has anyone had a chance to feel the dell 8600 notebook out, how is the build quality compared to the compaq x1000/hp nx7000? (samma features/price...

The Inspiron 8600 is basically a Latitude D800 in an Inspiron 8500's clothing. I must admit, I am curious as to how well the GeForceFXGo will perform, but in overall quality you'll undoubtedly find that it is precisely the same as the 8500.

RaPTuRe

Who's General Failure and why's he reading my disk?

Is that good or bad?

Well, I haven't had more than a few minutes of 'hands-on' experience with an 8500, but I do own a D800. It is very well constructed, chassis does not flex, the LCD opens smoothly, but firmly; The "keyboard issue" is not present, but the left palm does get quite warm during extended use but is still perfectly comfortable. The keyboard's layout is perfect, the same design as earlier Inspirons and Latitudes, but without a doubt the most comfortable notebook keyboard I have come across. I see no reason why the Inspiron should be more than slightly different.

RaPTuRe

Who's General Failure and why's he reading my disk?

Dell makes better computers than Compaq

No, quite often they don't: Compaq make very, very nice little machines, compaq came out with a Mobility Radeon 9000 months before Dell did. The only real problem with Compaq is the support system, which has unfortunately deteriorated even more since it became HP. That and all the rubbish they put on the machine in the first place (software).

RaPTuRe

Who's General Failure and why's he reading my disk?

lol that's why you format da hard drive. I'd do it regardless of who built my machine.


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I agree with you entirely, and that is my philosophy too, but the majority of people out there are unwilling to do this.

RaPTuRe

Who's General Failure and why's he reading my disk?

lazy bastards

It's hard to believe someone would go fork out 2 grand for a computer and not spend a couple of hours taking care of it.

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""someone would go fork out 2 grand "" - if i spent so much time to make those money to pay for the computer, why whould i spend more time to "taking care of it"? i think it should work accordingly to the money i spent on it, don't you?

by the way, IBM never gets "warm" under the wrists, and is way better machine than any out there as far as outer constraction goes (titanium you know

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the hard drive should come formatted with a windows install disk, that way you know you're not getting spy ware and other worthless junk the manufacturer wants you to have.

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""the hard drive should come formatted with a windows install disk"" - you are kidding, right? i wish to see you do some "serious" sales with that kind of setup, lmao.

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This is an option I would like to see for experianced users not newbish twirps like you who don't mind the worthless garbage slowing down their machines.

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well "experianced user", words ""should"" and ""would like"" have very biggg difference in meaning, so that is where i was "confused" by yer expression of intelegent opinion.

and my machine came with w2k and some usuful power utilities installed only, i have no idea what kind of ""garbage"" you got from yer manufacturer.

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for the record intellegent is how it's spelled. I, as well as many others do not like to see anything on their hard disks that they didn't put there themselves. It pisses me off when I see the garbage some manufacturers like to shove onto their systems to make an extra buck or two. Dell puts a lot of demos on their systems for some extra cash and many others do similar things. The only system I would buy complete would be a notebook and in the past I have built many of my own from various spare parts to my left is a rebuilt gvc green 735 in fact. The truth is many are lazy so they don't want to have to format and install windows on their new machines, but many are not and would like the option of a preformatted hard drive on their systems. This request does not harm you in the slightest, you can use your preinstalled [-peep-] if you'd like.

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for the record ""intellegent"" is not ""how it's spelled"" but "intelligent" that is. I, as well as many others do not like to do any extra work on the pc other than we have to. and although it is not necessary to have hard disk preformatted as it can be done at any time during the reinstallation process if we choose to do so, i