Dell Inspiron 8200 Pentium 4-M 2.0GHz

Features - Software

As is common with notebook systems from major manufacturers, the Dell Inspiron 8200 comes preloaded with a good amount of software. The 8200 series notebooks are available with either Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional. In the seven months since our first notebook review we have seen Windows XP replace older Microsoft operating systems as the default operating system on many notebook machines. We could not be more pleased with this trend as Windows XP is a good amount better than the Windows ME operating system that laptops used to come preloaded with. The default operating system on the Inspiron 8200 is Windows XP Home. Making the switch to Windows XP Professional costs an additional $79.

On top of the operating system, the Inspiron 8200 comes preloaded with extra software to make the computer more useful right out of the box. Each system comes preloaded with: Image Expert 2000 (60-day trial), WinDVD 3.2, Microsoft Encarta Standard 2002, Microsoft Works 6.0, MusicMatch Jukebox, Roxio Easy CD Creator 5, Microsoft Streets and Trips 2002, Microsoft Money 2002, and Microsoft Picture It! Photo 2002. We were pleased to see so many 3rd party software solutions come preloaded on the Inspiron 8200. The Microsoft software package, thanks mainly to Works 6.0, can help eliminate the cost of extra software. Although Works may not be a full featured or robust as Office, it does provide the user with a word processor and spread sheet application that can get the job done at a price that is just right: free.

The multimedia software selection of WinDVD 3.2, MusicMatch Jukebox, and Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 proved to be just right. We have always been pleased with WinDVD as a software DVD decoder and the addition of MusicMatch Jukebox is helpful for those looking to do some MP3 encoding and decoding. It was very nice to find Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 installed on the system. We have seen a number of notebook systems in the lap that turn to the built-in Windows XP burning feature for CD-R recording but we are wholly unimpressed with this solution. Although it gets the job done, the Windows XP burning software does not even come close to matching the ease and functionality offered by a 3rd party software solution such as Easy CD Creator 5.