Mid-sized Dothan Notebook Roundup: Dell, Gateway, and HP/Compaq
by Andrew Ku on September 30, 2004 1:09 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Final Words
If you place the notebooks side by side, they each have a distinct form. The D600 is the most compact and smallest of the three. The material for the Latitude D600 is stronger than the casing on the M320XL, but it seems more malleable than the casing material for the NC6000.The M320XL makes its mark as the thinnest, but somewhat flimsy. It seems to be partly due to the materials used and in part, due to the thin profile. Either way, the M320XL and D600 feel more mobile than the NC6000, which is the bulkiest, thickest, and sturdiest of the three.
Top to Bottom: Dell Latitude D600, HP NC6000, Gateway M320XL
Click to enlarge.
For a fully decked out system, the HP Compaq NC6000 takes the crown. It is catered specifically for the business user, most notably with its instant log out and presentation buttons. If you tack on the modular battery option along with an 8-cell primary battery, you are looking at a whopping 9 hours and 35 minutes of battery life. This is long enough to withstand the bore of some of the longest of flights (a flight to Taiwan is about 14 hours) or those who don't run by an AC outlet too often in the day. Its limitation is that it is heavy and is somewhat bulky.
Gateway's M320XL is nice and slim, which makes it reminiscent of a few of the thin Sony VAIO notebooks that I have used. Though, the casing material of those notebooks was of higher quality. In our use, we found the rubberized coating by the hand rests and the keyboard to kind of peel when it came in contact with semi-sharp objects, stuff as simple as our mechanical pencil. It doesn't come off in large chucks or anything, but rather, it just chips off at the impact area.
The bottom line is that the M320XL is not a business notebook, nor does it fare well in that respect. Its low native resolution makes it hard to multi-task, and it lacks an integrated microphone, Gigabit Ethernet support, and Bluetooth. All three of these options are available on the D600 and NC6000, both of which provide a comfortable 1400 x 1050 native viewing resolution.
So, we don't have a clear winner of the three. The M320XL seems more mobile, but its weakness is in its construction material, as it's easier to scuff.
Price Tags (systems used in the roundup - includes the extra battery cost):
- Dell's Latitude D600 - $2,544
- Gateway's M320XL - $1,799
- HP/Compaq Business Notebook NC6000 - $2,786 (this is with 2 x 256MB memory modules)
The D600 is the most compact, but compared to the extended battery life capabilities of the HP NC6000, it is left in the dirt along with just about any notebook. The NC6000 is a top of the line notebook, but its price tag doesn't let you get a sense for its weight nor its bulkiness. Though, we should note that this is far less bulky than the Inspiron XPS, notebooks with 15.4" widescreen displays, and our older Compaq Presario 1500T. Each notebook has something for everyone. If HP could get their NC6000 closer to the feel, form, and weight of the D600, we could actually have a clear winner. This goes the same for the D600, where Dell needs to provide some serious extended battery capabilities to compete with HP. It's too bad that the M320XL can't be configured to order like our NC6000 and D600, but if Gateway wants to compete seriously in the business notebook market, it needs to up the ante with some of the small things (microphone, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth), and most importantly, a display with a higher native resolution.
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Gholam - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link
IBM not performance machines? X-series, yes, but find me a performance laptop that weighs just over a kilo :) T42 on the other hand, can be configured with Pentium M 745 and Mobility Radeon 9600, which should give you pretty decent gaming capability. Of course it isn't as powerful as those Mobility Radeon 9800 based models, and the price ($3000-3500, depending on other components) is somewhat uncomfortable, but it's by no means weak.Souka - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link
Oh yes... I forgot to mention that I oversee the people who do the purchasing, repair, and I get feedback on reliablity of over 2000 units in the field and office....:)
Souka - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link
Actually, I find these laptops between the IBM X40 and the T42.My company uses only IBM laptops both at the corporate level, the branches, and our sales force. Office workers use the T series...from the T20 on up to the T42p. (I'm typing on a T41 right now and will be using a T42 soon). The X series....from the X21 on up to the X40...are used by most of the sales-team....with some T series tossed in there.
Let me say HANDS DOWN, that IBM has proven their value to us....Period. Occasionally we evaluate Toshiba, Gateway, Dell.....they don't last the mininum 3 year life cycle....
For public use, I don't always recommend IBM...they're definetly not performance machines....Games? forget it...
Nuf Said.
Gholam - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link
#17, I'm a technician, and I can say this: HP assembly quality _SUCKS_. Really it does. It looks like they use 10lb hammers and chisels to make the parts fit somehow, and don't give a damn what happens afterwards. Some parts rattle; others are wedged in so tight there is no way to remove them without breaking something, and it's been the case with pretty much every HP laptop that I came across in the last couple years. I'm not a big fan of Dell either, but at least they are better than HP.andyman7 - Friday, October 1, 2004 - link
why not try testing some laptops besides the big name brands?im typing this on a compal cl56
it is 6lbs, has a 1.7ghz dothan, 512mb ram, 60gb 5400rpm hd, 128mb mobility radeon 9700, 15in sxga+ screen, dvd/cd-rw, and over 4 hours of battery life when using light applications
and i got it for $1600
also what about the sager line of laptops?
most of those are definately DTRs but should definately be looked at
notebookforums.com has a lot of info on many other oem laptops too
anyway, the cl56 im using has become REALLY popular so it might be a good idea to try testing one (if you can get a review sample)
stateofbeasley - Friday, October 1, 2004 - link
Gholam - HP/Compaq is actually superior to Dell IMO when it comes to business notebooks.People sometimes say "brand X sucks," but don't realize that quality and service can vary significantly among a company's many product lines.
As for Powerbooks - they don't compete with business machines like the nc6000 and D600. It would be more appropriate to compare them with Dell's 8600/D800 line and Compaq's X1000 type (widescreen 15" multimedia platform).
Gholam - Friday, October 1, 2004 - link
#15, if there was a Thinkpad in the review, it would've been unfair, as no onther notebook vendor is even remotely close to standing up to IBM in terms of quality and engineering. I rank the top four notebook vendors in the following order: IBM, Toshiba, then Dell, and lastly HP/Compaq.Boardmonger - Friday, October 1, 2004 - link
Can we say IBM Thinkpad T42p? I would love to see it thrown in the review ;)trikster2 - Thursday, September 30, 2004 - link
One thing that struck me is how much dell just seems to ignore how important battery life is. My D800 gets about two and a half hours, miserble. My C400 is not much better.
I'm in the market for a laptop, considering everything including the macs and this review was very helpful.
just want to say, since my above post could be taken negatively:
Great review!
trikster2 - Thursday, September 30, 2004 - link
Another vote for the macs. For most business laptop use, as these are designed for they are fine subs for their pc brethern.
I find it amazing that the 17" power book is only 6.9lbs close in weight to these ugly (comparitively) PC bricks.