Battery common standard

Battery - Battery common standard IEC standard that the International Electrotechnical Commission (International Electrical Commission), by national Electrotechnical Commission is composed of the world Organization for Standardization, its purpose is to promote world standardization of electrical and electronic fields. One on the nickel-cadmium battery standard IEC285, on the nickel-metal hydride battery is the standard IEC61436, the current lithium-ion batteries IEC standards, the general battery industry is based on SANYO or Panasonic standards.
IEC standard batteries commonly used nickel-cadmium battery standards IEC602851999; the standard nickel-metal hydride batteries for IEC614361998.1; standard lithium batteries for IEC619602000.11.
Battery common national standards nickel-cadmium battery standards GB/T11013_1996GB/T18289_2000; the standard nickel-metal hydride batteries for GB/T15100_1994GB/T18288_2000; standard lithium batteries for GB/T10077_1998YD/T998_1999, GB/T18287_2000.
Another commonly used standard battery also the Japanese Industrial Standards JIS C batteries on the standards and SANYOPANASONIC companies on the battery corporate standards.

Other Electronics News

1. Laptop Batteries
2. Dell laptop Battery
3. Dell Inspiron 1521 Battery
4. Dell Vostro 1015 Battery
5. Dell PRECISION M65 Battery

about battery

About Battery

Is a battery energy conversion and storage devices. It will be the reaction to the physical or chemical energy into electricity. That is a chemical battery power, which has two different components of the electrochemical activity of each component is anode electrode, the two electrodes can provide immersion in the role of the media conductive electrolyte, when connected to a external vector, through its internal conversion The chemical can be provided. As an electrical storage device, when two metal (usually the difference in the nature of the metals) immersed in the electrolyte, they can be conductive, and in the "plate" between certain electromotive force. Electromotive force size (or voltage) and the use of the metal, its different types of batteries are also different electromotive force.

Battery performance parameters main electromotive force, capacity, energy and resistance ratio. Electromotive force equivalent units positive charge from negative moved to the cathode through internal battery, battery-Static Electricity (of the chemical) by the gong. Electromotive force depends on the electrode materials for the chemical nature, unrelated to the size of the battery. Battery charge to the total output of the battery capacity, usually for amp-hour unit. In response batteries, one kg produced by the reactive substances known as battery power than the theoretical energy. Battery than the actual energy than theoretical specific energy small. Because of the reaction in the battery not all reaction by battery, battery internal resistance to drop from electromotive force, it often than high-energy battery called high-energy batteries. The greater the battery area, the smaller the resistance.

Limited battery energy storage battery charge to the total volume of output is called its capacity, usually for amp-hour unit, it is also a battery performance parameters. Battery capacity and the number of the electrode material, which is the size of the electrode.

Practical notebook batteries can be divided into two basic types: primary cells and batteries. Can be made after the original battery currents, but in the end shall discharge waste. Battery is also known as secondary batteries, the use of a former first rechargeable battery, charging after discharge use, discharge can be recharged after use. Rechargeable batteries, chemical energy into electric energy; discharge, chemical energy into electrical energy.

Other Electronics News

1. Laptop Batteries
2. Dell laptop Battery
3. Dell Precision m50 Battery
4. Dell Latitude d830 Battery
5. Dell INSPIRON 710M Battery

Dell Latitude D820 Review

Dell Latitude D820 Review

Introduction

Professional look at the Latitude D820, paired with workstation-class graphics card is sufficient reason to call Dell business laptops. While I agree that this will be an excellent tool for business, D820 can also be a great laptop for students looking for performance, ease of use and sometimes gambling. If equipped with Quadro NVS video card, it could be very useful for business applications, such as AutoCAD, but may also provide additional capacity for the user to pause a game. Big Table replacement for long battery life, but not a back breaker.

In Dell Latitude D820 is equipped with a standard 3-year warranty. Great for business, but again very useful for the students that a tight budget, which can not afford to spend more money on the way to remedy its training facilities. The only downturn in the price of this model is. This is where the business budget and tax returns to enter the game. If you are a student and your budget is limited, another model is probably the best choice for you.

I will try to consider this as a laptop can be more objective, but as with all professionals, and I may have a little biased here and there. My opinion may vary significantly from experienced reviewers notebook, as it is my first laptop, but I will do everything possible!

This is my configuration:

Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 (2GHz) 667Mhz Dual Core
True OS Windows XP Home Edition, SP2, with the media
15.4 inch wide screen WUXGA LCD panel
2.0 GB, DDR2 SDRAM-533, 2 DIMMS
512MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 120M TurboCache (meaning 256MB and 256MB on board shared with Aries)
80GB Hard Drive, 9.5mm, 7200RPM
24X CD-ROM:
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini cards
9 cell primary battery
6 cell battery Media Bay
3 years of next business day on-site support
My computer in all its glory.


Not too many accessories here. OS installation CD, the drivers, Power Adapter and the media bay battery.


The reason Purchase

I was looking to purchase a notebook for quite some time. My search for the best laptop for my needs began about a year ago when I realized I could use the laptop to bring to class. In a full time employees and part-time student, a laptop may be useful for work, and to take note of when I university. Since my handwriting is very unfortunate, I realized that I would need this machine sooner rather than later. The first laptop, that my eyes have really been Acer Travelmate 8200. It has a powerful processor, great video cards and decent battery life. I was just ready to buy this model, when I realized I should spend my money on my upcoming wedding, and not the fact that I do not need at this time. Once again, my search shortly before the wedding, and heard from various channels that the new Core 2 Duo was only going to go on the laptops. In TM8200 has been fitted with the Core Duo, but not the Core 2 Duo, and at this point, I also began to adjust my claim. I began to wonder if it was all a great video card, which is important. It is gratifying to be able to play games on the go, but when I could do it in any case? I would like to be in the classroom or with a laptop. None of these situations conducive to a large gaming session. So instead of buying the machine, which will play in most modern games at decent skills, I went by car, which could remain unplugged as many hours as possible.

This is when I started looking at the Dell Latitude D820. I have read reports that she can take good 5 hours, with a 9-cell battery, and that you can also customize it with an additional media bay battery. I was sold! I thought that if you could get about 5 hours from the time unplugged from 9 cells, the additional 6 cells might add a couple of hours (at least) in this regard. I was hoping for at least 6 hours of battery life, as I will immediately take 3 hours and two university classes in January, and I do not want thoughts in a notebook dies in the middle of a lecture.

It is important to note that there are other opportunities for extra long battery life, such as a laptop, not on the video card is less than the screen, etc. All of these options may be attractive to other users, but since I Gamers for a heart, I need a machine that can be used at least a little bit on the side of gambling.

I also considered buying a laptop that would suggest 3 to 3.5 hours of battery life, and then buy an additional battery, but after reading about the long battery life, I resigned from that idea. I did not want to put my money on extra batteries, and they die within a few months, because I just eventually using only one most of the time and did not properly store the other. I also do not want to carry too many accessories with my laptop, and do not want to change a battery problem all the time.

Battery

Battery Eater Pro is used to determine approximately how long the battery will last. In theory, I have come to value is more than 7 hours, I did not want to test it out, writing notes for 7 hours straight. Not only would I get bored, but my wife would probably not like it either. Battery Eater Pro managed to eat for my 9 - battery and 6 - Gulf media cell battery power only 3:03. It was with WiFi on the screen with a maximum brightness of the optical mouse and plugged in. I disabled all power saving features, turned off the screen saver and let it do with the case. I was surprised only in 3 hours, but this figure is expected to be the absolute minimum of time, the battery will last.

In normal use, particularly on energy conservation and low brightness settings for maximum battery, battery life of my message is that I am still a little more than 7 hours of battery life. I think we will see if this is true, when I get to sit in a class for 6 hours in January. Before that, I can only assume that the battery Eater Pro really fed from the battery, there is no future. A minimum of 3 hours is pretty good in my books, especially since most laptops these days have a maximum of 3 hours.

Other Electronics News

1. Laptop Batteries
2. Dell laptop Battery
3. Dell Precision m4400 Battery
4. Dell Inspiron 13r Battery
5. Dell INSPIRON 15R Battery

Dell Inspiron 8600 Review

Dell Inspiron 8600 Review

The beginning of the line, not upper part Weight Class

We are ready to work FutureMark 3DMark03 test - including all four games simulations, including DirectX 9 capabilities - and now we are seeing Codecreatures DirectX 8.1 works on the picturesque base in 1920 with the 1200 resolution 4X antialiasing enabled. This is not the fastest PC gaming performance we have ever seen, but we are looking at the 7.3 pound notebook.

In the Dell Inspiron 8600, introduced today is a direct supplier of the new desktop-replacement leader, and Dell offers several vendors a chance to showcase their latest and most Yes. In particular, he replaces the Pentium 4 - M processor found in seemingly identical Inspiron 8500 with Intel's power-saving 1.7GHz Pentium M, and offers in the Nvidia GeForce FX Go5650 AGP 4X graphics card with 128 MB of DDR RAM.

Add 512 MB of system memory DDR333, and the Hitachi 60GB Travelstar 7K60 hard disk with 8MB buffer, and 7200 rpm-speed, and Philips DVD + RW drive that can be replaced for a second battery or floppy drive, and you have one serious laptop.

