are you happy with your 600m?

[Relayer]

I had an Inspiron 4000 and it was a little flimsy. How is the quality of the 600m. Did you wish you got the 300m instead? Is it truly light weight?

 

[alisajid]

I ditched mine in favor of a Powerbook. The 600m was really flimsy in its construction the build quality was pretty bad. It felt really 'plasticky'. My dad has an IBM T41, its a night-and-day difference. I would not recommend the 600m if you care about the solidity of your machine, whether it will be able to take a beating, etc. I happened to use a 300m, nice, very light, much better build than the 600m. But, the lack of integrated CD-ROM made it a little unattractive to me.

 

[CTrain]

Lets put it this way.
I got my 600m over a year ago for barely over $1000 and the cheapest you can get the 600m right now is also barely over $1000 and the configuration is about the same.'
I'd say I got my money's worth.

 

[MrChad]

I just bought a 600m for my girlfriend, and she and I are both impressed by it. The build quality seems solid to me ... I have heard complaints about it from people on this forum, but I have not noticed any problems first-hand. It is lightweight and fast. I got the SXGA+ screen option and the three year warranty, and I feel confident in my purchase. Hope this helps.

 

[PunkRock247]

My girlfriend has had a 600m for about a year now and she absolutely loves it. Small, light and it can still play UT2004. My mom has the 300m and although it is a very nice notebook I could not live without the optical drive. Also the 600m has the Radeon 9000 which is very nice if you might want to do some gaming with the machine.

For the 600m, I would give the build quality a B and overall I would give the notebook an A-

 

[Storm]

Originally posted by: PunkRock247
My girlfriend has had a 600m for about a year now and she absolutely loves it. Small, light and it can still play UT2004. My mom has the 300m and although it is a very nice notebook I could not live without the optical drive. Also the 600m has the Radeon 9000 which is very nice if you might want to do some gaming with the machine.

For the 600m, I would give the build quality a B and overall I would give the notebook an A-

Is that with the Radeon 32meg or 64 meg option?

 

[Reliant]

Originally posted by: Storm

Originally posted by: PunkRock247
My girlfriend has had a 600m for about a year now and she absolutely loves it. Small, light and it can still play UT2004. My mom has the 300m and although it is a very nice notebook I could not live without the optical drive. Also the 600m has the Radeon 9000 which is very nice if you might want to do some gaming with the machine.

For the 600m, I would give the build quality a B and overall I would give the notebook an A-

Is that with the Radeon 32meg or 64 meg option?

I've got the 32mb option and it runs UT2k4. Not all the options on, but it runs it fine.

 

[mrwxyz]

the people i know with dell laptops complain of heat and noise from the drives....u guys getting these problems?

 

[Relayer]

Originally posted by: mrwxyz
the people i know with dell laptops complain of heat and noise from the drives....u guys getting these problems?

I would be adding a different hard drive almost immediatly, as well as adding 3rd party RAM.

 

[mrwxyz]

Originally posted by: Relayer

Originally posted by: mrwxyz
the people i know with dell laptops complain of heat and noise from the drives....u guys getting these problems?

I would be adding a different hard drive almost immediatly, as well as adding 3rd party RAM.

problem solved

 

[jkasmann]

My parents have a 600m, and it is a pretty nice laptop. I would say build quality is comparable to other laptops in its price range: Compaq, HP, etc. Its not really fair to compare it to the T-series, as the 600m is nearly half the price when Dell is having a good deal.....

 

[Relayer]

anyone have any trouble playing DVD+R copied DVD's?

 

[utekineir]

I bought a d500 last fall, basically a cheaper lattitude version of the 600m. Integrated video instead of ati, etc. Got it completley stripped down with a free bay battery for a bit over 900, then ordered a stick of 512 off newegg for it. I love it, so great to be able to sit down in the library with wireless internet, take no accesories with me besides the machine and headphones and do work for 6-8 hours, buying it has actually made me a much better better student. I keep all my assingments as tasks in outlook, take note s during lectures with one note (incredible program), in addition to countless other ways its made everything more convienent. The effect its had on my academics was worth the price alone. It's not unweildy big in any way or too heavy, but i do carry it around in a good sized backpack. The keyboard doesnt feel cramped even though i definatley dont have small hands. I can type on it for hours without a problem, typed around 11 pages in one sitting on it comfortably today, i'm not a huge fan of the trackpad generally its good, occasionally my thumb hits it while typing moving the cursor screwing up what i'm doing and occasionally its sensivity screws me over in minesweeper. The machine feels flimsy but has been beat on for about 8 months and is holding up great. The only problems i have with it are that i didnt spring for a faster hard drive or higher resolution screen, and the intel tv out sucks compared to ati tv out but i can deal for the savings over the d600 at the time, i dont use it for games at all, got a desktop for that, the speakers being steaming fecal excriment is a given and definaltley should be expected, fine with headphones though. Even though i love the thing i'll probally try sell it this summer just so i can get something similar with the better screen, i do a lot of work with two documents open at once or a web page and a document, acrobat etc. the low resolution makes it a hassle. Its nearly 5am and I'm feeling wordy so i ranted a bit on my use of it below.

