Dell Still passes the coffee cup test
Written: May 26 '01 (Updated Sep 06 '01)
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Pros: Very rugged, medium weight, nice size/weight compromise
Cons: Mouse Pad is Weak. Power cord connector is bad.
The Bottom Line: A lukewarm buy recommendation -- fair compromise between ruggedness and weight. Although the unit itself is rugged, the power connector is a serious flaw.
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| tarthurs's Full Review: Dell Latitude C600 (220-6670) PC Notebook |
If you want a good, rugged and reliable laptop, don't care much for looks and you work in a "hazardous" (to computers) environment, you can't go wrong with Dell.
The last time I checked, the Dell laptops are still the only computers to pass the "1/2 cup of coffee poured into the key board" test at one of the major rating labs. I know it passed my (accidental) test of the same design, whereas my previous two Toshiba laptops did not (which is why they are previous). This laptop is not a sexy looking thing -- the case is plastic, rather than the slicker metallic cases of some of the smaller, lighter laptops, but the plastic cases, surprisingly enough, seem more able to take the abuse that most laptop users subject their poor computers to. I think that metal cases would require much more metal, thereby increasing the weight to an unacceptable degree, to come up to par with this design in terms of abusability. The weight/ruggedness of this model seems an acceptable compromise.
The screen is a bright, clear and quickly responsive plus in this laptop. Full motion video plays extremely well on this screen, though, of course not up to the standards of glass CRT's. Still the technology has improved impressively over the last few years.
The keyboard competes well with full-sized keyboards. The feel is solid, giving a good authorative "whack" with each keystroke. The mouse pad is my least favorite part of this computer -- I have disabled it. I have found that when I rest the heels of my hands on the bottom of the keyboard ( a natural position) two things happen. First, the plastic deforms slightly, which causes random movements of the mouse cursor, annoying at best. Secondly, my thumbs naturally fall onto the mouse pad, also causing random movements and, worse, random clicks. Fortunately, dell has provided an alternative to the pad -- one of those mouse nubbin, mini-joystick things in the middle of the keyboard. This works well for me, and I tap the nubbin for a click.
The battery life is pretty good, about 3-5 hours of use, more if you enable the power saver -- which I don't because the interface with windows 2000 is a little weak -- if the power saver comes on, you have to reenter your password to recover, which can be annoying if you are multi-tasking.
The provided ports are pretty good, though if you want to plug in both a mouse and a keyboard both at the same time, you have to get a "Y" connector. There is also an external serial port, a printer port, a network port and an internal modem, a USB port, external video and a docking port. A big minus with this laptop is that you have to buy a separate docking unit. The network connector is a big plus, however, being a builtin, auto sensing 10/100 RJ45 ethernet connector.
The weight of this system, including the power adapter and peripheral cables to make it truly useful, comes out to be about 10 pounds (give or take). I've found that I get around better by buying a laptop case on wheels, however, it is not excessive using the included case and shoulder strap.
All around good choice for traveling and getting a fairly full featured computer.
UPDATE:
09/2001 -- I'll have to downgrade my rating on this machine. I've had it for less than a year and I have found what I consider to be a serious flaw, the power/recharger connection. It seem that the connector is merely soldered onto the power supply printed circuit board with little or no strain relief. The external connector seems to just snap into the case, rather than be secured by screws like past models of Dell Laptop Computers. In my case, the connector came loose from the case, just from the strain of connecting and disconnecting the cord, and then snapped off the board.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 3500.00
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 501-600
Screen Size: 15
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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Epinions.com ID:
tarthurs
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Member: Tom Arthurs
Location: Newark, CA USA
Reviews written: 29
Trusted by: 26 members
About Me:
Computers, Books, Cats, Travel, and California. And, of course, Epinions.
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