Inspiron 9300 thread

Those LCD's are a bit pricey for my taste. I'll stick with P95+B with a res max that is ridiculously high. myhttp://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1316&page=1 Its about 1/2 or so less than any of those LCD's, and at least equal to them in picutre quality. :D
 
Just got the ship notice from Dell today. Should be here by end of the week. Specs: 2ghz Pm, 80gigHd, WUSXGA, 256Mb Gforce 6800, Bluetooth 2.0, Wifi B/G, 256 mb ram, will throw in a gig stick in the other slot. 1700 bucks, with free shipping and 35% 0ff coupon. :D
 
Nasty_Savage said:
Just got the ship notice from Dell today. Should be here by end of the week. Specs: 2ghz Pm, 80gigHd, WUSXGA, 256Mb Gforce 6800, Bluetooth 2.0, Wifi B/G, 256 mb ram, will throw in a gig stick in the other slot. 1700 bucks, with free shipping and 35% 0ff coupon. :D
Click to expand...
Nice
BTW: There is *NO* "S" in WUXGA.
 
Nasty_Savage said:
Just got the ship notice from Dell today. Should be here by end of the week. Specs: 2ghz Pm, 80gigHd, WUSXGA, 256Mb Gforce 6800, Bluetooth 2.0, Wifi B/G, 256 mb ram, will throw in a gig stick in the other slot. 1700 bucks, with free shipping and 35% 0ff coupon. :D
Click to expand...

Congrats. let us know how you like it! don't listen to GLSauron, while he may be right, he's just living up to his title. ;)
 
I tend to mistype on the linux lappy at home. Haven't figgered out why yet, I think the keys are off or something...I'm debating on just getting the full 2 gigs from crucial or adding a second gig chip later after I get the first...decisions...

Anyway, I got a ship notification, but no updates since Saturday. It says it could take a full 3 days in order for the transit information to show on the site. Or is this just a statement that the billing has been recieved and it could just be sitting there waiting for some tard to finally put it on a plane?
 
Nasty_Savage said:
Anyway, I got a ship notification, but no updates since Saturday. It says it could take a full 3 days in order for the transit information to show on the site.
Click to expand...
Log in and check order history (not order status). The invoice will have your tracking number. Add "1z" in front of it if it's shipped by UPS to track it.
 
Thanks, It should be here tomorrow. I delayed ordering Ram until tonight however due to thinking it would be the end of the week (went with 2 gig sticks). So after I wipe it out tomorrow with XP Pro clean install to rid me of the extra crap Dell slaps in there and dual boot Suse Linux I'll be cooking with crisco! Incidentally, I was gonna pick up a 1 gig stick for my powerbook. Its almost as much as the 2 gigs for the Dell! :eek:
 
I've got an i9300:

P-M 1.6 533FSB (Thinking about getting the 1.6 400 and overclocking)
512MB DDR2 (I can see why notebooks need a gig, considering HDD speed)
80GB HDD 5400RPM (I need all the battery life I can get)
GeForce 6800 Go (333/666 is the max clock I can pull from it)

I love this thing to death, screen took some getting used to, now it's excellent... plays all the games I want with very acceptable frame rates, but I think I got a bum video card...I could always return it when I get my FX system up and running
 
Nasty_Savage said:
IT...HAS...ARRIVED! OMFG this thing is GINORMOUS! More later...
Click to expand...


haha, exactly what I said... I'm the only person I've seen in the real world with it (I take it on the train with me and such)
 
ScHpAnKy said:
I've got an i9300:

P-M 1.6 533FSB (Thinking about getting the 1.6 400 and overclocking)
Click to expand...
Do it! It's really worth it. I made $30 by selling my 1.6GHz/533 and upgrading to a 1.5GHz/400 @ 2GHz/533. :D

All the 1.6GHz/400 CPUs i could find were kind of expensive, more than the $100 i paid for a used 1.5GHz/400.
 
pxc said:
Do it! It's really worth it. I made $30 by selling my 1.6GHz/533 and upgrading to a 1.5GHz/400 @ 2GHz/533. :D

All the 1.6GHz/400 CPUs i could find were kind of expensive, more than the $100 i paid for a used 1.5GHz/400.
Click to expand...

