> The Inspirons are a totally different concept than the Latitudes. The
> Inspirons attempt to introduce the latest technology, and meet temporary
> customer demand for light weight, speed, graphics, big screens or
> whatever. Dell is also more likely to try out new stuff in the Inspiron,
> then move what works to the Latitudes.
Of course, you do know that Latitudes and Inspirons after the i3800 model
really turns out to be the same machine, right? In fact, it is an
undocumented hack that you can force-flash an Inspiron to run as a
Latitude, and vice versa. The chassis is roughly the same, they are
mechnically identical, they share the same modular bay specs, are
interchangeable for the most part, and the parts listings for both models
are identical. In fact, you can upgrade the Latitudes by buying Inspiron
parts, and in the C8x0/i8x00 models some people even bought video cards
from the Precision M50 line (Really a Latitude C800 with a Quadro4Go 4200
card inside) to turn their machines into overspec game machines.
That entire "Latitudes are sturdier Inspirons" are only partially true.
Oh yeah, keep in mind that Dell only derives 15% of their revenue selling
to consumers. Their meat and potatoes ARE the Latitudes and their
corporate sales.
> The Latitudes are designed to meet the demands of corporate managers...
> Are more consistent from model to model, and are more rugged. The
> Latitudes are more like Thinkpads in reliability. The Inspirons are
> probably more fun. The Latitudes more reliable.
>
Well, actually, their difference have more to do with BIOS version
stability (It turns out that Latitude BIOS versions are older, more
vigorously checked Inspiron versions) and that latitudes have been
certified to run more software and are bundled in better corporate support
packages. In fact, some Inspiron users re-flash their machines as
Latitudes and uses Latitude support packages because they are better
maintained from Dell.
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Received on Wed Jan 14 14:11:32 2004
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