Originally posted by: Otaking
This may be old news, but FYI, Dell doesn't ship OS and Driver CDs now...
This was unknown to me until I got my shipment today and went through 7 different CSRs and tech support on the phone.
I'm just pissed that I won' t be able to reinstall WinXP in case my HDD dies unless I buy another copy of the OS.
You can make a backup of the OS. (See the manual on the desktop) Unfortunately, the support program that was supposed to be able to do it wasn't on my PC :|
Well I've used my 6000 for 6 hours now. Super short review:
Good:
- Widescreen. Just the regular 15" WS, no WXGA, or WXGA+. (Although I wish I had sprung for it now) Looks fantastic - better than my Apple Powerbook G4 15". I enjoy having the wide screen - fit more stuff in the taskbar, don't ever use the horizontal scroll. Screen is crystal clear, watched a movie on it. Great stuff
- Weight. Well being a WS 15", it's not as heavy as I was expecting. Coming from a <1" thick Gateway 200arc that weighed ~4lbs. Think it weighs less than my cousin's Inspiron 5150.
- Power. Definitely swifter than my old P4 1.4 Centrino. (About 1.5 years old, probably had less cache) I can definitely feel the speed difference. Windows blew threw the installation. Haven't installed any games on here yet though.
- Looks. Got some oohs and aahs from the family. Very sleek looking laptop.
- Abundance of USB ports - two on right side, two on the back.
- Computer/HD temp. It's staying at a cool 33.5C CPU, 42C HD @ 600. When bumped to 1.5, CPU goes up maybe a degree or two, HD the same. I'm impressed with how cool it's staying - my Latitude normally hovers around 48C for HD, about the same CPU.
- Price: 1.5ghz, 512, 60, 128MB X300, 8x DVD burner, 15" WS all for $911 shipped including tax. What's to complain about?
Bad:
- As stated, no driver/utility/OS CD's. Made my own using the existing Drivers folder on the C: drive and burned onto a DVD. It had all the drivers I was missing after I installed XP Pro. Just lacks the on-screen indicators for volume and brightness. (Although the FN key does work when pressed) Very disappointed - I would have paid extra $$ to get it bundled.
- My I key makes noise when pressed - need to take that off and find out why it's squeaking.
- Seems noiser than my old Gateway or my current D505 Latitude for work. Fan is on and not sure if it's supposed to be on all the time - don't remember it being this loud earlier, but I had the tv on though.
- A/C cord - it plugs into the MIDDLE OF THE REAR OF THE PC. An odd thing to be complaining about, but that's just really odd placement. I'd be fine with the left or the right, but the middle just bugs me.
- Looks. Bottom of the laptop is a matte black, ala their cheap Celeron Inspiron laptops or their old school Inspirons from years back. It goes from a nice silver/white to that plain black. Puzzles me as to why they wouldn't keep with the color scheme. (As most of their slightly older Lat/Insp. have the same color all the way around)
Bottom Line: All in all a few minor things that bug me. I'd give it so far a 4.5/5. Don't regret spending the money on it.