well, I will immediately, but does speedstep still work with it afterwards? I am a battery-life fiend... what voltage and what multiplier/fsb does it have afterwards... I don't care about what it uses when it's plugged in
 
ScHpAnKy said:
well, I will immediately, but does speedstep still work with it afterwards? I am a battery-life fiend... what voltage and what multiplier/fsb does it have afterwards... I don't care about what it uses when it's plugged in
Click to expand...
Yep, speedstep still works -- at the same multipliers. :p For example, the 1.5GHz/400 will step down to a 6x multiplier which is 600MHz (6 x 100MHz). At 2GHz/533MHz it still steps down to a 6x multiplier but that's now 800MHz (6 x 133MHz). I think further stepping down is possible, but I haven't tested it. The CPU sips power at 800MHz/0.700v at idle (around 1W, same as stock at 600MHz/0.988v).

If you use the Centrino Hardware Control it's possible to make the CPU run at lower power for most multipliers. I wish the author would add 2 or 3 more entries then it would cover all the necessary multipliers. :D For example, I lowered the 6x multiplier voltage to 0.700v instead of the default 0.988v, all the way up to 15x @ 1.148v vs 1.340v stock with middle multipliers' voltage set to values between 0.7v and 1.148v. That's a savings of 30-50% power over the estimated 28W TDP @ 2GHz overclock, lowering it to the same or less 21W TDP power consumption at 1.5GHz stock speed. The net benefit is that you can have a much faster CPU speed at the same or less power when using the Centrino Hardware Control app.
 
Ok, some initial first impressions. Got all the drivers in, still need to install some games and some useful software ( i wiped it and installed pro on it)

My Mx900 works and connects fine, i like the bluetooth and wifi leds that light up on the chassis to show its active. Further tests with my Motorola v551 with modem connection and file transfers will still need to be done.

Sound seems pretty good, much better then the normal tinny sound you get from lappy speakers, even better then my powerbook.

The glare from the glossy screen took me back a tad, major reflection outdoors. Gonna be a pain sipping martini's on the porch and getting a few matches of Warcraft 3 going.

Did I mention it was quite huge? ;)

Screen real estate will be invaluable at work, though I am hesitant to take it to work considering I'm always on the run and I don't have a true desk. Be good to take into the districts when school's out and I'm alone in the building and have nothing to do. I'll crank up a few rounds of a game and stuff. :D

I've noticed the wifi cutting out from my Netgear router a few times, so the book is out on it thus far. Maybe I shoulda got the A/B/G chip...though i doubt it would fair much better...so far so good though. again worried about games on the porch, hehe ;)

I also will need to give the Dual Layer DVD Rom a workout after I retrieve my disk image from my server for Nero...but for the moment, my kooky parrot is getting jealous I'm not scratching his head and clacking away at the keyboard, lol. Gotta give the little buzzsaw some attention :)
 
PinataUT said:
Went with a loaded XPS 2
750 coupon + 75 big bucks ($59.50 net - last minute duel on EBAY to get the darned thing)...

Is it here yet? Is it here yet?

"Get the good one so you'll like it and use it more." :D
Click to expand...

Yes, it is here.

:D :D :D

I have to go read about how to remove all the crap from it and get it ready to run cleaner / faster.
 
I also have a certain 'my precious' feeling about this beast that sloughed near Bethlehem.

I almost (ALMOST) want to get a 700m I can stick on the lid limpet-style. Run a small network cable between them to keep them in synch.

Only detach them for local LANs. When I'm going somewhere not safe, such as anywhere in my house out of my home office where my child can pour oatmeal on it, I'll take the 700m.

Out of the house to a questionable location, such as the British Parliament or any city having "New" as part of the name, take both as a combined 13lb slab of crushing power.

Example: I'm in town and in very good shape from carrying the laptops (especially the 4 batteries I need to run a movie on the XPS) when I'm accosted near the top of the steps. I bludgeon the nearest, breaking a forearm. His friend attempts to stab me, cutting only through the 700m. I detach the 700m and Predator style backhand it at the nearest two (Tron or Xena references not doing it for me).

