Review: Inspiron 9300

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Donk3y

Gawd
Joined
Nov 5, 2004
Messages
682
I moved my review to its own thread since there is so much activity going on about this notebook and its big brother the XPS Gen2. Feel Free to ask whatever questions you want.

Order Placed 3/7 - Estimated Delivery Date 3/28 - Actual Delivery Date 3/18
1.73GHz P-M
1 gig DDR2
60 gig 7200rpm drive
17" WUXGA w/ Truelife
256M GeForce Go 6800
Intel Wireless 2200
DVD/CDRW Combo
6 cell battery

My quick first thoughts:

Screen- Wow. The Truelife spanks my WUXGA in my old 9100. Its reflective but not to the point of being irritating with a glare. Very bright and shows colors very well.

Video- The 6800 is FAST. I was playing World of Warcraft at 1920x1200 with everything maxed out and it didnt hiccup once. I have not installed CS Source yet. I assume it will probably have to be run at 1680x1050 but that is just fine with me. If the 6800 Go Ultra is 40% faster than this, WOW. This thing is definately much faster than the mobility 9800 that I had.

Keyboard- Very nice to type on. Once again a BIG improvement over my 9100. Virtually no flex and very good key response.

Heat- After a 4 hour WoW session the only heat I could feel was the RAM cover on the bottom. It was definately pretty heated up. The fans are VERY quiet compared to my 9100 as well. Stays very very cool besided the RAM cover and even that is not uncomfortable.

Build- I picked this thing up out of the box and I thought the battery must not be installed. It is SUPER light compared to my 9100. A lot thinner as well. The battery definately was installed (6 cell). Very thin and light for a DTR notebook. Very sturdy as well. No creaks or anything like my 9100 had.

Overall- I have not had much time to play with anything else. I would like to try out a dvd here soon to check out the picture quality. I would be amazed if it was anything short of magnificent on this screen. I love the machine overall.

The machine has surpassed my expectations in every way in the first 24 hours. I thought I was super happy with my 9100 (which I definately was) but this machine is spectacular thus far. If there is a demand I would be more than happy to throw up some pics and updates if people would like. It sounds like Yass is very happy with his machine and I know I definately am. Worth every penny spent.


****UPDATE****
Ok so here are a few more impressions as I have been able to try more things out

Battery: Battery life is actually not that great. Keep in mind I have not tweaked any settings to try and save power. Set at default (the way I received the machine) it gets about 2-2:30 hours under normal usage. I attempted to watch a dvd on battery and thats where it drained faster than I could imagine. I popped in King Arthur and I saw the battery drain to 7% in 1 hour. None of this affects me whatsoever since I am always near an outlet, but for those of you looking for more battery life you will definately want the 9 cell battery.

Movies: As stated above I popped in King Arthur. It was spectacular on this screen. Vivid colors and surprisingly very little distortion when blown up to 1920x1200. I see much more distortion on my 2005fpw at 1680x1050 than on the 9300 WUXGA. This laptop is definately where I will be watching most of my movies.

Sound: Sound quality of this machine may be the best of any laptop I have had. It obviously does not compare with a desktop surround sound setup, but for a laptop it pumps out some loud volumes and has very good sound clarity compared to any laptop I have ever owned.

Gaming: I have had a chance to log more hours of gaming and my opinion still stands. This laptop is FAST. I put it through a 9 hour WoW session yesterday and it did not complain once. Very pleased with performance. I am almost tempted to sell my desktop just because I do not have much use for it anymore.

Obviously these are just my opinions, I am sure someone else may have a different experience based upon what laptops they have previously owned and their own expectations.

****ONE LAST UPDATE*****
Ok so after playing with it for a week I will be having a tech come out for 3 issues. Only one of these actually bothered me but I figured if they were going to send someone out I may as well get them all fixed at once.

