Dell Inspiron 8600 Review (pics, specs)

[Andrew]

by Daniel Olsen

The Dell Inspiron 8600 is best considered as a desktop replacement style notebook but with decent mobility.  The Inspiron 8600 measures in at 1.5” thick by 14.2” wide and 10.9” deep. It weighs a modest 7.2 pounds, which is not bad for a desktop replacement style system with a 15.4” screen, considering Dell’s largest, the Inspiron 9100, weighs a back breaking 9.1 pounds. The system that I purchased and will be reviewing has a Pentium M 1.8 GHz Dothan processor with 2MB L2 Cache, 512MB 333MHz DDR RAM,  ATI’s Mobility Radeon 9600 PROTURBO with 128MB of RAM, 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+R/+RW), and a 60 GB Hard Drive at 7200 RPM. I also opted for the Dell Wireless 1450 Internal a/b/g and internal Bluetooth card.

Reasons for Purchasing Inspiron 8600

I will be going to college at the University of Florida in August and needed a laptop for, not only portable uses, but also to replace my current desktop, so system performance was an important factor in my decision process.  I opted for the Inspiron 8600 because it seemed like the best choice for what I wanted, it has all the performance I need, but is light enough to carry around without much problem. Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not a thin and light computer, but it is one of the lighter desktop replacements I have seen. Also, the 15.4” screen negates the need for an external monitor; the screen is plenty large, especially with its WUXGA resolution, 1920x1200, allowing for two full sized windows to be open side by which is very handy for multitaskers like my self.

I purchased this computer through Dell.com for $2611, before tax, shipping (which happened to be promotional free shipping at the time of order) and a $150 mail in rebate. It was not the cheapest choice, but given the quality of the product I received, it was well worth it.

Design and Build

Top view of the Inspiron 8600 (view larger image)

As far as design goes, Dell has hit a home run with this one. The top cover is silver plastic with a metal Dell insignia, very clean and professional.  If you don’t like that look however, it can be easily changed with a Quicksnap cover that cost $39 each. I like this clean look, and it is much better than the other Dell laptops with the excessive blue plastic. There are four LEDs that can be seen when the notebook is open or closed.  The LEDs indicate power, hard drive activity, battery status, and the Bluetooth antenna. On the inside, there are three additional lights for Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock. These are next to the volume controls right on top of the keyboard. I was not disappointed with the keyboard at all, I have always been skeptical of laptop keyboards; this is one of the best I have seen. It is full sized and has a nice feel to it.  I typed this entire review on the keyboard with no problems whatsoever. As far as size aspect of design goes, the Inspiron 8600 is no bigger than I would expect from a laptop with this large a screen.  Meaning to say, it is not small, but it is not very heavy and I have had no problems transporting it around.

Right-side view of the Inspiron 8600 (view larger image)

Left-side while open view of the Inspiron 8600

Screen

The WUXGA screen is a work of art, pure and simple. I could not have dreamt of anything better. I, having read the reviews saying that the WUXGA produced text that was too small to read, reluctantly opted to go with the highest resolution anyway I have had no such problems; the text is small, but nothing that 18 year old eyes can’t handle. An important thing to note is that the icons and toolbars can easily be resized using Dell’s Quickset function.

Screen and full system view of the Inspiron 8600 (view larger image)

Speakers

The speakers work well, producing sound that is good for a laptop. If you will be doing anything other than listening to Windows XP beep at you however, I would recommend some other audio production device, be it external speakers or headphones. The sound produced by the Inspiron 8600 speakers is fairly crisp and clear, but, as is to be expected in anything other than the Inspiron 9100 (which has a subwoofer in the battery), there is little to no bass produced. 

Processor and System Performance

The Pentium M chip performs well; I have the 1.8 GHz version Dothan based processor, this chip is dubbed the Pentium M 745 by Intel. Windows boots up and shuts down quickly and all applications run very well. I use the computer mainly for office related tasks; usually running multiple instances of Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word, Outlook, and other such applictions. To benchmark the processor alone, I used a program called “Super-pi” which calculates pi out to 2 million digits. I used this as a benchmark because it measured processor power only, the time it takes to calculate pi is affected very little by hard drive speed or memory. I was able to calculate pi to 2 million digits in exactly 2:00 minutes. This is a respectable score; I have to say I was impressed. To see scores by other notebooks view the following NotebookReview.com forum thread: http://www.notebookreview.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2657.  I ran the same test on a P4 2.0 GHz Dell desktop and P4 3.0 Dell Desktop. The 2.0 took 3:16 and the 3.0 took 2:16. I do not do any serious gaming, but downloaded the free version of Aquamark3 as a graphic Benchmark. Running the standard test as maximum detail (the only test available in the free version) the results were, CPU: 8,787, GFX: 2,460, Total Score: 21,586, Triangles per second: 6,498,192, and FPS: 21.59.