The 700m distracts the rest momentarily because of the counterfeit "ALIENWARE" badge. As we've seen from 24, bad guys really like Alienware. A smack on the pavement followed shortly by a pop overhead: sniper! I blind the sniper momentarily using the giant reflective screen. Up onto the rail of the stairs on the XPS in an inverted one-handed grind (Tricky) to safety.

(Seriously thinking about having a 'spare' travel laptop... I think if another laptop shows up and it isn't for my wife, I'll be in deep trouble...)
 
PinataUT said:
I also have a certain 'my precious' feeling about this beast that sloughed near Bethlehem.

I almost (ALMOST) want to get a 700m I can stick on the lid limpet-style. Run a small network cable between them to keep them in synch.

Only detach them for local LANs. When I'm going somewhere not safe, such as anywhere in my house out of my home office where my child can pour oatmeal on it, I'll take the 700m.

Out of the house to a questionable location, such as the British Parliament or any city having "New" as part of the name, take both as a combined 13lb slab of crushing power.

Example: I'm in town and in very good shape from carrying the laptops (especially the 4 batteries I need to run a movie on the XPS) when I'm accosted near the top of the steps. I bludgeon the nearest, breaking a forearm. His friend attempts to stab me, cutting only through the 700m. I detach the 700m and Predator style backhand it at the nearest two (Tron or Xena references not doing it for me).

The 700m distracts the rest momentarily because of the counterfeit "ALIENWARE" badge. As we've seen from 24, bad guys really like Alienware. A smack on the pavement followed shortly by a pop overhead: sniper! I blind the sniper momentarily using the giant reflective screen. Up onto the rail of the stairs on the XPS in an inverted one-handed grind (Tricky) to safety.

(Seriously thinking about having a 'spare' travel laptop... I think if another laptop shows up and it isn't for my wife, I'll be in deep trouble...)
Click to expand...


This post has me in stitches!
 
hmm.. i have an 8600 now, 1.6 dothan, 512mb, 9600 pro turbo.. and I wanna upgrade lappy this summer.. cant decide though.. whats the battery life for this one? Top 2 things i look for in laptop is graphics card and batt life.. i know this has nice vid card.. but what about batt life? mine gets on average 4- 4 1/2.. this looks like the perfect lappy.. its not as expensive as the almost equal xps2, which is nice :)
 
i've only got the smaller battery, but i see about 2 hours batt life browsing web and stuff. gaming would be less. If you opt for the 9 cell, i understand you ought to be able to get 2 hrs gaming battery life, and more than that under low usage. but that's not from personal experience.
 
one more thing.. I'm kinda sick of my WUXGA 15.4"
what do you non-widescreeners think of your lcd?

edit: *sorry about the double post* :rolleyes:
 
I'm about to place my order for the 9300 - and I still can't decide between the WUXGA+TrueLife or the WSXGA. I've heard that the WUXGA resolution is too high and the coating gives a sparkly effect when viewing text on white background (somewhat of a concern for me).

Another issue is that if i plan to use the notebook for some gaming, would the WUXGA resolution be way too high? I've been told that LCDs should be used in their native resolution or else it looks crap. If that is true, seeing how most games would not run well at 1900x?, would I be better off not getting the WUXGA upgrade?
 
Halflife 2 runs great on this thing with some options toned down, at full 1920x1200.
Most any game right now will run fine at 1600x1200 (native res still, different aspect ratio) with many options on, just dealing with either a slightly stretched picture, or black bars on the sides, dpending on your windows settings. I'm no expert on LCD's but even below native res, at say, 1280x1024 or its widescreen equiv I am able to game just fine in CS:S with no ghosting visible to me (again, not a trained eye here).

Also, while the text may be too small for many, the DPI is adjustable as is windows' default text and icon sizes for those worried about eye strain. personally, i've got it to all the tiny defaults on 1920x1200 and it doesn't hurt my eyes one bit, although the text is small its crisp and easy to read, and i'm typing it on a white background with only a minor sparkle. personally, the only downside I see to this screen is that it has a very bad glare in direct sunlight. Otherwise, I highly recomend it.
 
Thanks for sharing that, engineer.