1) the number 1 key on the keyboard is only registering half the time.
2) I can hear a loose screw inside the computer (i hope its just an extra and not from something important)
3) Since they are coming out I will have them replace my Sparkly LG screen w/ a Samsung replacement (not a bother for me really but what the hell, might as well during the 21 day satisfaction period)

I could just have them send me a keyboard and find the loose screw when I pull it apart but I figured I may as well have them do it than risk having them say I ruined the warranty by doing it myself. And since a tech will be coming out I figured I may as well have them change the screen while their at it. Sparkles dont really bother me but I figured what the hell.
 
Donk3y said:
Build- I picked this thing up out of the box and I thought the battery must not be installed. It is SUPER light compared to my 9100. A lot thinner as well. The battery definately was installed (6 cell). Very thin and light for a DTR notebook. Very sturdy as well. No creaks or anything like my 9100 had.
Click to expand...
Is now a good time to mention that a genuine brick would be lighter than a 9100?

What did you to to prep the battery? Any full charge/completely gone/charge cycles? Is life getting better?
 
Yes I have ran thru several cycles and it is getting better. Obviously the 6 cell did not have huge battery life expectations. It is closer to 3 hours under normal usage now. Still sucking down way to fast under load of a movie though. Doesnt really bother me as I dont use the battery hardly ever after initial tests on my laptops. You would have no trouble making it through a 2 hour movie with the 9 cell battery. I can get about 2 hours watching a movie after tweaking screen brightness and shutting off wireless. Its very close.

edit--- And yes the 9100 weighs more than a genuine brick lol
 
Thanks for the review, I ordered exact same laptop a couple days after and it still hasn't arrived. Now I am extremely eager. The thought of playing WoW on the couch while watching the tourney is sexy. How does smaller keyboard work for WoW? I'm a healer in wow so pressing the wrong keys can be dangerous, and I've never owned a laptop, but i'd imagine that the keyboard is much tighter than a standard.
 
Donk3y said:
You would have no trouble making it through a 2 hour movie with the 9 cell battery. I can get about 2 hours watching a movie after tweaking screen brightness and shutting off wireless. Its very close.
Click to expand...
You always get more battery life watching the movie from the HDD instead of running it from the optical drive and even more if you load parts of or the whole movie into the RAM memory, i.e. on a virtual RAM disk. Loading a movie into the RAM makes only sense in certain situations, though...
 
dmaownsyou said:
Thanks for the review, I ordered exact same laptop a couple days after and it still hasn't arrived. Now I am extremely eager. The thought of playing WoW on the couch while watching the tourney is sexy. How does smaller keyboard work for WoW? I'm a healer in wow so pressing the wrong keys can be dangerous, and I've never owned a laptop, but i'd imagine that the keyboard is much tighter than a standard.
Click to expand...
The keyboard is very good. One of the best I have used. I would love it even more if it was full sized with a number pad but I guess we cant have it all. Overall I have no problems playing WoW or CS:S on it. I have a pally and a warrior on WoW and its not been an issue.

cccc said:
You always get more battery life watching the movie from the HDD instead of running it from the optical drive and even more if you load parts of or the whole movie into the RAM memory, i.e. on a virtual RAM disk. Loading a movie into the RAM makes only sense in certain situations, though...
Click to expand...
I know. For me its a non-issue as I am almost always plugged in. That info was simply put up there for those people interested. I dont have much reason to rip a movie to hard drive so I wasnt going to waste the time or hard drive space during initial testing.
 
Alliance scum! :) Does dell use fedex shipping? And did your order status say shipped when it actually shipped, because mine has said in production with no additional info since I ordered it. Thanks.
 
dmaownsyou said:
Alliance scum! :) Does dell use fedex shipping? And did your order status say shipped when it actually shipped, because mine has said in production with no additional info since I ordered it. Thanks.
Click to expand...
hehe I have a shaman that I occasionally play on Frostmane. I just put too much into my warrior and pally to switch up quite yet. Dell is partnered with UPS. Everything Dell I have ever purchased was sent UPS. Mine was in the Boxing stage for about 4 days before it shipped. The site did update when it was shipped. It shipped from Tennessee and UPS was knocking on my door the next day (I am in Chicago area).
 