(9/2/03 update: Although our early tests loaner is the production, rather than prototype block, a few readers who e-mail that Dell order pages list only on-4200. rpm hard drives for the Inspiron 8600, with 7200 rpm-Hitachi disk available. we contacted Dell, and reported 7K60 is new and not enough, but they can be ordered by phone, and that the Web site will be updated as supplies are becoming increasingly rich - Ed. )

And oh yes, in 1920, of resolution 1200, we mentioned. Here is a rating of the three options for Inspiron Given the wide-aspect ratio (16:10), 15.4 - inch-diagonal display; Dell calls the super-luxury screen UltraSharp WUXGA, with WSXGA + (1680 to 1050) and WXGA (1280 to 800 ) models are also available.

The wide format makes the Inspiron 8600 at the grave of the little things in the briefcase, but sensational letterboxed-DVD-look showpiece. This investment at $ 2820 (2570) 8600 a stellar example of a desktop replacement that in a pound or two lighter and better battery life than most of their competitors.

It is easier than it looks
In Inspiron measures 10.8 to 14.1 at 1.5 inches, which certainly cumbersome, but its 7.3 pound more comfortable in your lap than many of the 9 - plus-pound leviathans now call themselves lap. (The AC adapter little pieces of 1.1 pounds.)



Beautiful blue accents surround the silver-grey system, keyboard, which is both a pen and IBM ThinkPad-style keyboard with the mouse stick alternatives. Both work smoothly, even though the two mouse buttons for the pointing stick feel a bit soft, but when the stylus feel trifle difficult.

Along with the right edge of the keyboard, when some notebooks stack their start, end, PgUp and PgDn keys, Dell offers a convenient play / pause, stop, previous / next track buttons for CD and DVD use, and turn off the volume buttons above the function keys. Fortunately, the keyboard allows the Home, End, PgUp and PgDn keys, in addition to the cursor arrows, though their placement in the top right is a little used to produce (we found a knife in the upper right-hand corner for the Delete key, which is actually a couple of places inflows ).

Along the left edge of the system, you can find a microphone and headphones connectors, an IEEE 1394 port, and a PC Card slot. Parallel, serial, VGA, S-Video from, 56Kbps modem, 10/100 Ethernet, and two USB 2.0 ports on the back.

In Philips SDVD6004 2X DVD + RW drive, which also serves as an 8X DVD-ROM player and 16/8/24X CD-RW drive on the right - and, we were pleased to note, is not simplified and faster reading of a few of our well - worn baseline CDs than DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drives in the past few computers we tested. Pressing eliminates DVD burners and include an optional floppy drive ($ 59) or battery life by another two-thirds from the second lithium-ion pack ($ 129). In Inspiron 8500 configuration page offers a second, 40 GB hard disk for a modular bay ($ 249), but we do not see it listed in 8600.

Even just a standard battery, battery life is not half bad for such a high-powered computer: either a letter or watch a DVD, we regularly received two hours and 20 minutes unplugged operation, the optical storage and hard disk rather busy, and sticking to the top two of Eight screen brightness levels (the rest is rather dark).

Power of Dell inspiron 8600

Battery type of dell inspiron 8600 :li-ion

Chemistry: Li-ion Volts: 11.1V (Compatible with 10.8V) Capacity: 6600mAh Dimension: 226.90 x 66.80 x 24.40 mm Net Weight: 461g Color: Grey £ 39.21 + (S&H rates)

Other Electronics News



1. Laptop Batteries


2. Dell laptop Battery


3. Dell Latitude d631 Battery


4. Dell Vostro 3300 Battery


5. Dell XPS M1710 Battery

Dell inspiron 8600 Laptop Battery fit OEM Part/Number: dell 01x284 , 310-0083 , 312-0083 , 312-0101 , 451-10151 , 8n544 , bat1297 , replacement for dell prcision m60 mobile workstation , inspiron 8600 notebook
See more info about dell inspiron 8600 battery click here..

Dell Inspiron 8500 review

Dell Inspiron 8500 review

Product: Dell Inspiron 8500
Price: $ 2,436 direct
Technical Specifications: 2.4 - GHz P4-M, 512MB DDR SDRAM, 40 GB hard disk, DVD / CD-RW drive, 15.4 - inch display, two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire port, 7.1 kg . System weight
Company Information: 800-388-8542, www.dell.com

The best feature on a Dell Inspiron 8500 is a UXGA, 1900 - from 1200 resolution wide-screen display, and in the second only 3:32 batteries, and that the Pentium M - food Toshiba Satellite Pro M10-S405. But while the Dell model has received strong points batteries, it has lost points, not including wireless capabilities. (Dell expects to have a $ 49 wireless solutions available by the time you read this.)

In 8500, in silver-and-blue case is equipped with conveniently located multimedia control buttons, ports and slots. In the laptop has two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire port, but there is no floppy disk drive, although we doubt many people will miss him. Inclusion at the same time pointing stick and the touch pad allows you to select your favorite navigation method. The speakers' sound quality is fine for a table watching a movie, but like all notebooks we examined, you want to build on external surround-sound speakers for enhanced sound.

In 8500, his knockout screen, multimedia good scores, and impressive battery lifetime, is a universal laptop. In addition to wireless round of the package nicely.

Productivity
Winston Business: 23.2
BatteryMark: 3:32
Wireless type: None

Multimedia
Music: Photo: Video:

Overall, the Dell Inspiron 8500 handles multimedia tasks, ie. The combination of Easy CD Creator 5 for CD burning and MusicMatch Jukebox for ripping the chords, mp3 hard to beat. But even more impressive is the set of images-2000 years, and Microsoft Picture It! Photo 7.0. Video-editing software is limited to entry-level Windows Movie Maker. But limited video editing better than anyone, when you look at their materials 15.4 - inch UXGA screen.

When I bought my 8500 I was so happy with it. And you know that. I still am. I ordered it with 2.4Ghz Intel P-4 M, WUXGA, 1Gb RAM, Win XP Pro, 64MB NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 TM video cards, wireless 802.11 B / G, Bluetooth, the 24X CD read / write DVD-ROM combo drive, drive and the extra battery. (It provides about 3 additional hours, as well as CD / CD / Additional batteries are hot-swappable. "), I am so happy with it. I had no problems what. And if you want to go spilling water on it (see other people's reviews) , for its full withdrawal. I did that protects against water, fire and fall damage. Gets 3-year on-site service in the total care, 24 / 7 technical support by phone. (Free)-Key board is a bit clumsy, but if adopt it, and endanger gaskets that this will be nice and smooth! Overall, a good machine and good technical support. (If you order through your business, you can call to get corporate support and smart-Tech 's), I would recommend a Dell to anyone.

Power of dell inspiron 8500

• Chemistry: Li-ion
• Volts: 11.1V (Compatible with 10.8V)
• Capacity: 6600mAh
• Dimension: 226.90 x 66.80 x 24.40 mm
• Net Weight: 461g
  
• Color: Grey

Related Laptop Accessories

1. Laptop Batteries
2. Dell laptop Battery
3. Dell Latitude d610 Battery
4. Dell Xps m1730 Battery
5. Dell INSPIRON N4010D-148 Battery

see dell inspiron 8500 battery in united kingdom

dell Inspiron 1520 review

The update of popular E1505 Dell, the Inspiron 1520 has sparked interest in the notebook. It includes a complete upgrade of design, the new platform Intel Santa Rosa, and the best graphics card Dell has never offered in a notebook of this size. With this notebook, Dell has made a strong entry into the 15 "market performance. The 1520 has tangible benefits compared to other 15" notebooks that only offers the 8400M and resolution 1280x800 like HP dv6500t, and it tends to be cheaper than the same, as notebooks featuring Asus G1S.



As with all Dell computers, price and options for 1520 can vary greatly depending on your area. Here is the specification of the system as reviewed:

Microsatin completed by the spring green
Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 (2.0 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 4 MB cache)
2 GB of RAM to 667 MHz
HD 160 7200 rpm
256MB Nvidia Geforce 8600M GT
8X DVD + /-RW Double Layer Drive
Dell Wireless 1390 Mini Card 802.11g
15.4 "WSXGA + Display with TrueLife
Webcam integrated 2.0 MP
9 Cell Battery
Windows Vista Home Premium
"More DellCare Guarantee (three-year warranty complete with care and some" extras "to 10 GB of online storage)
My final cost was $ 1,640.55. I chose not to include Bluetooth or Bluray internal, but they are offered as an option in most markets. I placed the order on the phone that I found is the best way to ensure a speedy confirmation. Of course, the order confirmation is the only quick and convenient thing dealing with customer support from Dell.

Reasons for Buying

The 1520 is a new direction for me, in laptops. My last two were 12.1 "ultraportables, the 700 and the Dell XPS M1210. Although I prefer the small size in most cases, I am now much less travel and were really feel the need increasingly powerful graphics the game screen when real estate. I have seriously considered the Asus G1S but could not justify the cost. when Dell announced its new inspiration, I was sold immediately. I loved the ability to customize the Exterior and must admit that the choice of color was the hardest decision I had to do. The price was definitely good for me.

