Dell 700m feedback

Satya - Saturday, July 23, 2005 11:54:08 AM

Support page

Support site

Satya - Saturday, July 23, 2005 11:56:40 AM

Annoying things

Small key board
very little space between ,./
pageup/pagedown use a function key
Screen is manageable
Extra memory module under the key board
No bluetooth support
3 year support costs 300+ bucks
8-cell battery will increase the weight quite a bit

Satya - Saturday, July 23, 2005 11:58:57 AM

Good things

Small
Supports 2G memory
Supports a dvd writer
Nice bright screen
Built in wireless

Satya - Saturday, July 23, 2005 11:59:28 AM

Alternatives

HP dv1000 series, Dell 600m

Satya - Saturday, July 23, 2005 12:01:23 PM

Access dell forums

Inspiron forums

Satya - Saturday, July 23, 2005 12:18:35 PM

Tech Support number

1-800-822-8965
Option 3

Satya - Monday, July 25, 2005 10:00:13 AM

It is a chore to read cnn

As some of the news sites do top down layout, top half of the screen takes up the whole header. Very little room to read the content.

Satya - Thursday, July 28, 2005 9:52:43 AM

Adjusting display brightness

Use the function key and the up/down arrows to adjust it. Especially in battery mode it is too dim. Needs to see what kind of battery life one can expect if it is brighter.

Satya - Thursday, July 28, 2005 9:54:40 AM

Going to suspend mode

Activate suspend mode Fn, Esc. When your system is in suspend mode, the power indicator is not lit. Resume from suspend mode by pressing the power button. The computer may take several seconds to return to normal operation.

Satya - Thursday, July 28, 2005 10:02:22 AM

Some information on bluetooth for XP

Some issues with bluetooth drivers

Satya - Thursday, July 28, 2005 10:32:23 AM

See what this happens

When I click on "my bluetooth places" I get btwizard bluetooth device not found

Satya - Thursday, July 28, 2005 10:48:05 AM

Upgrading the 10m belkin software

F8T008/F8T009 and Windows XP Service Pack 2

This PDF document walks you through the driver upgrading process that will remove the conflict between belkin driver and the microsoft drivers. I recommend this.

Satya - Thursday, July 28, 2005 10:58:00 AM

Drivers for belkin adapters

All belkin drivers. Especially the 10m and 100m drivers

Satya - Friday, July 29, 2005 1:58:20 PM

Bluetooth adapter for your 700m

I have purchased a bluetooth mouse from Belkin. This came with a 10m bluetooth usb card. I am able to fit this usb card into one of the usb slots with room left for the second card. I am able to insert this card and also a 512mb usb drive simultaneously. That is a good thing. I was afraid I won't be able to do that.

I have also got a 100m version of this card. APparently the drivers are the same.

The belkin drivers site is really clean and quite helpful. The pricing is reasonable. 40 dollars for the standalone 100m card and 70 dollars for the mouse and the 10m card.

When time permits I will be looking for a slightly better mouse while keeping the bluetooth card. The mouse that comes with it is a tentative as right underneath the thumb is a very sensitive knob.

Satya - Friday, July 29, 2005 4:46:17 PM

Another annoyance: Cannot read a compact flash card

700m has a slot for an SD card but not a CF card. Sad. The camera I have takes CF cards. Well I have to buy a new cfcard adapter.

I have looked at a few of those. Nothing to my liking so far. I might take a look at the crucial one and order it online.

Satya - Friday, July 29, 2005 4:51:30 PM

700m, touchpad and the USB mouse issue

All of the touchpads that came with dell laptops are a pain in the rear. They take off the cursor from what you are typing.

You can lessen the sensitivity and live with it. But still happens often enough.

If you are planning on using an external mouse such as microsoft, don't install its mouse drivers. They will replace the touchpad drivers and you can't control the touchpad anymore.

There are some reports that logitech does a better job with the drivers. Not sure. I am not going to count on it.

Obviously this happened to me. So I had to uninstall those drivers and reinstall the synaptic touchpad driver again.

Just get your usb mouse and use it with out installing any drivers. Reports say it is a problem of the XP not allowing more than one mouse driver.