Inspiron 6000D and 700m question, heat, screen

Hi,
My first post here . I've been lurking around several forums for a while since I'm in the market of getting one. Currently own a Toshiba M35x purchased a year ago with Celeron M inside. Not so blazing performance since I got into full digital photo editing on my notebook lately. In addition the screen is just so-so.
I narrow down to several models but Dell seems to be the best value in the market, especially they have the "special" promotion all the time. I look at the 6000D and the 700m. I really like the TrueLife glossy screen and portability of the unit but I'm afraid that 12" wouldn't give me enough room to my work.
So the 6000D seems to be perfect with reasonable screen size and weigh. The battery life (from the review) seems to outrun many competitor. Still, I really want to know;

1. How's the "Ultrasharp" screen compared to "UltraSharp with TrueLife"? I can't find the first hand experience since the laptop are not available locally. This is one of the major reason to choose due to my nature of job.

2. How's the heat generate from laptop? My most concern is the palm rest where I put my hand on while typing. The underneat heat doesn't bother me much since I mostly put it on the table. How's the 6000D compared to 700m (maybe 9300)

Those are my most concern of the new purchase. I have been looking through several models by far... I like the Toshiba M45 (the screen is really nice) but the hand rest is very hot! Plus the model strip down memory to PC2700... while they use Sonoma platform. I also look at ASUS on builting my own but seem to be more expensive! They don't even offer the "TrueLife" style screen on the configurable ones.

All comments are welcome.

 

anyone? please? :decision:

 

1. i have a 6000 and my roommate has a 700. the difference between glossy and matte is obvious. whether you want it or not is entirely up to you. i don't really know what you are asking?

2. my 6000 rarely gets hot, in fact, i don't think i've ever felt much more than a very slight warming under the right control key

 

Thanks for the reply. Great thing to know that the 6000 doesn't have heat problem.

Regarding the screen, I mainly do photo editing on this laptop. I saw the TrueLife style from other brand and felt that it give very vibrant color with plenty of brightness. I really like it.

How's comparison in that aspect? How the same picture look on the screen compared? In bright light and dim light? How's the brightness comparison?

I wish they made 6000 with glossy screen. The 9300 is to big for travelling.

 

actually, my roommate is a graphic designer and i just had him alter a pic in photoshop for me. i would say that colors are more vibrant and the screen overall is very crisp and clear. yeah, it's too bad that the 6000 doesn't come with a glossy option altho i'm not sure i would opt for it. i kinda like the matte.

 

Thanks again Drumfu.
Look like it's gonna be 700m screen for me... How's the heat at palm rest compared to your 6000?
Anyway, I think maybe Dell will come out with TrueLife version for 6000D sooner or later. I'm a bit hesitate to get the 700m now because the screen size, old Centrino (no Somoma) and the shared graphic. I'm currently use the same Intel Extreme Graphic on my Toshiba, which I wish more power.

 

i haven't used his 700 for any extended period of time. his main machine is a G4 desktop (for graphic design work). he only bought the 700 because of the original 750 off 1500 coupon way back in oct '04. this to say that he doesn't use it for extended periods of time, mostly for journaling and light browsing away from his desk.

i haven't heard him complain about heat, but that doesn't mean it won't get hot during extended sessions (someone with a 700 that's put it through the paces could talk about this more).

one thing to note is that the 700 comes with a pretty weak battery (about 2 hours), it's universally recommended to get the larger battery which should get you north of 3 hours.

 

yea..and u could use the battery that it comes wit and buy a 2nd battery...so u can use that 2nd battery as ur primary battery....and then if that runs out u can always use the weaker battery

 

update:

just got back from having a few beers with my roommate. i asked him about the heat issue. according to him, his longest session on the 700 is about 2 hrs and he said that the handrest (both palms) is warm to the touch.

 

I have a 700m. It does get a bit of heat rising through the keyboard, but nothing uncomfortable.

The fan kicks in a bit, but I operate in a hot environment (Phoenix, AZ).

The screen is brilliant, and I was surprised at how useable it is. I am an attorney with so-so eyes, and have had no difficulty with the display.

Battery life is abysmal with the stock battery - get the extended at some point (can get one on ebay for about $80US).

 

I've got a 6000, and to be honest, I've never felt head on the keyboard area or on the case other than under the power adapter on the underside of the laptop after extended use, and sometimes, rarely, by the upper right fan vent that's by the Backspace key.

 

My 700m's keyboard doesn't get hot at all. I only notice heat coming out of the left fan. It's never really uncomfortable though. The fan kicks in once in a while, but very seldom. Overall it's quiet. I don't mind the 12.1" screen because it's very high resolution and I can fit a lot of data on it at once.