Dell Inspiron 8600

[Black.Lotus]

Holy crap this is what we've been waiting for (pretty much): centrino and a geforce fxgo5650 (still want a radeon 9600 grrr)! Check it out on their euro site. When will it hit here? Will a competitor utilize the m10? Whatever, I'm still psyched... especially since the price doesn't seem to be outrageous.

 

[TaylorD]

why do they only have up to 1.7 ghz?

 

[ferrarifreak93]

Originally posted by: TaylorD
why do they only have up to 1.7 ghz?

I think the P-M is only available up to 1.7GHz

 

[NeoMadHatter]

way too big for me. i need mobility. but looks nice.

 

[JackHawksmoor]

About time. Why did this take two months? Kind of weird they're switching to the Pentium M, but I guess I'd actually prefer it (because it should be quieter) as long as the price isn't much different.

Hope they fixed all the other complaints people had, like popping sounds, flexy keyboards, etc.

Hmm, if I decide to go Wintel over the (soon to be upgraded?) 17" PowerBook, I might go for this one. Wish Dell had a system with a larger screen though. 17" widescreen or 16" would be great.

EDIT: Dell shows the 8600 on their U.S. support site too. Can't be long now! Dang, I'm sure the price will be good, and it's ABOUT the hardware I want (aside from the smallish screen size, and questionable keyboard and stuff). That's going to be tempting.

Drivers for the Geforce 5650 are dated the 14th. I guess the 5650 must be the same as the 5600 except with support for 128MB rather than the 64MB limit in the original.

 

[Black.Lotus]

i'm actually glad it has a smallish screen 'cause it's going to be docked with my 1800fp when i'm doing heavy work anyhow ;-)

 

[Stealth1024]

I presently have an Inspiron 8100, but the LCD is starting to go bad after a year and a half and instead of buying a new screen I would rather get a new computer.

I am split between a notebook and a desktop!

At college 5 hours from home a notebook is great to haul home over vacation... On the other hand I don't take it to class much and its pretty much a desktop replacement... On the other hand wireless is cool to go to the lounge, etc.... On the other hand if I'm going to spend $2200 for a new notebook I could get a really nice desktop, afterall I don't play many games, but when I do I want awesome graphics, the ATI Radeon 7500 in my dell just doesn't cut it... But then again if I'm going to be starting co-ops in a year a notebook would let me haul it around the country much easier

So now I've run out of hands! lol.

Well my decision will probably be made depending on how the new Inspiron 8600 stacks up. For some reason I'm hooked on dells for notebooks...

 

[John]

I presently have an Inspiron 8100, but the LCD is starting to go bad after a year and a half and instead of buying a new screen I would rather get a new computer.

This is a prime example of why you should purchase an extended warranty.

 

[Stealth1024]

Originally posted by: John

I presently have an Inspiron 8100, but the LCD is starting to go bad after a year and a half and instead of buying a new screen I would rather get a new computer.

This is a prime example of why you should purchase an extended warranty.

Oh indeed. I'm all for paying the extra money for 3 years warranties now

 

[Stealth1024]

Well still nothing on the US site...

 

[OldSpooky]

I checked out the Dell Europe site. It's interesting to note that while the Euro site has the 8600, it has no 600m, only the 500m.

 

[Stealth1024]

Could this be a euro only thing?

Normally dell updates their notebook PC lines after christmas

 

[bunnyfubbles]

I've been looking forward to a Centrino that could game, although I do agree here as it seems that the mobile 9600 > mobile 5600 and I'd much rather see a Centrino + 9600 option fairly soon...

 

[JackHawksmoor]

Well, the 8600 is just an 8500 with a Pentium M instead of a Pentium 4M, and a Geforce 5650 instead of a 4200. It's just a small, logical progression, and they're already three months late with the hardware, so I don't know why they'd wait until after Christmas...

I think Dell and Apple (usually about the first to upgrade to new GPUs and things) are in a competition to see who can upgrade last. I mean I've NEVER seen Sony, Toshiba, Compaq, etc. beat Dell or Apple to the market with a new GPU before. Typically if Toshiba and Sony upgraded in June, Dell and Apple would have upgraded in March or April. This is getting weird.

