Extremely happy with my new 600m!
Written: Jul 03 '03
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Pros: Fast
Light
Beautiful
Low power consumption
Great 3D performance
Great wireless reception
Windows 2000 support
Cons: Slightly flimsy screen and keyboard
Battery life not as good as other Centrinos
The Bottom Line: SERIOUSLY, GET THIS LAPTOP. Use coupons from techbargains.com for the best deal. I am VERY picky and this computer has made me ECSTATIC!
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| lyricalwarfare's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 600M (600MBS1) PC Notebook |
My first laptop was a Toshiba Satellite with a GeForce 2 when it first came out a couple years ago. It's been a great laptop, but I decided it was time to upgrade. I finally got the 600m due to the following:
* Light & small form factor
* Radeon 9000 graphics
* Battery life
* Configured 1.4Mhz model with 64MB graphics card, 256MB RAM, 30GB hdd for only $1165 from Dell's site (used coupons)
I am very much a stickler about my computer hardware, and don't buy anything without pulling my hair out over it for at least a month. So that's what I did. This laptop MORE than exceeds my loftiest expectations.
1. It's faster than I expected; on the order of my P-4 2.2Ghz development machine
2. The graphics are much better than I expected. The screen is crisp and bright, such that I usually turn it down a couple notches to use it comfortably. Also, the Radeon 9000 64MB just owns! I installed such games as GTA3 and Quake 3, configured all the settings to max quality, and was getting >60 FPS with NO slowdown. I ran the 3DMark 2001 SE benchmarking utility and scored a whopping 6903. This is better than similar notebooks with the same configuration have performed.
3. All of my hardware and software works well under Windows 2000, which I was worried about as it comes with XP only.
4. The wireless range is so good I usually pick up 4-5 networks where my friends only barely get 1-2. I can essentially walk down the street and connect to the Internet from anywhere in the city (SF).
5. The design is very sleek and feels quite good; minus a little bit of flimsyness with the keyboard and the screen. That is, the keyboard is a very tiny bit loose and spongey, and the screen when closed leaves a little gap where it can wiggle.
6. The weight is awesome. I carry it around one-handed without worry about dropping . This is true even with the CDRW/DVD in; with the weightsaver in there, it's like carrying around a light book.
7. All the shortcut keys and buttons on the laptop work NATIVELY with Windows 2000; that is, I didn't have to install anything special to get volume, wireless, etc keys to work right.
8. I'm a programmer by trade and 3-D game enthusiast and I am blown away by the fact that I can do all of my dirtiest programming and most hardcore game playing on my little LAPTOP!
The only downsides to this laptop have been:
1. Received it with a dead pixel near the middle of the screen. Dell would not fix/replace it.
2. I wish I could get more than 1024x768 out of it. I refrained from the SXGA screen because I can't deal with extremely small pixels; but something in between would have been nice.
3. The battery only lasts about 3 hours with the power saving stuff enabled, with normal usage (IE. Connecting to wireless networks, writing documents, software development).
4. The very slightly loose keyboard. Mind you, the keyboard feels great and I love typing on it; I just don't know if all the keys will be there after a couple years.
I am very very happy with this computer, and to think I only payed around $1150 for it makes me feel SO GOOD!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1165 Operating System: Windows Processor: Other Processor speed: over 1000 Screen Size: 14 inches RAM: 256 Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD Hard Drive (GB): 21-30
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Epinions.com ID: lyricalwarfare
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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