Opinions of the Dell Inspiron 9300 series?

[mjolnir2k]

Hi All,
Looking at the Dell Inspiron 9300 as a replacement for my trusty desktop machine. I have read the reviews, but prefer a "real world" opinion as many reviews are biased.

Spec would be:
1.7 Ghz Pentium M
1 GB DDR 2 @ 533 mhz
Nvidia GeForce 6800 Go 256mb
WUXGA 17" screen
8x DVD RW
Win XP Media

Using for:
Web
Ms Office Ap's
Adobe
Some photo shop (recreational)
some gaming (Half Life CS, Doom 3 etc)

Questions:
Anyone familiar with this series of notebooks? Reliability?
Video capacity enough to play games without stuttering?
Screen quality?
overall opinion on performance?
Upgrade path easy / moderate / hard (i.e. CPU upgrade?)

I appreciate any feedback

Thanks in advance.

 

[mparr1708]

Originally posted by: mjolnir2k
Hi All,
Looking at the Dell Inspiron 9300 as a replacement for my trusty desktop machine. I have read the reviews, but prefer a "real world" opinion as many reviews are biased.

Spec would be:
1.7 Ghz Pentium M
1 GB DDR 2 @ 533 mhz
Nvidia GeForce 6800 Go 256mb
WUXGA 17" screen
8x DVD RW
Win XP Media

Using for:
Web
Ms Office Ap's
Adobe
Some photo shop (recreational)
some gaming (Half Life CS, Doom 3 etc)

Questions:
Anyone familiar with this series of notebooks? Reliability?
Video capacity enough to play games without stuttering?
Screen quality?
overall opinion on performance?
Upgrade path easy / moderate / hard (i.e. CPU upgrade?)

I appreciate any feedback

Thanks in advance.

The I9300 is widely considered to be one of the best gaming laptops out right now. You can get better but not at that price point. The build quality is decent and the config you listed should out perform the desktop you listed in your sig by a good margin. While the 6800go is not the newest card out it should play all current games with little issue. Overall the 9300 is a good laptop and if you don't mind the size and weight it?s probably your best gaming option without breaking the bank.

I wanted something a little smaller so I purchased an HP DV4000. This notebook has an X700 card in it which I find is sufficient in everything I am playing right now (Guild Wars, Counter Strike: Source, and Madden 2006.).

Another good decent gamers notebook is the z70va Refresh. This notebook also has an X700 card in it and ASUS has good build quality.

 

[deathwalker]

I LUV mine....not a problem with it in over 6 mos. of use.
1.86 ghz
1gig ram
80 gig hd
go6800 video
dvd burner
wuxga 1900x1200 truebright display

 

[Oakenfold]

Just got mine this week, runs quake 4 at high settings no aa, 1024x768 no problems. I haven't tried high on 1280x1024 yet so it might work, just haven't had the time.
I bought
I ended up going with this config:
9300 inspiron
PM740 1.73ghz
17" UXGA w/Truelife
512mb ddr2
256mb 6800 nvidia go
60GB 5400rpm
XP MCE w/backup cd
intel 2200 wireless nic
dvd8x/cd burner
4yr limited warranty, at home service, hw warranty support.


My total price is 1067.94 after tax and a $70 MIR. not including newegg costs

I picked up this ram 1GB sodim from newegg. It's cheap but cas4, seems to work well, haven't run memtest yet.
Can't beat the price though to trick out a notebook with 2gb's of ram.

 

[PowerEngineer]

Bought a very similar configuration this summer for my son (going away to college).

We also specified minimal (256 Mb) memory and then added a Kingston 1 Gb from Newegg.

He's been happy with the gaming performance on CounterStrike, etc.

Finds that its size discourages him from taking to class and/or labs much (as I think I would). Few of the so-called 17" pack back are really big enough for an I9300, but we found one.

The keyboard did fail within the first three months! But we had purchased the 3-year warranty, and so it was just a bit of an inconvenience. I advise you to carefully consider purchasing and extended warranty.

Good luck!

 

[fbrdphreak]

http://www.laptoplogic.com/reviews/detail.php?id=70

 

[Oakenfold]

Originally posted by: Oakenfold
Just got mine this week, runs quake 4 at high settings no aa, 1024x768 no problems. I haven't tried high on 1280x1024 yet so it might work, just haven't had the time.
I bought
I ended up going with this config:
9300 inspiron
PM740 1.73ghz
17" UXGA w/Truelife
512mb ddr2
256mb 6800 nvidia go
60GB 5400rpm
XP MCE w/backup cd
intel 2200 wireless nic
dvd8x/cd burner
4yr limited warranty, at home service, hw warranty support.


