As larger laptops go, Dell's new 17-inch Inspiron 17 has the potential to impress. But be warned: the base price of £369 nets you what is essentially a netbook in a massive chassis
As larger laptops go, Dell's new 17-inch Inspiron 17 has the potential to impress. But be warned: the base price of £369 nets you what is essentially a netbook in a massive chassis.
On the plus side, this is a reasonably attractive, if budget-focused, 16:9 widescreen laptop that comes with a bunch of colour options. You can snag it for under £400, including VAT and delivery, in a configuration that includes a 1.8GHz Intel Celeron processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard disk, Windows Vista Home Basic (eugh) and bog-standard integrated graphics.
But that's a crap config. Bumping up the price to around £550 gets you a far more attractive model, and one that's still excellent value. This includes the full Windows Vista Home Premium OS, a 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and far more suitable 3GB of RAM.
Bear in mind you'll get a free upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium as well, when it's released in October.
Now for some expensive fun. Because we like fun and it's your money we're spending. Maxing out the configuration snags you a Blu-ray disc drive, 8GB of RAM, a 500GB hard disk, a 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, faster wireless networking with 802.11n Wi-Fi, and dedicated ATI graphics. But that'll cost you a not-fun £1,650. We're pretty sure you can get someone whacked for that.
You can configure and order your own now from Dell's UK Web site. We'll have a full review soon. In the meantime, check out various photos over the page.
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The Inspiron 17 seen here in red.
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A 1.3-megapixel webcam is built-in. Attractive video-chat companions not included.
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Ports around the left include two USB 2.0 sockets, Ethernet and VGA output.
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Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to read. Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion.