Mid-sized Dothan Notebook Roundup: Dell, Gateway, and HP/Compaq
by Andrew Ku on September 30, 2004 1:09 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Dell Latitude D600: In the Field
FanThe unit's CPU fan is on only when it needs to be, as it is initiated at a particular thermal point. So, as CPU usage goes up, the fan will in turn be activated or fan speed will be increased. There does seem to be variable degrees in the fan speed, but even with the fan at maximum speed, it is only seems to be on for a few seconds. At that max speed, the noise is very distinguishable. At mid-speed, you would actually need to be in a room that is quiet enough to hear the second hand of a clock in order to make out the low pitched hum of the CPU fan. In a reasonably quiet room, where you could hear a pin drop, you need to be within about 5" of the laptop to distinctly make out the fan; and probably within 2" of the left side of the laptop to make out the fan's buzz sound. Actually, if the optical drive is being accessed, the fan's noise will be drowned out.
Heat
In our opinion, there doesn't seem to be an issue with heat for these notebooks. In field use, the top of the system stays pretty cool to the touch; but on the bottom, only the left side of the system (where the CPU is located) gets warm. Though, it only gets hot enough to serve as a lap/hand warmer. It is definitely tolerable.
Keyboard
Click to enlarge.
Compared to the other two systems in this roundup, we would have to say that this is the middle child, in terms of keyboard quality, but it is still better than what we usually see. Compared to the Inspiron line, it has better feedback, but it seems to have a shorter "click", which is the best way we can describe it.
The control key and function key are located in the correct spot: control key at the bottom left corner with the function key to the right of it. We were pleased to see that Dell continued to provide dedicated page up, page down, home and end keys, but it may be hard for those with small hands to reach while centering on the arrow keys.
TouchPad & Buttons
We can't distinctly put our finger on whether or not we like this touchpad. Generally speaking, the touchpads on business notebooks are different than their consumer counterparts, just like the keyboard selection. This is because business users tend to expect a higher quality keyboard/touchpad in their laptop systems, a premium that they expect to pay over consumer notebooks.
However, it has been a while since we had a Dell Latitude in the labs.
Click to enlarge.
The D600's touchpad, compared to those on most other notebooks, is quite sensitive. It has a better glide aspect, in our opinion. Perhaps this is due to the fact that most other notebooks have touchpads with lower degrees of sensitivity. This is going to be one of those "like it or love it" features. You can still tweak the sensitivity of the touchpad, but there is a general sense of this touchpad, particularly its texture, that is different than others which we have used. So, it is a bit of both hardware and software related.
The buttons for the touchpad have a particular click to them that is similar to that of our Logitech M-BJ69 USB optical mouse, though it is a lengthier click. This is different from most other notebooks (including the other two in this roundup), in which the norm has been for touchpad buttons to have a shallower or less "clicky" feel. When using the buttons on the D600, you can clearly hear the click of the buttons. You don't really get that with other notebooks.
We should note that this is a dual input system, as Dell implements a touchpad and TrackPoint. Our personal preference is to use TrackPoint and its buttons over the touchpad system for the D600.
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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.