Dell Latitude or Inspiron?

[alphonsus]

Looking at two laptops and I'm not sure what one to get.
Im looking at the Inspiron 600M or the Latitude D600.

The link for the Inspiron:
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspn_600m?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

and for the Latitude:
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/latit_d600?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

Which one is a better laptop? I plan on using them for internet/work, and would like an occasional gaming but these probably can't run a lot of games smoothly.

Anyone reccomends anything else? That aren't too expensive and can perform?
Al

 

[Corporate Thug]

pcmag.com review:

D600 - 3/5


In Dell's first major revamp of the Latitude C series since 1997, the company has shrunk the best-selling mainstream notebooks by shedding nearly a quarter-inch in each dimension and a half-pound of system weight, to create the sensational new Latitude D series. At $1,132 less than the IBM ThinkPad T40, the Dell Latitude D600 is a comparable machine. Its short battery life, however, left much to be desired when compared with the other Pentium M systems here.

The D600 has a touch pad, a pointing stick, an SXGA+ (rather than XGA) 14.1-inch LCD, two USB 2.0 ports (but no FireWire), and dedicated volume and mute buttons. Dell, like IBM, eschewed the Centrino wireless platform, and the company traded in the second PC Card slot for a SmartCard slot on this system. With Ethernet now built-in, one PC card is enough for most users. A soft spot in the D600's hardware specs is its smallish 40GB hard drive.

With the new D prefix come new docking and port-replicator modules, marking Dell's first dock change in more than five years. Like Compaq and IBM, Dell offers a long list of corporate manageability tools, and the low selling price should be music to corporate buyers' ears.


600m - 4/5

The Dell Inspiron 600m is a cool, feature-rich notebook, but it's also the most expensive in our roundup. Though you're getting top technologies that will last you for four years, you can find less expensive systems that are just as good for writing papers, watching DVDs, or playing games.

Powerful components like the 1.6-GHz Pentium M and ATI Radeon 9000 chipset help give this notebook the juice to perform at or near the top of our benchmark tests. So whether it's CAD design, video creation, or 3-D games, the 600m won't disappoint.

While it's light enough to carry and its wireless range is long (160 feet), you'll need a second battery if you want to use it all day. At 3:30, its BatteryMark score isn't bad, but it was the lowest among the Pentium M?based systems.

The 600m is also a good, though not perfect, multimedia system. It comes with Roxio Easy CD Creator 5, Dell Jukebox by MusicMatch, and Image Expert 2000. But surprisingly the Dell unit lacks a FireWire port. The added bonus (and expense) of a DVD+RW drive lets you burn movies, but you'll have to buy a FireWire adapter to get your video from your camcorder to your notebook.

The price is a little steep, but you get a lot. Just be ready to make the payments at the same time those tuition bills start rolling in.

 

[pillage2001]

I would take the D600 over the 600M any day.

I have a 1.6Ghz D600 with the 5400RPM HDD which is from Seagate. I'm not sure why it was given a 3/5 score from pc mag. The D600 is smaller than the 600M, it has a 3 year warranty on it and also a Mobility 9000. I can't really see why anyone would go for a 600M unless he wants an extra 32Mb on the vid card.

Correction, I have the D600.

 

[dannybek]

If you care more about reliability and buildness, go for the D600.
I personally had the 600M and the keyboard ware bit of a disappointment. The keyboard would move downward upon each press. I had to do a mod to solve that problem.

 

[Pandaren]

I've had the chance to use both, and the D600 is undoubtedly the better system. The LCD housing on the D600 is magnesium alloy and pretty solid, whereas the 600m's plastic lid feels pretty flimsy. The D600 has both a trackstick and trackpad, whereas the 600m has a single lousy trackpad with awful buttons.

The keyboards on both are pretty lousy Still, for the $, you get a lot of features.

 

[alphonsus]

24X max/10X min CD-ROM Drive [subtract $99]


8-24-24-24X SWDVD/CDRW Combo Drive


8X DVD with Software MPEGII [subtract $50]


4XDVD+RW Drive [add $100 or $2/month1]


Do you guys think it's best to get the 24x cdrom then install a DVD+- drive later on? How much would a DVD +- cost for a laptop; prefreable internal.


Also how does this compare to the 2.8Ghz inspiron 5100?

 

[Matthias99]

I don't know how easy it would be to find a DVD+-RW drive that fits this laptop (assuming there IS one made at some point). My gf recently got a 600m, and she went with the DVD/CDRW combo drive. I didn't figure she'd need to burn DVDs any time soon, but it's nice to be able to watch them, and CD burning is occasionally helpful.

Also how does this compare to the 2.8Ghz inspiron 5100?

It's lighter and has better battery life, probably similar or slightly lower performance.

I've used both the 600m and D600, and they seemed VERY similar to me. Dell lists them as being the exact same size (which appears true to me, pillage2001's comments notwithstanding) and only differing in weight by a few ounces. Specs are near-identical. The D600 has a metallic casing around the screen, as as opposed to the plastic on the 600m (although I don't find the 600m 'flimsy'). The keyboards are nearly identical, although I prefer the D600 since it has a thumbstick and touchpad, whereas the 600m only has the touchpad. Both keyboards were acceptable, but not outstanding (I didn't notice any downward flex or travel in the 600m, but I'll check for it). Both get a bit warm near the HD bay after extended use, but not to the point where it's really bothersome or painful (which some laptops are). IMHO, they're both very good laptops, and I'd take whichever one was cheaper if I was choosing between them.