First we'll go over the specs on the three laptops I've been fortunate to have over the past two and a half years:
Dell Inspiron 9200 (current)
P-M 1.8Ghz 2MB L2 cache
512MB RAM
ATI Radeon 9700 128MB
40GB 4200RPM HD
17" WXGA+ LCD (1440x900)
HP NC8000
P-M 1.7Ghz 1MB L2 cache
1.5GB RAM
ATI Radeon 9600 64MB
60GB 5400RPM HD
15.4" WSXGA LCD (1400x1050)
Dell Latitude C840
1GB RAM
P-4M 1.8Ghz (512MB L2 cache I think)
nVidea GeForce 440Go 64MB
40GB 5400RPM HD
15" WUXGA LCD (1600x1280)
My Inspiron 9200 just got in today. I've been playing with it for a couple hours now and here are my first impressions. DAMN this thing is huge! But even with it gargantuan dimensions, it's relatively light. It seems well constructed, holding up by one of the corners reveals no creaking or flexing of the case. Not too impressed with the keyboard, I liked my HP NC8000's better. Speaker placement could also be better, when you're typing your arms cover the speakers muffling the sound a bit. The sound quality is pretty good for a laptop, a little better than the NC8000 and tons better than my even older Latitude C840 (Inspiron 8400/8600 lookalike).
Speedwise, I can't seem to be able to tell the difference between the NC8000 and the 9200. THe Latitude was the slowest out of the bunch, but the NC8000 and i9200 seem about equal. I loaded up Madden 2005 on the i9200 and was able to crank it to the max video settings fine. It was a little choppy on the NC8000 at full maxed out video. I'm not a hardcore gamer so it's more of a seat-of-the-pants feel of it than anything. The C840 could barely handle KOTOR, but was able to play Call of Duty and MoHAA at minimum detail. The NC8000 could play those games near med-high detail. I'm sure the 9200 can do the same if not better. We'll see tomorrow how well it handles Eclipse and Java development. But until I crank up the RAM past 1GB it will probably be a little slow. That and the slower hard drive will also make a big difference.
As I'm typing this I'm getting more used to the size of the machine and the feel of the keys. It's not too bad actually, I definitely like the size of the screen. THe HP's seems just as clear but the 9200 is definitely brighter. But nothing could compare to the Latitude's insane resolution which was awesome for coding. A little hard on the eyes but much better than trying to do the same on a regular CRT. Although I wish I could have sprung for the WUXGA+ screen on the 9200, some of the reports I heard about it were disheartening and it was a little more expensive.
For my specs, I paid $1496 delivered to my door. Not too shabby considering the C840 cost my old boss around $3000 and the NC8000 was well over $4000. If I had the money, I would have bought an NC8000 instead of the 9200. I was just too used to the HP and there wasn't anything compelling except the price of the 9200 that drew me to it. Sure the Radeon 9700 128MB is an improvement over the 64MB 9600, but I'm not a gamer. I probably should have gotten a better HD; I think the 4200RPM is gonna get old after a while.
Anyways, take this review with a grain of salt. It's not too much a review than just my personal feelings about these laptops. Hope someone finds some value in it...
Dell Inspiron 9200 (current)
P-M 1.8Ghz 2MB L2 cache
512MB RAM
ATI Radeon 9700 128MB
40GB 4200RPM HD
17" WXGA+ LCD (1440x900)
HP NC8000
P-M 1.7Ghz 1MB L2 cache
1.5GB RAM
ATI Radeon 9600 64MB
60GB 5400RPM HD
15.4" WSXGA LCD (1400x1050)
Dell Latitude C840
1GB RAM
P-4M 1.8Ghz (512MB L2 cache I think)
nVidea GeForce 440Go 64MB
40GB 5400RPM HD
15" WUXGA LCD (1600x1280)
My Inspiron 9200 just got in today. I've been playing with it for a couple hours now and here are my first impressions. DAMN this thing is huge! But even with it gargantuan dimensions, it's relatively light. It seems well constructed, holding up by one of the corners reveals no creaking or flexing of the case. Not too impressed with the keyboard, I liked my HP NC8000's better. Speaker placement could also be better, when you're typing your arms cover the speakers muffling the sound a bit. The sound quality is pretty good for a laptop, a little better than the NC8000 and tons better than my even older Latitude C840 (Inspiron 8400/8600 lookalike).
Speedwise, I can't seem to be able to tell the difference between the NC8000 and the 9200. THe Latitude was the slowest out of the bunch, but the NC8000 and i9200 seem about equal. I loaded up Madden 2005 on the i9200 and was able to crank it to the max video settings fine. It was a little choppy on the NC8000 at full maxed out video. I'm not a hardcore gamer so it's more of a seat-of-the-pants feel of it than anything. The C840 could barely handle KOTOR, but was able to play Call of Duty and MoHAA at minimum detail. The NC8000 could play those games near med-high detail. I'm sure the 9200 can do the same if not better. We'll see tomorrow how well it handles Eclipse and Java development. But until I crank up the RAM past 1GB it will probably be a little slow. That and the slower hard drive will also make a big difference.
As I'm typing this I'm getting more used to the size of the machine and the feel of the keys. It's not too bad actually, I definitely like the size of the screen. THe HP's seems just as clear but the 9200 is definitely brighter. But nothing could compare to the Latitude's insane resolution which was awesome for coding. A little hard on the eyes but much better than trying to do the same on a regular CRT. Although I wish I could have sprung for the WUXGA+ screen on the 9200, some of the reports I heard about it were disheartening and it was a little more expensive.
For my specs, I paid $1496 delivered to my door. Not too shabby considering the C840 cost my old boss around $3000 and the NC8000 was well over $4000. If I had the money, I would have bought an NC8000 instead of the 9200. I was just too used to the HP and there wasn't anything compelling except the price of the 9200 that drew me to it. Sure the Radeon 9700 128MB is an improvement over the 64MB 9600, but I'm not a gamer. I probably should have gotten a better HD; I think the 4200RPM is gonna get old after a while.
Anyways, take this review with a grain of salt. It's not too much a review than just my personal feelings about these laptops. Hope someone finds some value in it...
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