Dell Inspiron 4100 VS Dell Inspiron 8100

weeeplop

Senior member
Jul 19, 2001
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I'm trying to choose between a Dell Inspiron 4100 and 8100.

I am spending $1300 and I can either get a


Dell Inspiron 4100 for $1250

or

Dell Inspiron 8100 with extra 128mb of memory and 10gb more space for $1300

Is Dell Inspiron 8100 worth the extra $50 or is it actually a model lower? Not sure.. since Dell Inspiron 4100 is more mobile. What do you guys think?
 

vegetation

Diamond Member
Feb 21, 2001
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The 8100 has 3 drive bays -- one fixed cd/dvd drive, and two removables that can be used for batteries/extra drives. Typical configuration is to have a fixed dvd drive on the side, one battery in the front, and a floppy drive in the front. If away traveling, many will find that having 2 batteries installed for uninterrupted computing sessions is a great feature while still retaining your cd/dvd drive. A big benefit for watching extended length dvd movies on the road too.

The 4100 by contrast, only has 2 drive bays -- both are removable. With only 2 drives, the 4100 is able to be physically smaller and quite a bit lighter in weight. We're talking a few pounds here. Also, the 4100 only can be equipped with a 14" screen; the 8100 has a 15". Additionally, the 8100 has a firewire port which may be useless to many, but if you're doing video editing, it can be quite a nice feature.

Which one is better? I guess that would depend on what your priorities are.

 

aphex

Moderator<br>All Things Apple
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Jul 19, 2001
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Mind posting (or even PM'ing) the stats.. Im in the market as well and am curious what your getting for your money there. Thanks :)
 

aphex

Moderator<br>All Things Apple
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Ahh ok checked the website, its a free upgrade to the 15.1" screen... Not bad... Im a little confused how your gettin it for $1300 though, cheapest i can get it to is around $1500
 

weeeplop

Senior member
Jul 19, 2001
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Inspiron 4100 is lighter, thinner, and it doesnt kill the battery as fast as Inspiron 8100. What makes Inspiron 8100 that much better?
 

joohang

Lifer
Oct 22, 2000
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Inspiron 4100 got 14.1" screen but it can do UXGA. 8100 got an extra bay but the 4100 is about 2 lbs lighter. Not to mention that I can always hibernate the computer to swap a battery. That's not a bad tradeoff for weight, imo.

Too bad that RAM prices took a hike. It'd be nice to carry a laptop with 1GB of RAM. :)
 

RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
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The Dell Inspiron 4100 is a laptop which offers portability.

The Dell Inspiron 8100 is a desktop replacement which isn't quite as portable.

Ask yourself, do you want portability (4100) or power (8100)?

I've seen the Inspiron 4100 and it rocks! Just make sure to get the minimal 128MB RAM, remove them, eBay them and install two 256MB's RAM.
 

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
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The 8100 is a desktop replacement. The 4100 is aimed more at mobile users. With the 8100 comes considerably better video options, bigger screens, and a much greater media bay versatility.

The trade off is mobility and battery life.

If you won't be playing many games, and will be lugging the laptop around on a daily basis, I'd say go with the 4100. If the laptop will be staying put more than it is out and about, and you plan to little gaming on the off hours, then most definitely go with the 8100.
 

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
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The 8100 with 15" is huge - the anti-laptop.



<< Additionally, the 8100 has a firewire port which may be useless to many, but if you're doing video editing, it can be quite a nice feature. >>

The firewire port may be more useless than initially one may think. It's a non-powered port, which means it won't support any peripherals that require power, like a firewire drive or media reader, etc, unless you buy an external powered firewire hub (which kinda defeats the point of portable firewire peripherals). (It will work with a firewire camcorder though since the camcorder will have its own power.)

By the way, so far I have not been impressed by laptop nVidia drivers when using the VGA-out port. Not very user-friendly and not reliable for autodetection and configuration for external displays. (This is specifically with the 8100 - several of my colleagues have them. I dunno about the 4100 with nVidia though.)

Whatever you do, get it with a built-in modem port and built-in Ethernet port. PCMCIA Ethernet is suck.

Neither is my first choice (see my rigs), but out of those two I'd get:

Inspiron 4100 with 1 GHz PIII.
256 RAM, preferably on one SODIMM.
20+ GB drive
Radeon
14" screen at 1400x1050. (1600x1200 not advised)
Integrated Ethernet and modem
CDRW or else CDRW/DVD

Note it doesn't have Firewire, but like I said, the 8100 only has half-@ssed firewire anyway.
 

joohang

Lifer
Oct 22, 2000
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<< I've seen the Inspiron 4100 and it rocks! Just make sure to get the minimal 128MB RAM, remove them, eBay them and install two 256MB's RAM. >>


Or two 512MB :) Those suckers now take 1GB of RAM. I think it's because of the new chipset they use for Tualatin.
 

PeeluckyDuckee

Diamond Member
Feb 21, 2001
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As far as I know, the 8100 or the 4100 can only take 512mb ram max. The 8100 is heavier, but sure is a desktop replacement for me. I especially enjoy the 15" SXGA display and the dual battery option. Once you get used to the weight (~8-9 lbs) its not bad at all, it hardly bugs me anymore).

There is a 30 day return policy, so doesn't hurt to try it out other than having to eat shipping cost. The motherboard was not the same in the 4100 as it is in the 8100 awhile ago, but I believe that has changed now since the 4100 supports the Tualatin cpu now?

The construction could be a bit better, but other than that I'm extremely pleased with the 8100 I have. I've owned two Toshibas in the past, but this one takes the gold :) <--- Olympic fever :p
 

hans007

Lifer
Feb 1, 2000
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i cant believe all of you are choosing the 8100. this thing needs to be moveable right? 4100 man. especially since the ones he's choosing between will be stripped down and both will have the same vid card.
 

aphex

Moderator<br>All Things Apple
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Jul 19, 2001
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<< As far as I know, the 8100 or the 4100 can only take 512mb ram max. >>

Actually the 4100 can take up to 1gb due to a new mb, while the 8100 can still only take 512
 

Mani

Diamond Member
Aug 9, 2001
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To qualify myself, I work at Dell and use both systems very frequently. These are in my opinion the biggest pros of each system.

Pros of 8100 over 4100:
Expandability -you can even replace the vid card if you want
Screen Size
Firewire
3 Drive Bays and little need for a docking station
Vid Card- the 4100's offerings will not come close to the 64 Meg Radeon

Pros of 4100 over 8100:
Portability -a good deal lighter
Speed- clock for clock, every-so-slightly faster since its based on a mobile chipset as against the 8100's desktop chipset
More RAM- 1 GB vs. 512MB
Battery Life (though if the 8100 uses its extra bay for an additional battery it's a different story)

You really can't go wrong with either, it's mostly personal preference based on the above factors.





 

hans007

Lifer
Feb 1, 2000
20,212
18
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on emore thing is that since these both use the new tualatin M chips, the 4100 uses the 830 chipset and supports more speedstep modes, than the i815. i815 isnt really a desktop chipset. its just a chipset.


previous laptops used the 440bx and there is no mobile equivalent.
 

andrey

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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I would go with 4100. It is light and pretty fast for most of the laptops "needs".
8100 in my opinion is not exactly a laptop. It is more of the mini-desktop, considering its weight and size.