Dell Inspiron 8600 (8600SAP) PC Notebook

Pros: Great battery life, fast CPU&GPU, many options, big beautiful widescreen--and doesn't weigh a TON!!
Cons: Atrocious post-sale support, quality control and reliabilty somewhat lacking

Quite possibly, this will be the most in-depth laptop review you will ever read. Updated Aug 1, 2005--corrected info on the port replicator's DVI/VGA outputs. Also, I was recently browsing Dell's website and was disappointed to learn that none of ...

Pros: Good, solid hardware with nice design.
Cons: Good after-purchase support from Dell is a thing of the past.

I purchased my 8600 with all the works back in early December 2003. I have a 1.7Ghz processor, 60GB 7200RPM HD, 512MB RAM, DVD Burner, Blue Tooth, Wi-Fi, 128MB Video Card, and the best screen they offer. I opted to not buy a floppy drive. I ...

Pros: extended memory, quick applications
Cons: customer service, motherboard, keyboard, windows xp professional

From the minute I bought my Inspiron 8600, the problems began. Within 20 minutes of opening the box, I was on the phone with Dell trying to get my wireless connection to work. That was only the start... After working with Dell support to reset the ...

Pros: Ultra power and awesome screen for the lowest price I could find
Cons: A bit weighty, hard to fit in a backpack. It's a portable DESK-top.

If you're looking for the ultra-portable, the 8600 is not for you. This laptop is on the large size. Measuring at 14" x 10" x 1.5", you'll need a special bag to carry it safely and comfortably. Mine weights somewhere just over 7 pounds, but that's pretty ...

Pros: wide screen, fast processor, battery life, ergonomics, design, keyboard size, USB2.0 and Firewire ports.
Cons: weight and length is sometimes inconvenient for carrying in a pack.

The Insprion 8600 (wide screen) is an excellent upgrade from the prior top of the line Insprion 8200 (regular screen). It has a very solid construction, pleasing design elements, and great ergonomics. This is an ideal solution for individuals who value ...

Pros: 15.4wa screen, Centrino chipset, excellent power/value
Cons: Nothing to really call a con.

Im writing to you from the keyboard of my new Inspiron 8600, replete with cdrw/DVD-rw+, 15.4wa screen, 128m video, Centrino 1.4mhzP4, 60g hdd, and 512m ram. Three things I want to address that have been mentioned, keyboards were a problem but have been ...

Pros: Looks nice
Cons: Logistic and technical support. Implementation of the 15.4" wide aspect screen is flawed.

Summary: My experience indicated that Dell's support/implementation of the new 15.4" ultra high resolution screen is inadequate. In my dealings with Dell, technical support staff demonstrated inadequate expertise. Staff also exhibited lack of knowledge ...

Pros: Price, Performance, Screen, Video, DVD+RW, Memory, Battery, Looks. ALL EXCELLENT!
Cons: TrackStick Buttons... Not good, not good at all. Don't halt your purchase though (See Pros).

After reading so many reviews on notebooks I feel obliged to write my own short review on my recent purchase of a Dell Inspiron 8600. Here’s what I got: Centrino 1.6Mhz 1 Gig RAM (Superb free double memory offer) 15.4” SXGA WideScreen 40Gb HDD ...

Pros: Effortless wireless. Good performance. Decent size and weight.
Cons: On the pricey side

I got the 8600 to do the following: Digital Audio, software development, web browsing, and a little game playing. I was more interested in performance than graphics, so I got the lowest resolution screen (~1200 X 800), but the fastest available ...

Pros: Cordless for 5 hours! Updated 9/26/04= 4 hours!
Cons: widescreen aspect not easy on the eyes

Actually I do know the Processor and speed, but Epinions didn't have it to select. Pentium M 1.7 I did a lot of research and almost didn't get this laptop because of the price, also because I couldn't find much information on it. Thank goodness for ...

