8600 or 9100

[mrrobisnon]

I am in the process of buying a Dell notebook. The problems is that I cannot decide between the 8600 or 9100. I will be using the notebook for AutoCAD and ArcGIS sotfware ( both are graphic heavy programs) and burning data to either CD or DVD watching DVDs and some gaming. I will be traveling with this notebook also.



Thanks


Joe

[V.B.]

If being mobile (ie: not on AC) is important and you want to be able to run on batteries for more than an hour and a half then get the 8600.

If you'll be running on AC most of the time and need Full-Time CPU horsepower for the CAD software then get the 9100.

If weight is an issue, note that the 9100 is heavy (10 US lbs).

The 9100 and XPS are desktop replacement PCs. As such they do not employ the power conservation measures to extend battery life that Mobile processors use.

[GunforHigher]

well if your going to travel. GO with the 8600. If you choose the right specs it should be able to play the basic games . I dont really like the 9100 because of its weight. I mean a notebook is there so you can use it on the go right?

Just askyour self this. WOuld you really want to be carrying a almost 10 pound machine?


Battery life is 2 hours i belive if your luckey. Even lower when on a game

[sakor1]

For CAD work you are much better off considering a Precision M60. It is a little more expensive but it has the best graphics for that kind of work with the Quadro cards, will outperform the i9100 in that respect. And to top it off has the mobility of the i8600. Consider it if you have a little extra.
stu

[Tigerotor77W]

:stupid: Listen to Stu now rather than later. (I'm going to be an engineering student as well and will likely run CAD on my computer.) The M60 is suited and certified for such use -- the 8600/D800 and anything else are not. I would also recommend doing a search on the "Dell General" forum as this has been discussed before in some detail. (And I would not recommend the 9100 for college use unless it stays in the dorm... in which case a desktop could be the better route.)

[mrrobisnon]

AT this time I really do not have the funds to spend on a M60 but I do have the funds for either a 8600 or 9100 I really need to make a decsion as soon as possibble so that I can buy a system and dowmload the software to it. Really I just need a system that will handle the 3D graphics that I will be working with.

Joe

[Tigerotor77W]

Okay, in that case, take a look at the 8600 and the D800. I wouldn't recommend the 9100 for a college student as it's kinda bulky. If you don't think you'll be carrying a notebook around at all, okay, understandable, but 8600 otherwise.

Edit -- rereread your original post... yeah, go with the 8600 or D800. D800 has a better build quality and feel to it and also has a powered USB port. I believe it also has the parallel port intact. The 8600 does NOT have any of those.

Try to get the SXGA+ screen and enough memory (just not from Dell).

[mrrobisnon]

I was wondering since you have a 8600, have you tried to run any AutoCAD software on your system yet? If yes how does it perform? Back ground info
See I am in the military and they are send me away to school for six months, well I do a lot more GIS work using Arc View(ESRI) software.

According to ESRI I should get the M60 with the following specs(Dell Precision Mobile Workstation M60 (Notebook) with Intel Pentium® M 1.7 GHz Processor,
Centrino Technology, 1 GB (2 DIMMs), 15.4" UltraSharp™ Wide Aspect WUXGA Display with
128 MB NVIDIA® Quadro™ FX Go1000 Video, 60 GB ATA-100 IDE (7200 rpm) Hard Drive, 8-24-24-24X DVD/CDRW Combo Drive, Integrated 56K Capable v.92 Modem and 10/100 Ethernet, TrueMobile™ 1450 Dual Band WLAN (802.11a/b/g, 54 Mbps) mini PCI Card, 1.44 MB Floppy,

I like these specs but, I would like to get them in the I8600. Another question for you how does the 128 MB NVIDIA® Quadro™ FX Go1000 Video card compare 128MB DDR ATI's MOBILITY® RADEON™ 9600 PROTURBO

[MitchellO]

As it was said, the Quadro 1000 was designed for CAD, the Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo wasn't. I don't doubt that the M10 would handle the CAD, just not as well as the Quadro card. The Radeon has the edge in games though.

[sakor1]

The Radeon card can't do CAD for peanuts. Even the FireGL ATI cards designed for CAD trail far behind the Quadro nVIDIA's. Trust me, best option is the QFX1000 in the M60, it games pretty well to as I have mentioned. Beats the MR9600 in OpenGL, trails it in DX9... but overall very close as a gaming card.
stu

[ewolff]

I would also strongly recommend the Precision M60. If money is an issue, you could finance the remainder of the cost of the laptop. Hopefully you would be able to pay off the remainder of the cost within six months to avoid finance charges.