Battery Usage and Life

Because I am never far from an outlet, I usually stay plugged in as this provides better performance (the Pentium M chip is designed to use less power when a notebook is in battery power mode and runs faster when the notebook is plugged into a wall outlet).  Besides, using a battery less will save it for when I do need it when away from a power outlet.  With that all being said, with the screen mostly on full brightness (only turned down in dark lighting where it was too bright), I am able to consistently get about 3 to 4 hours of battery life when I do unplug. For $99 you can get a second primary battery or one for the modular bay, allowing for extended battery life (using both batteries at the same time). I purchased an extra primary battery, because, in order to use the modular bay battery you must remove what ever is in the modular bay, be it the CD drive or floppy drive.

Optical Drive

For the modular bay optical drive option, I went for the CD/DVD burner and although there is an optional floppy drive for $49, I decided to buy an external USB floppy later, this way I am not forced to remove the CD drive when ever I want to use the floppy, I can simply plug it in and remove it much more easily. I would recommend this solution to anyone needing a floppy. I bought a Sony USB floppy and was able to simply plug it in, and with in 15 seconds it automatically set itself up and was ready to use.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Dell Inspiron 8600 keyboard (view larger image)

I am impressed with the keyboard. As I said earlier, I have always been skeptical of laptop keyboards, thinking it impossible to type for very long on one after being accustomed to a full sized version. The Inspiron 8600 keyboard, however, is full sized, and almost as comfortable to type on as my desktop keyboard is. And, as I type more and more of this review and get used to the keyboard, it becomes increasingly more comfortable, especially since I can sit in my bed and work! I have never been a fan of touchpads, or any pointing device other than a mouse for that matter, and I find I’m still of the same opinion with the Inspiron 8600.  I bought an external Kensington PocketMouse Pro Wireless a week before the computer came, and am glad I did. You are able to program the four corners of the touchpad to do different tasks; I have set up the top left to open internet explorer and the right to Auto Scroll. Also, by running your finger along the rightmost edge you can scroll up and down in internet windows and documents, much like the scroll wheel on a mouse.  Much to my surprise, I have yet to inadvertently open an internet explorer window; these gestures seem to work only when you want them to, always a good thing.

Input and Output Ports

Until now I have done nothing but praise this laptop, but it has come time to discuss my one gripe. This Inspiron 8600 comes with a FireWire port, Ethernet and modem port, S-video out, microphone and audio out, monitor out port, and only two USB 2.0 ports. There are no serial or parallel ports, which would not be a problem, but for the fact that there are only two USB ports. I have a lot of peripherals to connect and am forced to constantly unplug and replug them in. I always have a mouse plugged in, reducing me to one useable USB port to be used for my two printers, scanner, floppy drive, and memory key. Because this is only a problem when I am at my desk, it is one that will be easily (expensively) solved with the purchase of a docking station or USB hub. I plan on buying the $199 docking station very soon. 

Back-side view of Inspiron 8600 with a few of the ports visible (view larger image)

Wireless

The 8600 comes with the many wireless options; I opted for the Dell brand a/b/g internal antenna, and am pleased with its performance. I also went for the internal Bluetooth card, which I have yet to use. I am able to consistently get a connection at 54 Mbps throughout my house so speed is not an issue. Even when the connection speed drops, it is always faster than my internet connection, which averages around 1.1 Mbps (according to cnet.com’s bandwidth meter). I average the same speed with the wireless connection in the 8600 as I do on my desktop connected directly to the router. The only time that I find wireless connection speed to be an issue is when transferring files through my home network. Because I get 100Mbps with the Ethernet connections I definitely notice a difference when transferring large files from computer to computer, but still, at 54Mbps things happen pretty quickly.

Conclusion

Overall the 8600 is a good desktop replacement that is not too thick! (view larger image)

The Dell Inspiron 8600 is definitely a top of the line laptop, with a price to match. It has unmatched performance and is designed very well with many useful features. I would definitely recommend this computer to anyone looking for a top of the line desktop replacement that has some mobility as well. While the 8600 is easy to carry, and fairly light weight for its size, if you are looking for something thin and light, this may not be for you. I am able to easily fit it into a backpack and transport with not problem, but you will feel the weight after a while.

