My new Inspiron 6000 look!!!

I finally got around to painting my laptop as well as applying some arctic silver to the CPU, GPU, MCH, and RAM. Check out my guide.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=55084

I decided to use Krylon Fusion Paint since it is made to bound to plastic and claims to be chip resistant. I picked them up at a local Walmart, they are about 3 or 4 dollars a can. Since dallasb alright wrote an awesome guide, I am going to limit myself to just pictures, and some tips when using the paint. The link to dallasb's guide is below.

The paint color I was using first was gloss black. However the can was giving me trouble and splattering and things were flying into the paint even though I was in my garage. As a result, I had a few defects in the finish. I was not too happy. I actually bought a can of paint that was the color of graphite, I think. I didn't know it when I bought it, but it was a textured paint, meaning it has the feel of light grit sandpaper to it. At first, I was hesitant at putting it over the gloss black, I didn't know if it would feel wierd on a computer. I ended up doing it, I figured it would be a really easy way to get around the imperfections in the finish. It ended up working really well in the end. I am very pleased with the finish, and becuase it is textured, it gives a flawless look.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=54387

First, here are some pictures of the notebook masked off and ready to be painted.




Next, here are some pictures of the painting in progress.

 

Finally, here are some pictures of my finished laptop.

 

And one more...



Tips
Alright, so I found out of few tips of advice when using this paint, a lot of them apply to any paint, but just keep them in mind.

• Make sure you are in an area with proper ventilation
• I would reccomend wearing gloves and a mask so you don't blow paint out your nose for a few days
• Make sure the area you are painting in is very sterile, make sure things aren't flying around, once they get in the paint, it sucks
• You can remove small areas of this paint by using rubbing alocohol if you make a mitsake

 

Looking great, if/when l get a E1405 l'll be painting the white bumpers a different color.

 

I think it is definately worth it, they have qutie the range of colors too!

 

Last thing I want to do it order an ATI badge from ebay and put it with the Centrino logo.

 

That's really cool. Hmmm... ideas. <<;

 

Kool, awsome pics, i like the new colour scheme !

One small question what happens if you havta put it in for service/warranty and they needa replace the model?

Thanks for the tips, GJ congrats!,

MysticGolem

 

Well the warrenty probably is voided. But it still looks cool.

 

Thanks! Yes, i would be screwed as I have definately voided the warranty. I also heat modded all of the chips with AS5. Metamorphical, are you planning on painting your notebook?

 

Well, it gave me idea. I've more or less grown used to my looks and they don't bother me. Chazman gave me the idea to buy a spare XPS1070 keyboard off Ebay. You give me even more ideas. =) I'm not sure how I'd want it to look.

 

Cool! One thing you can do is just use some pics of your laptop, and put it into paint or photoshop, and just put different colors and schemes on it to see what it looked like. That is how I decided on the scheme I wanted to do.

 

Very good idea.

 

Actually, here is the post that contained the MS Paint pics I did before I painted my lappy...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=51378

 

Very cool. I have to agree with you it was better not to paint the inside black. <<;

 

Yea, for sure, I was just playing around. I was considering paint the inside some sort of metallic color other than silver, but I didn't want to bother painting the touchpad and seeing if it still works...

 

I like it! NICE!

 

Awesome...very cool, now your i6000 looks like an XPS!!

 

Too bad it doesn't have the graphical performance of an XPS!

 

Who cares about the XPS... yours is nice and special because YOU did it yourself and made it YOURS!

I like it.

 

Thanks Jack! My laptop is very satisfying to me. First it is unique, but it was also my first computer and I have learned a lot from it. Painting it is great, but I am also squeezing out just about all the performance I can get out of it. I love it!

 

**** all this time I looked at ur avatar I thought u had an XPS. Then I look at the pics and I think to myself, what's so special about it, it looks just like any other XPS out there, wtf did you paint.

Then I re-read the title, and realize it's a 6000, which got its white and grey borders painted black.

Nice job.

 

ROFL! Glad you like it. It looks so much better than having the white bands. It actually makes it look smaller too!

 

mathches your speakers perfectly

 

MMmmmm, I like black, looks good. Do you have any other pics.


Maybe we could get a sticky thread to showcase everybodys cosmetic mods.

 

I might, I could always take some more as well. It is not quite as nice a paint job as yours though.

 

hey mark, what kind of cooler do you have? i'm thinking about getting a bag and cooler for mines, no idea where to start though...

 

I reallly like the new look - the combination of the black bumpers and keyboard give your notebook a striking and stylish appearance. I also think that the slightly textured finish works really well against the silver.

 

I have this notebook cooler, it is great! There are three fans, and one blows right under where the RAM and GPU are. It is a great cooler for the i6000. As for a bag, I just got one from Dell when I bought it, just a regular old bag, but very nice.

Thanks for the compliment! Yea, the textured finish rocks! The other nice thing about the black is that it actually makes the notebook look smaller than it is. Kind of like how a white room looks really large, while a room with dark walls looks really small. Good stuff.

 

I agree I like it as well nice job!!

 

Thanks for all the positive feedback, I appreciate it.

Believe it or not, I am thinking of repainting this summer. Haven't decided for sure yet, but I think the silver is going to go. My palm rests are turning yellow!