Dell scores a hit with the Inspiron 8500
Written: Apr 18 '03 (Updated May 09 '03)
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Pros: Bright, sharp, beautiful display, zippy perfomance, excellent brightness/volume options
Cons: Godzilla AC adapter, stacked USB ports, a media drive that doesn’t always connect
The Bottom Line: An awesome desktop replacement, you get a lot for the money with the Inspiron 8500!
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| tanster's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 8500 (8500RL) PC Notebook |
I seem fated to buy Dell computers.
Meaning, I never set out to buy my next computer from Dell; it just always turns out that way. For example, my previous laptop computer purchase was the Dell Inspiron 3700; but if you go to my review of it at http://www.epinions.com/cmd-review-7A14-5245FEE-389E63CD-prod4, you’ll read that I originally bought the WinBook XL3, but ended up returning it because it did not accommodate my small hands very well.
This time around, I had my sights set on an IBM ThinkPad. Cruising EBay, I discovered one seller who was offering a brand new ThinkPad T30, model #236697U (no longer sold on the IBM site), for $2,000. I put in a bid, had my offer accepted, and proceeded to wait five weeks before being notified by the seller that the deal had fallen through. (Yes, I did get my money back.)
So, off to the Dell website once again….
ORDERING EXPERIENCE
I did not know that the Inspiron 8500 existed until I perused the Dell website. Given that I use an Apple PowerBook G4 15” laptop computer for work and love its wide screen, I was intrigued that Dell was offering a widescreen model of its own.
And once I stepped through the Dell website configuring my own customized machine and looked at the final price, it seemed too good of a deal to pass up.
The Dell website is a joy to use – you can configure your computer with exactly what you want (hard disk size, RAM, video resolution, and peripherals galore), make changes, see how the changes affect the final price, and even save your shopping cart if you’re not sure you want to buy it right on the spot, but want to save your configuration options.
SPECS
I ordered the Inspiron 8500 with the following:
- Mobile Pentium 4 2.4 GHz
- 512MB RAM
- 40GB hard drive
- 15.4” screen optimized to 1680 x 1050 resolution, 32-bit color
- 32MB video card
- Combo 24x CD-RW/DVD media drive
- Integrated 10/100 network card and v.92 56k modem
- Internal wireless networking 802.11 b/g card
- 72-watt 9-cell ‘smart’ Lithium battery
- Integrated stereo sound
- Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Office XP Professional, 1-year subscription Mcafee.com virus protection software, Intervideo DVD software, Roxio Easy CD Creator 5, MusicMatch 7.1 Basic, Dell Picture Studio Image Expert Standard Edition, AOL 8.0, Microsoft Money 2002 OEM, Paint Shop Pro 7 trial
- 3-year limited warranty and 3-year 24/7 at-home technical service
- A Lexmark X75 PrinTrio (combo color inkjet printer/copier/scanner) was added as a free bonus.
The final price: $2,544.00 (without tax).
DELIVERY TIME
Given that this was a brand new model, I prepared for a long delivery wait. I put in my order on March 20, and received a message from Dell that delivery was estimated in mid-April. To my delight, I received the laptop on April 8th!
OUT OF THE BOX
The computer arrived in a small, well-insulated box. The box contained:
- Full-color ‘getting started’ poster
- Inspiron 8500 laptop computer
- AC adapter
- TV/digital audio adapter cable
- 178-page Inspiron 8500 Owner’s Manual
- Separate wireless network booklet
- CDs of all pre-installed software
- 2 extra pointing stick covers
- Device screw (for securing the media bay)
Getting set up couldn’t be simpler: unpack laptop, plug in the AC adapter, and turn on machine. After quickly consulting the wireless network booklet, I turned on the wireless card, and I was browsing the Internet in minutes!
SCREEN DISPLAY AND RESOLUTION
The wide 15.4” screen is bee-yoo-ti-ful. My system came with exactly one bad pixel (a pixel on the screen that is permanently set to black); given how big the screen is, this was something I was willing to live with.