Pricing and Availability

The Inspiron 8600 comes in various configurations and prices and is only available through Dell.com.  It's a challenge to keep track of the ever changing deals, specials and coupon codes that Dell is running on this notebook, check back to NotebookReview.com to get the latest coupon codes that are available though!

[Code101]

Great Review on a good notebook!

As always, I just can't understand why we have all these nice Pentium-M based notebooks with very high resolution widescreen displays and yet none of them offer the Radeon 9700 with 128MB VRAM. Does Dell, ASUS and Sony just not want to be up on technology? It seems that the Pentium 4EE based notebooks offer this video configuration for game players but I need this video configuration for designing high end graphics for the software I develop. I would just like have the 9700/128 on a Pentium-M WSXGA+ or WUXGA based notebook instead of a Pentium 4-M. I value having more than one hour of battery time if you know what I mean[]

errrrr!

So far, I'm most impressed with the ASUS W1N but the video configuration is what is holding me back. The Inspiron 8600 looks nice too. It's funny now because I'm considering the new P7000 Ultralight. I have just given up hope on finding what I need in the bigger notebooks. Mabee my luck will change[8D] I really like the looks and specs of the new P7000!

[Odie]

Good review Dan!

Code 101, you might consider the Acer 202X series, those come with dothan pentium-m cpus and a 128mb radeon 9700

- Odie

[viewsonic]

Yeah, I must say that after trying out my brother's Inspiron 8600 it is a pretty decent performer in a reasonably small package. However, that feeling for me lasted only two days because a couple days after my brother receiving shipment of his Dell, I received my PowerBook G4. Sure, mine is several hundred dollars more expensive, but it is well worth it in terms of style, performance, and SIZE.


Here is my 15" powerbook sitting on top of the Inspiron 8600.


Compare 1.1 inches thick to 1.5 inches, as well as the extra 1.5 inches in the front

[spets]

If it wasn't for the price, I would have went with the 8600.

Regarding the USB ports solution.. I recommend just grabbing a 4 port or 8 port (if those exist?) powered USB hub, and just plug it in. You'd use up one more power outlet, but it works out to be cheaper than getting the docking station, unless the station has something else that you need.

[d-roC]

Nice review. This seems like a very good laptop. If I were not so happy with my 600m, then I would be running with this one. THe one gripe that I have is with the USB issue. I would think that with removing the legacy ports, that they would have at least added 2 USB slots to replace the ones that where there. That would have made for a better solution for a laptop marketed as a desktop replacement.

Dell Inspiron 600m + PalmOne Zire71 + Sony-Ericsson T616 = Mobile Computer Consultant and Website Designer

[patrick2159]

Hi Everyone,

Telus gave me a Satellite Tecra S1 with 512MB of RAM (Centrino 1.5GHz) and I must say that this thing has wazzowed me.

I recently went through a flood and have to buy a new laptop to replace my extensive desktop system.

I decided on getting a Dell Inspiron 8600 for a variety of factors. First, here is what I am getting.

HOLD THE PHONE!!! Looks like Dell has changed the base configuration...

I may have to cancel my order and re-order! It'll probably be easier than pleading my case!

No more 40G drive! Now 60G! Free 802.11B/G Internal card!!!

Sorry guys, will post after I take care of this!!!

[patrick2159]

OK. ((Canadian Prices))

Here is what I have now ordered:

Base Pentium®M Processor,1.6 GHz,15.4 WSXGA+ LP16NHC [221-5914] 1
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional WPXP [420-3231][313-2174][313-2208][412-0408] 11
Memory 512MB,DDR,333MHz 1 Dimm 512MB1D [311-3185] 3
Video Card 128MB ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600 PRO ATI128M [320-2902] 6
Hard Drive 60GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive 60GB [340-9637] 8
Power Adapter AC adapter - 65w, 19.5v 65W [312-0176] 9
Floppy Drive and Additional Storage Devices No Floppy NOFD [340-8972] 10
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem INTNIC [430-0493] 13
CD ROM/DVD ROM FREE UPGRADE! 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+RW/+R) 8DVDRWR [463-0845][430-1050] 16
Wireless Networking Cards Dell® Wireless 1350 Internal Wireless (802.11b/g, 54Mbps) TM1350I [430-0919] 19
Bundled Software Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003 CNBASIC [412-0452][412-0674] 22
Security Software Dell Security Center by McAfee, 90 day introductory offer (412-0548) MCAFE90 [412-0636] 25
Digital Music Dell Jukebox powered by MUSICMATCH MMBASE [412-0691] 26
Primary Battery 72 WHr Primary Battery ADDBATT [312-0066] 27
Carrying Case Backpack Carrying Case BACKPAK [310-3952] 28
Hardware Support Services 3-Yr Return to Depot (RTD) Service+Complete Care, 24x7 Phone Hardware Tech Support, 365 days a year S3RRCC [950-9900][950-9902] 29
Multi-Media Software Microsoft® Plus! Digital Media Edition DME [412-4000] 37
Digital Imaging or Digital Photography Paint Shop™ Pro® Trial plus Photo Album™ Starter Edition DPS [412-0521] 38
Internet Access No ISP Requested NISP [412-0148] 40
Dell Media Experience™ Dell Media Experience™ DMX [412-0706] 115
TOTAL: $3,356.00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First off, I'm glad I checked the site again. Bless this forum.

