Dell Inspiron 4000 upgrade issues?

[jazzman42379]

Howdy all. I didn't find too many laptop topics in the forums, but hopefully there's some folks out there that can at least help.

I'm about to purchase a Dell Inspiron 4000 (P3 700, SXGA+, DVD, etc...). I cannot stand Windows Me or anything under Win2k. But of course, the choices from Dell include WinMe or $79 for Win2k. I allready own Win2k, and would like to save $$$ and just put it on. In the Dell forums, I've seen (at least from what I can tell) that you can install a regualr Win2k disk, just so long as you have all the drivers that you can download from their site. But I've also heard that laptops come with super-customized operating systems to work specifically with their hardware.

So I'm wondering how much hassle I'm gonna save myself be simply getting Win2k installed when I order it? I have a feeling that regular Win2k will run much better anyways, due to it's lack of Dell-bloat, but that is of course if will run off that disk at all.

So if anyone out there has a 4000 and has done this, I'd appreciate any feedback. Or if you just have a 4000, I wouldn't mind hearing user opinions anyways....

Thanx!
Jazzman

 

[Apex]

I had an Inspiron 4000 just a little while ago. I did a clean install of Win2k. Works very well. You can download all the necessary drivers from their website. The advantage of doing it this way is you have a completely clean system, with none of the unnecessary things they put on there. I highly recommend this.

 

[jazzman42379]

Just out of curiosity, what has your experience been with the i4000? I have read mixed things about it. One I was curious about is the sturdiness of the case. And as far as the fresh Win2k install...that was from a regular Win2k disc? Just like you'd use in a desktop? Were there any issues with any of the hardware? (especially the disply or video driver)

THanx again,
Jazzman

 

[Apex]

Honestly, the i4000 was a disappointment. It was definitely not built well, and you can tell. The keyboard quality was rather low. The HD bay can only take 9.5mm drives (which are 4200rpm. 5400rpm drives require 12.5mm). The plastic of the case was flimsy, especially the top. The hinges were OK, but not great. They're not the flimsiest hinges I've used, but not the best.

This is the worst part: the speakers. They're tiny and very very low volume. What had happened was they screwed up on them. When the volume was turned up, they blew the motherboard. Instead of fixing the problem, they merely limited the maximum volume. Thus, the max volume of the i4000 was about 1/8th of what the single speaker ultraportable compaq m300 could put out. No joke.

To put this quality issue into perspective, I've only had experience with the following notebooks:

IBM ThinkPad A Series and T Series
HP Omnibook 6000
Dell Inspiron 4000, 5000, 5000e, and 8000
Toshiba Tecra 8100 and 8200 and Portege 7220
Compaq Armada E500, E500S, E700, M300 and M700, Prosignia 170 and 190, and Presario 1800, 1700, and 800 series
Sony Vaio F series, FX series, XG series, SR series, and Superslim Z505 and R505
Asus L8400Ce

In terms of the install, yes, you install it just like you would a desktop. I'd suggest downloading the latest drivers from the website instead of using the ones from the included driver disk. Generally, I download all the drivers (and Service Pack 2), and burn them onto a CD. Then I start the install in this order:

OS
SP2
IE5.5
Other critical updates
DX8
Rest of "Windows Update" files
Ethernet drivers
Video drivers
Other dell drivers

Then, do the cleanup (minimize services usage, tweak memory, etc).