For mainstream notebooks, it doesn’t get much better than the old Inspiron 5100–unless it’s the souped-up 5150.

When designing its new Inspiron 5150, Dell started with the same sensible case that houses both the Inspiron 5100 and the Inspiron 1100, then filled it full of awesome components such as a 3.06GHz mobile Pentium 4 processor, 333MHz memory, and an ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics chip. These parts helped the Inspiron 5150 achieve outstanding scores in our Labs’ benchmark tests. Additional highlights, such as a DVD+R/+RW drive, 802.11g wireless, and a giant battery, help this machine excel at just about any task, from marathon movie viewing to all-night work sessions. As long as the 3.59kg Inspiron 5150 stays close to home, it will please even the most finicky laptop users.

It would be impossible to pick the Inspiron 5150 out of a lineup alongside the Inspiron 5100 and the Inspiron 1100 because all three systems share the same 335-by-275-by-46.5-mm, 3.59kg case. The AC adapter pushes the total weight past the 4.26kg mark.

The case falls on the heavy side, largely due to its considerable 14.8V, 6,450mAh battery. On the plus side, the system’s large battery lasted an exceptionally long 254 minutes in battery-life tests. The included mobile Pentium 4 processor, which consumes less juice than the desktop chips used by the Inspiron 5100 and Inspiron 1100 do, also helped extend the notebook’s battery life.

The Inspiron 5150 offers an unexciting, straightforward design, but it gets the job done nevertheless. The no-frills keyboard, the touchpad (no pointing stick is available), and the two mouse buttons are large enough to work comfortably into the wee hours. A programmable button above the keyboard launches your designated application in one convenient touch. The system includes just one fixed bay that you can configure with a DVD-ROM, a combo DVD/CD-RW, or the cool, new DVD+R/+RW drive.

Dell leaves off outdated serial and PS/2 ports and includes just the ports and slots you’ll use most. FireWire, S-Video-out, VGA, Ethernet, and two USB 2.0 ports are located on the rear edge, with a 56Kbps-modem jack on the right side. Finally, one Type II PC Card slot and two jacks for headphones and a microphone sit on the left edge.

The Inspirons 5150, 5100, and 1100 may look identical, but they contain some distinct internal differences. While both the Inspiron 5100 and the Inspiron 1100 feature cost-conscious components, such as desktop Pentium and Celeron processors, the Inspiron 5150 offers more cutting-edge parts. The system includes Intel’s latest mobile CPU, the 3.06GHz mobile Pentium 4. All main memory runs at a superspeedy 333MHz and comes in amounts ranging from 256MB to 2GB. The Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics chip is ATI’s top-of-the-line offering, available with either 32MB or 64MB of dedicated 266MHz video RAM. These parts paid off in CNET Labs’ benchmark tests, helping the Inspiron 5150 clock some of the fastest scores we’ve seen to date.

The Inspiron 5150 earns our approval for more than performance. The notebook’s 15-inch display sports one of two native resolutions: 1,400×1,050 or the extrafine 1,600×1,200, which lets you see graphics and games down to the smallest detail. You can then use the integrated DVD+R/+RW drive to burn huge multimedia files or other important data to disc. Or you can save some bucks and fill that fixed bay with a DVD or DVD/CD-RW combo drive when you order. You can also get the fastest-possible wireless transmission speeds with the notebook’s built-in 802.11a/b/g mini-PCI wireless card or save a few bucks by choosing an 802.11b/g card instead.

Dell makes sure that the Inspiron 5150’s software speaks to both home and business users. The system ships with either Windows XP Home or XP Professional. Corel WordPerfect Office 11.0, with Quicken New User Edition, is the standard software suite, but you can also upgrade to Microsoft Works, Office XP, or Office Small Business Edition.

The Inspiron 5150 came in first place in mobile performance in this small test group. It beat the Eurocom D470W Impressa by 40 points and slid past the Alienware Area-51m (neither of which is available locally) by 8 points. The Inspiron 5150 is the first system we’ve tested with a 3.06GHz Mobile Pentium 4. This processor was specifically made for notebooks, and as such, it has better CPU-throttling efficiency when running on batteries than do the desktop chips running in the Alienware Area-51m and the Eurocom D470W. Thus, the Dell Inspiron 5150 easily comes out on top in mobile performance.

The Inspiron 5150 achieved the highest maximum-performance score we’ve seen to date. There are three elements that allow the system to achieve such lofty marks. The first is its 3.06GHz Mobile Pentium 4 processor. The second is its fast 333MHz DDR SDRAM. And finally, the system houses the ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 64MB, which is faster than the ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 64MB used in the comparison systems.

The Inspiron 5150 came in second place in 3D performance. With the ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 64MB we expected a higher score. The reason may be that this 3D test relies more on the quantity of system RAM than our other benchmarks do, and the Inspiron 5150 has only half the RAM as the comparison systems. That said, the system still scores high and would disappoint only the most jaded of gamers.

Thanks in part to its big 14.8V, 6,450mAh battery, the Inspiron 5150 managed a battery life of more than four hours–very impressive. The great battery life is partially attributable to the fact that the processor–a 3.06GHz Mobile Pentium 4–was made specifically with notebooks in mind. As such, it is much more efficient when it comes to conserving power than are the desktop processors found in the two comparison systems. This is a mainstream notebook done right: a mobile system that does not sacrifice battery life for performance.

