I've had my Inspiron 8100 for a few weeks now. I immediately wiped the OS and installed WinXP.

I love the native 1600 display and with WinXP's ClearType it's really beautiful and easy to look at. I'd rather use it than my 19" monitor.

It does get warm. Since this is my first notebook I can't compare to others on this issue. I have it propped up on two sticky-note pads so it gets a little air, and this works well for now.

Speed is up to you as there are several choices on the menu.

It's not a lightweight machine (actual weight on Dell's pages), but then it's designed to be a "desktop replacement" and not a super-thin or super-light machine. I think you would have the same weight issues with any similarly-built machine.

It's nice to have both the track-stick and touch pad for those times when I don't get the mouse plugged in.

I like the keyboard.

Sound is totally acceptable for my music taste - no need for extra speakers.

I'm really thrilled with this machine.


>We are interested in purchasing a few new notebooks and have been looking real close at Dell's Inspiron 8100 notebook with Windows XP. Do any UT users have any comments about this machine or other recommendations on laptops?
>
>We will use them for building large exe's and for normal day to day programing needs along with some photo needs.
>
>Any comments conerning resolution, video, overheating, size, speed, or any other thoughts would be great.
>
>Thanks in advance!
>
>Regards,
>John