First Impressions

The 1520 comes in a very boring brown box in a very boring white Styrofoam shell. The following items were included in the box:

CDs of all the drivers and software installed
Information Product Guide
Contact Dell Guide
Dell Inspiron 1520 Owner's Manual
Creative ear buds
A / C Adapter
The ExpressCard remote mentioned in other reviews is not included by default, you need to ask when you order your system and can be charged for it. The first time I leave the laptop, I was shocked at how vibrant color reality is it brighter and richer than it appears in the images. I was using an M1210 and E1505 and 1520 looks far more important that the E1505 due to the absence of bumper-term deposits to break the outline. The design is really elegant and beautiful-I spent several minutes admiring the outside, even before I powered it up.

Other Electronics News



1. Laptop Batteries


2. Dell Inspiron 1721 Battery


3. Dell laptop Battery


4. Dell Latitude 2100 Battery


5. Dell Latitude d820 Battery

dell inspiron 640m Laptop battery

Replacement for dell inspiron 640m Laptop battery

• 
• dell inspiron 640m Laptop battery technical specs.
• Chemistry: Li-ion
• Volts: 11.10V
• Capacity: 5300mAh
• Dimension: 204.30 x 45.20 x 21.21 mm
• Net Weight: 305.50 g
• Color: Black

dell inspiron 640m battery fits models:
Dell Inspiron 630m battery , Dell Inspiron 640m battery , Dell Inspiron E1705 battery , Dell Inspiron XPS Gen 2 battery , Dell Inspiron XPS M140 battery , Dell M170 battery

• 100% new high quality replacement (non-OEM) Li-Ion Battery for dell inspiron 640m Laptop Batteries
• Brand new dell inspiron 640m Laptop Batteries (not used or callback).
• Count on staying connected by getting extra battery power today,li dell inspiron 640m Laptop battery last up to four times longer than alkaline batteries.
• Our Canon dell inspiron 640m Laptop Batteries have not memory effect ,you can charge it anytime you want.
• Latest Lithium Ion battery technology gives the best performance possible compared to other battery technologies such as Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH).
• Integrated microchip prevents overcharging & prolongs battery life.
• Best replacement for the original (OEM) dell inspiron 640m Laptop battery .
• Our dell inspiron 640m rechargeable batteries can be charged over three hundreds (300) of times before wearing out.
• dell inspiron 640m Laptop battery achieves international standards such as UL, CE, CULListed, ISO9001 /ISO9002 etc.
• Laptop Batteries
• Dell laptop Battery
• Dell Latitude d800 Battery
• Dell Latitude e6500 Battery
• Dell LATITUDE D430 Battery

When was the first battery invented?

The invention of the storage battery is credited to the Italian Alessandro Volta (from whom comes the term 'volt' and its derivatives). He developed the zinc-copper storage battery or 'pile', as it is still called by some, in 1800.

This invention followed on research begun in the 1780s by Luigi Galvani (from whom comes the term 'galvanic'), who experimented on the electrical stimulation of muscles. Galvani had found that two different metals could be used to stimulate muscles in the same manner as the direct application of electricity, which could be produced using an electrostatic machine and stored in a Leyden jar.

It was a difference of opinion between Galvani and Volta about the source of electricity that led to the development of the battery. Galvani believed that electricity was generated naturally within body tissue (animal electricity), while Volta believed it was produced through a chemical reaction between different metals. Volta was correct and created the first working battery to prove it.

Other Electronics News



1. Laptop Batteries


2. Dell laptop Battery


3. Dell Inspiron 9400 Battery


4. Dell Vostro 1014 Battery


5. Dell XPS M1210 Battery

What is a lemon battery?

What is a lemon battery?

A lemon battery is made up of two metallic electrodes comprising of two different metals. Lemon battery is just a small experiment which shows how batteries work. Although the lemon battery is not strong enough to make a light bulb work, however it is strong enough to power up a LED (Light Emitting Diode).

The lemon battery is also a very common experiment which is projected in many science textbooks around the world.

To make a lemon battery you need two different metallic objects, most commonly used objects are a Galvanized Nail, a Copper Coin and a juicy lemon. Although potatoes and apples can be used, but lemon is preferred as it has more acidic value.

Other Electronics News

1. Laptop Batteries
2. Dell laptop Battery
3. Dell Inspiron 1721 Battery
4. Dell Studio Xps 1640 Battery
5. Dell LATITUDE D531 Battery

The lemon used in the experiment should be disposed of immediately as it becomes poisonous because of the dissolved copper salts.

How to buy car battery?

How to buy car battery?

Car batteries can be bought from any store that sells automobile parts or even bought online by logging on to a website that sells car parts on the Internet. While buying a new car battery, it must be kept in mind that the climatic conditions of each country are different. Countries with colder climates require batteries which have higher cold cranking amps ratings (which are abbreviated as CCA) than those that have warmer climates.

The next most important consideration is the reserve capacity rating (or the RC) of the battery. There are two main types of batteries. They are low maintenance or non-sealed batteries and maintenance-free batteries, which can either be non-sealed or sealed. The size of the batteries, the freshness of the battery and warranty period of the battery are also important points to be kept in mind while buying a battery. Batteries contain the highly corrosive and poisonous sulphuric acid electrolytes..

Related Electronics News



1. Laptop Batteries


2. Dell Inspiron n4010 Battery


3. Dell laptop Battery


4. Dell Studio 1749 Battery


5. Dell Inspiron 1570 Battery

dell latitude d830 review

This is a review of the Santa Rosa refresh Dell Latitude D830. First, let’s start with a little background of Dell’s Latitude series.

The Latitude series of laptops is part of Dell’s business line. As business machines, they are more focused on reliability, durability and subtlety (whereas the more consumer-oriented Inspirons tout more powerful media-centric features such as a high-end discrete graphics solution, dedicated media keys, more attractive price points, etc.).

Other series in this lineup include the Precision series (high-powered mobile workstations aimed mostly at high-end graphics professionals, particularly those with the need for 3D rendering) and the newly-released economy-class Vostro series, introduced to replace the now long-in-the-tooth business Inspirons. The Latitude sits squarely in the middle of both lines, providing a balance between high performance and price.

The Latitude comes in a wide variety of flavours, but for most people the choice really lies between the 14.1” 630, and the 830 which is the larger, 15.4” model. This model comes in as a desktop replacement, as its weight isn’t suited to lugging all around town.

The configuration I ended up getting was:


2.2GHz Core 2 Duo T7500, 800MHz FSB, 4MB L2 Cache

2GB DDR2-667 SDRAM

120GB 5400rpm SATA HDD

8X DVD±RW Dual Layer drive

15.4” WUXGA screen

256MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M

Touchpad with integrated UPEK Fingerprint Reader

Intel 4965 WLAN (802.11a/g/n)

9-cell battery

Dell Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)

Windows Vista Ultimate with media

4-Year Next-Business-Day Parts and Labor On-Site Response Gold Warranty

4-Year Accidental Damage Warranty

I also opted for a few accessories:


Logitech VX Revolution Cordless Mouse

Belkin Travel Surge Protector

Extra 90W AC Adapter

Western Digital Passport 120GB Portable Hard Drive

Interlink Electronics Bluetooth Remote Control

My total cost came to around $2,700, inclusive of shipping and taxes. This was a little more than I was prepared to spend, but I’ll go into more detail later on.

Reasons for Buying:

The reason I needed NEEDED to buy a new laptop was because my last Windows PC, the Compaq Presario X1000, was in serious need for repair. The hinges and power button action were cracked badly, the hard drive was heating up obscenely and the battery held a charge just longer than it took to hard boil an egg. I was, however, impressed with the high quality of the screen, in particular the high WSXGA+ resolution and the computer’s overall performance. I still had the MacBook Pro, but I wasn’t willing to sacrifice both performance and precious hard drive space on running two operating systems and maintaining project and work files for both OS’ on that same tiny hard drive. I work in advertising and events, and my primary use for the system would be Office 2007 Professional, especially Excel (for my cost estimates and budget controls), Project (for project management, especially critical when running multiple promotions and events at the same time) and PowerPoint (for presentations to clients). As I tend to take on other roles when needed, my computer had to be capable of handling Adobe CS3 (for rendering stage designs, advertising collaterals and other items), Premiere (for Audio-Visual Presentations)

I knew then that I would settle for no less than a 15.4” widescreen laptop with at least WSXGA+ or better resolution – preferring to move up to WUXGA. The system also had to be powerful enough to handle the load of specific software I needed to do my job without buckling or slowing down. Finally, my experience with the X1000’s flimsy plastic parts led me to look for a solid and durable, if not rugged build.

I was initially looking at three manufacturers:

Dell (on the primary recommendation of my wife, whose experience with them was top-notch),
Lenovo (First-hand experience with IBM Thinkpads was overall a good experience, not to mention the generally high reputation they enjoy with many people), and
HP (due to the overall aesthetic appeal and excellent after-sales service here in the Philippines.
On top of these three, I was also reviewing Asus’ latest laptops - in particular the G1. I wasn’t too sold on the look and feel of the current Toshibas, and I certainly didn’t like the “cheap” feeling I got with Acers.

