Dead! Hotter- Now 64MB video! Free 3yr Warrany! Dell Inspiron 8100 Laptop P3-1GHz-M/15in UXGA/DVD/256MB/20GB $1147 AR

[aphex]

<< can one drop the resolution down on the UXGA screens to where you can actually read the text or are you stuck at the native 1600x1200 and you just have to enlarge stuff? thanks, maybe i should have asked that before i ordered mine... >>



I tried lowering mine just to see how it looks, and i agree it does look blurry. But i absolutely LOVE the 1600x1200. Takes a day to get used to but it is SOOO INCREDIBLY SHARP, i will never go back.

 

[walleyedave2]

Ordered two today! No floppy option! called after placing order to order floppy, he told me to place floppy on original order i told him i didn't have that option! i don't think he believed me! Anyway he cancelled my order and placed another order with floppy's! He asked me if i was tax exempt, No! He gave me the same two systems with floppy's for $80.00 less, no tax!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go Dell!!!!!!!!!

 

[RossMAN]

Damn now I'm starting to get cold feet after reading some of these posts about the Dell i8100.

Most of them are positive but there are some horror stories.

 

[kidthor]

Any comments on how this laptop compares to the ones in the costco compaq thread? compaq laptops..

"P4 1.4-1.7Ghz, Mobile Radeon 7500 32M & 64M flavors. Free shipping, but you have to pay tax. You can also return them at any Costco if you have an initial problem with it."

 

[EDiT]

Anyone know any specs on the 16M video card? I assume it can do at least 1600x1200@24bit, but am not sure more than that. I don;t game much, so I'm looking for better office app performance, and haven't used a 16M card in a while. As long as it can plan Warcraft III at a decent resolution, It should be enough for me. ON the other hand, $100 more will get me a 64M radeon (which I will probably never use to it's fullest potential).


This is really hard to pass up either way...

 

[cool0221]

Just ordered it, has to pay 100.00 tax
I also upgraded to Radeon 7500 and NIC/56K plus 4 color palms. So the total come down to 1300 after 300.00 rebate. Not too shabby, but I am going to call them tomorrow to see if they can waive part of the tax for me,

hope it is worth it

 

[RossMAN]

Those of you who ordered this laptop and chose your own shipping carrier (FedEx for instance) how much was ground, 2nd day or next day shipping for you?

What's the weight of the box?
Does anyone have the dimensions of the box?

 

[dshodson]

how does this dell deal compare to the amd laptops compaq is selling withe a 200 instant rebate

costco link

 

[FatDragonn]

Those of you who ordered this laptop and chose your own shipping carrier (FedEx for instance) how much was ground, 2nd day or next day shipping for you?

What's the weight of the box?
Does anyone have the dimensions of the box?


the 8100's weight shouldn't vary that much from the 4100, with packing material and all, it shouldn't be more than 18lbs. i shipped a 4100 to CA from the east coast, and it was about $16 insured for $1200. 2nd day should be about $50, overnight (standard) should be around $75. depending on the shipping distance, give or take $3-5 for ground service, $10-15 for 2nd day and overnight.

of course if you are in HI or AK, you are SOL.

be careful with choosing your own carrier, if anything happens to the item, dell will not take any responisbility. dell will also not request insurance on your behalf. those bastages try to screw me out of 16 (over $3k) digi cams because i chose my own carrier.

 

[Valvoline6]

Hey Rossman there are horror stories about EVERY computer. peripheral etc. on the net. Some people can screw up making toast. If you listened to all the gripes on the net you'd be afraid to buy a lightbulb. A man of 15,000 posts should know that by now. The 8100 is a supurb machine. The is NO laptop out right now that is better for the money than the I 8100. Why use your own carrier? Dell SB has free shipping right now.