[mrrobisnon]

About 2 hours ago I placed my ordrer for a Dell Insprion 8600. After long and careful research the I 8600 was for me. This is the configuration:
Inspiron 8600
Intel® Pentium®M Processor 725(1.60A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WSXGA+, Microsoft® Inspiron 8600 Intel® Pentium®M Processor 725(1.60A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WSXGA+
Memory 256MB DDR SDRAM 1 Dimm
Video Card 64MB DDR NVIDIA® GeForce™ FX Go5200 AGP 4X Graphics
Hard Drive 60GB Hard Drive.

I also realized that I can update the processor , video card and the memory a lot less in the next 6 month when the prices fall for theses items. I would like to thank every one for there advice. My next posting will be when the computer has been delivered.

[MNguyen281]

prices for the top of the line items for a system model do not fall in price - especially the parts that are proprietary and highly sought after like video cards. for example, a nvidia quadro4 700gogl is still around $320 even though performance is similar to the dated 4200 go. i would advise you to spend a bit more and buy now.

[MitchellO]

Didn't you need the computer now? If you do, why would you buy lower-end graphics now, and getting higher ones later?

[informant]

although the 9100 has nice power and awesome graphics card, its by far good for travel companion like the others said, i tried to lug this laptop around with me for some business travels, and i must say, i came home a few days later with my arms pulled out my sockets and my muscles very sore, its not so bad at first but after carrying that thing for a while omg haha ill never do it again :lol: 9100 is TRUE desktop replacement, should only be really used for moving around the house and maybe putting it in the car from office to home at the most.

[mrrobisnon]

I just received my new 8600 today. Dell delivery was great I order the the system on the 21 August and was built and and sent out the door on the 26 Aug and four days later in my hands. I was told that the system would not be ready for delivery until today. Well, I am now going to boot the system up and run it through some test to ensure everything is working properly.

[MitchellO]

Congrats! Have fun. :banana:

[mrrobisnon]

Thanks.

[MitchellO]

How is it? Like it so far?

[mrrobisnon]

So far things are okay, the one thing that need to do is upgrade the RAM i have only 256. I am going to up the ram to at least 1GB before any of the month. I have not had a chance to load the CAD and GiS software yet, that is due to that I had to leave town for the day. This would have been good time to test my wireless connection. I will give you a update by Monday or either sooner.

[MitchellO]

You might have trouble running the CAD software with only 256MB RAM. You may have to wait until you get your 1GB+.

[Tigerotor77W]

I tried running Pro/E remotely, and let me tell you, it is SLOOOOOOOW with the 8600. I think it might have more to do with running remotely than with my actual computer or GPU, but I'm not sure yet. I might install Pro/E on my computer and see how that runs.

[MitchellO]

Sorry, but what is Pro/E?

[sakor1]

It is CAD software.
stu

[Tigerotor77W]

Yeah, sorry, I didn't read this for a while... Pro/E is ProEngineer -- CAD software. I'm going to install it directly on my computer (eh, what the hey, slow things down a bit, ja?) and figure out if it's the remote link that's the bad part or the computer GPU that's slowing things down. :fingers crossed for remote link:

[AxiomofIllusion]

Of course it is g.

We have a few 8600's rocking Delmia in our sim group right now. Most of the engineers are trying to "upgrade" their workstations to 8600's :lol:

[MitchellO]

I'm not surprised they want to "upgrade". The 8600 is fantastic!

[mrrobisnon]

I finally after some downtime moving from Maryland to Texas I had the chance to run my CAD and GIS software. Well everything work find including the 3-D projections. When I upgrade the ram in the next couple of weeks things should render at least 3 to 4 times faster. But with as is there are no problems at all. :banana:

[Xarthan]

man i can't even operate my 700m on 256 of ram. it's just so slow!

[Tigerotor77W]

Update: 8600 runs ProE without any problems. (Axiom -- did you mean it was the remote linking that gave me problems? I think it was.)

Awesome for running CAD... but I still like the sound of "I have an M60" better. :smash:

[MitchellO]

256Mb is the bare minimum these days. My sisters Toshiba Satellite 1800 laptop runs XP with only 240Mb RAM (16Mb stolen for gfx) and it is soooooo sloooow. I am reformating it for her now, to clean out some adware and junk she downloaded. Unfortunately extra RAM for her is expensive.

[mrrobisnon]

I am about to update the ram in my 8600, what is the best source to get ram? I am going to upgrade my ram from 256meg to somewher between 512megs to 1G.

[solobaricsrock3]

IVE GOT 786mB IN BOTH OF MY LAPPY'S, AND THATS A GOOD MIDGROUND. iF YOU GAME YOU'LL NEED MORE (1Gb OR BETTER) TO KEEP UP WITH YOUR NEWER GAMES LIKE D3, FARCRY, ETC..... :dude:

[NBRFORUMSROCK]

my buddy has a 8600 and my 9100 whops it butt.