Mid-sized Dothan Notebook Roundup: Dell, Gateway, and HP/Compaq

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.