The UXGA screen is the one to get no doubt. 1600 x 1200 is so sharp and the pixels are so small. You increase font and icon sizes on your desktop and in your browser. You can also increase font sizes in IE in the fly. If you have a scroll mouse hold down your <ctrl> key and move your scroll wheel up and down. Look what happens.. Also for ALL laptops look into getting the microsoft Clear Type Fonts. The UXGA screen makes my digital images look incredible. It is without a doubt the best monitor I've ever viewed. My desktop monitor looks like absolute crap after I've been using my laptop. lol When you have a 1600 x 1200 screen you can drop to 800 x 600 full screen for gaming and it looks great.

Unless your going to be carrying a laptop long distances the weight isn't a factor. I haul it back and forth to work every day and don't even notice it. If your going to have just one system, and use a laptop as a desktop replacement I would definitely recommend a 15 inch screen and the Dell 8100. It is certainly nice to have the large screen if portability isn't the number 1 factor.. The 64MB Radeon is really nice for gaming. It plays NASCAR 2002 with ease and that game is tough on fps.

Bottom line- I recommend the system highly.

 

[dshodson]

i wonder what would happen if u emailed dell and said hey look costco is offering p4m chips with
1.4ghz chips for $1469 (including shipping and tax) that include the radeon 7500, 30gig instead of 20g, includes the floppy and the 56k/ethernet card and are lighter than the dells, what would happen

i know these arent 100% comparable but im starting to lean towards compaq for the first time in my life
Id be with compaq for sure if the warranty was longer than 1 yr

i guess not much would happen with the email but does dell have some sort of beat the competitor clause?

costco link for the p4-1.4 for 1469

 

[iamme]

Originally posted by: dshodson
i wonder what would happen if u emailed dell and said hey look costco is offering p4m chips with
1.4ghz chips for $1469 (including shipping and tax) that include the radeon 7500, 30gig instead of 20g, includes the floppy and the 56k/ethernet card and are lighter than the dells, what would happen

i know these arent 100% comparable but im starting to lean towards compaq for the first time in my life
Id be with compaq for sure if the warranty was longer than 1 yr

i guess not much would happen with the email but does dell have some sort of beat the competitor clause?

costco link for the p4-1.4 for 1469

i doubt that Dell would do any sort of pricematch w/ their computers

 

[bonk102]

dell rebates are very fast, i got mine back on the desktop i bought within a 6 weeks, no hassles

 

[DorkBoy]

Great price

 

[RISman]

Oh the temptations! Do I get the P3, or wait for the P4...damn I hate hot deals!

 

[dshodson]

well if u want a p4 there are good deals at costco

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: RISman
Oh the temptations! Do I get the P3, or wait for the P4...damn I hate hot deals!

There was a review from a few weeks back that showed the P4 1.6 has nearly no performance gain over a p3 1.2, in fact the p3 beat the p4 in a few of the tests.

 

[Broohaha]

I'm really lusting after a laptop lately and have been lurking the boards looking for a good deal. It seems like the Compaq at Costco and the Inspiron 8100 are the two best deals out there...

Well, I just went to Costco to check out the Compaq in-person and came away with an impression that convinced me Dell was better. Basically, the keyboard layout on the Compaq is horrendous. It was noticeably less comfortable than an HP which was right next to it. I read a review which mentioned that the Compaq's six rows of keys are subpar when compared to most laptops' (including the 8100, I might add) seven and it was right on target. Although the Compaq looks nicer and is probably lighter, the discomfort you experience when typing on its keyboard is really something to think about; after all, that's probably what you'll be doing on it most of the time.

Previously, I was hesitant to plunk down the money for the 8100 because it *is* heavy (my school's library lets you borrow Inspirons and they are enormous) and I also remember it getting quite warm when I was using it. But, after looking at the situation from all angles it really seems to be the best deal. Besides, I am getting it not for portability but for simplicity when I move in and out of my dorm and whatnot. I've had it with the hassle of disassembling and reassembling my desktop every other week.

I'm going to upgrade to the CD-RW/DVD combo, ask my dad to sign up for the AMEX card that gives 5% off Dell Small Business, try to get another 2% off through ebates and order it to my home in MD rather than college in PA so as to save another 2.5% on taxes.

