Mid-sized Dothan Notebook Roundup: Dell, Gateway, and HP/Compaq
by Andrew Ku on September 30, 2004 1:09 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Gateway M320XL: In the Field
FanBecause this is the only notebook in this roundup to use something lower than a 2.0GHz Pentium-M Dothan processor, it wasn't a surprise to find that noise was less of an issue. It is very hard to hear the fan if you are just typing away at the office, but in a dead silent room, you can make out the low pitched whirl if you are paying real close attention. Otherwise, in a slightly noisy office, you would have to stop typing and put your ear close to the notebook to hear anything. Compared to Dell's D600 and HP/Compaq's NC6000, it is much quieter.
Heat
Likewise, as the result of a lower clocked CPU, the thermal emissions are lower for this notebook. It gets slightly less warm than the NC6000 or D600, but it is still warm enough to melt an ice cube if you gave it enough time. We aren't saying that the NC6000 and D600 would melt an ice cube fast, nor should you test this out; but rather, just a little quicker than the M320XL.
Keyboard
Click to enlarge.
The quality of the keyboard is shy of what we had with Dell's D600, which means that it is designed more for an average consumer-end notebook or lower. Our main problem is that the amount of tactile feedback that we are use to getting from business notebooks like the ThinkPad series isn't there. If you haven't used a large variety of notebooks, you probably won't notice the lower tactile feedback level. Even in our use, we grew accustomed to it after some time.
The control key and function key are located in the correct spot: control key at the bottom left corner and the function key to the right of it. The M320XL has dedicated page up, page down, home, and end keys, but unlike most notebook keyboards, they are arranged vertically on the right end. It just takes a while to get use to if you are jumping over from a desktop or a keyboard scheme similar to that of the D600 or NC6000.
TouchPad & Buttons
Click to enlarge.
The touchpad and its buttons are spaced reasonably well, and we have no qualms about it. However, we would have liked to have seen more texture to the touchpad, like we have seen on other business notebooks. Additionally, the way the LEDS are positioned, it is near impossible to see them, if you are using the touchpad. They should be relocated to the space above the keyboard. There is a picture on the next page that shows them lit up. In the picture above, they would be seen in the translucent black piece of plastic.
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Gholam - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link
IBM not performance machines? X-series, yes, but find me a performance laptop that weighs just over a kilo :) T42 on the other hand, can be configured with Pentium M 745 and Mobility Radeon 9600, which should give you pretty decent gaming capability. Of course it isn't as powerful as those Mobility Radeon 9800 based models, and the price ($3000-3500, depending on other components) is somewhat uncomfortable, but it's by no means weak.Souka - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link
Oh yes... I forgot to mention that I oversee the people who do the purchasing, repair, and I get feedback on reliablity of over 2000 units in the field and office....:)
Souka - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link
Actually, I find these laptops between the IBM X40 and the T42.My company uses only IBM laptops both at the corporate level, the branches, and our sales force. Office workers use the T series...from the T20 on up to the T42p. (I'm typing on a T41 right now and will be using a T42 soon). The X series....from the X21 on up to the X40...are used by most of the sales-team....with some T series tossed in there.
Let me say HANDS DOWN, that IBM has proven their value to us....Period. Occasionally we evaluate Toshiba, Gateway, Dell.....they don't last the mininum 3 year life cycle....
For public use, I don't always recommend IBM...they're definetly not performance machines....Games? forget it...
Nuf Said.
Gholam - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link
#17, I'm a technician, and I can say this: HP assembly quality _SUCKS_. Really it does. It looks like they use 10lb hammers and chisels to make the parts fit somehow, and don't give a damn what happens afterwards. Some parts rattle; others are wedged in so tight there is no way to remove them without breaking something, and it's been the case with pretty much every HP laptop that I came across in the last couple years. I'm not a big fan of Dell either, but at least they are better than HP.andyman7 - Friday, October 1, 2004 - link
why not try testing some laptops besides the big name brands?im typing this on a compal cl56
it is 6lbs, has a 1.7ghz dothan, 512mb ram, 60gb 5400rpm hd, 128mb mobility radeon 9700, 15in sxga+ screen, dvd/cd-rw, and over 4 hours of battery life when using light applications
and i got it for $1600
also what about the sager line of laptops?
most of those are definately DTRs but should definately be looked at
notebookforums.com has a lot of info on many other oem laptops too
anyway, the cl56 im using has become REALLY popular so it might be a good idea to try testing one (if you can get a review sample)
stateofbeasley - Friday, October 1, 2004 - link
Gholam - HP/Compaq is actually superior to Dell IMO when it comes to business notebooks.People sometimes say "brand X sucks," but don't realize that quality and service can vary significantly among a company's many product lines.
As for Powerbooks - they don't compete with business machines like the nc6000 and D600. It would be more appropriate to compare them with Dell's 8600/D800 line and Compaq's X1000 type (widescreen 15" multimedia platform).
Gholam - Friday, October 1, 2004 - link
#15, if there was a Thinkpad in the review, it would've been unfair, as no onther notebook vendor is even remotely close to standing up to IBM in terms of quality and engineering. I rank the top four notebook vendors in the following order: IBM, Toshiba, then Dell, and lastly HP/Compaq.Boardmonger - Friday, October 1, 2004 - link
Can we say IBM Thinkpad T42p? I would love to see it thrown in the review ;)trikster2 - Thursday, September 30, 2004 - link
One thing that struck me is how much dell just seems to ignore how important battery life is. My D800 gets about two and a half hours, miserble. My C400 is not much better.
I'm in the market for a laptop, considering everything including the macs and this review was very helpful.
just want to say, since my above post could be taken negatively:
Great review!
trikster2 - Thursday, September 30, 2004 - link
Another vote for the macs. For most business laptop use, as these are designed for they are fine subs for their pc brethern.
I find it amazing that the 17" power book is only 6.9lbs close in weight to these ugly (comparitively) PC bricks.