pro's and cons of the inspirion 8500

[whiteashcm1]

i have seen so many mixed reviews of the 8500 its hard to decide who is right and who is wrong. so to find out i personally purchased a new 8500 2.0gig w/ g4200 video, 512 memory and a 1400x1050 SXGA screen with XP home OS. i think the machine is overall a above average laptop but by no means the top of the line. my first sore spot was the unbelievable cheesy keyboard. for a 2000 dollar plus laptop the quality of the keyboard is totally unsat. at lest dell came out with a bulletin to fix the problem free of charge and that should be the least they can do since we the buyer have put our faith in them. the chassis in my opinion is not as sturdy as the 8200 but understandably with a wider screen the chassis is larger also. when i first booted it up the performance of the laptop was no faster than my IBM 1.2 gig machine, but Dell doesnt tell you to go into the BIOS and disable the speedstep option which lets the processor run at a full 2 gig all the time which increases overall performance. i use my laptop for gaming mostly and it plays most games well. i've played IL-2 Forgotton Battles, Medal Of Honor and Return to Castle Wolfenstein with most of the settings on high and the performance has been very good, an excellent gaming machine. i also have had no problems with the notebook since i purchased it over six months ago. looking at the big picture i think dell still makes a very competitive notebook but as the Dell company grows the quality of the products are going down hill. i think Dell is cutting corners in the quality of parts they use and it shows. the best notebook from Dell to date considering performance and overall quality of parts and construction without a doubt is the inpirion 8200. you can get this notebook with up to a 2.4 gig with the badass Radeon 9000 Pro viedeo card 64mg, pc 2100 ddr memory(same as 8500) and all of the same options as the 8500 except the widescreen. if i had it to do over again i would buy a refurbished 8200 any day over the 8500. ohwell live and learn.

[I am the 0mega]

Umm............ well actually the R8500 is more powerful than the R9000 Pro, atleast in scenes with more complex polygons.

The 8500 Pro has 4 pipes, and 2 TMU's per pipe, whereas the 9000 has 4 pipes, but only 1 TMU. Now, the 8500 has 2, less powerful (PS1.1) shaders, whereas the 9000 Pro has 1, powerful (PS1.4) shader, borrowed from the R9700 Pro. In general the shading performance is a wash, but the 8500 beats the 9000 pro in almost everything.

The Ti4200 beats them both, and the 9600 beats that.

And PC2100 sucks.

[Scott Tiger]

Originally posted by I am the 0mega
Umm............ well actually the R8500 is more powerful than the R9000 Pro, atleast in scenes with more complex polygons.

The 8500 Pro has 4 pipes, and 2 TMU's per pipe, whereas the 9000 has 4 pipes, but only 1 TMU. Now, the 8500 has 2, less powerful (PS1.1) shaders, whereas the 9000 Pro has 1, powerful (PS1.4) shader, borrowed from the R9700 Pro. In general the shading performance is a wash, but the 8500 beats the 9000 pro in almost everything.

The Ti4200 beats them both, and the 9600 beats that.

And PC2100 sucks.

You didn't even read his post above did you? He's taking about a laptop; you're talking about a video card.