The refresh came just in time for my purchase, actually. I was originally planning to get the Inspiron E1505 based on a recommendation from a friend, who has been a Dell user for a few years. Being from The Philippines (where Dell is neither a prevalent brand nor one with real significant retail market share), it was difficult for me to find and units to personally inspect. Ordinarily I would not have qualms with ordering a notebook I had never seen before, but I was getting worried with reviews of the E1505 being a bit on the chunky side. Thankfully, I found a reseller, CoolToyz, about an hour and a half from my house that would CTO various laptops and resell them in-store. When I found their website, I decided to drop by the store to check out the wide variety of laptops they had on sale. I was honestly not that impressed with the look and feel of the E1505, as it was bulky, felt a bit flimsy (especially the lid) and those white bumpers really rubbed me the wrong way. I had not considered the Latitude until I saw the D820 there, and I definitely liked its look and feel a lot more than the Inspiron, in spite of its subdued, very business-y appearance. Plus it felt like a tank (at least, compared to the 1505). With that experience, I decided the Dell laptop for me would be the Latitude series, in 15.4”.

Another unit they had in the store was the Lenovo Thinkpad Z61t. Now I loved the look and feel of this machine – almost enough to make me switch to the smaller screen size - but its relatively low resolution, lack of discrete graphics and ridiculously tiny touchpad turned me off. It was only when I read of the m and p variations did I start to take this series seriously.

Finally, there were the HP Pavillions in 15.4” and 17” models. Unfortunately, while I like the new look and styles of HP’s entire line of notebooks, their popularity made me reconsider. What good is a stylish notebook (assuming you buy it for that) if everyone and their grade school math teacher’s dog’s got it? Plus the lack of anything higher than WXGA+ on the majority of their notebooks made me scratch them off my list completely.

So that left me with only the Latitude and the Z61 Thinkpads to choose from.

Anyway, I was happy to hear that my cousin would be coming here for vacation in July – which gave me about two months to make up my mind and purchase the thing, taking building and shipping times into account.

And so began my obsessive quest to build my ideal workhorse. After fooling around with Dell’s online configurator for about three weeks, I was glad to hear that the D830’s would be given a Santa Rosa refresh – important to me as I wanted the improved battery life, and I wanted to future-proof it for at least three to four more years. Still, however, I held off on buying since there were still no options for discrete graphics. Finally, on the 15th of June, the new Latitudes received the nVidiaQuadros – in particular, the D830 got the NVS140m. I immediately picked up the phone and made an international phone call to place my order. Since I already knew exactly what I wanted, the call took all of twenty minutes. The CSR gave me multiple upgrades without my asking, such as the hard drive (I had asked for a 100GB), the Bluetooth card and the warranties (I had asked for 3-year business, he upgraded me to 4-year NBD with international coverage and Accidental Damage). All in all, it came to around 800 dollars more than I was willing to spend, but for the value I was getting (considering the relatively high price of components and accessories here in the Philippines) it was worth it. I also figured I was saving on international shipping so that gave me a bit more leeway.

I also told him that I was worried about the lead times on building and shipping as my cousin was set to leave in less than two weeks. He said he would try to expedite my case but could not promise anything. Amazingly, the accessories package arrived the following Tuesday, and the laptop package itself arrived two days later. Wow! All in under a week. That really blew me away.

Unfortunately, there was an error in the confirmation e-mail I received. The CSR had mistakenly added a Kensington Notebook Lock in my accessories order, and omitted the Interlink Electronics Bluetooth Expresscard Remote. I’ll address these issues later, under Customer Support.

Other than that, everything arrived as expected and in excellent time and quality. All I had to do now, was wait for my cousin to arrive... one week and counting...

Build & Design:

My wife and I picked up them up at the airport past midnight, and I could barely contain my excitement. We dropped them off at their house, and they came over the following morning. My package had finally arrived. Boy, was I giddy.

The first thing I did was open up the accessories package. Everything was there, as expected, including the notebook lock. In hindsight, I am glad for the mistake. I realize that there will be times I will have to leave my notebook attached to some projector or video system during an event, and the lock will only help me feel a bit more secure. But I digress.

Finally, after much personal and spiritual ceremony, I opened the laptop package. After wading through the two booklets, the 4 media (Vista Ultimate, Drivers and Diagnostics, McAfee Antivirus and Roxio Creator), and the two AC Adapters, I finally made it through to the laptop.

I was impressed with the weight build and feel of this computer – it just feels so much better when you hold it and you knowit’s yours. The body is constructed from a very sturdy magnesium alloy that is absolutely a wonder to hold. Bear in mind, however, that the LCD bezel and the frame of the keyboard area (the black border housing the speakers and keyboard) is plastic, and not magnesium. I’m not sure why they didn’t just construct the entire chassis in the alloy as I think it would have given a better feel to the whole thing. However, it feels very solid, and you get the immediate feeling that this baby is gonna last you a long while. I can attest to the fact that there is absolutely NO flex in the top casing, except when you grab both ends and twist it left and right. But even then, the flex did not affect the screen whatsoever. No ripples here, anywhere. The hinge action is superb, and I can easily open and close the system with one hand – the base does not lift when opening it.

It is, however, HEAVY. I thought I had grown used to the weight of my X1000, and thought I wouldn’t really get a heavier notebook unless I would move up to a 17”. But overall, the weight has not been that much of a problem for me since I’m already used to lugging close to 15 pounds of office stuff in my backpack.

Unfortunately, the build is not without its minor faults. First of all, there is a tiny gap between the lid and the base when the laptop is closed, giving about a millimetre and a half of wiggle when pressing the two together. Not too big a deal, except it spoiled what would have been an otherwise near-perfect build.

Keyboard Overview

Sleep (Fn) - Puts the OS to sleep.
Battery Meter (Fn) - Launches the Battery Meter, so you can check on the charge status and health of your batter(ies)
LCD Fill Aspect (Fn) - Switches between widescreen (16:9) and standard aspect (4:3) ratio displays.
CRT / LCD Toggle (Fn) - Cycles between LCD only, external only and simultaneous video displays.
Speakers - Stereo speakers. They’re pretty loud, too, for the most part.
Trackpoint and Buttons - For those who just can’t live without their beloved Thinkpad analogues, the trackpoint is here for you. Personally, I don’t use it that much due to its finicky sensitivity, especially the push-to-click option. This can be disabled, however.
Touchpad and Buttons - As with most laptops, nothing new to say here.
Biometric Scanner (Fingerprint Reader) - Used to log in various credentials for BIOS, OS and website access with a mere swipe of a finger. The built in TPM system allows up to 21 unique prints to be saved. So, that’s your ten fingers, your ten toes... and I don’t know... your nose, I guess. In practice, I found it to be a major boon for logging into Windows. Also, on occasion swiping my finger wouldn’t work. It would accept the data, and then I’d get an error message, stating that “there are no fingerprints enrolled for this user.” When I manually type my user name and swipe my finger again, however, it works just fine.
But my experience with the Vault and actually successfully using it to log in to websites has been mixed. With the former, I simply can’t get it to work properly. With the latter, it would work...sometimes. The dialog box would pop up only sporadically whenever I surfed to web pages with login screens. And, strangely enough, after I formatted and reinstalled Windows, the Private Information Manager (that’s the name of the program) would only work on Internet Explorer. How VERY strange. I’ve consulted with three Gold techs on this issue and none of them have been able to solve it yet. I certainly don’t want to have to format and reinstall my OS once AGAIN just to solve this problem.

One thing I forgot to mark in the photo is the built-in microphone. It’s that tiny little hole immediately to the left of the right screen hinge, above the Num Lock and Pause keys.

Status Lights

Power Status Light - Turns on when computer is on
Hard Drive Status Light - Blinks when data is being read from or written to the hard drive
Battery Status Light - Turns on steadily to indicate battery status, whether low or charging
Wireless Status Light - Turns on when Wi-Fi is enabled (see Wi-Fi Catcher)
Bluetooth Status Light - Turns on when Bluetooth is enabled (see Wi-Fi Catcher)
One key feature I wish this notebook had was a media card reader. I am glad that the generally useless (for me, at least) IR port was removed, but I also would have liked the option to replace the Smart Card reader with an SD/MMC/MS reader. Or, alternatively, use the front edge of the laptop and stick the reader there. Unless I’m unaware of a really good reason why businesses do not want this feature on their laptops.

Related Laptop Accessories



1. Laptop Batteries


2. Dell Inspiron i1464 Battery


3. Dell laptop Battery


4. Dell Inspiron 1410 Battery


5. Dell Inspiron 1721 Battery

Will freshly-charged rechargeable batteries lose that charge if those batteries sit unused in a drawer for two or three months?

Q:Will freshly-charged rechargeable batteries lose that charge if those batteries sit unused in a drawer for two or three months?

A:

1.Yes - different chemistries are worse than others for self-discharge. Poor performers include nickel chemistries, but watch out - nickel cadmium batteries can also exhibit a 'memory' effect, whereby if they are only lightly discharged before recharging, they will only appear to hold the relatively small top-up charge. For this reason nickel batteries should be fully discharged before recharging. Although lithium rechargeables show self-discharge, it is quite low and they do not exhibit the memory effect of NiCd.

2.More than likely yes , I keep my batteries in the freezer , even normal batteries can be put in a baggie and they will work again , after a hour or so - The ones that have gone dead -- Country Learning - lol

3.yes freshely-charged rechargeble batteries lose that charge if those batteries sit unused in a drawer for two or three months because charge leak through the air.

