Another Dell story. Here's how mine went. My Dell 8100 just arrived last week and I wanted to test it out before I can make any comments on the quality of the device. The specs...

PIII 1G, 128 RAM (1 DIMM),30G HD,15 SVGA+ w/32Mg NVidia,
16x CD-RW (fixed drive),8x DVD (removable),Floppy, 4 Color pad set, Win XP Home Ed., 3 yr warranty.

Price $1800 - $50 On-line coupon - $150 Mail-in rebate = $1600 out the door with free shipping and no tax. Date of arrival was fairly fast (UPS 3-5 days). Got it on Wed after placing the order on Friday morning.

Not a bad deal I thought compared to Sony or other retail brands which only come with standard 1 yr warranty. My friend bought a Sony GR370 at Best Buy a month ago for $1600 + taxes = roughly $1700 + $150 (extended 3 yr warranty)+ $50 (port replicator because there are not enough connections) = $1900. The funny thing is it doesn't even come with a floppy drive (charges xtra $50 and it's external). Not to discredit Sony though, they make great products but at a price and there's no guarantee of superiority.

This is not to say I mainly bought the system for the price. Actually, this would be the 2nd Dell for me. I bought a desktop 4 yrs back PIII 450 and no problems whatsoever. Anyhow, lets get back to the 8100.

I did a lot of homework prior to getting this computer. With the dependability I've had with my previous system, I would considered myself slightly biased.

Comments on my Dell ....

1st impression
Screen size and quality - SVGA+ (1400x1050) which many companies have only recently picked up on. Normally their screens support up to 1024x768 SVGA (could be why they tend to be a bit cheaper). Text can be a bit small if you're used to the large prints but the quality of the set up and the real estate the screen provides seem to overcome those difficulties. You can however readjust resolution but anything besides the default seems a bit distorted in text and color. Bottom line, I would recommend the 32Mg NVidia card for the 15 SVGA+ over the 14" of the 4100 - that is if you can handle the weight.

Speed: I decided that with average daily use e.g. word processing, data base, internet, games... anything greater than a 1G would be unnecessary. Besides, the faster it is, the hotter it gets and with some analysis on the net, there's not much difference between a 1G, 1.13G, and 1.2G except maybe a nanosecond and the price. I don't believe the P4 is necessary at the moment unless you deal with a lot of graphics (I believe there's about a 10-15 percent improvement-if you can wait, then look forward for Banias in 2003). Speedwise, some reviews showed the PIII even tops out the P4s with the same configuration. This is the reason why they are really pushing the P4s now and stop selling the PIIIs so get them while they last. As far as my configuration, blazing fast with upgraded memory to 384.

Drives: I bought separate drives with a purpose. Almost bought the combination drive but if you want to copy a friend's CD then you would have to transfer to HD then back into it. A bit of a hassle. Chose the CD-RW as the fixed drive because I don't constantly watch DVD on the computer and I always have the option of burning CDs. I've tested the DVD drive (FACE OFF) and it ran flawlessly. I would recommend throwing in the extra $10 for the 16X CD-RW upgrade from 8x.

Sound: A lot of people have been saying the sound's too small. I guess there could be two possible explanations. One could be a hearing problem and the other is their sound configuration. The sound seems ok to me and of course, you have to put it in perspective, it is a notebook and don't expect surround sound like the movies. The option is to hook it up to a 3 or 5 piece speaker system, but how portable would that be?

Connections: It offers a lot of connections to all sorts of devices which several other companies seem to neglect.

Casing: All I can say is that it is the traditional look that Dell seems to have maintained for the past several years and even with the new 8200. I can do without the blue touch pad (Sony) or the scroll option. There are dual mouse system on the 8100 (touch and point). The plastic covering can appear less aesthetic compared to other companies but I'm in it for the performance. Also you have the option to change the plastic palm pads to the color of your mood which might recover some of the disappointments of the rest of the casing.

Keyboard: For some reason, the spacebar tends to make a bit of a squeek but the rest of the keys seem typical.

