ITT: Dell 600m owners share thoughts

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mulebennett

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Messages
392
Hi, I just bought a Dell Inspiron 600m and I was just wondering if you guys had any suggestions, like accessories to buy (USB hub, FireWire adapter, etc), how the sound is, if it runs hot, the battery life if you're actively using it, things like that. I got to use a 10% off coupon which took a decent $135 off my total price. So what do you guys think about your 600m's? I'm gonna buy some SO DIMM RAM, is there a certain type that you have tested to be compatible, cause I'm going to buy a 512 meg stick.

Thanks
 
yo

I got a 600m when they first came out. The left wrist will get warm because of the HD placement. The compenents are good, but the case is a bit lacking. The plastic on the back on the lcd isn't rigid enough, it has too much flex.

I'd reccomend NOT buying one of their wireless cards, you will have a huge headache if you ever want to try to get it working with linux or bsd.

Other than that, more memory and headphones are the best I can reccomend. I use these:

http://www.djmart.com/pionsed.html

If you have any more questions, be specific, I'd be glad to answer them for you.
 
does it accept DDR 333 laptop memory? i bought a wireless card but plan to use WinXP, and how's your average battery life?
 
mulebennett said:
does it accept DDR 333 laptop memory? i bought a wireless card but plan to use WinXP, and how's your average battery life?
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If I am shooting for max battery life (screen dim, not doing any heavy processing) I'll get around 4 hours to each primary battery.

The speakers on the 600M are terrible - so don't even bother using them. You might want to put a thin piece of foam or something between the keyboard and the screen - otherwise the screen can get dirty - and it's a pain to clean.
 
I have had my 600m for about a year now. I get well over 3 hours when using it at school. I have a 512 333 stick in mine that works fine although it is clocked down to 266 because i have a 266 stick of ram in it also. Not sure if the notebook will run the ram at 333. The only problem I have had with mine is that the keyboard scratched the screen a little. It is hard to notice but I did. Other wise it is a great laptop. Mine has the following specs

1.6 with 768 ram
40 gig hd
2.4x dvd+r
14.1 sxga+
radeon 9000 64 meg.

O and it can get a little hot after running a long time but it is not as bad as a lot of other notebooks. The speakers on the dell are not that good but are better then alot of notebooks. Just get a good set of headphones.
 
i was wondering if they ran warm. do those notebook cooling things work, or are they just a gimmick? got any suggested accessories? i already bought a mobile USB hub which gives me 4 more USB 2.0 hubs, though i might be depressed w/o a firewire port
 
mulebennett said:
i was wondering if they ran warm. do those notebook cooling things work, or are they just a gimmick? got any suggested accessories? i already bought a mobile USB hub which gives me 4 more USB 2.0 hubs, though i might be depressed w/o a firewire port
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I played bf1942 for like an hour on mine once - and yeah it got pretty hot. But otherwise - it stays quite cool.
 
I have one. See sig. I love it.

I got it last year. (wow, it's been that long ago already). Yes, left wrist gets pretty warm. Nothing too bad though. Bearable.

I love it. A bit plasticky. I thought it was a bit thick, but after a while of using it it's great. I'm just used to seeing thinkpads (dad uses them all the time, he just bought an x31 or something like that).

I got a gig from Dell... great deal. Free upgrade from 256. The comp only runs at 266 so 266MHz memory should be fine. 333MHz is backwards compatible anyway.
 
I have mine set to kick the fan into high at a certain temp and then shut it off at another, it really does come in handy.
 
KevC said:
I have one. See sig. I love it.

I got it last year. (wow, it's been that long ago already). Yes, left wrist gets pretty warm. Nothing too bad though. Bearable.

I love it. A bit plasticky. I thought it was a bit thick, but after a while of using it it's great. I'm just used to seeing thinkpads (dad uses them all the time, he just bought an x31 or something like that).

I got a gig from Dell... great deal. Free upgrade from 256. The comp only runs at 266 so 266MHz memory should be fine. 333MHz is backwards compatible anyway.
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Hey I'm curious, do you think the M9 with 64 megs of ram will be able to do Half Life2 very well?
 
I also have the 600m. Its the 3rd laptop I've owned, the 1st being a iBook 14" and the second a Compaq x1050.
The battery like is good, but not as great as my iBook or an IBM. I get ~3 hours with wifi on, but most of the time I have it pluged in to the dock and stand (see http://www.nuclearsnake.com/jerker.html for images). If you decide to get a dock, get it on ebay. Much cheaper then dell.
I would suggest a gig of ram if you plan on useing it for more then just surfing and MS word. A 4200RPM hard drive does not make for a good swapfile... :(
BF42 plays well on the 9000 64mb, but I wish that the videocard was upgradeable like the 8600's
Speakers are ok if you are in a quiet room, otherwise they are useless.