4.err, no - no more than electricity drips out of a light fitting if the bulb is removed! Air is an insulator. Batteries self-discharge through internal current leakage, made worse by high temperatures and damage to the separator.

Other Electronics News



1. Laptop Battery


2. Dell laptop Battery


3. Dell Vostro 1220 Battery


4. Dell Inspiron 1300 Battery


5. Dell LATITUDE D430 Battery

What is better, hp or dell?

Q:What is better, hp or dell?

A:

1.don't pay attention to brand names. they mean nothing. all the companies use the same parts none are better than any other (with the exception of customer service). if you buy a fast computer, it will be fast. if you buy a slow computer, it will be slow. doesn't matter what brand it is. as for pricing, you can generally find coupon codes online for dell computers and in my experience they have been a little bit cheaper than HP because of this. my advice is to find a tech savy friend and explain to them exactly what you need out of a computer and ask for reccomendations as to what specs you should get in a computer

..

2.

wow, ok... i was just thinking about design, because again, dell and hp only make the HARDWARE!

3.Get a Mac! I love mine ... I have had both Dell (always had problems)

and HP (better than Dell) Then I got a Mac ... No comparison!

Great support network too.

4.I'd advise against dell. I ordered an Inspiron on July 24th. It is now August 24th, and the ship date is constantly being moved forward. It was supposed to be here on the 20th, then supposed to ship on the 23rd, then supposed to ship on the 30th, and now they tell me it will ship Sept 15th!



If you want a computer anytime this year don't buy a dell. By the way, I am not trying to slam dell - it's just the truth.

5.Im Not sure about them but i have an Acer and not only are they quite cheap but they are brilliant and really fast!

Related Electronics News



1. Laptop Batteries


2. Dell Latitude e5500 Battery


3. Dell laptop Battery


4. Dell Latitude d420 Battery


5. Dell Vostro a90n Battery

dell xps m1710 notebook review

Overview

The Dell XPS M1710 is the latest premium gaming notebook from Dell that replaces the current XPS M170. The M1710 has a 17" widescreen and comes in a choice of two colors, "formula red" or "metallic black". On the inside it houses the 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo processor, up to 4GB of RAM and the icing on the cake -- the latest and greatest nVidia Go 7900 GTX graphics card with 512MB of memory. If you like to do serious gaming or simply have the fastest notebook money can buy right now, this notebook is for you!

System: Dell XPS M1710 (Red color lid)
Processor: Intel Core Duo T2600 (2.16 GHz)
Memory: 2GB @ 667MHz - 2 DIMM Slots (2 x 1GB) (Max Ram 4GB)
Hard Drive: 100GB capacity at a speed of 7200 RPM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GTX with 512MB DDR memory
Screen: WUXGA Truelife (1920 x 1200)
Optical Drive: 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW/+R) with Dual-Layer
OS: Microsoft MCE 2005
Wireless Card: Intel 3945 (802.11b/g)
Battery: 9-cell lithium ion recharegable battery
Ports / Slots: 5-in-1 Memory Card Reader, DVI-D, VGA video output, S-Video, IEEE 1394 (Firewire), 6 USB 2.0, Express Card slot, Modem, Ethernet/LAN, Microphone in, Headphone out

The Dell XPS M1710 design is, in a word, brazen. In daylight the striking red or metallic black lid will catch the eyes of just about anyone nearby. In the dark, if you stand far enough away this thing looks more like a UFO as the lights glow in a somewhat eery yet cool manner. I'll let the pictures of the light display the M1710 emits tell the story, the light colors are configurable with up to 16 color options for each light via a Dell included QuickSet program:

Outside of the lid and lights, the rest of the look is silver. I'm used to seeing a black keyboard on Dell machines, but this one sports a more sleek looking silver keyed look, which is nice and fits the design well.

You'll notice the XPS M1710 has somewhat of an industrial look and this is true to the actual build of the notebook. The M1710 is very sturdy; it uses an all magnesium-alloy case on the top and bottom. The keyboard and palm rest area is made of a thick rugged plastic. This results in strong overall physical protection of the notebook, worry-free of case cracks appearing or problems with excessive flexing. The hinges are constructed of steel, Dell claims they have been tested for up to 20,000 cycles (openings and closings) to assure freedom from loosening and wobble. Honestly, the lid on this notebook is possibly the strongest I've tested on any notebook, it does not flex at all and is stronger protection than even the renknowned ThinkPad notebook line. The hard drive has a StrikeZone shock absorber for small drops and bumps for protection in small drops.

There is one part of the build that's lacking, the plastic on the bottom of the LCD is easy to bend and flex. It's not likely that you would be touching this area often, but still worth noting to keep the review honest. The area above the keyboard where the status lights are is also somewhat flexible.

The weight of this notebook isn't as bad as you might think. I've run across seventeen inch screen notebooks that make you groan just picking them up to move from one surface to the next. The XPS M1710 is quoted as being 8.8 lbs by Dell, I weighed both the M1710 and its power adapter together and the total came it at just over 10 lbs.

I benchmarked the first level of FEAR from the moment my character stepped out of the car until the end of the first checkpoint. A 1600x1200 resolution is certainly within reach for the Go7900GTX. It is playable all around, with only certain scenes causing the framerates to drop into the low 40's/high 30's. Despite averaging 59 FPS with 2X AA, there are a few scenes where the frames drop under 35 for a few seconds. It's still playable at these settings, but I would recommend leaving it at 1600x1200 because the performance is more consistent. I would only add anti-aliasing at this resolution if you had a dual-graphics card SLI or CrossFire desktop. Playing FEAR at these settings, without a doubt, is incredible. You can't ask for any more out of a single-card system, desktop or laptop.

Heat and Noise:

The Dell XPS M1710 has a very efficient and quiet cooling system. Not only is it quiet, but it also is has a very smart design. Dell has split up two of the most heat-producing components in the notebook, and placed them on opposite sides of the computer. The processor is on one, and the video card on the other, both using separate fans and heatsinks. This is very effective at cooling the M1710, because heat is spread out and has more room to escape.

Even after hours of gaming, the surface of the notebook only gets mildly warm, nothing to worry about in the least. The palm rests remain cool at all times. No part on the surface gets hot to the touch. The bottom, however, does. Directly in the center is the RAM compartment. It is perforated to get ventilation, but still remains very warm. It is somewhat uncomfortable to touch. The bottom right side also gets very hot. It's not unexpected to have the bottom of the notebook heat up, given how powerful the internal components are.

This is the quietest notebook I have used to date. Even at full tilt, it is hard to tell the fans are running. At idle, it has to be completely silent to hear the soft trickle of warm air coming out. Very, very impressive!

Keyboard, Touchpad and Buttons:

The keyboard on the XPS M1710 actually looks and feels quite a bit different to all other Dell notebooks I've used. The keyboard keys are not black, as they so typically are, but rather a silver color that blends with the rest of the case color. The keys are also more springy and have more travel than is typical with a Dell notebook, which is to my liking. The keyboard actually turns out to be extremely usable and has a nice feel, and while the M1710 is not meant as a productivity tool for Office Applications, I'd be quite happy doing a lot of typing on this notebook. There is no flex to the keyboard, it is built very sturdily. In addition, the palm rests are extremely solid. Since the battery lies underneath the palm rest area, this would explain the sheer solidness of the area (a good thing).

At the top of the keyboard there resides two functional buttons, the Media Direct button allows you to quickly boot to a Linux OS that allows you to play media (see OS section for more) and then there's the rounded power button located at top center.

Dell XPS M1710 keyboard

The touchpad is very cool with the XPS lighting, but more importantly it's actually a decent size and works well with scroll zones on the right side for vertical scroll and on the bottom for horizontal scroll. Again though, if you're using this notebook more for gaming and entertainment then the touchpad won't cut it for accurate input control, you'll need a game controller or high precision mouse.

At the front area are located handy media buttons for play, stop, skip and volume up/down. These buttons work in both Windows and the Dell Media Direct quick boot application

Input and Output Ports:

The port selection on the XPS M1710 is about as good as you can ask for, 6 USB 2.0 ports is better than many desktop machines and you have all the video connectors you could want with the VGA out, DVI and S-Video out connector. You could gripe about not having a PCMCIA slot if you have old accessories you'd like to use with this, but the ExpressCard is fast becoming the default expansion slot for notebooks -- hopefully accessory makers will catch up soon by making more cards that fit this slot, right now the selection is a bit limited.

The external TV Tuner is an option for the XPS M1710 and if you have the Windows Media Center Edition OS it might be a nice add-on since you could record live TV.

Wireless:

The XPS M1710 comes with an Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 card, supporting A, B, and G bands. It is one of the newer cards in the mini PCI-express format, versus the older mini-PCI format. It is much smaller and consumes less power.

I had some major wireless-related problems early on with the XPS. I could connect to my Netgear 802.11g router fine, but I had fluctuating speed issues. Gaming was nearly impossible over wireless. After about twenty minutes of being connected, I had additional problems -- I would lose my connection, and the small WiFi light would begin to flicker. This was odd, because I set the wireless card to not turn off and to stay at maximum power. It flickered for about one minute, then went off. From then on in, I could not access anything to do with the wireless connection or the settings of the wireless card -- as soon as I did, the system would freeze. The only way I could restore the wireless was to do a full restart, and then I would have the same problems.

