Dell Introduces Laptop With WUXGA 532
Cutie Pi writes "Dell has just released the Inspiron 8500, a new 15.4" widescreen notebook with a WUXGA screen--thats 1920x1200, high enough resolution to watch HDTV quality movies. Couple that with the new nVidia 64MB GeForce4 4200 Go (much faster than the ATI Radeon 9000), and you've got quite a notebook!! Can't wait to get my hands on one!"
DVI connector (Score:1, Interesting)
Ram Prices (Score:5, Interesting)
512MB,DDR,266MHz 2 Dimms
512MB,DDR,266MHz 1 Dimm [add $200.00]
640MB,DDR,266MHz 2 Dimms [add $300.00]
768BM,DDR,266MHz 2 Dimms [add $400.00]
1GB,DDR,266MHz 2 Dimms [add $650.00]
1.5GB,DDR,266MHz 2 Dimms [add $1,800.00]
2GB,DDR,266MHz 2 Dimms [add $3,300.00]
Better be a short movie... (Score:4, Interesting)
Not good, I'd say...
1900x1200 @ 15.4" screen (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:...you got quite a notebook. (Score:3, Interesting)
Ditto
check out http://www.dynamism.com. Japanese laptops with a US warranty.
The sharp MM1 looks sweet, and it doubles as a USB2 hard drive.
Cheers,
prat
Oh yeah. (Score:3, Interesting)
FWIW, an IBM salesdroid I talked with a few months ago said they might ship linux on their laptops this year. We'll see. Nobody's getting my money if I have to send a portion to Redmond, too.
Just gimme a friggin' laptop without Windows on it! [OK, at a reasonable price, Apple-boy.
*insert Apple comparison here* (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Just for movies? (Score:2, Interesting)
It may be sharper, but it's going to be much smaller.
My coworker bought a Dell not too long ago that has a 15.0" screen with a screen resolution of 1600x1200 (for the purposes of software development, natch). It's very hard to read at more than a few inches.
On the other hand, I have a Gateway laptop with a 15.7" screen at its native 1280x1024. Now, I'll grant you that I can't cram the same amount of stuff on the screen as my coworker can. However, it's significantly easier to read my screen -- especially from more than a few inches -- that it is to read the screen on the other laptop.
$3,277 (Score:2, Interesting)
Now I can get a Shuttle SB51G case for ~325, a 3.06 GHz P4 for $548, 2x512MB DIMMS for $88 [total], and a Built by ATI Radeon 9700 Pro for $320, total = 1281.... mind you I still need HDD, Display, and CD-ROM drive, but can I manage to rack up another 2K for that? Especially if upgrading and using my old CD-ROM, Display, and HDD???
Don't get me wrong, I love Dell; I think they typically make superior PC's/Servers&Notebooks. But, is portability at the sake of performance, and that whopping price tag worth it???
Compare it to the G4 17" (Score:1, Interesting)
You get a 17" screen, which is quite a big bigger. It's only 1440x900, which might not even make this a worthy comparison.
With the Dell configured to G4 specs, it costs more, doesn't even have all the features, and is heavier and the battery doesn't last as long.
Not to mention if you order from a Mac reseller, they'll double your RAM, throw in a printer, carrying case, and maybe another goodie for FREE.
Why PC makers can't get their laptops right, I'll never know.
Does anyone even have an app that would need that kind of screen on a laptop? 1600x1200 on a 15 inch LCD is nuts enough.
The 15.2" Powerbook is as big as screens need to be. WIDER is better. Personally, I'd rather have a 12" Powerbook or an iBook. It's a portable, after all.
Re:Just for movies? (Score:4, Interesting)
So when do we get widescreen desktop monitors? (Score:5, Interesting)
Widescreen is nice. The Mac world proves that.
So, why aren't the PC makers and monitor vendors come out with 16:9 displays and give everyone a reason to upgrade?
jonathan
Is it me or... (Score:4, Interesting)
At least teh old inspirions.. standard black.. with the wildly overprice clip on color pads.. were neutral looking. It was black.. it went with anything. Now these things area light blue and odd shade of gray. Seems like colors you'd have as baby-shower decorations than on a laptop.
Laptops are a fashion statement.. if your gonna be lugging one into your local starbucks it better not be an eye-sore. I looks like they cut the side off some old computer cases and formed them to a laptop case.
The laptop I will get next will need to be power efficient and powerful(not so concerned about weight).. But if I have to pick i'll choose mroe power than power efficiency. Thats why i've got hopes for Centrino.. or some variant with the Pent-M
This laptop is neither of my requirements.. and its an ugly monster to-boot
Inspiron? Never again. (Score:1, Interesting)
the line, a couple of years ago. It was too heavy
to carry anywhere, the hard drive died, the power
connection died, the battery died, tiny springs
would fall out of holes in the side .
My new laptop? Powerbook G4!
Dell equipment is cheap (in the nasty sense) (Score:3, Interesting)
I've had the misfortune to have two Dell laptops (Inspiron 7000 back in '99, Latitude C840 presently). They were not my choice - work machines. Both have been heavy, cheaply made junk. The Inspiron had multiple hardware repairs before I got rid of it (screen failure, memory, casing). The current Latitude is only 5 months old and the hard drive crapped out last week. It takes the patience of Job to deal with Dell Support, particularly when you are an IT professional and you already know what is wrong! It only took 3 days to argue the drive replacement out of them.
Also I'm not sure why Dell bother putting Nvidia graphics adapters in these 'high-end' laptops. Check out the most recent update available for the Geforce 4 440 Go drivers for the Lat C840 (v28.35 anyone?).same here! (Score:3, Interesting)
Sunny Dubey
Re:Neat monitor, ugly notebook... (Score:1, Interesting)
Taiwanese junk, you said?
Ha ha
No thanks! I will wait for new Thinkpads (Score:1, Interesting)
Bigger fonts? (Score:3, Interesting)
A Titanium PowerBook is CHEAPER (Score:2, Interesting)