dimension 8100 desktop with 1.3 GHz Pentium 4 processor with 256MB of Rambus memory, 32 MB Geforce 2 MX card, 12x DVD-ROM drive, 20 GB hard drive, THX sound system, and 56K modem. He just bought a 16x10x32 CD-RW for $100 and a 19 inch monitor for $350. That is half the cost of my notebook already!
There are other downsides to the Inspiron 8000 from a notebook standpoint. The size and weight of the Inspiron 8000 is rather large and heavy. A fully loaded Inspiron 8000 will weigh about 8lbs! This is not the easiest of laptop to bring around with you.
If you're looking for a bargain then you had better look elsewhere. The KDS Valiant PIII-800 notebook will cost you significantly less than the Inspiron 8000. If you're looking for excellent sound in your notebook... then look at the Toshiba 2805-S402 notebook with subwoofer. The sound of this notebook blows every other notebook out there away.
Overall, if you're looking for something portable and easy to carry, you might want to get another notebook. If you want an all-in-one machine, this should be near the top of your lists. If you're looking for a desktop replacement, then definitely look at this machine... as long as you have deep enough pockets for it!
Some links
My review of the KDS Valiant PIII-800 notebook. A definitely steal in the price catagory!
http://yusakugo.epinions.com/content_28829126276
I wrote several epinions on choosing a laptop computer to replace a desktop... I will update this review when I search out the links.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 3000
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 15
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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yusakugo
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Member: Rich Go
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Losing Sleep and Lacking Time... sigh...
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