I attempted to uninstall the wireless card drivers and software and reinstall them, updaing the drivers, changing network keys, and so on. How I eventually fixed it was by completely uninstalling the wireless adapter, and letting Windows install the wireless card. It now works great using the generic Windows wireless software. On a system of this caliber, I should not have to fool around with the wireless to make it work -- it should perform flawlessly right out of the box. Hopefully, this will only be an issue on the review unit and not on future systems, we conferred with Dell on this issue and they had not heard such reports and emphasized this is a pre-production unit.

Battery and Power:

The battery is a 9-cell located at the front area of the notebook, which is a little different to the normally far back positioned location. The battery has a nice feature in which you can push in on it to light up 5 green LEDs to display how much charge is left, this works whether the notebook is on or off.

4400mAh dell high quality inspiron xps m1710 battery Specs..

Battery Type: Li-ion

Voltage : 11.1V

Capacity : 4400mAh

Color : Black

Dimension : 209.40 x 71.80 x 19.80 mm

Net Weight : 467.77 g

Dell inspiron xps m1710 Laptop Battery fit OEM Part/Number: dell 310-6321 , 312-0340 , d5318 , replacement for dell inspiron 6000 , inspiron 9300 , inspiron e1705 , inspiron xps m1710 notebook battery...

The dell inspiron xps m1710 battery has a gauge that lights up to indicate charge level when you push in on it, this works if the notebooks is on or off for a quick way to check charge

Now, if you're buying the XPS M1710, there's probably a good chance that you won't be spending a lot of time on battery as it's more of a desktop replacement gaming style machine. But if you do, the battery life is respectable for a computer with this much power. With the screen brightness at 6/7 (near maximum, keep in mind), wireless at full power, and while surfing the Internet, I clocked the battery power to be two hours and five minutes. That's not bad at all. You could certainly add more time if you turned down the brightness.

The power adapter that comes with this notebook is rather huge, to say the least. It weighs about 1.6lbs and is only slightly smaller in length to a DVD (see picture below).
The power adapter is large, almost the size of a DVD in length and much thicker

Operating System and Software:

You have three choices of an OS: XP Home, XP Professional and XP Media Center Edition. The operating system I got is Windows Media Center Edition 2005. This is basically Windows XP Home with media center software on top. I didn't get a TV tuner with this unit, but is an option for configuration with the XPS M1710 (external USB solution, not integrated).

At the top of the keyboard you see a "Media Direct" button that allows you to push and quickly boot to a Linux based OS in which you can view photos, play DVDs and Music located on the hard drive, media card, external USB storage or from a DVD

Unfortunately the XPS M1710 comes with the typical amount of garbage software that I'd imagine gamer types will cringe at. Then again, techno savvy gamers would be the first to wipe a system and reinstall the OS to their liking, so maybe it's not such a big deal. Software such as Yahoo Music, McAfee, AOL, Corel trial image software are on there to name a few and will pop up and try and get you to subscribe/buy the software.

One nice thing you get with the XPS M1710 is the Media Direct functionality that allows you to quickly load up the machine to play music, view pictures or watch a DVD. You do this by clicking the "Media Direct" button on the front of the laptop. The first time you do this it takes a minute to boot and configure, but after that it's a quick 15-seconds to getting to an application that allows you to play music and other media. I was impressed by the interface and ease of use, all of the media buttons on the front work just as they do in the actual Windows bootup.

The conclusion is quite simple for the M1710: If this were the state fair and the contest were for best performance notebook, then the blue ribbon would go to the XPS M1710. The coolest thing being, you could even adjust the lights on the M1710 to blue to match that ribbon!

Pros:

Unmatched 3D performance, fantastic for gaming or high-end 3D tasks
Cool and quiet, even when gaming for hours
Very cool looking, especially the lights -- could be mistaken as UFO from a distance
Great keyboard
Nice screen, very bright and good colors
Cons:

Other Electronics News



1. Laptop Batteries


2. Dell Vostro 1720 Battery


3. Dell laptop Battery


4. Dell Precision m6400 Battery


5. Dell Precision m6400 Battery

Wireless problems, for this pre-production unit at least
Area below LCD and top of keyboard has some flex
No PCMCIA card slot for any accessories you had for older notebooks
Want it? Show Dell the money! Premium notebooks command a premium $$ price.

Dell Latitude D610 notebook Review

Dell Latitude D610 notebook Review

Introduction

For almost four years I've been using a Compaq Presario 1710TW (14.1" SXGA+ Pentium III-M; ~5.5 lbs) and wanted something of similar size and portability as a replacement. My main considerations, roughly in order of importance, were:

$2000 maximum budget

"Thin & light" (prefer around 5.5 pounds, or 2.5 kilos)

High resolution SXGA+ screen

I was mulling over my choices when Dell released the Sonoma-based Dell Latitude D610 so I ordered one from Dell's Small Business website and it arrived February 24th.  I've had it for about one month now, and overall I think it is an excellent machine.  As I will explain below, the audio quality while using headphones is terrible, but otherwise this "thin & light" notebook is perfect for the user who desires a great balance of power and portability.  In this review I will make most of my comparisons to the above-mentioned Presario 1710TW.

Dell Latitude D610 Review Unit System Specs

Pentium M 760 (2.00Ghz w/ 533Mhz FSB)

512MB (2x256) PC3200-DDR2 (400Mhz)

14.1" SXGA+ (1400x1050 resolution)

ATI Mobility Radeon X300 w/ 64MB dedicated RAM

Fujitsu 60GB HD (5400RPM)

8x DVD+/-RW (dual layer)

Intel Pro 2200 wireless (802.11 b/g)

Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet; Conexant 56K modem

SigmaTel C-Major audio

Extra AC adapter & extra modular battery

System total was $1940 after shipping & WA state sales tax

Reason for Purchasing

I am currently a graduate student in a biomedical research lab and use my notebook primarily for writing, image editing and data storage. Relative portability is important to me as I frequently transport my machine back and forth between the lab and home. I often have several windows open with a lot of information displayed at once which is why a high resolution SXGA+ is important to me. I would have loved a 15.4-in widescreen SXGA+ screen but couldn't find anything affordable with that screen size that was below 6 lbs.

Build Quality

The D610 is a solid looking notebook -- noticeably thicker and burlier than my old Presario 1710TW, and from what I've read thicker and more durable than the Latitude D600 that it replaced in Dell's business notebook line-up. There is really not any flex when you pick the machine up by a corner, and the screen hinges are solid -- the screen doesn't wobble when you gently shake the notebook back and forth. The bezel surrounding the screen seems to be separated slightly near the bottom (just above the Dell logo -- see picture of keyboard below), although I didn't notice this until after I read about it in online forums. A dust-cover for the ports in back and for the docking port underneath would have been nice. Overall I give the D610 high marks for build quality.

Design & Aesthetics

If you prefer a simple notebook that isn't flashy (as do I), then the D610 is for you. The finish is an attractive silver/grey matte with lighter colored accents around the keyboard and touch-pad. There aren't a bunch of cumbersome quick-launch buttons: just volume up/down and mute, and the power button. Alongside these buttons are indicator lights for num lock, scroll lock, and caps lock, as well as Wifi and Bluetooth indicator lights (I assume it is Bluetooth -- I opted not to get this feature). Wifi is turned on/off via function keys (no physical switch). There are also indicator lights on the right-hand "hinge" of the LCD screen for power, HDD activity, and battery status.


The Latitude D600 apparently overheated on the palm rest -- this problem seems to have been fixed with the re-designed D610. I notice a small amount of heat on the left palm rest (just about where the Fn and start keys are), but nothing out of the ordinary. The bottom left-hand side of the notebook also gets warm, but I wouldn't think it would be enough to bother most people while using the computer on your lap.


The ventilation/cooling system seems adequate, with one large vent on the bottom left and an exhaust on the back left. The fan seems to be always on at a low level, but it is very quiet. Even when it kicks into high gear (which it rarely does) it is still pretty quiet. Regardless -- this is a bit disappointing compared to my Presario which was completely silent when idling (although louder than the D610 when comparing both at high fan speed).


The overall sound emanating from the notebook is fairly minimal, with the following exception: whenever a USB device is attached (a mouse or a USB audio device that I will describe below) there is a faint but perceptible electrical feedback noise. It is not noticeable in a normal work environment, which for me includes background noises from refrigerators, freezers, laboratory equipment, building vents, etc. In a quiet room it is definitely noticeable but faint (and drowned out by the sound of typing).


Overall I give the D610 excellent marks for design, with demerits for the fan being constantly on and the strange electrical feedback with attached USB devices.

Keyboard & touchpad

Ahh...a nice keyboard! The D610 seems to have one, especially compared to the Presario. I've heard a lot about IBM keyboards, but never having experienced one myself I can only say this: I've heard comparisons of the D610 keyboard to IBM keyboards. There doesn't seem to be much flex, and the keys feel firm (and are much quieter) compared to my Presario. I like the layout as well -- the large backspace key is located to the far right, which I've always preferred in a notebook keyboard. I don't use the trackpad or pointing stick much, but they both seem to be well designed. There is no dead-space on the trackpad and the buttons have a satisfying click to them. I would give the D610 excellent marks for the keyboard & input devices.

