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Dell-Inspirion 8100 advice before I bUY!

W

WHATif

Senior member
I am buying Dell inspirion 8100 laptop.
I will use it for graphic and bit/lot of 3d work. (I travel a lot)

Can you give me any reason why I should not buy this lappy?????

1- Does ATI 7500 64Mb DDR card power dual displays??Is it more powerful than the Nvidia Go 32Mb card?? I guess yes 🙂
2- What CPU should I choose 1GHZ or 1.2 GHZ???
3- W2K or XP???

ANy comments on this lappy will be apreciated. WHat about the Lappys with P4 or AMD ??? Any comments???
I am in Switzerland hence repair,service is important so DELL.
 
1. Look @ Tomshardware - the ATI whips the GF2go's A$$!
2. 1ghz, why pay more money for a small increase in performance?
3. XP 🙂
 
1. Look @ Tomshardware - the ATI whips the GF2go's A$$!
2. 1ghz, why pay more money for a small increase in performance?
3. XP



ditto


and sweet system

the only bad thing i've heard about dell (here in the posts) is that the cases aren't that well built but since i am going on second hand info i'd say go for it as different people get different milage
😉
 
I have an Inspiron 8100

1GHz Pentium III-M
15" 1600x1200 LCD
256MB RAM
DVD Drive
2 Li-ION Batteries
40GB hard drive
ATI 7500 64MB DDR Mobility


that 15" screen is awesome with the ATI card, but make sure you get two batteries because this thing drains them like milk leaking from a slit milk container

also, case is solid but scratches very easily
 
I looked at a client's 8100 - it is such a lame piece of kit. Good spec on paper.
Still, apparently the price was right for him...

I don't know about Switzerland, but my clients tend to buy Dell laptops against my advice and frequently have problems with service. Desktops are a commodity and I'm quite happy with Dell desktops, but I'd never buy a Dell laptop. Nothing beats a VAIO for sheer 'ahh' feeling though, as far as a PC laptop is concerned.


 
I think Dell laptop is the most reliable one so far. Whatever you end up with, don't ever go with IBM. It sucks. I have one and it's a really dissapointing system. So many problems (sent to service centers twice in two weeks).



Dell also has a really great support.





Darno
 
from what i hear dell has really bad support unless you are a corporate IT department. nonetheless , i'd get the 1.13 ghz CPU.


its $70 more than the 1ghz, but $70 for 133 more mhz. the 1.2 is another $80 on top of that $80 for 66mhz just isnt good.


its gonna cost quite a bit more to get the radeon which is its major drawback. you have to get the uxga screen which is like $200 extra, and the radeon is like $100 more also . so kinda expensive. my friend had one, i dunno you just dont get the feeling it was worth 2 grand from using it since it feels kinda cheap.
 
I've had the opposite experience with VAIO laptops. Every single VAIO I've seen has fallen apart in under a year after it was purchased.
 
My GeForce2Go gets about a 2200 in 3dmark2001. If I were to swap it out (yes that is possible on a 8100) with a ATI it would hit the upper 3K area.. like 3800 or so.

Even though I have the GeForce2Go, I still have not found a game my laptop won't play well... or outperform my current desktop for that matter. My latest game purchase was Nascar 2002. Minimum CPU is a 450, and reccomended is a P3 800. I get about 35-40 fps with everything maxed out, and drawing distance at 60%.

When I bought mine, it was $80 to go from 866 to 1Ghz (+133). The price scaled similar to what it is now for the other 2 speeds... basically it doubled your per Mhz dollar each time... so I chose the 1Ghz. Now, I would likely choose the 1.13. Going to 1.2 is hardly a jump and the price does not fit the jump in performance.
 
I don't like the Geforce2Go drivers. Setup is wonky. I've never tried the Radeon ones though. The Rage 128 drivers are more user friendly than the Geforce2Go drivers.

It's huge, but for graphics work it might be necessary, so that you can have 1400x1050 or 1600x1200.

One concern I have about this unit is if you have Firewire devices is that the Firewire port is non-powered. This OK for stuff like Firewire camcorders since they have their own power, but it won't work with a bus-powered drive or other devices, unless you run it through a powered hub. Are you going to be using Firewire at all, and if so, is anything going to be bus-powered only?

Build quality is so-so. Several of my colleagues have it.

XP is recommended.

Forget the 1.2 GHz. 1 GHz is enough.
 
Here's a good reason:

<<I travel a lot>>


The 8100 is very heavy. Also, Dell's level of customer support has gone way down since they moved customer support offshore.

People in the newsgroups seem to love the IBM thinkpads (T and X series, not the low cost I or R series).
 
from what i heard actually, Dell's phone support is run by the same company that runs Compaq's

and QVC (that channel for home shopping).
 