I'm not so concerned about the small fonts - I've been using 1600x1200 forever (but of course, I am nearly blind now).

But I don't think the 6800Go is powerful enough to run games at 1600x1200 nevermind 1900x1200. So in your experience, the lcd visual quality does not degrade significantly when using lower than maximum resolution? I've heard people say that once you go away from 1900x1200 it looks terrible - which is generally true for LCD monitors.

Also, does the notebook allow lower resolutions without stretching/resizing (by using a portion of the screen space), like it does on its standalone LCD monitors (ie 2005FPW)?
 
XiaoBai said:
...
Also, does the notebook allow lower resolutions without stretching/resizing (by using a portion of the screen space), like it does on its standalone LCD monitors (ie 2005FPW)?
Click to expand...

Yes it does, its actually an option in the windows video driver, I don't think its the LCD itself.

Also, you may be surprised what this 6800go can do, i've been playing battle for middle earth on 1600x1200 with medium graphics quality and it is flawless. Granted a strategy game is less intense speed wise than an FPS but still, there really has been no lag, and i've only got the 1.6ghz processor. Let us know your impressions when you get it, I'm sure you'll be satisified.
 
I recently purchased the 9300 for a friend and configured it with the lower res screen. Good choice IMHO. The res is a tad bit low for windows, but perfect for games. Plus it saved like $150.
 
XiaoBai said:
I've heard people say that once you go away from 1900x1200 it looks terrible - which is generally true for LCD monitors.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't accept that as being generally true, some tfts are better than others when it comes to scaling, for instance my 2001fp scales way better than any other tft I've ever seen in person.

Also, given the high resolution, but smallish screen size, the pixels must be tiny, which in itself would significantly reduce the effects of scaling over bigger monitors at the same res.
 
XiaoBai said:
I'm about to place my order for the 9300 - and I still can't decide between the WUXGA+TrueLife or the WSXGA. I've heard that the WUXGA resolution is too high and the coating gives a sparkly effect when viewing text on white background (somewhat of a concern for me).

Another issue is that if i plan to use the notebook for some gaming, would the WUXGA resolution be way too high? I've been told that LCDs should be used in their native resolution or else it looks crap. If that is true, seeing how most games would not run well at 1900x?, would I be better off not getting the WUXGA upgrade?
Click to expand...

WUXGA all the way.

And no, the 1920x1200 isn't too high. I've yet to find something that the 6800 can't handle at that resolution, no aa/af.

The_Engineer said:
Halflife 2 runs great on this thing with some options toned down, at full 1920x1200.
Most any game right now will run fine at 1600x1200 (native res still, different aspect ratio) with many options on, just dealing with either a slightly stretched picture, or black bars on the sides, dpending on your windows settings. I'm no expert on LCD's but even below native res, at say, 1280x1024 or its widescreen equiv I am able to game just fine in CS:S with no ghosting visible to me (again, not a trained eye here).

Also, while the text may be too small for many, the DPI is adjustable as is windows' default text and icon sizes for those worried about eye strain. personally, i've got it to all the tiny defaults on 1920x1200 and it doesn't hurt my eyes one bit, although the text is small its crisp and easy to read, and i'm typing it on a white background with only a minor sparkle. personally, the only downside I see to this screen is that it has a very bad glare in direct sunlight. Otherwise, I highly recomend it.
Click to expand...

I'm running 1920x1200 full options, no aa no af, and it's smooth as silk. 1gb of ram. You shouldn't have to turn the options down at all, in my experience.

XiaoBai said:
Thanks for sharing that, engineer.

I'm not so concerned about the small fonts - I've been using 1600x1200 forever (but of course, I am nearly blind now).

But I don't think the 6800Go is powerful enough to run games at 1600x1200 nevermind 1900x1200. So in your experience, the lcd visual quality does not degrade significantly when using lower than maximum resolution? I've heard people say that once you go away from 1900x1200 it looks terrible - which is generally true for LCD monitors.

Also, does the notebook allow lower resolutions without stretching/resizing (by using a portion of the screen space), like it does on its standalone LCD monitors (ie 2005FPW)?
Click to expand...
Fonts are not an issue. The 6800 Go handles HL2 and Doom3 at 1920x1200 without a hitch. Just avoid AA/AF and you'll be more than fine, and get a gig of ram. Really, it handles everything

The_Engineer said:
Yes it does, its actually an option in the windows video driver, I don't think its the LCD itself.

