Update on my "I really..." opinion
Written: Jul 16 '02 (Updated Jul 22 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Graphics. Keyboard
Cons: Big, Heavy
The Bottom Line: I'd buy another if it was graphics performance that was driving my purchasing criteria.
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| newsybc2's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 8200 (8TWORH) PC Notebook |
See my previous review (here in the 8200 reviews written under my original log-in "NewsyBC")...
I ordered an 8200 in June and received it within 10 days. I tried to place the order online but in the process I contacted the sales dept to ensure I'd qualify for the current E special as it was for business clients only. This time I was put onto a calm "no problem" person who listened and assured me I qualified. She even keyed in the order for me and allowed for free shipping just as if I'd placed the order online.
My notebook: P4M 1.6GHz cpu, 256M RAM, SVGA+ 15" screen, 64M Nvidia GeForce4 GO video card (which is really an updated GeForce2 as it is based on the NV17 chipset), 30M HD, DVD.
I have to say that I'm very pleased with the graphics performance. I game online a fair bit and this machine sustains max framerates at 1024x768 mode in my fave FPS's (CS & DoD). The only downside is that the 4200rpm HD is a choke point and for gaming under WinXP you should really have 512M of RAM or more in order to counter the HD cache read issues.
Now that I've been typing on it for a 3 weeks or so, I find the keyboard to have just the kind of feel that I like. I've since gone back to the retail stores and checked out the keyboards on several other brands and I think Dell has the right touch. Solid with a definite event horizon on the push. Not mushy.
I tried an external keyboard with it and it seemed that not all the keys worked in certain hotkey combinations. As I was tweaking the video at the time and trying to configure an external monitor, my problems may have been more related to software not having an effect on the external monitor rather than this being a keyboard problem. More to follow.
I used the touchpad for a day and then added a MS Intellimouse Explorer to the system. The MS mouse software does not have the features of the the original Apoint touchpad software which is a shame. If I knew I'd be using the touchpad only for a couple of hours, I'd simply disable the MS driver via "run" + "msconfig" + "startup" and enable the Apoint driver. Btw... I had to disable it manually after installing the MS Mouse. One of the nice features of the Apoint software was the ability to designate the upper and right sides of the pad to perform a specific task such as the browser "Back" & "Forward" buttons, and to emulate the scroll wheel function of an external mouse.
I'm a little disappointed in the LCD screen. As compared to UGA+ screen I saw at a trade show, there is no comparison. Unfortunately I did not have the budget to purchase that option and thought that I wouldn't miss it too bad as I could use the 19" external monitor I have here. Don't get me wrong as I'm not saying there is much wrong with the SVGA+ screen because there isn't. If you are planning to use the system for spreadsheets, contact management, word processing, or email, you will enjoy the SVGA+ screen. It is sharp and readable at its' native resolution of 1400x1050 for these tasks.
However, it is not well suited for image editing as the gamma shifts from top to bottom of the image when you are seated in your normal viewing position. You can work around it by bobbing and ducking your head. Images look nice and sharp on it but truly, there is no comparison to the UGA+. Speaking of image editing, it was a real pleasure to see images that on my old 256M RAM 450Ghz cpu took 21 seconds to decode, now are taking only 6 seconds.
For gaming, no problem. I run at 1024x768 so there is some degradation from native resolution but the scenery still looks good. There is some edge bleeding when you move fast as the LCD phosphors recover but it does not disturb or interfere with my gameplay. Again, the UGA+ screen would not exhibit the bleeding from what I've read.
Aside from budget, I did not order the UGA+ screen as I anticipated being able to easily connect and configure my external 19" monitor. Well, this has been another area I'm unhappy about but it is really a Nvidia driver issue I think. I was hoping I'd be able to "profile" the external monitor so that the colours would be accurate while editing images. I have yet to get this one figured out and as I only spent an evening trying to resolve it I don't know that it would be fair to say this is a shortfall. I have started using an accessory program (Powerstrip) to control the LCD colours as Nvidia driver did not offer a way to set the "temperature" of the LCD. My external monitor sets this thru controls on its' front panel but I have yet to find something similar internal to the notebook. Powerstrip is a quick and easy way to set this.
This also highlighted a weakness in the manual that shipped with the notebook and also Dell's online tech support. It was not an intuitive process to find the menu link in the Nvidia drivers that allowed for changing the base colour, contrast, brightness, and gamma of the video. I've been updating video drivers for a few years now and this is the best hidden I've ever seen this function. For the record, with the 28.35 drivers it is accessed via a "Device Settings" button at the bottom right corner of the "NView" tab page. Normally these controls would have a tab of their own, and in fact, if you make your external monitor the "primary" (instead of the digital LCD) this tab magically appears.
I've read some comments that the fan noise of this unit is intrusive but I find otherwise. It is quiet enough and as compared to the fan noise on my overclocked desktop system it is silent. Consider that the fan does not run continuously even when gaming.
The external speakers are a little weak and tinny but I don't miss them as I use earbud headphones quite a bit.
Ran the battery down a couple of times and both times it ran around 2 hours and 35 minutes. This was while displaying a slideshow.
I never ordered a CD burner as I plan to get an external USB2 unit when the prices come down and use a PCcard adapter to hook to it. That way I can also use it for my desktop system. I'll also likely buy a USB2 external 40M HD to backup the internal drive to. For now I transfer files across the network and use the old slow 6x burner to save images and other data.
What would I do different next time?? Get 512M RAM minimum to deal with WinXP's bloat and cache issues. Get the UGA+ screen if I had the $$$$.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2000
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 15
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 21-30
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Epinions.com ID:
newsybc2
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Reviews written: 2
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