Pros: Widescreen, DVD+RW
Cons: Communication of display setting options poor

Bought this 2 months ago in Australia and have been thoroughly impressed. Mine came with 512Mb RAM, 60 Gb HD, Pentium M 1600MHz, Radeon 9600 Pro turbo graphics adaptor and a 1680x1050 display. The widescreen in phenomenally useful, I don't think I can go ...

Pros: Powerful laptop, great screen, nice modular construction, long battery life
Cons: pre-installed McAfee anti-virus software causes the network to hang after waking up from stand-by.

I ordered my Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop a few months ago. It was shipped on time and I set it up pretty easily. Unfortunately, it had a bug where after waking up from stand-by mode, the network stopped working. Dell didn't know what the problem ...

Pros: beautiful screen, fast processor,wireless technology, light weight, 3 hrs battery life.
Cons: none(if i do i will let you know)

i am software professional and i wanted to buy a laptop which is not too expensive, delivers good performance, portable, and good battery life and answer to all my questions is 8600. i have done extensive research before buying it(like reading all the ...

Pros: Good computer at competitive price, overall good value, better than most others
Cons: Declining quality, too many problems on notebooks, ridiculous extended warranty policy

I have absolutely loved Dell products since I bought my first Dell way back. They have made not only good computers but their service was known for accuracy, courtesy and ease of use. So I've been using them myself and recommended to all my friends over ...

Pros: power, lite compared to others, screen, good cheap gaming notebook for people on a budget
Cons: might be a little heavy for travelers, and wireless antenna isn't the best

this is the best notebook ive ever seen and the only ive ever had. i have many friends and relatives who have notebooks, but it definitely isn't like this. here are the specs of my Inspiron 8600: SYSTEM: pentium m 1.4 Ghz 512 PC2700 DDR RAM ...

Pros: Large, clear display; lots of speed for a 1.5 Pentium M CPU
Cons: Speakers are less than adequate, Bluetooth software update from Dell is not compatible with WindowsSP2

Initially, I was very happy with this new laptop. It replaced an HP Omnibook XE3 which I owned for approximately two and a half years. The HP was adequate but I was looking to upgrade to a better system and it looked like the Dell would be a good ...

Pros: Great screen, great 7200 rpm HD.
Cons: Keyboard unacceptable. Support and availability of critical replacement parts overwhelmingly unacceptable.

I have been using Dell laptops for about 7 years. I just upgraded from an Inspiron 8000 to an 8600 to get the 1900 screen resolution and the faster HD speed. The screen is great. The HD is great. Unfortunately though, the keyboard is unacceptably ...

Pros: Battery life: up to 4 to 5 hours. Screen resolution / brightness / quality.
Cons: Some hardware quality issues. Somewhat heavy ~7 pounds.

When my new Dell Inspiron 8600 arrived I noticed that it did not sit 'flat' on the table. One of the corners was raised off the table. This is annoying when you type or use the touchpad. Also after 1 week of non-intensive usage, one of the speakers ...

Pros: Good machine - does exactly what I bought it for and more.
Cons: Customer and technical support is incredibly poor. Couldn't understand the Indian Technicians english.

I like my new Inspiron 8600. I have had it for 4 months as of the writing of this review. I wanted expandability and portability as well as long battery life. I have a couple of technical programs I want to run and on flights with my 2 year old son I ...

Pros: Fast speed, awesome speed and long battery life.
Cons: Maybe a bit pricey. Paid $2400

I saved a few $$$ and got the 1.4 but it's way faster than my 1.7 P4 desktop by Dell (8200). I got the UXGA screen which, for my 45 year old eyes, is harder to read but using Mozilla browser at 120% works fine. The Truemobile 1300 works very well with ...

Pros: Long battery life, excellent component quality.
Cons: None that I've noted.

I bought this notebook because my son, a computer geek, highly recommended Dell. He said they were the only company to consider in looking for a notebook computer.

