Is the D610 a good buy?

Ok, so i started looking for a small portable notebook so that i can take it on trips much easier, and i spy the D610. At first i was drawn to it because it was a decent size for me, and had an X300, a rare find in 14" laptops in its price range. Then after a bit of configuring i figure out it has the modular bay that can be equiped with an extra battery! This allows me to have up to 6+ hours of low demanding work, or up to 3-4 hours of video maybe?

my question however is should i go with the D610 or should i wait since it is a bit of an older model, and no doubtably there will be something like it coming out sometime?

 

there is a d620 available right now.

 

The D620 is the successor of the D610; while it was originally offered with the option of an Nvidia Quadro card, that choice was pulled rather quickly. Compatability issues or some such.

I don't think there's been any official word as to when they'll offer the 620 again with a graphics card option. Anybody else hear anything?

 

Strange, l didn't even know they had offered a dedicated gpu with the 620.

 

i would go for the 620. there were several threads about the 610's propensity to overheat as well as a soundcard issue (was it the mic or some kind of noise or something?)

 

Plus the higher resolution option is nice for a small notebook.

 

OK, i'll check it out, but does it still have the modular bay battery option?

 

The older D600 would have it's palmrest heat up because of the hard drive, and the memory door would get hot at the bottom of the notebook, but Dell resolved those heat issues with the D610. The headphone hiss is still there, but a registry fix can make it much quieter.

Funny story, my girlfriend IM'd me saying her D610 was really hot. I asked her to open up i9kfangui to read the temps, and the CPU was at 60C and the rest were in the 50s. High temps considering she had just taken a nap and shouldn't have been doing anything intensive on her laptop. Then later when I saw her she told me when she took her nap, she closed the lid and left the laptop running on her bed next to her and covered it with her blanket.

But yah, with the D620 out there's no reason to go with the D610 except for the X300, parallel port and s-video out. The D620 is lighter, thinner and has a stronger magnesium alloy casing. It still has the modular bay battery, Dell didn't change the design of the bay from the rest of the D-series (i.e. the modular bay battery from a D800 should work in the D620).

 

ok, aside from the X300, the D620 seems like the better route to go, thank you all!