8600c or 9100 ??

Hi.
I'm really confused now.I want to buy a notebook with has to replace my desktop.Iwas thinking about 2 configurations from dell:
1.
Inspiron 8600c
Pentium M 1.7GHz 2MB L2
15.4" WSXGA+
1GB RAM
ATI 9600 Turbo Pro 128MB
60gb HDD
4x DVD+RW

Price 2200 euro

2.
Inspiron 9100
P4 HT 3GHz
15.4" WSXGA+
1GB RAM
ATI 9700 128 RAM
60GB HDD
4xDVD+RW

Price 2155 euro

Now, I'm a student(so portability is quite important), but i want to play computer games too.I'm not a "professional player" so 2-3 pfs in UT2004 doesn't matter for me.I readed in this forum that Inspiron 9100 has "slighty better" processor and graphic card, but in "PI-calculate thread" PM 1.7 was better.How does it looks in practice.Is 9100 much better than 8600??I was looking ony at Dell but im open for any suggestions.Perhaps is there somethig better than dell(but <2200)?

 

If portability is an issue, as well as battery life, then the 8600 is the way to go. You will still get very good game performance with the 8600.

 

Hi aiki,
you said, "perhaps there is something better than Dell"
The answer is yes, in fact for the last two years Dell has been at the bottom of build quality and reliability. So in fact almost any notebook you pick would be better than the current Dell systems. Reliability and build quality is very important, especially if your a student who will be toting the notebook to every class for 4 years. It has to be able to take a little punishment when accidents happen and you don't want it to ever require a repair(unless you can do without it for 2-3 weeks at a time) The chance of a Dell made between late 2001 and now being able to go for 4 years without needing serviced is pretty slim. I would look at Toshiba, IBM and Fujitsu they will serve you well and are very reliable.

Here are a couple links to PCmagazine's latest service & reliability article (july 2003).

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1185200,00.asp
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1185057,00.asp

Jack



The color of justice in america is green.
http://pbase.com/joneill

 

I would reccomend the 8600c (I have one) since it basically excels in all areas, except for weight, which I find less important. I can play ut2004 for about 3.5 hours before its battery craps out, darn good battery life. When I just surf the internet on wireless i manage about 4 1/2 hours. Unless you are trying to impress your friends with benchmarks, you will see little difference between the two in 3d graphics performance. Man, I wish I had that kind of dough to spend on a book lol.
PS OH, very important. My friend has a dual format dvd drive that he makes his own movies with. He has had a lot of +r disks not work in dvd players, while his -r disks have always worked. I would opt for the cdrw-dvd combo drive, and buy an external dual format for about 120 dollars on newegg. It would be cheaper, more compatible, and have 8x speed.

 

Internal devices are usually faster than external Andrew. Ive used +r disks before and there have been no compatability issues. It does cost allot of money to go through dell though. So maybe you can get luckey and have a dvd upgrade promotion.

bootleg2go those statistics doesn't seem to show anything about dell being the bottom of the barrel. It gave them a B+ and would have been an A had there not been so many issues on the latitude business line. Which seems questionable as that line is usually higher quality.

 

@bootleg2go:
I readed the article, and searched Toshiba, IBM and Fujitsu offer.
1. IBM
ok they have superb notebooks , but any system with a good graphic card is very expensive and over my budget(max 2200euro).
2. Toshiba
hmmm the best systems(with p4 and "only 64mb GF FX 5700" are veeeeerrrrry big), the systems with PM have old graphic chipsets
3.
Fujitsu
ok I found something interesting:
FSC Amilo D 1840 P4-3.2 Highspeed
p4 ht 3.2 GHz
1GB RAM
80gb HDD
ati 9600 128MB
dvd+rw
15.4” TFT WXGA, 1280 x 800 Pixel
for 1800 eur

What do You think about it??Does anybody have expirience with this system? Does anybody know it's size??
Other very important thing, dell's price was with "complete care pack" for 3 years with pick up and return service, i dont know if ibm or fujitsu are offering this(toshiba doesnt support Poland where i'm going to live for next year ).
Thats my conclusions for now.I'm still waiting for any good offers.

 

On the fujitsu your looking at, the specs are very nice if you will be using it plugged in 98% time as the battery life is bound to be very short with the P4. I would try to get a system that is not adding in cost for an extended warranty. I do know that most of the "T" line of IBM thinkpads have a 3 year warranty(they are that good)a few only have 1 year like most of the industry. With the IBM warranty, if it needs any service they send you a shipping box and pay shipping costs both ways. I'm not sure if they support in Poland, but if anyone does it would be IBM.

Jack

The color of justice in america is green.
http://pbase.com/joneill

 

You are right about the internal vs. external speed thing, but you probably meant that for desktops. Things change when they are downscaled to notebooks, anything can happen, really. In this specific situation, you would be choosing between a 4X internal and an 8X (even 12X) external, so the external would be faster.
The pentium M is way better at math operations, so it destroys the competition in Super-pi. You won't see much of a difference in games. With those specs, It would probably be a bad idea to get the 9100. You are sacrificing a whole lot of mobility for some gaming performance. Allthough significant, the gaming performance does not warrant 3 extra pounds and 3 fewer hours of battery life.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by winters

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by bootleg2go