Dell 600M or 700M

[kddani]

Anyone have either of these? I'm considering a new laptop, and I do want the smallness and portability. I've been very happy with Dell's warranty on my current laptop- a Dell Inspiron 2600, which is a little over 3 years old. It's been working pretty good lately, but it's kinda big and heavy. I would like something a little more portable.

Happy to hear anyone's reviews.

[AGDee]

One of our epidemilogists just got the Dell 630M and it's pretty cool. I've seen smaller and lighter, but to make them smaller and lighter, the cd rom/floppy drive, etc are usually external so you have to hook them up with a cable. This one has everything built in. The battery leaves a huge bump on the back of it, which I think is odd in design and that means all the ports for everything (ethernet, USB, etc) are on the side, which I think is more convenient in general. It's definitely a fast little machine and it has an HDTV type screen. It was wider than I thought it was going to be when he ordered it. We actually have to send his back because purchasing made some errors with hard drive size and operating system. I wouldn't mind having one though! Another epid has a smaller one, but it has to sit in a docking station to use the CDrom, ethernet port, etc. Alone though, it's very cool. I want to say it's an ES200, but I don't remember if it's a latitude or inspiron.

[JenMarie]

I guess it would just be good to ask what you would be using it for. When I was looking for a Dell back in 1999, I tried to get the package with the most perks. (More programs installed and ready, more RAM and processing speed, HD space, etc.)

If the two pretty much come with the same thing and the only difference is the price, I'd go with the cheaper one. I'm sure they'll both last forever. It just depends on how you take care of it and how easy it is to upgrade in the future. (Like does one come with a RAM stick that Dell will discountinue in 2 years?)

[kddani]

I'm leaning towards the 700M, if I can find a good coupon i'll probably get it. I'm going to use it for work/travel, so I want something light and portable. I don't care about video card, etc. as I won't be playing games on it.