The brightness options are superb. You can either quickly change the screen brightness directly from the keyboard (pressing the Fn key and either the Up or Down Arrow key), or go to Start | Control Panel | Display | Settings | Advanced | Color to make the screen even brighter.
And at the super high resolution of 1680 x 1050, you can easily display side-by-side browser windows. If you do a lot of web surfing or development work, this is wonderfully convenient. One thing to note, however: out of the box, my Inspiron 8500 was set by default at ‘Large size (120 DPI)’ – this makes the text larger to compensate for the high screen resolution. Unfortunately, this setting also magnifies all web graphics to the point of being pixilated and blurry. To change this so that web graphics look normal, go to Start | Control Panel | Display | Settings | Advanced | General and set the DPI setting to ‘Normal size (96 DPI)’.
I did not configure my laptop with the highest resolution (1920 x 1200). I would caution, however, that you think carefully about your resolution choice since that is the resolution your laptop will be ‘optimized’ to, and that any other resolution that you set (for example, 1024 x 768) will not look as good.
In fact, when I went to the Control Panel to change the screen resolution, this message appeared: “You have selected a non-optimal Screen Area setting for your LCD panel. Unlike external computer monitors, LCD panels have one particular Screen Area setting that looks best. It is recommended you set your Screen Area to 1680 x 1050.’
It’s a shame that the Dell website does not offer some kind of ‘screen resolution simulator’ so you can look at all the different resolutions before you buy.
KEYBOARD/MOUSE
I’ve never been that picky when it comes to keyboards, so I can only say that the Inspiron 8500 keyboard is…fine. It’s not as ‘clicky’, meaning that pressing each key does not produce a clean tactile ‘click’ feel, but it’s not a big deal to me. The one thing I hated about my old Inspiron 3700, which also exists on the 8500, is that the Delete key is not double-wide, making it hard to find quickly.
The 8500 comes with two full sets of mouse options: a pointing stick on the keyboard, with its own left and right mouse buttons, plus a touchpad with its own set of mouse buttons. The touchpad is too uncomfortable for me to use since I have small hands, but I don’t use the pointing stick either. Instead, I use the Kensington PocketMouse Pro Wireless – see my review at http://www.epinions.com/content_96131780228 -- which works just great.
Appearance-wise, both the keyboard and the touchpad are enclosed by an inexplicable blue border, giving the 8500 a slight ‘dork factor’. I will say, though, that the pictures on the Dell website show the border in a brighter, more annoying blue than what it actually is.
There are some extra keyboard buttons, which I found surprisingly useful. Volume up, down, and mute buttons are located above the function keys; play/pause, stop, back, and forward buttons are located on the right side of the keyboard. If you play a lot of audio or video, these keys come in handy.
Speaking of volume, the 8500 has an amazing range. While I was watching a DVD movie, sitting six inches from the screen, I never had the volume set higher than 25%! The sound quality was way better than I expected. Since the speakers are located in the front of the computer, sitting a few inches back from the screen seemed to produce the best effect.
CD-RW/DVD DRIVE
I chose the CD-RW/DVD drive as my media bay option. I have used it to install additional software from CD, and to play DVD movies. In every case, the drive had problems detecting the CD/DVD when first inserted. Each time I had to eject the disk and push the drive back into the computer again before it would detect it and proceed. This wasn’t a big enough issue (to me) to return the unit.
Viewing DVDs on the 8500 is a treat. I watched “Good Will Hunting”, which comes in ‘its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1’, maximized to full screen, and it looked bright, sharp, simply wonderful. The cNet (www.cnet.com) review of the 8500 recommends a screen resolution of 1680 x 1050 (the one I got) or 1920 x 1200 (the highest resolution offered) for optimal DVD reviewing, and I am perfectly happy with the decision I made.
SPEED
Considering this little baby has a Mobile Pentium 4 2.4 GHz processor with 512MB RAM, operating under Windows XP Professional, and connected to the Internet via DSL, I can say web surfing is a pretty zippy experience, not to mention running standard programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel.