So, for me the configuration would be:

Mobile Pentium® III Processor 1.0GHz-M 15in UltraXGA
256MB,SDRAM,133M,1DIMM
16MB DDR 4X AGP NVIDIA GeForce2 Go?Vid
20GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
No Modular Floppy Drive
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
10/100 + 56K Capable V.90 NIC/Modem
8X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive
Microsoft®Works Suite 2002 with Money 2002 Standard
3Yr Ltd. Warranty- 3Yrs Mail-In Service + Lifetime Phone Support
6 Mths of DellNet® by MSN Internet Access for Windows®XP Included

With free shipping, it would cost:

Base: 1558
Tax: 77.90 :|
AMEX: -5% (-81.75)
eBates: -2% (32.70)
Rebate: -$300

So, 1635.90-414.45=1221.45

Now I just hope AMEX will accept my dad (and my dad will accept AMEX) and the eBates thing comes through.

 

[RossMAN]

Broohaha - I'm still undecided wondering if I'll ever use it if I get it and if a great i4100 deal will come along and I'll regret this purchase?

Nice configuration you have.

I can't decide on which graphics card to get, I'm not a gamer so I gotta decide between the 16MB and 32MB.

 

[Pothead]

Rossman, you think too much!

I now have too many computers at home, maybe I shoulda followed you instead on jumping on all those dell deals.

 

[RossMAN]

Pothead - It's agonizing trying to talk myself out of every deal and even creating OT threads begging people to talk me out of buying sh!t I don't need.

Remember the 15" LCD from Buy.com for $300? I BOUGHT it, then created an OT thread asking people if I should have? Well before I created the thread I cancelled my order hours after ordering it then created the OT thread, EVERYONE said don't buy it.

It's a curse.

 

[Broohaha]

Rossman, I feel your pain... it's hell trying to anticipate whether or not a better deal might come along, but eventually you have to bite the bullet. I figure that any other deal that might show up won't be THAT much better and if it is that much better, maybe I can try to give back the 8100 (having taken good care of it, of course) or fleaBay it at or slightly below cost.

As for whether or not you'll use it--if you're not sure about that, I think maybe you should hold off. For me, I know I want/need a laptop because I'm tired of my big hulking desktop and desperately want something that can be at least occasionally mobile.

But here's a question that just popped into my mind. I'm not a big gamer at all either really but lately my roommate got me hooked on the Beta version of Warcraft III and it runs like molasses on my desktop when I try to run it at a decent resolution. Does anybody know how much better the Radeon is as opposed to the GeForce2? Will it make a big difference in playing a fairly graphics-intensive game like W3?

Also does anybody know how easy/hard it is to get approved for the AMEX Business Gold Card and if the 5% you get back at Dell Small Business is instantaneous or some end-of-the-year cash back BS? Thanks.

 

[RossMAN]

Yeah it's hard to justify spending so much money on a laptop which I'm not sure that I'll use after the initial "cool a new toy phase".

For me it wasn't that difficult to qualify for an Amex Gold then again I've had credit for 8 years (since I was 19), have a credit score of 748 and have been employed for 8 years with the same employer.

I hope the Amex 5% isn't too difficult, because if I can't get that --- it'll definitely sway me towards waiting for "the next big deal".

 

[tuffy]

Can someone pls. post a link or instructions as to exactly HOW to get the 5% re: American Express card?

I'm thinking seriously about this laptop. It would be my 1st computer and need some advice, please. Should one get a floppy disk with the 8x cd offered or could the same be accomplished by getting a cdrw option. Can you tell I do not know a lot about computers....lol!?

Thanks for the replies. I really appreciate it!

 

[Valvoline6]

Here's the 5% link on the AMEX site... As for the floppy drive... I rarely ever use one. If your friends or work gives you floppies you need the drive. Just make sure you virus scan any floppies from other people no matter how much you trust the source... The 64mb Radeon makes a big difference over the 32mb Geforce. Check the Dell forums on the Dell website for some 3dmark scores..