Gotta love Dell for their Inspiron 8200 deal of this week.

[CougTek]

This week, Dell offers free shipping, free memory upgrade and free hard drive upgrade to its canadian customers. For one of the few times, the deal here is even better than the one offered in the States since Dell doesn't force to buy MS Office SBE or above for its UltraSharp UXGA screen here, you can choose MS Works and save on it (with OpenOffice free online, I no longer care for MS Office SBE, only for MS Office Pro when Access is needed).

Here's the deal :

• 
  Mobile Pentium 1.7GHz (can upgrade up to 2GHz, but at 500$CDN more, it doesn't worth it for 300MHz)
  15" UltraSharp UXGA display
  256MB to 1024MB memory upgrade (only 220$CDN more for an additional 768MB of RAM!)
  ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 64MB (50$CDN less than the GF4MX 440 here, although you have to spend 30U$ more for it than the GF on the US site)
  Free HDD upgrade from 30GB 4200rpm to 40GB 5400rpm
  8X DVD-ROM (can have a 24X CD-RW for an additional 119$CDN)
  no floppy (I find USB memory sticks more practical)
  56K internal modem + 10/100 integrated LAN
  Windows XP Pro (or WinXP Home if you want to lower the price by another 150$CDN).
  MS Works Suite 2002
  3 years warranty
  Free shipping
  
  3147$CDN (2000U$) if you get it for a small business or 100$CDN more if you get it as a home customer (and I happen to own a business :mrgrn: )

The same notebook on the US site with half the memory, but with MS Office SBE cost 2300U$, or 3150U$ if you upper the RAM to 1024MB. Sure we still have to pay the damn taxes here, but it still ends up cheaper to get the Inspiron 8200 on the canadian market than on the USA's. It almost never happens.

Even better, you can add a P793 17" Dell monitor with your laptop for a scant 250$CDN. I don't need a CRT with the laptop, but I could use it for another box and I will never find a comparable CRT monitor for less than 325$CDN, so I'm winning again (and free shipping even on the monitor!).

What I really like about this deal is that it lets you have many recent and high-end parts on your notebook without costing you an arm and a leg. I mean, 1GB of RAM, the fastest graphic card for laptop, a 5400rpm HDD and the best display you can get for a mobile computer. I don't care much about the CPU frequency not being the highest possible since I don't think it makes a noticeable difference (especially for a laptop) to go from a 1.7GHz P4-M to a 2Ghz P4-M. RAM, HDD and graphic card make much more of an impact than a 300MHz CPU leap.

If anoyone here is in the know, I wonder if Dell has started to use the magnesium enclosure they were planning to start using in Fall a few months ago. Magnesium is lighter and sturdier than plastic and it looks better too, so it would be a big plus in my book if the latest Inspiron 8200 would feature a magnesium casing rather than the cheap-looking plastic it used to wear. From the few pictures I can see on Dell's web site, the look of the Inspiron has changed slightly for the last few weeks compared to what it looked earlier this year, so maybe it's the new magnesium enclosure that has arrived.

I know I could have posted this in the Goods for sale forum, but I'm more looking for feedback on the Inspiron 8200 itself and its components rather than to point out a good deal to others. Being used to shop laptops for others, I'm simply amazed by the amount of features you get for such a low price with this week's Inspiron 8200.

 

[Pradeep]

I'm happy with my i8200 (p4 1.6, 384MB ddr, 32mb gf4 440, 15" ultrasharp, 8x combo drive, 40gb)

That is an excellent price for that spec. Perhaps a pricing error, I would order one right away. Honestly the p4 is a such a slow POS FPU wise, that a 2GHz is definitely not worth the premium over the cheapest that Dell offers.

I didn't have to get SBE to get my Ultrasharp tho.

Re: magnesium casing, sadly the i8200 is pure plastic. When you pick it up from a corner, you can feel the whole thing flex. But mine has survived quite a few plane rides with no probs. The weight of the thing puts it right into desktop replacement territory.

 

[Adcadet]

I'm very happy with my i8200 as well - P4M 2.0 GHz, 256MB RAM (single stick, will upgrade to 512 if I feel like it), 40GB 5400 RPM drive, GF2Go 32 MB DDR, etc etc.

I'd bet that the current deal is designed to move the older plastic case i8200s out so they can start shipping the magnesium alloy ones. Those would rock!


One thing that I think gets overlooked on the i8200s is the dual pointing devices. Being an IBM/Toshiba man, I thought I'd only use the stick. But the Dell's touchpad is so nice that I often find myself using the pad (thought if typing I find the stick much faster). Best of all is the UltraSharp screen - I find it simply amazing. I often have to resist the urge to attempt to mate with my display, it's so nice. I've heard IBM uses the same ones, but to get a similar notebook from Big Blue you'll have to sell a kidney.

 

[Adcadet]

ah, suppose I should include the negatives about the i8200.

1. Weight. This is a heavy notebook. Be warned.

2. I find the location of the DVD and ethernet and modem plugs inconvenient. The ethernet is in front of the DVD, so I have to avoid the RJ45 to put a CD into the drive.

3. I think for performance you really need to start hitting 1.8GHz+ in the P4Ms to equal what the older P3-Ms were getting. It's a shame there isn't a 1.5+ GHz P3-M.