Help! should i buy a dell 6000?

help. i am thinking of buying a dell 6000.

the specs of the machine are as following:

intel 740 pentinum M (1.73mhz),
512mb dual channel,
128mb ati x300,
60GB (5400rpm),
intel pro wireless 2200 card,
standard 15.4" wxga screen,
6 cell battery.

i have never had a dell, i don't know of anyone with a dell...
are they any good?... what the screen like???...
does this particular one run hot???...
will it be good for abit of gaming and surfing???...

 

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

 

Go for the larger battery. It comes in handy, even if you keep it pluged in all the time you never know when you'll go hours without power.

 

I am mostly happy with my 6000d. it seems fast and is build well for the price point. I don't like ther performance of the sound card, mic input is a little low and the sound thru headphones has a significant amount of background noice.

As far as the display I have SXGA+ and at first found it small but I have gotten used to it and feel ok with it now. But this is a very personal choice. I saw a 700m today runing native 1280 x 800 WXGA and found it just as difficult to read as the 6000 running 1680x1050. If it is a problem change the DPI to 120 and that should help. But it is all about your eyes and what is comfortable for you. If anyone tells you that it is no good for everyone don't listen because it is a very subject choice.



Inspiron 6000d
PM 760(2.0GHz)
15.4" WSXGA+
1 GB RAM (pc2-4200 533mhz from crucial, it works)
64MB ATI X300
60GB 7,200 RPM
CDRW/DVD
Bluetooth
2200
XP pro

 

It is easier to help you if you let us know your budget and what you plan to do with your notebook. I would put Dell on the lower end of the quality scale. Tech support is based in India as some other do as well. Language can sometimes be a problem.






I know things, things that could get me killed


Thinkpad T41:
* 1.6Ghz Pentium M * 768Mb Memory * 40Gb Hitachi 7200RPM * Panasonic UJ-845-B DVD+RW *

 

I think the $800 off orders over $1999 is still valid. You can configure a $2000 i6000d and get it for $1200. You should get the 9 cell battery for the 5 hours. Configure it with the 1.86Mhz because that seems to be the price point. Also get the DVD burner since it is built in and cannot be upgraded easily. The 7200Rpm hard drive will help out with performance. Check the front page of this site for the coupon.

 

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

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>
Try not to pay much attention to anyone complaining about small fonts, etc. because spending 5 minutes in your DPI settings will fix all that in no time.
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

I disagree... It's easy to simply enlarge the fonts, but doing so introduces proportion problems. Cascading style sheets on web pages no longer fit to their native size when you simply enlarge the fonts. I'd also noticed that by enlarging system fonts, some of the dialogue boxes throughout the Windows OS became disproportionate, and the already small icons in the system tray became distorted.

I spent a week messing with DPI, cleartype etc, before deciding that 1600x1050 resolution on a 15.4" screen was something I'd never ever consider on a desktop monitor. The decision is a real one and very subjective, please don't minimilize it. But rather, be happy with your decision, the i6000 is a great machine for those that aren't bothered by it's potential downsides.

And, for what it's worth... I had the i6000 and the 700m on my kitchen table at the same time, with the same web pages loaded. The 700m (with it's smaller screen) had larger readable font sizes and images than the i6000. The 6000 obviously has more "real estate", but IMHO and for what I do, the trade-off wasn't worth the eye strain.