Switcher: Came Back To My Senses - Bought Inspiron 600m

[alisajid]

For the past year I've been an iBook 700 user. While I really like OS X, I just think the hardware Apple sells is woefully inadequate. Basically, I wanted to report back on my experience so far with the 600m:

System Purchased: PM 1.3, 384MB RAM, 30GB HDD (to be replaced by Hitachi 5K80), Truemobile 1400

Pros:

1. Speed (Compared to an iBook which cost more this thing runs fast)
2. Screen Size
3. Battery Life, pretty good.
4. Keyboard... feels good.
5. Weight... low for a large laptop

Cons:

1. Touchpad sucks (sometimes the center area doesn't respond to movememnt)
2. Construction... I felt like the iBook could survive a small drop... This thing's too 'plasticky' (need a thesaurus).
3. No firewire... Serial and parallel ports are so passe.

My primary use for the machine: web browsing, listening to mp3s, writing scripts, developing in Java using Eclipse, etc. Eclipse actually loads up decently fast... Used to take ages in the Mac.

 

[addragyn]

Well of course you can buy a faster computer for less money now than you could a year ago. :Q That said Apple's current laptops aren't going to win any speed tests anyways.

Anyways the machine I'd compare to the 600m would be the 12" Powerbook. Since I like to save money I'd grab this used one for $1380. OS X is probably the best platform for Java these days.

Did you have that RAM maxed out? I wouldn't run OS X w/o 512MB.


I've heard good things about the 600M. Sounds like your not too impressed with the HW. Does it just not have that "solid" feel in the hand?

 

[alisajid]

Yeah, I'd maxed out the RAM on the iBook to 640...

The Inspiron's nice enough... An upgrade over the iBook definitely... It just doesn't feel solid.