See the cNet review for its speed and performance test results compared to that of other laptops such as the Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100.
WIRELESS NETWORK CARD
Man, do I *love* wireless networking! I have a Linksys wireless router which hooks up to my DSL connection. Thanks to the 8500’s internal wireless card, I can surf the Net on the second floor (the router is on the ground floor), completely unencumbered! The handy strength indicator on the Taskbar always says “Very Good” or “Excellent.”
Using cNet’s free Bandwidth Meter, my 8500’s Internet connection clocked in at 1069 kbps on a Friday afternoon in Palo Alto.
POWER/BATTERY
The thing I dislike the most about the 8500 is the Godzilla-sized AC adapter that it comes with. It is heavy, unwieldy, and just plain ugly.
The AC adapter consists of a 33” power cord, connecting the wall outlet to a separate power brick, which weighs an astounding 13 ounces. The brick then connects to the computer with an almost six foot cord of its own. The brick comes with a built-in self-adjusting belt, presumably to wrap around the power cord for convenience. This scores pretty high on the dork factor.
As for the battery, I unplugged Godzilla at 9:30 this morning, with a fully 100% charged battery. I’ve been writing this review, taking my various normal breaks throughout the day. I got a ‘low battery warning’ at 10% remaining, and after a few minutes, the computer turned itself off to go into Hibernate mode at 11:53am. So in my little unscientific test, the battery lasted 2 hours and 23 minutes. Nowhere near the 3-4 hours advertised on the Dell website!
PORTS
The left side of the 8500 contains: an IEEE 1394 connector, one PC card slot (accommodating 1 Type 1 or 1 Type 2 card), infrared sensor, earphone and microphone connectors, and a security cable slot.
The right side contains: a media bay (so the CD-RW/DVD drive is right side-loading) and another security cable slot.
The back contains: an S-video TV-out connector, two stacked USB 2.0 ports, an RJ-45 network connector, an RJ-11 modem connector, parallel and serial ports, a video connector, and the AC adapter connector.
It’s nice to have a security cable slot on either side, but I wish the USB ports were side-by-side instead of stacked, to more easily accommodate both ports being used at the same time. I’m wondering that as wireless networking becomes more prevalent, that the modem/network ports will become obsolete. This would leave more room for additional USB ports, perhaps? As it is now, I will need to use a hub to accommodate all the USB devices I have – PDA, digital camera, cell phone, printer, to name a few.
PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS
The Inspiron 8500 is advertised as a desktop replacement, and not as a ‘mobile’ machine. Starting at 6.9 pounds, I’d be inclined to agree. However, given that my previous laptop, the Inspiron 3700, weighed in at 6.74 pounds, the benefit of the 8500’s wide screen totally makes its extra weight worth it! Since I do not travel with this unit, but occasionally move it from one room of the house to another, this hasn’t been a problem at all.
Dimensions: 14.22” wide x 10.87” deep x 1.52” tall, 6.9 pounds (with travel module, battery, and hard drive)
EXTRAS
There’s a variety of options that you can purchase for the 8500, including additional memory, bigger internal hard drives, internal Bluetooth card, extra battery, USB memory key, port replicator, and travel case. You can even personalize the 8500 with different colored QuickSnap covers.
SUMMARY
I am VERY happy with the Inspiron 8500 – it’s fast, big, beautiful (except for the Godzilla adapter), and loaded with features. I’m certain it will serve me well for years to come!
My one final tip: the Dell website often offers free goodies (like the Lexmark PrinTrio), free shipping, free upgrades (more memory, for example) and rebates. Your patience in waiting for these offers to appear will be well-rewarded!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2544
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: Greater than 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
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Epinions.com ID:
tanster
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Location: Palo Alto, CA
Reviews written: 111
Trusted by: 331 members
About Me:
Happily reviewing cool gadgets and SF Bay Area restaurants since 1999. Pass the gravy, please.
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