Well here is a bit of a review of my Inspiron 600m. There have been concerns over different things about this notebook, and I have read a lot of them. Here are some of the main issues that I see come up:
Build Quality
Heat
Display Quality
Power Button
To address build quality...I think it's very good. Perhaps not tank-like as an IBM but it's good quality and nothing feels cheap about it. The display hinges are good, overall feel is excellent. Some people have commented on the keyboard flexing when they are typing...there is a little bit of flex, but that's normal for a laptop. It's certainly nothing unusual and doesn't hinder typing.
Heat...it is true that the left palm rest gets a bit warm, but it isn't unbearable. Some have expressed concern with the heat of the bottom of the unit as well. I browsed the net for about 3 hours with it on my lap and it was fine...no problem at all. Now, playing a DVD may be a different case, but as it is just basic normal type tasks should be fine.
About the palm rest...I think if Dell was still using the snap-on rests it may eliminate a bit more of the heat from reaching your palm, but they aren't so oh well.
The display...some haven't liked it, but mine at least is a Samsung SXGA+ and looks great. Very bright and crisp. Very good left to right viewing angle qualities, up and down isn't as good but nothing out of the ordinary.
The power button....seems a bit mushy and not responsive unless pressed down a good way. This is the only real fault I found with the build quality.
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Okay...first impressions - the wireless (Dell 1350 - Broadcom chipset) is excellent, and as many have said much better than the Intel - and I believe it. I walked a good 100 feet from my WRT54G Linksys Router and had 2-3 bars. This lappy should be excellent for wardriving with this card.
Comparing this laptop to other similar ones that I have worked with...I'd still go for the Dell before any others. I have used an IBM T40 quite a bit and would choose the 600m over one of those. They may be built like a tank, but the keyboard layout sucks - this is a big thing for me as I do a lot of typing and I like my keyboards laid out a certain way. One big thing that I like about the 600m's keyboard is that the control key is all the way on the left, instead of the Fn key, much easier to use that way IMHO. T40 isn't a bad machine, but it just doesn't work for me.
Let's see...battery life is good. I get a good 3.5-4 hours on the primary battery while doing basic windows tasks like web browsing/word processing etc. Playing DVD's will eat up battery quicker, but that's expected. Also, the easily accessible external power meter on the battery is nice.
Acoustics - fan noise is minimal at best, mostly can't even tell that it's on...and it's not on all the time. Current hard drive is near silent - it's a Hitachi. I'm getting a Seagate to replace it.
Floppy Drive - the external one can either dock into the mobile bay where the CD drive is usually at, or it can be connected externally with a provided USB cable. This is a cool feature if you still have need for floppy drives - in my line of work I unfortunately need to have access to one from time to time.
CD Drive - My CDRW/DVD-ROM (Samsung) is very good, the tray is very sturdy, not flimsy like on a lot of notebooks. There is no flex to it when putting a CD in.
Ports - everything is pretty well placed. The serial port is a big plus for me - I am a technician and from time to time need to hook my machine up to a router to do some configuration. I have heard the no firewire complaint, but with USB 2.0 out I don't see the huge deal here...could be just me. I never used it on my old Inspiron 8000. I do agree that it could use an additional USB port on the right side, that would be quite convenient.
Speed - I ordered a 1.4 and got a 1.5 instead
Makes me happier. Since they all run the same unplugged it doesn't matter that much. Unplugged it runs great for web browsing and such. Plugged in there is little difference unless you are doing more demanding tasks like photoshop work or something of the sort. I typically don't do more demanding stuff when unplugged anyway, maybe a power point presentation but doesn't take much for that.
Aesthetics - I think it looks cool...also the blue snap-on would probably look good. The rest of the snapons look pretty bad by their pictures though.
Weight - The notebook weighs perhaps a bit more than you may expect. I have found though, that this is probably the best notebook for size/weight other than an IBM and perhaps the Fujitsu's. The lighter ones just don't have as much built in functionality as I need - an external only CD device won't work for me. It is light enough to carry around without making you wish you ordered something lighter. I used to have an Inspiron 8000 and that thing was too heavy for mobility. 600m hits the target pretty well on weight while retaining full functionality.
Anyway here are my specs after my HD comes in:
600m
14.1" SXGA+
1.5GHz Pentium M (May upgrade to Dothan 1.7GHz in the future)
1GB DDR RAM
32MB Radeon 9000 (Don't plan on gaming at all, it's a work machine mainly)
40GB Seagate 5400RPM 8MB Cache
CDRW/DVD-ROM
56K Modem
10/100/1000 LAN
Dell 1350 WiFi card
IrDA (whoopie.....it's disabled heh)
WinXP Pro
Well that's all...I'm enjoying it so far, hopefully I won't need to use my warranty on it. The only time I've had to use warranty with Dell was in replacing a hard drive...my other Dell lappys never had problems.