Size & Weight

The size & weight of the Latitude D610 breaks down as follows:



Notebook w/ "travel-lite" module: 4.85 pounds

Notebook w/ DVD drive: 5.4 pounds

Notebook w/ 2nd (modular) battery: 5.65 pounds

65W AC adapter: 14 ounces

12.44" x 10.3" x 1.5" (closed) or 1.1" (open)

The notebook with DVD drive and AC adapter is therefore about 6.3 pounds.  By comparison, the old Presario 1710TW with DVD drive and AC adapter was about 6.7 pounds -- although it was a little thinner.  Other than being a little on the thick side, I'd say the D610 has average size & weight specifications for a notebook of its class.

Sound & Audio

The audio system is pretty standard for a notebook computer of this size. Speakers sound a little better than the Presario, but they do lack the bass & oomph that I prefer when listening to music. Personally, I have almost never used the built-in speakers in any notebook, preferring to use external speakers or headphones. However, the D610 has a serious problem in this regard: plug in a pair of headphones and I notice a very annoying background hiss, as if the headphones are picking up electrical feedback from the system. The hiss seems to vary in response to the video system doing work: whenever a window is re-drawn, re-sized, moved, minimized, etc, the background hiss gets worse. Also, the touchpad and pointer stick cause extra feedback. Oddly, whenever the hard drive is accessed, the hiss seems to temporarily abate. I've read quite a lot about this problem in online forums (including Dell's official forums), so I'll list some points concerning this problem here:

This is a common problem for Dell notebooks -- some other models have the same problem
Not everyone has this problem -- either because the problem is not universal, or because only some of us are very finicky listeners

I've heard some people have had Dell replace the motherboard, the audio card, the wireless, even the modem to no avail.
Some have suggested it is a grounding problem. For my system, the problem improves slightly when running off the battery.

There isn't any noticeable hiss through the built-in speakers, or through external speakers. Some have suggested that using headphones with 32-ohm or higher impedance would solve the problem but I don't think this is the case (I've tried four pairs of headphones on my system).

As you can see, I've obsessed a bit about this problem. I enjoy listening to music through headphones while working on my computer so for me this is a big problem. I contacted Dell product support and to make a long story short (see Service & Support for more details) they told me to send the system in for Depot repair. Unfortunately, I cannot send the system back as it is essential for my work right now, but I will definitely be sending it in for repair if Dell ever comes up with an acknowledged solution. I got so frustrated I purchased the Audio Advantage Micro by Turtle Beach, an inexpensive USB audio device that works well. This device solves the problem, although I still don't feel it is right that a brand new, $2000 machine should have such an annoying problem that essentially ruins the headphone-listening experience. Because of this, I have to give the D610 poor marks for sound & audio.

I/O Ports

I personally think the D610 has a great I/O port arrangement: very little on the right side (I use a mouse 99% of the time and don't want any cords in the way); audio jacks & PC card slot on the left, most everything else in the back. Specifically:

A nice feature is the release latch for the modular bay on the side of the machine (see picture) rather than the bottom (as it was for my Presario), making it much easier to swap out the drive, especially with power cord, ethernet, mouse, etc attached.

Four USB ports is a nice bonus in this notebook. I always have a mouse attached, and often have the above mentioned USB audio device attached. That still leaves two open ports for USB drives, peripherals, etc. In my mind the D610 has an excellent I/O port arrangement.

Processor & Performance

The latitude D610 incorporates the latest "Sonoma" version of the Intel Centrino. I had high hopes that this machine would fly, and indeed, the D610 seems very responsive & performs well for what I do. As mentioned above, I'll often have powerpoint, photoshop, deepview (molecular image viewer), word, several instances of firefox, thunderbird, winamp, and a few other applications thrown in for good measure open at the same time. The old Presario would definitely bog-down, especially with graphics intensive apps such as deepview and specific powerpoint slides. So far the D610 has sailed through everything I've thrown at it. It hasn't crashed yet -- although windows explorer hangs from time to time (doesn't it always). I'm not much of a gamer, although I did download a copy of the Quake3 demo to see how it would run. I'll list the Quake3 results in the benchmarks section below
.

Another common use for my notebook is to rip and encode music. I prefer Exact Audio Copy configured to encode with the LAME engine. My "benchmark" here is that the supplied DVD RW drive seems to be able to rip at up to about 7.5x (although it takes a while to get going that fast), and the encoding occurs at a "play/CPU" of about 10x (meaning a 10 minute song is encoded in about 1 minute). All together an hour-long CD is ripped & encoded to high quality VBR mp3 files in about 15 minutes.

Benchmarks & Battery Life

Super Pi:  1 min 37 sec (calculation to 2M digits) (see other notebook speeds for calculating Pi)

PCMark04:  3663 PCMarks

3DMark05:  722 3DMarks

3DMark03:  1879 3DMarks

Quake3: 87.5 FPS (high-quality settings), 325 FPS (low-quality settings)

dell latitude d610 battery information

Dell latitude d610 series Battery

Chemistry,Capacity,Volts:

Li-ion,2200mAh,14.80V

Net Weight:

227.50g

Dimension:

127.40 x 77.40 x 19.40 mm

Color:

M.Grey

Dell latitude d610 series Laptop Battery fit OEM P/N: dell 1x793 , 310-4482 , 310-5195 , 312-0068 , 451-10132 , replacement for dell latitude d505 , latitude d610 series laptop battery.

The high quality settings for Quake3 were 1280x1024 with high details & all effects. The low quality settings were 640x480 with low details & most effects turned off.

Classic test with primary (6-cell, 48WHr) battery: 2 hours 23 minutes
Idle test with primary battery: 2 hours 51 minutes
Classic test with primary & modular (also 48WHr) batteries: 3 hours 25 minutes
Idle test with primary & modular batteries: 6 hours 0 minutes
I haven't actually timed the machine fully draining the batteries, but after normal use with the primary battery for 30 minutes, there was 83% remaining with a reported time left of 2 hours 24 minutes. I would estimate about 3 hours of light-duty computing from the primary battery alone. You could save a little weight with a 4-cell primary battery if you don't rely on batteries much.

Wireless & networking

I primarily use the Ethernet connection while at work -- no problems there. I don't use the wireless much, but I did hook it up to a nearby access point and it seemed quite fast. The wireless has no physical on/off switch -- it is controlled via the Fn key, with an indicator light that stays on when the wireless is on (doesn't blink with "activity" as do some Ethernet ports).

Support & Service

I ordered an additional AC adapter and Dell screwed up and only sent an additional AC adapter without the power cord. I don't see how you can consider an AC adapter without the power cord (the part that plugs into the wall) a functional AC adapter, so I contacted product support via email to notify Dell of the problem. In less than 24 hours they responded and shipped an entire new AC adapter, letting me keep the extra part.

I have also contacted Dell concerning the headphone feedback noise problem. I received quick responses; it's just that Dell was unable to solve the problem. I was first instructed to reinstall the audio drivers and disable specific system components. When that failed, I was informed I could send the system in for "system board replacement." Dell service personnel never answered my direct question, however, as to whether the problem can actually be solved (or indeed if they are actually aware of it). Not wanting to risk sending my notebook in for "repair," only to have it returned with the same problem, I opted not to send it in. If and when a solution arises, I will definitely have Dell fix the problem.

Overall I would give
Dell latitude d610 average marks for the support & service. They respond quickly and when the problem can be solved, they take care of it right away. However, they tend to give "canned" answers and would sometimes ignore direct questions.

Conclusions

Overall I'm very happy with this machine. I think it would suit the mobile professional or student who needs a portable yet fast and responsive system for business and office applications quite well. I am especially impressed with the build quality and durability and the keyboard, but I am very disappointed with the noisy headphone jack issue, and cannot decide whether I would have avoided this machine had I known about this ahead of time. Given that it is easy to solve with external hardware (PC card or USB audio device) it's more of an annoyance with Dell's quality control than a true grievance. I can accept limitations of the system such as video or processor speeds. I have a hard time swallowing design or aesthetic problems on a machine that is brand new, especially one that requires me to carry around an extra piece of hardware to solve it.

Other Electronics News



1. Laptop Batteries


2. Dell laptop Battery


3. Dell Inspiron 6400 Battery


4. Dell Vostro 1220n Battery


5. Dell STUDIO 14Z Battery

dell latitude d800 Overview

dell latitude d800 Overview

The Dell Latitude d800 is the successor to the Latitude D820, a mid sized business notebook with a 15.4" screen and the new Santa Rosa platform. Weighing in at nearly six pounds it tips the scales at the upper end of the thin-and-light category. Pricing as of this writing starts at $899, and like most Dell notebooks there are plenty of customization options available.