I purchased the computer using the services of the group assigned to handle members of the AICPA (The National CPA group). They gave me great advice, a super price and everything I needed in a notebook. They pushed a little on extra software, warranties etc. but overall were very helpful.

The screen is fantastic, the computer works perfectly and is a true delight. I'm especially pleased with how solid the construction is. It's apparent everything included in the notebook is of excellent quality. The battery life is superb, quick charging and long lasting. In short, it's one super product.

So far I haven't found anything I don't like about this notebook. I've been using it for 6 months so far.

Pros: Great speed, video and customer support
Cons: Heavy, bulky and very ugly green top

With a 7200rpm drive, this machine flies. This is a very worthwhile upgrade, as is the SXGA screen and 60mg video card. The display is great and works well with enhanced for widescreen DVD's. An American Airline stewardess said it was the best display she has seen on any of her flights. I had a few minor technical questions. One was a problem with the laptop not going into Standby. The tech would offer suggestions while asking the guys around him and doing his own searches. He found it was an obscure Quicken driver.

I had been reluctant to go with Dell because in the past I found their technical support to be very poor. It in my opinion has improved considerably.

Pros: Dell's installation and setup of computer was fantastic...very easy to get started.
Cons: Only problem I see for right-handed users using a mouse is the location of DVD/CD-RW.

Great computer! Love the larger screen (15.4 diag. viewing). Wrist-rest area and keyboard very comfortable. Love the upgraded Wireless 802.11b/g internal card. Purchased D-docking station and it brought new life to old Parallel and serial port connecting hardware (NOT part of 8600). Docking station also upgrades computer from 2 USB ports to 4.

Pros: 7200RPM HD and docking station availability; sharp widescreen; reliable; firewire built-in
Cons: Small keyboard; no PS2 ports; ultrasensitive touchpad

I chose an Inspiron 8600 over other products (including Dell's) mainly because it was the only machine in the market (in January 2004) that satisfied my needs: ability to use a docking station, 15" screen, and 7200RPM hard drive.

The laptop is mostly great, with a few small problems. First the good things about it: sharp widescreen with vivid colors (1920x1200); ultra-fast 7200RPM Toshiba-IBM HD; built-in firewire port; acceptable 1.7GHz Pentium M CPU. The bad things: the keyboard was "reused" from previous models that didn't have widescreen, so you have one inch on each side of the machine that could be better used (a larger keyboard would be great); also, the touchpad activates at the slightest pressure of the plastic case around it--this causes a left-click of the mouse that can be destructive at times (once I sent an unfinished email that caused a lot of confusion afterward). I fixed it by buying a USB keyboard so I can type without clicking. Disabling the touchpad might work too, but I haven't tried.

Anyway, I'm very happy with this machine. It compiles code just like a desktop, and graphics and video editing capabilities are acceptable with 1GB RAM.

Pros: Good feature set on paper, decent value. Boots fast, seems reasonably solidly constructed.
Cons: Centrino wireless poor, support uneven, wide screen not as useful as expected.

This looks like it should be a great computer, but when I got my hands on it I found a number of things that I didn't like. Most of all, the integrated Intel wireless card give me very poor bandwidth compared to my existing laptop.

Dell was unable to resolve this and agreed to send me a new card. Unfortunately, before that card arrived the hard disk crashed. I am now making arrangements to return the laptop for a refund.

I was also annoyed by the fact that if you type fast, your fingernails get sort of hung up on the underside of adjacent keys, and the touchpad is flaky.

Their support engineers seemed to want to help, but they were ineffective. I also had some problems communicating with them due to poor phone connections/language issues/sticking to their script and not listening to my own observations of the problem (e.g. that my OTHER laptop and a friends laptop work fine, therefore the wireless problem is probably in the new latptop rather than my wireless network).

Pros: Nice screen. Has a DVD R/W, good speed.
Cons: Unreliable moving parts (keys, trackpoint, buttons). Mouse buttons were DOA. Video problems. Terrible Customer Support.

