Latitude 610 or Inspiron 6000

Hey. Im entering college as a freshman in the fall as a finance major and i like both the 610 and the 6000. Not into gaming or editing but I do appreciate a nice screen and keyboard. Is the 6000 keyboard "sunken"? Which of the two would you pick for general usage (playing music & dvds, internet...) or is there a better laptop i should consider?

 

Depends on what your going to use it for, are you going to be carrying the laptop around? If so the 6000 is pretty heavy for that, so the 610 would be your best bet.

 

i dont inten on bringing it to class unless a professor happens to require it...otherwise it will stay on my desk almost always...is there a major difference between the two?

 

The i6000 and the D610 are very different beasts. The equivalent of the i6000 in the Latitude line is the D810, not the D610. The i6000 and the D810 are desktop replacements, with the emphasis on desktop use with some portability; the D610 leans more towards portability mainly by restricting itself to a 14.1" screen, while the i6000 and the D810 have 15.4" widescreens. The weight difference is substantial: about 25%. The compromizes of the D610 do not extend to the keyboard and many other features other than the video card (64MB). The D610's screen options go up to SXGA+ (125 ppi), and the i6000's options go up a little further: to WUXGA (147 ppi). For "general use" I would pick the i6000 or the D810. For a lot of carrying or use in a lecture theatre, coffee shop or airline tray, I would go for the D610. There are some very fine pictures of the D610 here: http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=93386.

 

My 2 cents: I would go with the latitude, both the 810 and 610 are very good. The latitudes have a better quality and value than the Inspiron, so they do cost a little more. In turn, they will last you longer, and should get you thru college. They were designed for business professionals that needed something portable yet durable.

 

i would go with the latitude... i am very pleased with my d610, which i've had for a few months now. the reasons i went with that over a 600m or i6000 was because of the quality of the keyboard, the durability, and the portability. i was also able to configure it to the specs i liked.

i would recommend this laptop to anyone.

 

If you need a keyboard don't go Inspiron route, if you need a screen, well.. I think they use the same material for matte LCDs everywhere, so you wont looze anything anywhere in that direction (best Dell's LCD I've seeing is on 700m, everything else is not up to my liking).