It does not inspire much confidence in me. I have an Inspiron 8000 which shares the same basic case design as the 8100. I would not recommend this system if you have an active lifestyle, for one its heavy. Two, most laptop backpacks are not big enough to protect it properly. I ride my bike to work and have a Targus backpack. Also, the fricking bottom case is VERY flimsy and flexible. Do not use this thing on your lap. It needs to fully supported. You should put the thing on a desk. When the screen is open, you can twist the bottom case by picking up one corner of the box with your finger, lift that corner about an inch off the desk before the other corners come along for the ride, twisting the case as you lift.
Freakybig
 
hmmm!!! Does not inspire much confidence in me either. Whats up with this PC f***in laptops?? Can't they have the same built quality as the Apple Laptops????
I am willing to spend my hard earnedmoney (3000 dollars roughly) and I can´t find a descent laptop that is goof for graphic design work and 3D. The battery life on the Dell is lame ....under 2 hours.
 
About the weight issue. My 8100( 15" TFT display, dual batteries in all the time) is not a very large burden for me to carry around. I carry it all around campus and I haven't had any issues with the weight of the unit. I bought it as a powerful computer I could carry around. Its not like you're lugging around a sack of bricks or somthing! its only like 8-9 pounds!

Also, my 8100 is not as flexible as freakybig describes. Its not built like a tank either, but its very stable, and I can't really bend it without a lot of force.
 


<< About the weight issue. My 8100( 15" TFT display, dual batteries in all the time) is not a very large burden for me to carry around. I carry it all around campus and I haven't had any issues with the weight of the unit. I bought it as a powerful computer I could carry around. Its not like you're lugging around a sack of bricks or somthing! its only like 8-9 pounds!

Also, my 8100 is not as flexible as freakybig describes. Its not built like a tank either, but its very stable, and I can't really bend it without a lot of force. >>


That thing is heavier than my Sceptre 69002 (aka Dell Inspiron 5000e), with 15" screen. One of the reasons I got rid of it was because my arm was complaining. Now I'm running an Apple iBook with a 12" screen, which tips the scales at below 5 lbs and has a longer battery life, and a lighter adapter to boot. Plus the thing is much better built than both the Dell Inspiron 5000e and the 8100.
 
The Dell 8100 is a bitch if you are traveling. Very heavy. It does have everything in it but you really should check out that 4100's instead for traveling. I have the 8100 and would recommend it for a DESKTOP REPLACEMENT only. The ati 7500 is amazing. I haven't ran into any "twisting" yet.

 


<< Check out the Toshiba 5005-S507 >>




sigh... i was 2 feet from the door in compusa with this, i had originally come to purchase a cheap 1000 laptop but after playing with this for a few minutes nothing else would do. so anyways i write them a check an as i'm walking toward the door i notice the 15% charge for opened returns(300+ dollars) so i turn to the manager and ask about the policy on new laptops with dead pixels... sigh i'm sure you can see how that went 🙂
 


<< from what i heard actually, Dell's phone support is run by the same company that runs Compaq's and QVC (that channel for home shopping). >>



Not all of the support is outsourced. They still have the Round Rock, TX (home) location that is Dell only.
 
I just purchased an Inspiron 8100 myself, should receive it next week. This is what I got:

1.13 Pentium III-M
15" UXGA (1600x1200) screen
ATI Mobility Radion 7500, 64 MB
128 MB RAM --> 512 MB upgrade from Crucial
30 GB hard drive
8X DVD-ROM
10/100 network, 56K modem
WinXP Proffesional
1 Year Warranty
Free second battery
Free carrying case, upgraded to leather
Free shipping

Dell: $1,976
Mail-in Rebate: - $100
Crucial 512 MB RAM (256 x 2): + $165
TOTAL PRICE: $2,041

Plus I figure I can sell the 128 MB that comes with the system. Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting it, it looks like a great system!
 
One thing I was looking for on the 8100 was a 5400 RPM hard drive. I know Dell originally offered this (in a 48 GB configuration), but the option is no longer available. Anyone know what happened there? Perhaps I can upgrade at a later time...
 
Hey guys,

Been reading up a the dell forums and they are talking about the new 8200 which should be available very soon (some people already seen them in dell mailings).

The 8200 will be P4-M based w/1g DDR ram max (we'll see) offering Geforce2go & Geforce4go video. Initial speeds are 1.6G and 1.7G. Everything else (chassis, hd, media drives etc) all remain the same.

People at the forums are saying it probably won't be much faster than the current P3M@1.2 they have now in the 8100. Hopefully a review with benchmarks will be available soon.

They also mentioned compaq and toshiba will be launching their versions of notebooks w/ the P4-m as well.
 
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