Also, you may be surprised what this 6800go can do, i've been playing battle for middle earth on 1600x1200 with medium graphics quality and it is flawless. Granted a strategy game is less intense speed wise than an FPS but still, there really has been no lag, and i've only got the 1.6ghz processor. Let us know your impressions when you get it, I'm sure you'll be satisified.
Click to expand...

For the 9300, it's actually in bios.

Dew said:
I recently purchased the 9300 for a friend and configured it with the lower res screen. Good choice IMHO. The res is a tad bit low for windows, but perfect for games. Plus it saved like $150.
Click to expand...

Yuck. We got 4 of them, 2 with the WUXGA screens for me and my friend, and 2 for the local school district where he works, with the lower one. Put them next to each other, and the lower res one looks like crap.
At lower resolutions, the screen still looks fine. I use it at 1600x1200 for Warcraft 3, and it's fine.
 
lopoetve said:
... I'm running 1920x1200 full options, no aa no af, and it's smooth as silk. 1gb of ram. You shouldn't have to turn the options down at all, in my experience.

... For the 9300, it's actually in bios. ...
Click to expand...

Maybe i'm a stickler, but I like my AA/AF, things look better that way, and i've only got 512mb of ram too... :D :D

Also, I've not checked the BIOS, so it may be there too, but its also in the nvidia control panel. I'll post exactly where when i get home... I switch it on the fly sometimes when playing LOTR BFME.
 
The_Engineer said:
Maybe i'm a stickler, but I like my AA/AF, things look better that way, and i've only got 512mb of ram too... :D :D

Also, I've not checked the BIOS, so it may be there too, but its also in the nvidia control panel. I'll post exactly where when i get home... I switch it on the fly sometimes when playing LOTR BFME.
Click to expand...

I'm an AA/AF whore too, but I don't bother on my laptops ;) Especially at 1920x1200. Figure I'll take full res on this gorgeous screen and not worry any more.

I figured there was a way for the nvidia driver to do it also (never bothered looking), but the bios switch is nice if you want it taken care of with no software to futz it.
 
The_Engineer said:
Maybe i'm a stickler, but I like my AA/AF, things look better that way, and i've only got 512mb of ram too... :D :D
Also, I've not checked the BIOS, so it may be there too, but its also in the nvidia control panel. I'll post exactly where when i get home... I switch it on the fly sometimes when playing LOTR BFME.
Click to expand...
AA just renders at a signifantly higher res and then pics the average for each physical/settings pixel. On high res UXGA type stuff, theres enough pixels to do without it.
AF on the other hand can still be useful on high res, so play with it a bit.

Hell, play with the AA settings, you really shouldn't need it on a (W)UXGA screen.
 
Dont have a 9300, but my desktop GF drivers have the option to set custom resolutions for displays, dont have a TV hooked up so cant check that part.
 
Custom res huh? I got an nvidia 5200 in my toshiba, and I can't set custom res??? It is about 2 years old and it's only RGB. You think my driver can be updated? Good to hear about your GF though! That's encouraging.
 
JFTTUCAZ said:
Custom res huh? I got an nvidia 5200 in my toshiba, and I can't set custom res??? It is about 2 years old and it's only RGB. You think my driver can be updated? Good to hear about your GF though! That's encouraging.
Click to expand...
see if you have this (16x12 screenshot)
It might be just desktop chips, an old feature, or may have been recently added (forceware v71.89)

Back to 9300s for now.
I have my heart set of a 9300 (or if its soon an updated a g70 graphics version), but thats not something Im going to want to bring to class with me. Im thinking like a 700m to bring to class. I think I will wait until classes start back up to see if Im actually going to need to bring it with me. Doubt it. Im thinking another (old) laptop to use as a linux, 98 era gaming box, trillian while gaming, type of thing. Yay tri boot!

9300 for when I go home, lan parties, etc, as a main box.
old POS for 16 bit games, linux, and chatting/logging, etc box.
What do you guys think?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top