One last update. A couple issues that I need resolved by Dell. Overall I am still VERY pleased with the unit.
 
whats with the screen? I keep reading about people replacing these for samsungs.
 
i have the LG. On a pure white/blue/red background the colors looks very grainy and sparkly. I honestly would not return the system for just this but since I was having some other stuff done I figured a samsung replacement may as well be thrown in there. It bother some people. Others wouldnt even know what it was if someone didnt point it out. Guess its just how picky you are.
 
Donk3y said:
i have the LG. On a pure white/blue/red background the colors looks very grainy and sparkly. I honestly would not return the system for just this but since I was having some other stuff done I figured a samsung replacement may as well be thrown in there. It bother some people. Others wouldnt even know what it was if someone didnt point it out. Guess its just how picky you are.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear you like your 9300. Mine will be delivered on Monday and by the info from the service tag I'm getting the"sparkly" LG screen. What kind of time frame did Dell give you for a tech to come out? Did you have to ask for the Samsung or did the support people know about the problem?
 
Sort of newbish, but how do you tell if you've got the LG or Samsung screen?

Good review.
 
_Korruption_ said:
Sort of newbish, but how do you tell if you've got the LG or Samsung screen?

Good review.
Click to expand...

There's a huge thread here Check the bottom of the first post for links to the tools.
 
Being perfectly honest, the LG screen did not bother me much at all. The only time it bothered me was on a perfectly white background. I figured I may as well try out the Samsung while I am still within my 21 day window. Also as I found out I have to ship it in. I did not grab the on-site warranty, I have the mail in service. So I have been told 3-5 business days from the day I send it in. They are covering shipping and repairs. The service rep tried giving me the lecture about what a WUXGA screen is. When I indicated I already had another WUXGA screen on an Inspiron I had also purchased from them he quickly just gave me the Depot number and shipped me a box to put it in. It was not much trouble at all. Stay tuned and i will let you know how it goes.
 
I purchased a 2yr plan but from the way I read it they will dispatch a tech to replace it. If not I'll ask for the screen and do it myself. I hope i don't have to send it back in.
 
I would have normally done it myself but I think I finally plan on keeping this thing for a while and would rather have them do it. I dont want them to try and tell me my warranty is no good in the future because I replaced something myself.
 
Final Update-
I shipped the laptop in and got it back 3 days later. They replaced the keyboard, everything works fine this time. They found where the loose screw came from (not sure I feel all that great about that) and have fixed it. They updated my bios (which I did not ask for). The one that gets me is the note they included told me the LCD was working just fine.....No Shit! I have it in writing from the tech they were going to replace my LCD and yet they did not. I did not ask them to troubleshoot the dam thing. In the end I really do not care because I think the screen is just fine (some sparkling, but no dead pixels). However I will be taking it up with Dell to get a coupon or something. Overall it was fast and everything important was fixed. Machine is still great. I have about 80 hours of WoW logged on it and not 1 issue. Hope everyone else is enjoying theirs as much as I am. If anyone is on the fence about this machine, it is absolutely fantastic.
 
Well i got a lemon!
Screen is ok some light leakage but not that bad but the damn thing seemed real slow. Cd/dvd vibrates the whole top of the laptop when any cd/dvd is put in,can't get more than 1:18 an hour on the battery,and even the rubber bumpers on the lid are falling off!
But the real kicker is it BSOD on me yesterday with a "fatal system error". Maybe a bad hard drive?
I called Dell and their going to replace the whole laptop. I hope i get a "good" one this time.
Glad to hear your happy with yours.
 
can you do me a favor and go to mlb.com and scale up their sample video and tell me how good/bad the interpolation is?

it would be greatly appreciated... :)
 
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