Customer Service: I don't know why there are so many complaints about them. I have called them on the previous system when I had Windows 98 problems and with this new one when I installed something that was not windows xp compatible, they seem to be fine (even thanked me for calling). The wait was less than 5 minutes on all calls. The day shift is routed to somewhere in the USA (most likely TX) and the after hours to out of the country (I was told by a tech that he was in New Dehli, India). Most of the complaints I can see would be from us cranky American Dell technicians who had one too many cups of Starbucks coffee :)

Weight: Well, it's not as light as feather for sure. I would say a good 8 lbs with both optical drives and battery. A lot of companies try to make their computers light such as external floppy, less connections, and of course the smaller screens. I wanted it an all-in-one package without the hassle of attaching stuff (besides the external mouse) so 6 1/2 lbs vs 8 lbs, what's the difference. Just keep in mind that this is a desktop replacement so be thankful that it is less than 10 lbs.

Battery: Typical battery life for the performance 2 1/2 hrs. If you have some extra cash, it might be a good idea to get an extra battery for that one rainy day.

I think I've covered enough to hopefully have made a difference in your indecision. With the money I've saved from those rebates, I've invested in a nice Targus leather bag and an extra 256Mg RAM from Crucial (a definite must). With 384 Mg on board, it is lighting speed. All I can say is, the price is pretty much around the ballpark, give or take $150-200. It boils down to the style and the specs that you want. Of course, dependability is a great concern, and for me, Dell seems to have done the job in the past and still today. I'm not saying this is the ideal perfect computer, there are always little things here and there (even with other competitors) but if you are looking for that perfect one, good luck and let me know.


Danny
Palm Springs, CA

Update 5/01/02

Remember about my complaint regarding the keyboard above? Well, it kinda bothered me thus I bravely went where no man has gone or willing to go again...technical support. As it turns out, the tech told me that it was abnormal for a 5 day old notebook keyboard to make any squeaky noise. It is uncharacteristic of dell notebooks he said. You would figure for $1600 hard earned dollars, I better damn get a perfect or near perfect system. This leaves me at the crossroads of sending it in for a "fix" or live with it. Furthermore, I was leaving for town on a business trip this coming Sunday (5/4) and needed the notebook for a presentation. Being a gambler that I am, I took a chance.

I followed the directions adviced by the tech to take everything out before sending it in (e.g. hd, cdwr, floppy, memory, etc...). Just leave the barebone system. They had FEDEX come to my workplace on Monday (4/29) to pick it up for overnight delivery and guess what....I got it today Wednesday (5/1). Not so shabby for service.

A skeptic as I am after reading so many reviews on how things can go wrong when you send it in for repairs, I checked and double checked everything to see if they are still intact. Apparently, there was a check-off list of the service that was done to my 8100. Keyboard seems new but still retains some slight squeak (I guess that's just how they are made). But wait, the checklist also had add-on memory? and palm rest? As far as I can see, there was a 128meg stick of RAM in it and the palm rest that originally came with the system (dark grey with a PIII sticker) was replaced by a plain dark grey. I guess they wanted to trade the sticker for the RAM. Fine with me. Maybe that's just their subtle way of saying sorry for the inconvenience. I guess I will never know. Thus this brings me to my point, listen and follow their instruction. When they say remove everything, I should because they know down the assembly line, there would bound to be a screw up who is still hungover from the night before. I'm not really complaining since I got the better end of the stick this time but I can also sympathize with those who could possible got some of their things mixed up.

Regardless of the myriad number of complaints, I have experienced superb service from email tech support and also when I called in. The service was prompt with a slight mix up (partly due to me not removing everything as I was told). They even called me at work to check up on the situation a day after I emailed about the squeaky sound. I would definitely give 2 thumbs up for Dell technical support. I haven't doubted them then and I am sure I will not doubt them now. The problem now is, I have an extra 128meg RAM. I guess I should have serviced it before I bought the crucial 256meg RAM :)

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 1600
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): 21-30