Killer desktop replacement at the expense of portability....
Written: May 13 '02
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Quality of Tech Support: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Amazing screen, great performance, plays games very nicely, good desktop replacement.
Cons: Somewhat flimsy and ugly, cruddy speakers, heavy, short battery life.
The Bottom Line: If you want a desktop power, this is your machine...if you want portability, look elsewhere. I love it but it is not for everyone.
|
|
|
| lowtech302's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 8100 Series |
I am a college student and PC technician. I purchased my Dell Inspiron 8100 because I needed a laptop to bring to school and also to play games and stuff at home. I have always HATED laptops because they are often so much slower than desktop counterparts. I only have to carry my laptop short distances and I do not travel with it often, so all out power was my goal, if it was advertised as a laptop then it was portable enough for me.
If I had to rate what is most important to me in a laptop:
1. Performance
2. Screen
3. Ease of use
4. Battery life
5. Portability
When choosing a laptop, I was mostly comparing Compaq and Dell because my work offered a discount for them, but also looked at Sony models for comparisons sake. I chose the Dell because it offered a better videocard than the rest and it was slightly cheaper due to Dell's online discounts at the time.
Here is what I got:
Pentium III 1.2Ghz
512 MB RAM
ATI Radeon 7500 64MB Videocard
15" UXGA screen (1600x1200)
8X DVD/CDRW
30GB Harddrive
Integrated 10/100 NIC / 56k Modem
Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer
3 year warranty
It was almost fully optioned out and came out to almost $2400 in early February. Prices are always dropping with Dell and new deals offered, so there is no good time to buy.
First Impressions:
The screen is huge! I had taken a gamble with the screen because no stores had a 15" UXGA laptop for me to look at. Setting the laptop next to a 17" monitor, they are almost the same size. Case isn't as nice as the Compaqs. It is just cheap plastic and a bit ugly while Compaqs get treated to a nice magnesium streamlined case. Everything else is great looking and it boots right up. The screen is just gorgeous. Having both a touchpad and pointer stick is nice since everyone has a preference. I really couldn't believe you can get this type of power in a laptop. This is the first laptop I have used that didn't make me cringe at it's slowness and performance shortcomings.
Performance:
I am not a hardcore gamer but I do want to be able to play the latest games with some decent graphics and speed. With the Radeon 7500 card, this thing does 3D without breaking a sweat. Most recent games I can crank the detail up to max or nearly max in 1024x768 and still get a great framerate. I really have never seen a laptop do games as well as this. The big screen is always a big plus too.
Windows boots quickly and applications start fast. All in all, sometimes I nearly forget it isn't a desktop computer.
The only problem I have is the harddrive is way behind in the power curve. For a laptop I suppose it is normal but with all the power this thing is packing, it becomes really apparent. Games sometimes pause for a split second while the hardrive clicks. A faster hardrive would be a big plus in the future.
Another annoyance is for some dumb reason Dell's flagship can only accept 512MB of RAM. Come on! Several of their lower models take up to a gigabyte, what gives? Most people could care less, but I could use a bit more RAM than 512.
But, coming back down to earth, this puppy has more power than most people would need. Most people probably wouldn't notice the harddrive slowness either. Most folks could save some major dough and pick a slower processor and weaker videocard.
Screen:
The screen is huge and beautiful. Text is crisp and colors are bright. Everyone who has check out my laptop has commented on how nice the screen is. I would have to say that the 1600x1200 UXGA screen is not for everyone! Many folks find the text too small and hard to read despite the clarity. You have to have young good eyes to use this screen IMO. Check out other screens and make sure you buy the screen that is the same resolution you will use. If you buy the UXGA screen and run it in 1024x768 all the time, not only are you wasting alot of money (screen upgrades were $$$) but 1024x768 on a higher resolution screen look alot uglier than 1024x768 on a screen with a native resolution of 1024x768. The 15" screen is also offered in 1400x1050 resolution which may be better for people who don't have eagle eyes.
Other hardware:
The speakers are crud. I hate to say it but they are terrible. Some genius at Dell figured it would be good to have them facing outwards on the sides of the laptop so everyone around you can hear it but you can't. They are also pretty low quality. In Windows and normal stuff it doesn't matter but when I play games I always use headphones.
The integrated NIC and modem is pretty much standard on laptops now but it sure is nice.
The keyboard is full size and has nice feedback in my opinion. The mouse and pointer stick both work nicely too.
The DVD/CDRW drive is great. DVD's play nicely and I haven't burnt any coasters with the CDRW either. It comes with Roxio CD Creator which is a good piece of software. That is a big plus in my book because I have seen other computers come with some garage-made-lowest-bidder CD burning software that is often terrible, buggy and hard to use. CD Creator is the exact opposite.
Ease of use:
Well, I haven't had any problems with it, but then again I fix and use computers for a living. If I am having a problem then there is a big problem. ;-) I am not really the best judge of how easy this is to use for the average user. I didn't find anything obvious that would cause problems and my girlfriend, who is what I would think an average user, has no problems with it.
Also, I did not use their customer support, so ignore my review of it. I gave it an average rating since I had to rate it.
Portability concerns:
Well, this laptop is one heavy guy! I am a pretty big guy so it doesn't bother me much, but I can tell that even I would get tired of it hanging on my shoulder if I had to walk around a big airport or carry it for a long length of time. My girlfriend has trouble with it. She can certainly carry it but she would need a lighter laptop if it were hers. If you are looking for portability this laptop is not for you unless you are an ex-Mr. Universe contestant.
Battery life, in a word, sucks. A big screen and all that power wreaks havoc on the poor battery. Supposedly you can get up to 3 hours on battery, but I generally get 2 hours and some change. You can purchase another battery and it can plug into the slot the floppy drive is in to double the capacity though. Also, the battery charge time is very quick.
Case-wise, this laptop is near the bottom. I really like the cases the Compaqs have. The Dell in contrast is cheap plastic, flexes easily, feels less "screwed together", and is an uglier design. If you are taking a laptop to the field or other places where it might get some abuse, this isn't the best choice.
Portability and ruggedness are definately the low points of the Inspiron 8100.
Thoughts after several months of ownership:
I still love this laptop. I haven't had any problems and it is still a joy to use. The Inspiron 8200 came out right when I took delivery, but it is still too expensive for my blood, so no regrets. It has become irreplacable now as I enjoy surfing the web on the couch via wireless LAN and doing homework anywhere. Sounds dorky, but I really enjoy it. :-)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2400
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 21-30
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
lowtech302
|
|
Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.