 

[Black.Lotus]

I have a mac-fiend friend and we're in a competition to see who has to wait the longest to get their new laptop- dell 8600 for me and the new 15" power book for him (we have to buy dell or apple if we want tech support since we go to college in the boonies)

 

[JoeShmoe85]

argh!..i want my 8600! this is eactly wut i need for college, well more what i want, but i still, HURRY UP DELL! really hope it comes out within the next week or so, i'm leaving in 3 weeks!

 

[JackHawksmoor]

I want something with a 16 or 17" lowish resolution screen! (Heck, I'd take a notebook with a 19" screen )

HP's releasing their first notebook in ages I'm actually kind of interested in. The zd7001us has a 64MB Geforce 5600, a 17" screen and a 3.06Ghz P4 and all the usual goodies for a bit over $2000. But HP/Compaq is supposed to make really crappy notebooks...

I guess Toshiba's notebooks are reliable, but I want something better than a Geforce 5200, and plus I hate those cheezy hardware buttons they use like "contact tech support" and garbage like that. Yeah, I really want a dedicated button for that

 

[JoeShmoe85]

so anyone have the slightest idea when the 8600 will come out for US? It's lookin really sweet right about now. BTW is there a reason they have a 64MB GeForce 4 4200 Go instead of a radeon 9000?

 

[dartworth]

The I8600 is on Dell's site now.

 

[JZilla]

Here is a review of the 8600. Note that the review is in norwegian, but you can still see the graphs. Also worth noting is that the machine is a beta machine, that has a 3rd usb port which will not be there on the final machine. So some of the negatives (below) might be taken care of as well.

To sum it up: They say that the machine is noisey compared to other Centrinos, though not as noisey as regular desktop replacements with desktop cpus. And the keyboard get some bad comments along the way, but that's not a surprise as we already know that some people don't like the 'new' Inspiron keyboard. The positives are; very good performance, great screen, battery life, the gpu/3d performance, and some minor positives like placement of shortcut keys.

The funny thing, like OldSpookey mentioned, is that Dell does not wish to sell the 600m in Europe. That seems rather peculiar. I would think that it would make more sense to have the 500m and 600m, and then only the D500 instead of the D600, as I suspect that a 600m would sell better than the D600. But I guess that is what we call market analysis and demand. But it is a shame, as I believe that the 600m would be one of the strongest performers at that price.

 

[JackHawksmoor]

It's about freaking time! I hope they fixed the keyboard and whatever problems it had with the sound system. Looks good, except I'd like one with a 17" screen.

How does a 1.6Ghz Pentium-M compare to a Pentium 4 with a 533mhz system bus? Is it supposed to be equivalent more or less to a 2.4Ghz? That's not too bad.

 

[dexvx]

^

It depends on what you do. A 1.6 pentium-M ranges anywhere from a P4/2.26/533 to a P4/2.8/533 (845PE).

 

[Descartes]

The 8600 looks hot. It seems that this would be a far superior purchase over the D800. Is there any reason to get a D800 now that there is the 8600?

 

[Black.Lotus]

i totally hit up the 8600 this morning... got 17% off total along with some instant and mailin rebates... i'm a happy student... still cost several paychecks but that's life eh?

 

[Stealth1024]

Dell Inspiron 8600

Pentium M Processor 1.6GHz
15.4" WUXGA (16:9 widescreen, 1920x1200 pixels)
512MB 333MHz DDR RAM
128MB nVidia GO 5600
60GB hd
2x DVD+RW/+R / CDR/RW Burner
Intel Pro Wireless 2100 WLAN
72WHr battery
3 year warranty
$2135.00 plus free shipping with school employee discount...


My Desktop Solution:

Pentium 4 3.0GHz (800MHz FSB)
52/32/52X CDRW Plextor
1080AMG case
Asus P4P800 Deluxe P4 motherboard
ATI AIW 9600 Pro 128MB (dual head out, tv tuner)
MX Duo Cordless Elite Keyboard MX700 wireless mouse
Corsair TwinX1024-3200LL 1GB (2x512MB) ultra low latency ram
Pioneer 16x DVD Slot Load
2x Raptor WD36GB Serial ATA Hard Drive in RAID 0
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum eX
Samson SyncMaster 1200NF 22" monitor (2048x1536 pixels 75Hz .24mm)
$2300