Secondly, I think that the product is going to be great, but the service so far seems to be a bad experience... typical? Not sure, but not such a great start to a guy who lost everything he owns just the other day.

I would like to comment on ordering my Dell (original order). Trust me - it applies to the overall 8600 experience. Unfortunately, I am living in a hotel as my condo flooded extensively and I lost my computer equipment. I ordered online and found several problems with regard to billing address, vs. shipping address.

I didn't receive an automated email all day on Friday, and I called to check up on whether my order was being processed. Dell has 3 numbers (order, accounts, and tech support). I spoke to the right girl(name withheld) who told me their auto-mailer was offline. She read back my order to confirm everything to me, but unfortunately they had the shipping address the same as my billing address. I asked her to chage it, but she said that the only way to do this was to either cancel the order or change the order after it had been shipped!!!!

I asked her why this is, and her answer (I have a copy of the conversation on tape for my own quality assurance purposes []) - get this - is that they must have messed up when they retyped my order into the ordering computer!!! WHAT!!! Dell --> GET XML parsed data working for YOU! They actually print out my order, turn around on their chair and type it into another computer!!!

Well, now we have that settled. Hopefully they'll get right on my order... though still no auto email, but then, a secretary probably isn't working on a Sunday []

_______________________
OK. Onto the hardware.
_______________________

Great value. As you can see I spent the extra money for 1x512MB peice (for use of other expansion slot later), WSXGA+ display, XP Professional, XP Office, and of course the extended warranty.

The 512MB RAM was worth it. Who knows what I'll need in the future, but I sure don't want to have to throw away anything or sell it for bargain basement prices. This seemed wise.

The WSXGA+ display seemed more than enough. 1680x1050 Shouldn't be too small on that 15.4 inch screen with my mid-twenties eyeballs. I also went with the upgraded video card so if I feel like running a second display for gaming I can also support large resolutions on an huge external display.

I am getting XP pro so that I can join a domain in the future, as well as host some services and make full use of the NTBackup application (full backup).

I chose the 3 year service package, because laptops aren't as do-it-yourself repairable as the desktops and also it was cheaper than any of the chains. Futureshop wanted between 350-450 for comparable Toshiba or Compaq/HP laptops. Also, because you bring it right back to the source, you don't have to wait the extra step of say dropping it off to the chain store. Another bonus is the accidental coverage. No other extended warranties cover it... the only thing they say is the damage can't be cause on purpose.. in other words, don't tow it behind your car down the 401 just to get them to replace it with a bigger better model. Duh.

I like the IEEE1394 firewire port and will probably buy a mini-dv camera to make movies with, within the year. The DVD writer that was a free upgrade is an 8 speed. This is fast enough!

True about the USB ports, but as stated above, why do you need more than 2 if you are on the go? Otherwise, just get a 2.0 compliant hub for the desktop.

I got MS Office because I thought it would be great to own a legit copy at least once in my life.

Overall, my choice was based on a laptop that has

1) Centrino
2) DVD Writer
3) IEEE 1394 Firewire
4) 802.11B/G
5) Brand name (not e-machines or avaratec or acer or asus or fujitsu)

Considerations that I have de-prioritised were
-price
-display size
-battery considerations (partial)
-cosmetics
-weight

I hope that my product will arrive soon, let me know if you all want my comments about it when it arrives, or ask questions.


-Patrick

[Andrew]

hey Patrick. Looks like a good configuration there, I'm sure you'll be happy with it because, as Dan says in his review, the 8600 is simply a good bang for the buck deal.

In regards to your name brand comment and saying those four listed are not name brand, I think some might disagree with you [] All of those manufacturers make good notebooks that fit certain buyers.

[chadbryant]

One thing I DID NOT LIKE about the 8600 is that it doesn't come w/ a point-stick mouse. BLAH!