Dell Latitude D830 Review

[nightyy]

Hi there,

i'd like to give some feedback on display and heat in form of comparisons.

Heat:
I lately had a D620 (NVS110), a D620(950GMA), a D630(X3100) for business and a D830(X3100) for private use.
The Dx20 series in general was A LOT hotter than the Dx30s now are. Those are nearly cold to the touch even in 24/7 like my notebook in bureau. The NVS110 in the D620 was noticeably hotter than the 950GMA, the D620-NVS110 was loud and hot.
My D830 is running passively now with i8kfangui and rmclock, it never reaches 75°C, except i do some photo or video editing.

Display:
On the display side i had four of them:
14'' 1440x900 on the older D620-NVS110
14'' 1440x900 on the newer D620-950GMA
14'' 1440x900 on the D630-X3100
15'' 1920x1200 on the D830-X3100

All three 14'' displays showed changes in type.
The first D620 had a yellowish touch with the silver sparkles that so many people complained about.
The second D620 had a brighter screen, the yellow touch had gone, the sparkles were still there
The D630 has a really bright screen, i do adjust it down one level mostly because it seems so bright/white, the coating lacks the silver sparkles.
The D830 WUXGA in comparison to the D630 WXGA+ has got a lot more ligt leakage, which i only notice when the screen goes to the black screen screensaver. But in comparison the viewing angles of the WUXGA are way better.

Hope that helps with some decisions

Nighty

[qwavel]

Hey nightty thanks for the info.

I think you changed my mind about what to get.

I was going to get an end-of-line D820 with the NVS120, but I like my notebooks quiet and cool.

I'll extrapolate that, if your D620-NVS110 is so hot, then the D820-NVS120 is probably the same. And, I guess it doesn't matter whether it is the older chipset/cpu of the D620/820, or the NVS video that makes it so much hotter then the D830. Either way, I don't want that.

[nightyy]

qwavel,

definetely go for the Santa Roas based platform, saves some heat. This is due to the lower idle power consumption of the processor.
And the X3100 is just as fast as the older NVS110/120, and is DirectX10, so a little more future proof.

I owned a Acer Travelmate 663LCi for two years and this thing was silent, nearly never had the fan running. Every notebook after that left me disappointed in terms of heat and noise:
Acer Travelmate 8004LMi
Acer Travelmate 8101LMi
Dell D620

By the way if you search for a bigger harddrive get the Samsung HM250Ji. Had recent Seagates and Fujitsu, those had a constant whooshing sound to them.

Nighty

[qwavel]

definetely go for the Santa Roas based platform, saves some heat. This is due to the lower idle power consumption of the processor.
And the X3100 is just as fast as the older NVS110/120, and is DirectX10, so a little more future proof.

I was considering the NVS simply because it sounds like it is geared towards multi-screen use, which is exactly what I do. I was a little worried that something with integrated graphics would have a hard time driving a WUXGA internal screen and a high res external at the same time. But I agree that the X3100 would probably be fine for me - I'm just doing text stuff after all.

Thinkpads are much better priced then Dells here in Canada, but they don't offer the choice of the Dells. If I want a Thinkpad with a medium to high resolution screen then I have no choice but to get the upgraded video. Very annoying.

[nightyy]

Dells are much more affordable than the T-Series here in Germany

Don't worry with multiple screens, this is what i constantly use at work and private.
The D630 at work drives internal 1440x900 and a extended external 24inch 1920x1200
The D830 at home drives internal 1920x1200 and a extended external 22inch 1680x1050

Both by the way are docked on the D/Port just fine so i can use the DVI-Output and i have not a single cable leaving left or right, all conenctions leave at the back!

[freddyy]

hi all..would somebody plz help me to compare these d820 and d830 ....d 830 core2duo 2g t7300 fsb800 with quadro 140/256mb and vista buss. vs. d820 core2duo 2g t7200 fsb667 with quadro 120/512mb and xp pro..same in the rest (like 2gig ram ,etc.)...i cant get which has the better vga ...is 830 ok for at least not too recent games?..by the way in my catalog both have 4usb but in review its mentioned 3 for 830..which is correct?..all in all is there alot difference between d830 and d820?

[Commander Wolf]

Errr, let's see: yes, the processor and vid card options are different, the D830 CAN ship with XP, I believe both should be decent for light to mid gaming - though I am not a gamer myself so I can't really give any firsthand experience, the D820 has four USB ports and the D830 has three USB ports.

But the D830 has an s-video port. The two are basically externally identical. The D820 has also been reported to have a very lacking screen; subsequently screen choices should differ between the two. Other than that I don't recall there be any other significant difference?

[qwavel]

The D820 has also been reported to have a very lacking screen; subsequently screen choices should differ between the two. Other than that I don't recall there be any other significant difference?

Hum. If the Latitudes can have bad screens then I would imagine it would depend on your choice of screen, and would not be a D820 vs. D830 issue. Dell probably kept the LCD options the same when they moved from the D820 to the D830.

The screen options for the D820 or the D830 are:
WUXGA (1920 x 1200) 200 nits, 500:1
WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050) 200 nits, 300:1
WXGA (1280 x 800) ?

The WSXGA+ screen appears to be the same screen that they offer for the Vostro and the Latitude.

So which one is supposed to be crap?

[nightyy]

I saw the 1280x800 on a D820 and it was very grainy and washed out, this was a 02/2007 model.
I am very happy with my D830 WUXGA though!

[Smirch]

Hello - I see a lot of people choosing to order just 1gb from Dell, and add a stick -- but won't that lose the dual-channel option. HOw much performance boost is seen when dual-channel is active?