Specifications

My Latitude d800 is configured as such:

Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, 2.00GHz

15.4 inch Wide Screen WUXGA LCD

2.0GB, DDR2-667 SDRAM, 2 DIMM

256MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M

80GB Hard Drive 9.5MM 7200RPM

90W AC Adapter

8X DVD+/-RW w/ Roxio Creator and Cyberlink

Intel 4965 WLAN (802.11a/g/n)

9-Cell/85 WHr Primary Battery

6-Cell/48-WHr Modular Battery

Vista Business, with media English

Dimensions are 1.39" x 14.2" x 10.34"

Weight is 6.5lbs with 9-cell battery and optical drive

Reason for Buying

When I began looking for a laptop nearly a month ago my primary objective was to find a solid machine that would last me through four years of college. My last notebook was an old Inspiron 500m which I deemed sufficiently thin-and-light for heavy travel and light tasks so I began looking into a larger, more powerful machine though I did not want a full-out desktop replacement. As this notebook would also be a graduation gift, price was not an object and I wanted something that was really something!

Being a long time Dell user, my initial inclination was towards a Dell, but I looked into machines of other brands as well. HP and Asus dropped out early on due to cosmetic preferences, but I put some consideration on the 14 and 15 inch Lenovo T60 series.

A few of my friends own older Thinkpad models and have nothing but praise for them. Indeed, Lenovo is known for superior build quality though typically at a price. By all means the T60 is a beautiful machine, but I was put off by a couple of small details. My biggest qualm is that I cannot stand having a battery stick out. Apparently that seems to be the current trend with a lot of smaller machines sporting bigger batteries and the 14-inch T60 was no exception. I wasn't terribly fond of the port configuration either, particularly the positioning of display and telecom ports on the side of the chassis and the lack of an S-video output. The small touchpad and some very minor aesthetic points also put me off. The 15 inch T60 was a bit better but it still lacked an s-video output and was a tad bit too heavy.

Subsequently I went to Dell. After deciding against Inspiron and XPS notebooks - I hated those big white Inspiron bumpers and there isn't a 14 or 15 inch XPS - my choices came down to the Latitude D630, d800 and Precision M65. The D630 was the thin-and-light of the group but suffered from the same issue as the 14 inch T60 in that the battery stuck out and it was missing an S-video port. Reviews I read about the D630 also mentioned poor sound and a loose battery. The d800 addressed most of my concerns with the D630 but I fretted over the weight of a 15 inch notebook. After changing my mind several times, the d800 finally won me over.

Shopping

After deciding on a machine I poked around the Internet for coupons and discounts, though I did not find many for the Latitude line. I did discover that Dell was offering $400 off the price of each Latitude configured over $1,600 and figured it wouldn't get much better than that. Dell's customization and order process is very straightforward and I made sure to spend plenty of time agonizing over choices like integrated versus discrete graphics or 9-cell versus 6-cell batteries. All in all it was a smooth and pleasant shopping experience. The machine arrived just over a week after I ordered it.

First Impression

The computer shipped with everything shown here. The container was divided into two sections, a cardboard container for the power supply, media bay battery, resource disks and documentation and a styrofoam crate for the actual computer. I was actually somewhat surprised that the notebook came with printed documentation; the last few Dell machines my family bought came with a short pamphlet telling you how to plug in the computer in several different languages.

When I first pulled the d800 out of its protective envelope boy was I impressed. Things have changed since the days of my 500m. I expected the build quality to be good, but it was unexpectedly good. It's really quite solid. It's also very pleasant to look at it; I think the rather subdued appearance is much nicer than the flashy white-bumper Inspiron.

Construction

When I first opened up the machine I found the hinges quite stiff with pretty much no play. The outer shell of the notebook is made of a magnesium alloy though the inner surfaces are still made of plastic. The chassis has no flex whatsoever; I can pick it up by a corner without a problem. Unfortunately though there is a bit of flex in the screen and palmrest, but it is much less than that of older Dell machines. The latch is a bit loose but the travel is very small. The overall build quality might not be on par with that of the Thinkpad series but it is getting close.

The right side houses the optical drive and two USB ports. The optical drive can be removed and replaced with the media bay battery while the computer is on; it acts like a plug and play device.

The left side has an air vent, an IEEE 1394 port, mic and headset jacks, ExpressCard and PC card slots and something called a wifi-catcher which tells you whether you're in range of a wireless network. It is triggered by the small switch to the left.

The back of the notebook has Ethernet, S-video, USB, modem, serial, VGA and power ports. Another USB port would have been nice; even the D630 has four.

Finally, on the bottom of the machine you can see the battery, StrikeZone, memory cover, fan vent and docking port, but the primary battery is actually a tad bit loose, though I didn't notice until I took it out and put it back in. The media bay battery fits nice and tight.

Like I said before, I'm very fond of the somewhat simplistic Latitude design. Save for the small curves that make up the corners of the machine the lines of the laptop are straight and parallel forming a nearly rectangular solid. I think this gives it a more rugged and balanced appearance than wedge shaped notebooks which seem to be appearing more and more these days. The two tone color scheme also contributes to the smart appearance of a business laptop.

Input Devices

The keyboard looks like a typical Dell keyboard; it's very similar in appearance to the keyboard on my 500m. I found that the keyboard is generally more pleasant to use; the keys have a slightly greater travel and a greater amount of feedback as well. There isn't any flex in the keyboard as far as I can tell, though I am not a terribly hard typist. Overall it's a decent keyboard, good, but nothing special.

The touchpad feels the same as the one on my 500m. It's responsive and easy to use, but again, nothing terribly special. I really like the buttons under the touchpad. Instead of having a short, hard click the d800 has buttons that have a longer, softer click to them which I just find to be rather nice. The same can be said for the power button and media buttons.

I don't use a pointing stick very often; in fact there isn't one on my 500m, but I found it to be less responsive than the touchpad and harder to use. I tended to overshoot where I was aiming much of the time. It may just be because I don't have much experience with the trackpoint. The buttons for the trackpoint are the same as those for the touchpad with that same long, soft click.

I don't like having a bunch of multimedia buttons cluttering up the front of my computer, so I am glad that the d800 only has three. There are three buttons to control the speaker volume: higher, lower and mute.

Display

According to the various reviews I read, the D820 seemed to have a rather lacking screen and I was afraid this problem would carry over to the d800. Initially I felt that my fears had come true, but after further consideration and comparison, I find that the screen is quite nice, though it's certainly not perfect.

One of the first things I noticed when I turned on the computer was the unusually large amount of light leakage coming from the bottom of the screen. With both screens set to a blank screen saver under identical lighting conditions the screen on the d800 shows somewhat more light leakage than the screen on the 500m. In the following picture the d800 is on the left and the 500m is on the right.

However, once it's up and running, the d800's screen is noticeably brighter than that of the 500m; you can tell by just how much more light it throws on the keyboard. Again, the d800 is on the left and the 500m is on the right.

Concerning viewing angles; the horizontal viewing angles are pretty good, but the vertical viewing angles leave something to be desired. This seems to be the case with most laptops I've used though.

The fuzziness in the pictures is generated by my poor picture taking skills, but I'd like to mention that I am not using the native resolution. The icon and taskbar sizes at the native resolution were too small for my eyes so I had to revert to a lesser resolution.

I've heard numerous comments about the screen being "washed out" and colors being "faded", but unless I'm running on batteries and thus, less than full brightness, I don't find any of these to be problems, Even without any sort of brightness or contrast tweaks the screen is quite useable and ultimately the high amounts of light leakage don't seem to affect the performance of the display.

Heat and Noise

When the laptop is idling it is very quiet. I can only hear it if I try to. When going about my normal business, it's very easy to ignore. Under a heavy load such as video encoding or benchmarking, the fan will start running at higher speeds. At this point a significant amount of noise is generated, but I believe it is from the moving air rather than the fan itself. Also, the optical drive makes a bit of noise when it is running, though that is pretty typical for optical drives in general.

When the laptop is idling it is also quite cool. The lower half of the keyboard and palmrest stays at room temperature while the upper half just gets a tad bit warmer. Under a heavy load the upper half will heat up a noticeable amount, but the fan does a good job of keeping the temps at a reasonable level. The bottom of the laptop and the air coming out the back can also get pretty warm under these conditions.

Battery and battery life

Tech. of the dell latitude d800 laptop battery.

Battery Type: Li-ion

Voltage : 11.1V (Compatible with 10.8V)

Capacity : 6600mAh

Color : Grey

Dimension : 226.90 x 66.80 x 24.40 mm

Net Weight : 461g

dell latitude d800 laptop battery replacement for oem battery part#:Dell 01x284,Dell 2p700,Dell 310-0083 battery,Dell 312-0083,Dell 312-0101,Dell 312-0121,Dell 312-0195,Dell 451-10125,Dell 451-10130,Dell 451-10151,Dell 8n544,Dell bat1297 ,Dell w2391.

I did a simple test to emulate light use of the d800 under battery power. I turned the screen down to half brightness and let windows media player play music at a relatively low volume. This test was also done under the default Vista setup, prior to the installation of ForceWare drivers.

The 9-cell dell latitude d800 battery primary on its own reached 10% in a bit under three hours. Together with the media bay battery it reached 10% in just over four and a half hours.

Considering that my 500m could do three and a half hours on its one primary battery, I was a bit disappointed with the battery life at first, especially when owners of D620s and D630s were claiming battery lives of up to five hours. But considering I have a 15 inch WUXGA screen and discrete graphics I guess a drop in battery life is expected.

Other Electronics News



1. Laptop Batteries


2. Dell Latitude d530 Battery


3. Dell laptop Battery


4. Dell Inspiron n4020 Battery


5. Dell Inspiron 1210 Battery