Review Video:

Dell’s Inspiron 1720 is a robust system available in seven colours besides black.

A powerful laptop does not have to be a boring laptop. The Dell Inspiron 1720 is a heavyish 17in notebook, but its multimedia design is top notch.

Superbly crafted for a demanding home office, the Dell Inspiron 1720 has a full-size keyboard with a separate number pad. Our test machine had one 160GB hard drive, as well as a complete contingent of connections – five USB ports, an ExpressCard/54 slot, and a memory card slot. The Dell Inspiron 1720’s 4kg weight makes it a less-than-ideal notebook for the road.

When it’s time to kick back, the Dell Inspiron 1720’s DirectMedia button provides instant access to the full panoply of entertainment options: DVD movies, music, photo slideshows and videos. The Dell Inspiron 1720’s stereo sound is good; a Blu-ray Disc drive is an option, albeit a costly one (£330).

Configured with a 2GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 processor, 2GB of RAM, and an nVidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics card, the Dell Inspiron 1720 proved an agile workhorse and gaming machine. Its WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 75 puts it in the top 10 percent of current notebooks. The Dell Inspiron 1720 kicked booty in our gaming tests, producing 116 frames per second playing Far Cry at 1,024×768 resolution. Its three-hour, 33-minute battery life isn’t great, but above average for this class.

Our review notebook had an espresso-brown lid that we found a little drab, but if you’re looking for a notebook with some pizzazz, try the Inspiron 1720 in spring green or flamingo pink, among other hues. Who said work isn’t fun?

Specifications

Windows Vista Home Premium; 2GHz Core 2 Duo T7300; 17in widescreen; 4kg; DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/-RAM

Verdict

The Dell Inspiron 1720 is a splashy laptop that offers excellent entertainment options and great sound, as well as strong performance.

Review Video:

The computer, which appears to be codenamed “Adamo”, is billed as “coming soon” , which has lead to speculation that Dell might take the wraps off its new product at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Documents uncovered by the New York Times show that the “Adamo” trademark covers computer hardware, including laptops and desktops.

Although Dell has not made an official statement about the product, the New York Times speculates that it will be a super-thin, ultra-portable machine to rival Apple’s MacBook Air computer, which was launched at Macworld in San Francisco earlier this year.

The NYT reports that Michael Tatelman, Dell’s vice president of consumer sales and marketing, looked stunned when the newspaper asked him whether the company had plans to make an Air-like product. “Mr Tatelman’s mouth gaped open and his eyes darted away from my face,” wrote Ashlee Vance on the NYT Bits blog .

It seems that Dell is planning to overhaul some elements of its consumer electronics line-up next year. Although generally well-regarded for their technical capabilities, Dell machines have a reputation for function over form, and are generally considered large and clunky.

“I think we need to get some iconic products out there, so people associate Dell’s brand with other things,” said Mr Tatelman in a recent interview.

Unleashing Adamo at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas would be a shrewd move by Dell. The event is one of the “blue ribband” conferences in the tech world, and dozens of cutting-edge gadgets get their first public unveiling at the show.

Images of Dell’s latest laptop have leaked, the Dell Studio XPS 13, complete with a slick leather, brushed metal and gloss-plastic casing. Full specs on the 13-inch notebook are unknown, but going by the press photos we can see that it has two USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA port, HDMI output and VGA output, together with wired ethernet.

Other specs include a slot-load optical drive, integrated webcam and microphone, and a multiformat memory card reader. A previous leak suggests that the notebook is based on Intel’s Centrino 2 platform, with Hybrid SLI support, Blu-ray drive, edge-to-edge glass display with optional LED backlighting and both WiMAX and UWB support.

Details – though no photos – of another upcoming Dell notebook have leaked, this time the company’s answer to the MacBook Air. Codenamed Adamo, it was originally expected to launch this month but has been delayed until February 2009, when Dell are hoping to market it as the “world’s thinnest laptop”. With a similar – though different – color scheme and design to the Studio XPS 13, no word on pricing but expect it to command a premium.

Dell’s Studio line of laptops is intended to be more upscale than its classic Inspiron line, and while you might hold out for the mysterious Adamo ultraportable laptop if classy is what you’re all about, here’s another option. The Dell Studio 14, a 14-inch entry into the line, has just appeared on the Malaysian Dell store and it’s likely to hit North America and Europe before long.

Like its 15 and 17-inch older brothers (and its 13-inch half-brother), the Studio 14 packs some hardware punch without going overboard. It comes with at least a 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (and as much as 2.6GHz if you want to spend more), 2GB of memory, and a 250GB hard drive for storage. By default it comes with the very slow Intel X3100 integrated graphics chipset. If you’re planning on playing a lot of games or watching high definition video (which you might, since a Blu-ray drive is an optional upgrade), you’ll want to exchange some extra cash for the vastly better ATI Radeon Mobility HD 3450 graphics card. And of course, like the other Studio models, it comes with a variety of color and design options.

The deal starts at 3,599 RM, or $1,036, but just about any of these minute details could change in the U.S. or European versions. It’s probably a lot cheaper than Adamo, so we’ll let you know when it shows up outside of Malaysia.

Specifications:

• 14″ display with LED backlight
• 1,280 x 800 resolution
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1GHz processor
• 2GB RAM
• 250GB hard drive
• GMA X3100 integrated graphics

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