From september through january i used it several times a week most of the time in the library on campus doing schoolwork till both batteries would die, also occasionally at my apartment. This semester i discovered microsoft one note and used it in most of my classes for note taking as well work in the library like i had before. Most days in the last 4 monts its been used 3-4 times a day on weekdays all in all i think its held up pretty well considering that i'm not that easy on it. I have no rigid case, half the time its stored in a cloth zipper binder that i removed the plastic insert from, the rest of the time its just thrown into my bag with everything else (wire notebooks, texts, etc). When i have textbooks in the bag the screen tends to get pressed against the keyboard leaving dirty marks on the screen but no damage whatsoever. Since i got it the spacebar has occasionally had a slight sticky tendency, but never in any serious way or frequently enough to pose a problem. The left wrist rest where the hard drive does get very warm but not uncomfortably so, although whenever theres wireless internet i download at the same time so the hard drive is very rarely idle besides when its used for taking notes in classes where there is no internet. In the right light noticable marks from my palms are on left side but not the right side. The finish of the top has some scratches in it, but considering how poorly i care for it i'm suprised it isn't in worse condition. The screen hinge has gotten slightly looser than when it was new but considering the use that this gets i'm really not supprised, it is in no way near loose enough to be any sort of a problem. The unit does have a kinda cheap plasticy feel to it, it is in no way the most rigid laptop out there, but its held up great. The primary battery kinda sucks, it gives maybe a max of 3 hours with screen brightness at full and wireless downloading pretty consistently. The bay battery is a bit larger and helps a lot. It can get around 9 hours if the screen is dimmed all the way and the wireless is off, maybe having 2 batteries has spoiled me though. .

 

[abovewood]

I am happy with my D600 which is almost the same thing as the 600m.

 

[ElFenix]

i have a d600 with the 64 meg video card.

the keyboard gets a bit warm with the thing going full tilt playing ut2k4, and it flexes a bit at all times. battery life is decent, not great, but then i run full brightness all the time. the one problem that a lot of people have (my whole law school class has these notebooks so lots of experience) is that the spacebar actually touches the LCD when closed on a lot of them, which gets dirt on the screen and needs to be cleaned regularly. apparently that is actually a manufacturing defect and can be cured by new hinges, but good luck getting them, considering every 600m i've seen has that problem.

as for money's worth, i got some insane deal last june. if you go and configure the exact same notebook today it is actually a few hundred more... early summer right after grads but before the big fall buying crunch is a slow time for dell, usually.

 

[bdunosk]

I just ordered a 600m. I could not find a comparable notebook for the same price Dell offers. I wanted a 14" sxga+ screen (I could never go XGA after using SXGA+) and not too heavy / big, with a Pentium M. From my research, the build quality might not be as good as other brands (IBM), but you can swing some incredible deals from Dell with coupons and Fatwallet Cash Back (3% for Dell Home). With a 1.4GHz P-M, SXGA+, 30GB, DVD/CDRW, and Intel 802.11b wireless it will come to $1096 shipped. And, considering the same laptop has a 1.8GHz Dothan P-M available, I'd venture a guess that it's a simple swap should I need the processing speed down the line.

UPDATE... after using the 600m for a week, it's really not all that bad for the price despite what some people are saying about it here. The build quality isn't as solid as my last laptop, but then again that thing was a rock and weighed quite a bit - and don't get me wrong, the 600m is pretty darned solid. The battery life is good, the screen is quite legible on the power-saving mode and it gives me around 4 hours of use (email, web surfing). The Intel 802.11b wireless is outstanding. The screen is excellent also, 14" sxga+. For the price, I think you're hard pressed to find better value. IBM may make a better laptop (I've never used one), but at much greater cost that you have to weigh with the benefit.

 

[Wah]

Had a loaded 600m... returned it after a week. The only thing i liked about it was the size.

 

[Relayer]

I went ahead and ordered. I figure I will use it for 6 months then sell it and get a T42 or similar IBM.

 

[FlasHBurN]

I am thinking of getting one. The only thing that holds me back is that damn ATI Radeon 9000. I really want to get a 9700. I know they have other systems that have 9700's, but I like the 600m due to its size and weight.

Any ideas on why they don't allow the 9700 to be sold with the 600m? As far as I know the 9700 has better power management.