Thats about it...

600m
1.5Ghz
1024mb ram
SXGA (1400x1050)
60GB HDD
Intel Pro wireless 2100 (802.11b)
 
muffhead said:
Hey I'm curious, do you think the M9 with 64 megs of ram will be able to do Half Life2 very well?
Click to expand...

I play all my games at 10x7 medium. It looks fine (even though my native is much huger than that) and sometimes slows down. The HL2 engine should be extremely efficient, so I wouldn't worry about not being able to play it. It should scale extremely well, so you'd still be able to play, but not turn up the eye candy :(
 
I got a 5400rpm drive in mine and it helps a little bit. I need more ram though, I have 384... which just kills me. So.... I'm thinking about trying to trade 14 dvds of mine for a 512meg 2100 sodimm.
 
i bought a Seagate external hard drive the other day, which i'll use as my main hard drive. looking for a 512mb stick to bump up to 768mb of RAM.
 
muffhead said:
I got a 5400rpm drive in mine and it helps a little bit. I need more ram though, I have 384... which just kills me. So.... I'm thinking about trying to trade 14 dvds of mine for a 512meg 2100 sodimm.
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I have 1GB and am very very very glad I made the upgrade - it made a world of difference.
 
Nice, I'd kill to have 2gigs in mine... but I think 768 would be pretty nice for right now though.

Overall, I can reccomend the 600m. I Just wish it was made out of better plastic, had a bigger and more powerful cooling fan, a larger battery and a better HD placement. But as far as laptops go, its pretty damn nice with how light it is.
 
Just picked one up last week for my wife to go back to school with. It's the lightest one Dell Home sells with an internal optical drive, and thats the reason I picked it up. Paid just over $1500 with shipping and all for a 725, 512, 32MB 9000, plus the upgrade to the 3MP digital camera (130) and the 128MB SD and Dock (90), so it actually cost me about 1300 - 150 MIR.

Nice little unit. I'm wishing I had gotten 64 on the video though. If there's anyone out there that has a 725 with 64MB video, lemme know what your 3DM2k1 score is. Mine is a little over 4000 which seems kinda low. Similar processors on the ORB with 64MB 9000's seem like they can hit 8000 3DMarks. Seems worth the 79 bucks for what look like double the performance, but alas, it is my wife's laptop and I'm supposed to stay off of it. The most she is going to be doing is musicmatch jukebox.

On the memory, Dell used to list the memory in the 600m as DDR 333, but now the site lists it as DDR 266. When I got the laptop, I opened the memory and sure enough it was PC2700 running at PC2100. Any way to fix this to squeeze a little more performance even at the cost of battery life.

Battery life is prett good, BTW. I don't go far from my wireless router (<30 feet), but I get about 5 hours with wireless networking turned on. But I do keep the screen all the way down (think it looks better anyways), and hardly use the CDROM. I'm probably also not using the HD that much, as all she's doing on it is a lot of web browsing.

All in all, I'm a pretty happy camper thus far. The only thing I regret is not getting a warranty. I hope Dell sends me a letter in the mail after my year is up, because I will most certainly sign up for some additional years and completecare coverage. Also, I don't know if anybody realizes this, but Dell gives away Express Tech Support on thier notebooks now. I noticed when I went to buy it the Express Tech Support is no longer an option, and when I got my notebook, it had an ETS code stamped on the bottom. For those that don't know, if you put this number in when you call Dell you get bumped to a priority queue. Cool thing to have really. I'm also kinda bummed because that fan program listed above said the fastest processor my system could handle was 1700mhz. I was hoping I could pop in a 2.4 or 2.5 Dothan in a few years to keep this thing chugging along. Oh well.
 
The 300m doesn't have internal optical drives. You can get a media base for it that adds a optical drive and such, but then you might as well be carrying around the 300m.
 
Bearxor said:
The 300m doesn't have internal optical drives. You can get a media base for it that adds a optical drive and such, but then you might as well be carrying around the 300m.
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I personally hardly ever use a optical drive - so I think it would be preferrable to have a detachable optical drive, like the 300Ms. Next time I buy a new lappie I'll definitely get one without an optical drive.
 
NleahciM said:
I personally hardly ever use a optical drive - so I think it would be preferrable to have a detachable optical drive, like the 300Ms. Next time I buy a new lappie I'll definitely get one without an optical drive.
Click to expand...

