Dell Inspiron 600m

[randumb]

My sister is looking to get an Inspiron 600m for college, and I have a few questions.

1. Is the 1400x1050 resolution (SXGA) too small for a 14.1" screen?
2. How long does the battery last under moderate usage (office applications, browsing the web, etc.)? I've seen a bunch of different takes on the battery life from reviews.
3. How good are the keyboard and touchpad?
4. I've heard the laptop gets pretty hot, is this issue bad enough that you need a cover for your lap?

 

[jvarszegi]

Is the 1400x1050 resolution (SXGA) (sic) too small for a 14.1" screen?

Nope, it's perfect, especially for a student; it's the happy medium of 4:3 laptop displays. I have a Thinkpad with a 14" SXGA+ screen, and everything is perfectly easy to see and read, but you can still fit a lot onto the screen. I also have a 15" UXGA Dell Inspiron 8200 and my girlfriend has a 12" XGA 300m, and I prefer the Thinkpad resolution/size by far over either of the others. 14" would be too big for XGA-- you'd waste screen size to get a display that looks coarser due to larger pixels and can't fit a lot of information onto the screen.