Experience with Dell Latitude D[568]00's?

[David Gilbert]

>>>>> "Doug" == Doug Barton <DougB at FreeBSD.org> writes:

I have the Dell D800 with the 1920x1200 screen and am quite happy with
it.

Doug> Howdy, Just when I thought the laptop issue was resolved, I've
Doug> got some new drama. :) I am moving to a new job, and they use
Doug> Dell Latitude's there, so I need to find out if anyone has
Doug> experience with either the Latitude D500, D600, or D800. I'm
Doug> particularly interested in ACPI support in -current, and things
Doug> like suspend, resume, etc. I'm also interested in the support
Doug> for the internal wireless and bluetooth modules. It looks to me
Doug> like the Dell TrueMobile 1400 wireless card is atheros based, so
Doug> that should be fine, yes?

The D800 suspends S1 ... which is OK ... but not stellar.  It seems
that someone will fix this "soon."  The Centrino in the D800 is great
... it reduces the power requirements for the processor ... and thus
produces less heat.  The 1920x1200 screen is driven by a GForce-4
which is also supported.

I have the 1500 wireless card ... figuring that someone will
eventually fix it.  IIRC, the 1400 and 1500 are both broadcom, not
atheros.  Someone said that the 1150 (which can't be ordered with it,
but can be ordered separately and fits) will work with the wi driver.

Doug> I'm also wondering about carrying around the D800 with the big
Doug> screen.  How is the weight on that? I will definitely be
Doug> traveling with this laptop, so portability is an issue, but I'm
Doug> a pretty big guy. A 7 pound laptop isn't that much worse than
Doug> what I have now, and since I'm going to be using it on the road
Doug> a lot I want something I am comfortable with.

It's a solid unit.  I take it everywhere.  A 2nd battery is cool.  The
big screen is gorgeous.  I have a theory that one requires 3 sheets of
paper (equavalent) on the screen to go paperless.  This screen lets me
be paperless.

Doug> Obviously, if you have bad experiences with these particular
Doug> models, I'd like to hear that, but please don't bother with
Doug> generic "dell sux" messages, since I need to go with what they
Doug> are already using in the office.

You do need the patched DSDT (ACPI BIOS code).  I have a mailing list
dell-d800 at eicat.ca ... to which you can subscribe and probe the
archives for various issues.

Having had many laptops that sat beside my workstation, this is the
first that _is_ my workstation.

Dave.

-- 
============================================================================
|David Gilbert, Independent Contractor.       | Two things can only be     |
|Mail:       dave at daveg.ca                    |  equal if and only if they |
|http://daveg.ca                              |   are precisely opposite.  |
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