My total price is 1067.94 after tax and a $70 MIR. not including newegg costs

I picked up this ram 1GB sodim from newegg. It's cheap but cas4, seems to work well, haven't run memtest yet.
Can't beat the price though to trick out a notebook with 2gb's of ram.

Been running memtest for 8 hours now, I think it's good to go. No errors.
As others have said this is probably not something you want to take to class, but you said you need a desktop replacement, if you can't afford 2k or above I think this is the sweet spot. I can't justify spending that much on a lappy. Screen quality is nice, I'm not really big on the wide screen as I prefer my 2001fp but the 1920 res really isn't that bad on the 17" display. Just be patient with Dell and get a good deal, if you don't like it sell it on ebay.

 

[Fenuxx]

I love mine, best laptop I've seen (especially for gaming) for the price ($1800 shipped, in April):

Intel Pentium M 760 (2.00GHz; 533MHz FSB; Dothan)
Dell Inspiron 9300 (Intel 915PM\82801FBM Express)
512MB Hyundai PC2-4300 DDR2\533 (4.0-4-4-12 Timings, Dual-Channel)
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 256MB
Intel ICH6M AC'97 Audio
40GB Toshiba MK4026GAX
LG GDR8082N DVD-ROM (8x\24x)
Dell Inspiron 9300 17" WXGA+ LCD Monitor

 

[akers]

I have had mine since early May. LOVE it! I have the 2GHz Pentium-M and the 7200rpm hard drive, otherwise the same as your setup.

Activate Coolbits and the 6800 Go overclocks like crazy.

Between home, work, and helping friends/coworkers with their laptops I get to play with various Dells, Gateways, Thinkpads, and HPs, this is my favorite laptop.

Check for driver and BIOS updates on the Dell site.

 

[hemiram]

I have had mine almost six months, only problem was a windows update caused problems, a system restore took care of it,and it was fine again. It's by far rthe best laptop I have ever used, and I looked at a lot of them before I bought it.

The only thing I don't really like is the keyboard, but I've seen only a couple I ever did like anyway, so it's not an issue.

Just remember, don't buy any extra memory from Dell, it's a ripoff. If they have the free upgrade to 512, that's ok, but you can get the same memory for much much less from Newegg or any other shop, and save a lot of money. Same goes for batteries. Dell charges an insane price, you can go to Ebay, and buy the exact same Dell battery for less than half what Dell wants for it. If you get the cheaper battery, then go to Ebay and buy two of the 9 cell batts, it's cheaper than what Dell wants for one 9 cell alone, and you end up with 3 batteries vs Dell's one!

 

[Pens1566]

I've had mine since may and agree with all of the above. Great gaming laptop for the price. Don't get the extra dell memory. I got 2Gb from the egg and play BF2 @ 16X12 with no AA/AF. 6800go will overclock quite a bit. I hit 5000 in 3DMark05.

 

[Spydc]

What overclock rates are you getting for the Inspiron 9300? I have it pushed at a conservative 325/625.

 

[rstrong]

Spydc... You mentioned OCing the 9300, what BOIS/software you using?

...Has anyone replaced the CPU in the 9300??

 

[Gudhjem]

Hello all.

I am also on the verge of buying the 9300 (first time I've ever bought a laptop). By configuring with the high end options, it appears I can have nearly the same features as an XPS (6800 Go versus 6800ultra in XPS is only difference), but for about $500 less.

I would like 2Gb memory. Question to those of you that are recommending buying memory from Newegg, rather than pay Dell's excessive upgrade price: Doesn't doing this void your warranty/cause problems if you use Dell's support? I expect I may soon reformat and void that support anyway, but curious how this plays out.

Also, my incination was to opt for the XP home option instead of XP MCE2005, but after reading about MCE2005, it seems I might actually be able to use some of the TV features occassiunally. Any DISadvanage to going with MCE?

Thanks for the reply.

 

[rstrong]

I also bought the memory from newegg 2gig's... Does not void warrenty from my understanding...don't have to cut any stickers or anything like that...

As far as MCE2005 has all of Home plus some of Prof Addition features plus TV of course. I dont know all the details vs MCE and prof.