Build Quality
Heat
Display Quality
Power Button
To address build quality...I think it's very good. Perhaps not tank-like as an IBM but it's good quality and nothing feels cheap about it. The display hinges are good, overall feel is excellent. Some people have commented on the keyboard flexing when they are typing...there is a little bit of flex, but that's normal for a laptop. It's certainly nothing unusual and doesn't hinder typing.
Heat...it is true that the left palm rest gets a bit warm, but it isn't unbearable. Some have expressed concern with the heat of the bottom of the unit as well. I browsed the net for about 3 hours with it on my lap and it was fine...no problem at all. Now, playing a DVD may be a different case, but as it is just basic normal type tasks should be fine.
About the palm rest...I think if Dell was still using the snap-on rests it may eliminate a bit more of the heat from reaching your palm, but they aren't so oh well.
The display...some haven't liked it, but mine at least is a Samsung SXGA+ and looks great. Very bright and crisp. Very good left to right viewing angle qualities, up and down isn't as good but nothing out of the ordinary.
The power button....seems a bit mushy and not responsive unless pressed down a good way. This is the only real fault I found with the build quality.
--------
Okay...first impressions - the wireless (Dell 1350 - Broadcom chipset) is excellent, and as many have said much better than the Intel - and I believe it. I walked a good 100 feet from my WRT54G Linksys Router and had 2-3 bars. This lappy should be excellent for wardriving with this card.
Comparing this laptop to other similar ones that I have worked with...I'd still go for the Dell before any others. I have used an IBM T40 quite a bit and would choose the 600m over one of those. They may be built like a tank, but the keyboard layout sucks - this is a big thing for me as I do a lot of typing and I like my keyboards laid out a certain way. One big thing that I like about the 600m's keyboard is that the control key is all the way on the left, instead of the Fn key, much easier to use that way IMHO. T40 isn't a bad machine, but it just doesn't work for me.
Let's see...battery life is good. I get a good 3.5-4 hours on the primary battery while doing basic windows tasks like web browsing/word processing etc. Playing DVD's will eat up battery quicker, but that's expected. Also, the easily accessible external power meter on the battery is nice.
Acoustics - fan noise is minimal at best, mostly can't even tell that it's on...and it's not on all the time. Current hard drive is near silent - it's a Hitachi. I'm getting a Seagate to replace it.
Floppy Drive - the external one can either dock into the mobile bay where the CD drive is usually at, or it can be connected externally with a provided USB cable. This is a cool feature if you still have need for floppy drives - in my line of work I unfortunately need to have access to one from time to time.
CD Drive - My CDRW/DVD-ROM (Samsung) is very good, the tray is very sturdy, not flimsy like on a lot of notebooks. There is no flex to it when putting a CD in.
Ports - everything is pretty well placed. The serial port is a big plus for me - I am a technician and from time to time need to hook my machine up to a router to do some configuration. I have heard the no firewire complaint, but with USB 2.0 out I don't see the huge deal here...could be just me. I never used it on my old Inspiron 8000. I do agree that it could use an additional USB port on the right side, that would be quite convenient.
Speed - I ordered a 1.4 and got a 1.5 instead
Makes me happier. Since they all run the same unplugged it doesn't matter that much. Unplugged it runs great for web browsing and such. Plugged in there is little difference unless you are doing more demanding tasks like photoshop work or something of the sort. I typically don't do more demanding stuff when unplugged anyway, maybe a power point presentation but doesn't take much for that.Aesthetics - I think it looks cool...also the blue snap-on would probably look good. The rest of the snapons look pretty bad by their pictures though.
Weight - The notebook weighs perhaps a bit more than you may expect. I have found though, that this is probably the best notebook for size/weight other than an IBM and perhaps the Fujitsu's. The lighter ones just don't have as much built in functionality as I need - an external only CD device won't work for me. It is light enough to carry around without making you wish you ordered something lighter. I used to have an Inspiron 8000 and that thing was too heavy for mobility. 600m hits the target pretty well on weight while retaining full functionality.
Anyway here are my specs after my HD comes in:
600m
14.1" SXGA+
1.5GHz Pentium M (May upgrade to Dothan 1.7GHz in the future)
1GB DDR RAM
32MB Radeon 9000 (Don't plan on gaming at all, it's a work machine mainly)
40GB Seagate 5400RPM 8MB Cache
CDRW/DVD-ROM
56K Modem
10/100/1000 LAN
Dell 1350 WiFi card
IrDA (whoopie.....it's disabled heh)
WinXP Pro
Well that's all...I'm enjoying it so far, hopefully I won't need to use my warranty on it. The only time I've had to use warranty with Dell was in replacing a hard drive...my other Dell lappys never had problems.
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