I had this Notebook since Dec 03. It is fast and has good disk capacity and good connectivity, but that is all the good I can find. Keys are flimsy, overall construction is cheap, unlike competitor's like HP and Toshiba. Dell customer support is really bad, I had this machine sent for replacing mouse buttons that were DOA and they installed a new system board (or said they did!)... I had to send the unit again, wasting another week on the process, not to mention all the time I spent being bounced from one support group to another all over the world....

Would never buy again from Dell. Very bad experience.

Pros: 15.4 screen, Very fast Pentium M 1.6, Fire wire port, Wireless.
Cons: It's ugly, tech support, problems out of the box.

Out of the box, the 8600 had a bad video card. Paid for on-site next day service & accidental damage. It was 6 days before it was fixed.
Not sure what others are talking about when referring to the keyboard, it seems fine to me.
The 15.4 wide screen (after repair) was nice, especially while multitasking.
It is powerful and wireless, but for the $2300.00 price tag it may be wise to research your options.
The 15.4 screen has it's advantage, but beware it's size is a disadvantage.

Pros: performance, build quality, display
Cons: weight

Great laptop at affordable price. I have owned this laptop for about 6 months now and have not had any issues. I have been on one international trip with this and it performed just fine.

The wide screen is very nice as well as the silver case color. Battery life is about 4+ hours when its actively being used. Built in wifi is convenient.

A bit on the heavy side, I wish it was under 6 pounds.
I noticed that the built in wifi was not downloading fast enough. Turned out that MTU and RWIN parameters were not set correctly by DELL. RWIN was out of range. This was a simple fix.

If you don't mind the size and weight, its recommended.

Pros: Great package for your money.
Cons: Overheating issues are rampant, just Google the 8600 and see for yourself. Outsourced phone support.

I bought this setup because it was powerful and the battery life was the longest of many of it's competiters.
The screen size and resolution were also top notch.
I love the touch pad and pressure point dual mouseing action.
The centrino setup may limit the heat, but the ATI 9600 video card puts out a TON. It overheats and shuts itself off. If it's not powering down, the video becomes shakey and the system hesitates intermitantly.
Dell outsources it's phone support. The response time is great, but the level of communication is rather poor. The nuances and general understandability of the English language are lost on the outsourced associates. Frustration from the accents and general unhelpfulness are rampant. Not that they don't try hard, they just don't have "authority" and getting anywhere on the phone that isn't by the book is hopeless.

Pros: great screen, fast speed, dvd cd burner
Cons: size (too bulky) left side gets very hot

exactly what i need for work and good for all my leasure time. found the staff at dell excellent, i love the widescreen aspect for the screen.

Pros: has the best graphics i have seen on a notebook, widescreen is just COOL!!!
Cons: i little on the large side, but what do you expect from a desktop replacement

Well i just recieved my Dell Inspiron 8600 two weeks ago, and i must say that i am very statisfied. I bought my inspiron 8600 direct from the Dell website and found great upgrades and rebates.

So far i am very happy with my 8600 and have not had any problems. although it is made to be a desktop replacement, i still bring this baby to school with me every day. the most difficult part about this notebook is finding a case that will fit.

GREAT NOTEBOOK

Pros: Fast when it's working properly.
Cons: Just about everything else. One sorry hunk of plastic.

Looks cheap, runs hot, and crashes more than NASA. The panel that is designed for resting your arms while typing... It gets so hot as to be unbearable. I think you could get third-degree burns from touching the case on the back where the processor is. When the aux fan comes on, I have to hold the case to reduce the rattles. This bucket of bolts is only two months old.

The keyboard sucks... The keys are so thin my fingers get caught underneath. One key already fell off while I was in the middle of typing.

I spend a lot of time sending error reports.

