Notebook questions

[Mark H]

Hi all.
I am thinking of buying a Dell Inspiron 8600 notebook
I have never owned or used a notebook before so these might be pretty stupid
questions but:
I am assuming the hard drive in notebooks are the most sensitive part, if I
was using the notebook and tilted it onto its side or place it onto the
table a bit roughly (without actually dropping it) would this damage the
hard drive or CD/DVD drive, assuming the CD was spinning at the time?
Also has anyone got any opinions on Dell notebooks in particular the
Inspiron 8600?
I have read somewhere on the net that the Inspiron 8600 can have the video
upgraded, when ATI releases the 9600(or similar) to make it better for DX9
gaming.
It will be used for Internet access, general computer use and some games.
Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Mark

 

[Jan Alter]

Hi,

Sure, you could damage the hdd by plunking it down sharply enough or the
CD drive while it's playing. The general rule is move the computer it
running as if you're driving on snow. Make no sudden moves.
This summer we had the same thoughts. Dell was a high contender for our
business but we chose a Sager notebook, because it seemed to give a lot more
for the money and the parts appeared of high quality. So far it's proved
itself well.
One of the key things that we realized later was that we were not taking
into account the weight of the AC tranformer. That added another 2.5 lbs and
we wondered if we would been better off getting a unit using the Centrino
chip to both cut down on weight and give better battery time. In the end we
we still chose a P4 CPU unit.
Still, you're right, lots of things to consider.

 

[Al Dykes]

Hi all.
I am thinking of buying a Dell Inspiron 8600 notebook
I have never owned or used a notebook before so these might be pretty stupid
questions but:
I am assuming the hard drive in notebooks are the most sensitive part, if I
was using the notebook and tilted it onto its side or place it onto the
table a bit roughly (without actually dropping it) would this damage the
hard drive or CD/DVD drive, assuming the CD was spinning at the time?

RE the hard drive; hard drive manufacturers specification sheets
commonly give a 30G limit while operating. That's a fair amount of Gs
and I'd say some of the plastic parts would break off (and thereby
absorb some of the shock) before the disk crashes.

Also has anyone got any opinions on Dell notebooks in particular the
Inspiron 8600?

The Dell no-questions-asked warranty is a good deal if you can't afford to
have your laptop in the shop for a week or two. In any case, I recommended
some sort of 3 year parts and labor warranty for laptops.