$600 Notebook Roundup - Crowning the Affordability King
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 29, 2005 10:38 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Dell Inspiron 2200
Since originally ordering and receiving the Dell Inspiron 2200, Dell has introduced a new line of Inspiron notebooks for the home. The Inspiron B130 is Dell's latest competitor in the sub-$600 market; however, its release was not in time to be included in this roundup. We chose to keep the Inspiron 2200 in this review as it is still available for Higher Education customers, but we will be working to bring an updated roundup with the Inspiron B130 as soon as possible.
The Inspiron 2200 that we received came with a Celeron M 370 (1.5GHz) processor based around Intel's 915GM chipset; naturally, it uses the chipset's integrated graphics. The Inspiron B130, the 2200's replacement, moves back down to a Celeron 360 (1.4GHz) as its default processor option.
Like all of the notebooks here today, the Inspiron 2200 that we configured only shipped with 256MB of RAM, to keep within our $600 budget. Storage comes courtesy of a single 40GB Fujitsu MHV2040AH drive.
Unfortunately, in order to meet the $600 budget, the Inspiron 2200 comes with no wireless networking options.
Surprisingly enough, there are no ports at the front of the notebook:
- Headphone jack
- Microphone jack
- PC Card slot
- 3 USB 2.0 Ports
- Ethernet jack
- Modem jack
- VGA output
Since originally ordering and receiving the Dell Inspiron 2200, Dell has introduced a new line of Inspiron notebooks for the home. The Inspiron B130 is Dell's latest competitor in the sub-$600 market; however, its release was not in time to be included in this roundup. We chose to keep the Inspiron 2200 in this review as it is still available for Higher Education customers, but we will be working to bring an updated roundup with the Inspiron B130 as soon as possible.
The Inspiron 2200 that we received came with a Celeron M 370 (1.5GHz) processor based around Intel's 915GM chipset; naturally, it uses the chipset's integrated graphics. The Inspiron B130, the 2200's replacement, moves back down to a Celeron 360 (1.4GHz) as its default processor option.
Like all of the notebooks here today, the Inspiron 2200 that we configured only shipped with 256MB of RAM, to keep within our $600 budget. Storage comes courtesy of a single 40GB Fujitsu MHV2040AH drive.
Unfortunately, in order to meet the $600 budget, the Inspiron 2200 comes with no wireless networking options.
| Dell Inspiron 2200 | |
| CPU | Intel Celeron M 370 (1.5GHz/1MB L2/400MHz FSB) |
| Chipset | Intel 915GM |
| Memory | 256MB DDR333 (1 DIMM) |
| GPU | Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics |
| Display | 14.1" XGA (1024 x 768) |
| HDD | 40GB Fujitsu MHV2040AH |
| Optical Storage | 24X CD-RW/DVD-ROM Drive |
| Wireless | N/A |
| Ethernet | Intel PRO/100 VE 10/100 |
| Modem | Internal Soft 56K |
| Audio | SigmaTel C-Major |
| Ports | Headphone, microphone, PC Card slot, 3 x USB 2.0, Ethernet, Modem, VGA out |
| Mouse | Trackpad |
| Size (L x W x H) | 13.0" x 10.6" x 1.46" |
| Weight | 5.99 lbs |
| Battery | 8-Cell NiMH |
| OS and Other Software | Windows XP Home SP2 |
| Price as Configured | $599.00 |
| Warranty | 90 days |
Surprisingly enough, there are no ports at the front of the notebook:
- Headphone jack
- Microphone jack
- PC Card slot
- 3 USB 2.0 Ports
- Ethernet jack
- Modem jack
- VGA output
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rqle - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
Hmm, didnt know these littler celeron M 1.4ghz can pretty much outpace the new architecture of the sempron 2800+ cpu. interesting.Questar - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
How about an Inspiron 6000? I snagged one for $584 + $19 shipping.Questar - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
BTW, that was with a P-M, not a C-M.bjacobson - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
niceQuestar - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
Yeah, and now I see you can get a 600m for less than $600.Alphafox78 - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
I have a V2000Z with a Turion64 and its great!!! It sounds like the article is biased against compaq or something, the thing is sweet. works great in World of Warcraft and even plays BF2, althouh its not too fun. the form factor is great, I highly recommend it. mine does have the brightview screen, 1GB of PC3200 ram and a 5400rpm drive tho.. ;)SS - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
The point of this was for $600 range laptops, going with the Turion64 setup over the Sempron and upgrading the RAM and hard drive all would push the price well over the price point this review was for.So you are basically asking to rate the $600 laptop based off the $1400 model's preformance.
Alphafox78 - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
I got mine for $760 after tax. then the free buestbuy ram, used the HD from my old laptop. lower than $700 after the free ram and stuff. I didnt get it for $500, missed that offer by a week! arg!Hacp - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
Tell that to the people who got the Turion 64 V2000Zs with wireless/12cell for around 500 shipped taxed. Then add the free 1GB bestbuy ram.Hacp - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
Ya if you can get it for under 450 taxed shipped of course its great :).Also to further my comments, I think this article really shows the strenght of the Intel centrino platform. In other tests with dedicated graphics cards, the Turion/sempron/ and Pentium M come really close in terms of battery life, but in this test, comparing the V2000 to the V2000Z, we see that the whole platform makes the celeron have much battery life, even though the sempron "should" have more Blife.