It's nice to watch dvds on the go, but then I wouldn't want to carry dvds around with me so ripping them on the HD is better, but the only thing i don't like about the 300m is the small screen.
 
Xarthan said:
It's nice to watch dvds on the go, but then I wouldn't want to carry dvds around with me so ripping them on the HD is better, but the only thing i don't like about the 300m is the small screen.
Click to expand...
I did that once - and found that the battery life was much worse than when watching a divx movie - so now I just rip my movies beforehand.
 
I've had my 600m since about the middle of September in 2003....so I'm closing in on a year already. Strange -- doesn't feel like I've had this thing for a year.


Anyway, I love it. Sometimes it is sluggish with some functions like right clicking. Other than that I'd say it's a great laptop.

I have a 1.3ghz p-m
512mb ram
30gb hd -- probably 4200rpm
xp home
cdrw/dvd combo
32mb vid card

I'm happy with it. It plays some of the older but new games which makes me completely happy. No Doom or Far Cry or even CoH, but I've decided to leave gaming to my xbox with xbox live.

Anyway, the complaints I have with this laptop are as follows:

Battery life is shit considering the type of laptop it is....the battery is the problem, I know -- but I don't understand why dell can't give me a little more bang in my battery. I have thought of buying modular battery, but haven't really felt like using any money for it. ~3 hours is nice -- but not enough for me to be really portable. Of course, what the hell am I crying about? I've had to really use it portably maybe -- 5 times in the near year I've had it so it isn't all that bad.

Responsiveness is sometimes iffy. I don't know if this is me needing to reformat or what, but right clicking sometimes takes seconds -- up to 5 for the popup window to show up. That really irks me when I know my laptop is fairly up to date and how it should perform. I can take the wait, but 1600 bucks shouldn't mean I have to wait god damnit!!

The casing is pretty shitty imo. The lcd is sort of flimsy -- flicking the lcd shouldn't be so jumpy. It feels good in my hands, but other laptops feel so stern in my hands compared to mine. The casing is weak.

Others have had problems with the heat under the left handrest. I, however, haven't really experienced this. This hasn't affected me at all...so this isn't a complaint, but I feel like I should clarify this.

Overall it is a great laptop. It does what I want it to. Email, wireless websurfing, messenger, dvds, some games, and school work. I can't really complain and would have to say this laptop has been the best investment in my lifetime. It is a need before a want and that is what I like. With the downfalls I have mentioned, I still feel this is a top notch laptop.


Now -- as far as accessories go -- I'd suggest a modular battery /// the usb hub would be nice as my USB key takes up the 2 slots /// no firewire sucks...but i try to avoid the problem by purchasing items with usb2.0 /// a kickass bag -- a lot of folks prefer backpacks /// docking station -- hook up your 2001fp 20" dell lcd with a nice keyboard and mouse when you come home

These are all things that I'd purchase if I had the money.
 
dumb question...but if i have a wireless card (802.11g), is that all i need to get online wirelessly at my university? do i need a wireless access point?
 
mulebennett said:
dumb question...but if i have a wireless card (802.11g), is that all i need to get online wirelessly at my university? do i need a wireless access point?
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That's all you need, granted that your school has wifi internet access. :D
 
as far as what you, yourself needs....that's it

you do need an access point....but that depends on whether your school is wireless or not....otherwise you are SOL.
 
i recently purchased and received the 600m as well, 1.6, 64 mb video, 60 gig hdd, cdrw/dvd, and only 256 of ram being as my brother said he had a gig that he could give me since he no longer has his 600m.. i was wondering how much of a difference that is going to make.. because the laptop lags a bit too much when using more than about 2-3 programs and stuff like that.. i was using AIM, ie6, and windows media player and it seemed it was lagging.. just wondering how much difference having 1280 mb of ram is going to make.. thanks much and dont bash too much since its my first post on this forum..
 
that much RAM will be awesome, though i dunno if 1x256 and 1x1024 will work quite as well as 2x512...but hell if it's free, it's worth a shot. it'll definitely be a good improvement...

edit: welcome to [H]ardForum :p
 
thanks for the welcome... i will probably lurk for a bit and not post much so i get the jist of this forum and dont sound too much like a dumbass newbie... any other pros/cons or running the ram like this? or suggestions..
 
lilsly2004 said:
thanks for the welcome... i will probably lurk for a bit and not post much so i get the jist of this forum and dont sound too much like a dumbass newbie... any other pros/cons or running the ram like this? or suggestions..
Click to expand...

btw you will see a BIG difference in performance when you upgrade your ram. 256 is like Bare Min to run Windows XP... Actually I would say 512 is Bare MIN
 
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