I have tried to get through to Dell on the phone. What a joke. It's not like I can even dial up and do something else while waiting...Oh, no. Dell fills every moment while you're on hold with pre-recorded suggestions and advertisements. Is this really to help or to drive you away? It drives me INSANE.

The DVD player in this model (I got the top of the line) freezes up and skips.

The 15.4" screen glares.

We are not amused.

Pros: Wide screen, performance, long battery, best features available, Price.
Cons: Heavy, not as good looking as a Sony or Apple.

I have had this laptop for 3 months and I really like it. I was hesitant to buy Dell because it's cheaper than other brands, but I am glad I opted for Dell. Make sure to get the 7200 RPM Hard Drive and the SXGA screen, the Dell WiFi and the 64MB Video Card. Otherwise, it would be an average laptop. Remember that the peripherals make a big difference, the CPU power is not really used unless you do heavy multimedia/gaming. I'm a software engineer, and this is a great laptop for development. I can have multiple screens in the wide screen.

Pros: Its Quiet
Cons: Keyboard is very cheap, all the plastic surrounding it is VERY CHEAP, poorly built!

I recently purchased the Dell 8600 and had to immeadiatley send it in for repair. The keyboard made so much noise. This was the biggest pain, dealing with their horrible tech support.

The computer is built with very cheap plastic. I had a HP pavillion before, and it was very rugged, very well built. I have had my dell for 3 weeks and its already breaking. The plastic where the fan is has CRACKED already. The wide screen is not worth it, you need to keep the resolution at a certain point, and it is very small print. The top where your palms rest gets VERY HOT! If you type fast, your fingers get caught up on the diagonally placed keys. The ONLY THING I like about it, is its quiet!!!

Pros: wireless, DVD burner, longest battery life (M processor), high speed graphics
Cons: weight is high if you travel A LOT.

Did much research and found the Inspiron 8600. Got a great deal online at Dell and upgraded screen to next higher resolution and increased video card to 64Meg. If you are looking for a great gamer machine or a machine that is awesome for work. This one is it. The wide screen allows two documents to be open side by side making it really nice when working on spreed sheets or documents. I also opted for the DVD burner since I like to have a backup of my work readily available. The wireless works great both at my home and the office. With XP, very easy to change at either location (so this is not Dell only).

Pros: Design, Technology, stable with W-XP Pro,
Cons: Weight

With this notebook, you get the two most important things: A fantastic screen (1920x1200) and a 4 hours battery power!

System runs stable under Windows XP Pro and you can get what you need, from DVD burner to bluetooth.

Notebook is not for extrem-traveller !

Pros: durable; fast; handles everything well. Quality all around.
Cons: mouse issues but not serious and the greatness of this computer is not diminished.

Very durable computer with no real maintenance necessary. Very easy to use. Screen has held up wonderfully although technology seems nicer on the newer screens. Mouse pad can be difficult sometimes but when stationary, remote mouse works great. Centrino is great but using ethernet is also fine. My computer is upgraded and handles all applications with no problem. I have never had issues with locking up or slow processing. Performance is seamless. I have never regretted buying this computer and wouldn't trade it - just yet!

Pros: Size of the screen. Wireless access. Battery life is more than twice my Lattitude.
Cons: Came with bad Dell Router. Three phone calls to Dell to get replacement

I'm two weeks into the use of my new Dell Inspiron wireless laptop. After much review and watching Dell's site for "the right" promotion, I jumped in and bought this machine.

No regrets so far. I have not had the problems of the keyboard, hot battery, and cheap plastic look that was written about in other comments. I have a Dell Lattitude assigned to me at work. This machine is much faster and the 15" screen is nice to view when surfing the net or working on writing Word documents.

Pros: Don't have anything good to say because of all the trouble.
Cons: Having a working machine Dell Customer support

My screen went blank after I had it for a short time and I'm having problems with customer support. The responses from customer support have not been helpful. The price is not worth the headache. I would recommend purchasing another laptop brand.