Gizmodo: Inspiron

Dell Extends Windows XP Home Deadline to June 26, Cites "Popular Demand"

Jack Loftus — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Dell wrote us to say that due to popular demand (read: common sense), they are extending the deadline for customers who want to order systems with Windows XP Home ~~premium~~. As of today, a Dell rep said customers can order select configurations of the Inspiron 530 or 530s desktops with Windows XP Home ~~Premium~~ through June 26. This means if you're in the market for a Dell, and don't want to pay the surcharge for downgrading your bundle from Vista to XP, you have a few more days to do it. [Dell]

Dell's Mini Inspiron Laptop Named E and E Slim

Jason Chen — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:25:49 EDT

That upcoming mini laptop from Dell that we got the scoop on last month at All Things D just got a name. Engadget's Dell source coughed up the info that the mini notebook will be called the Dell E, which is an 8.9-inch competitor to the similarly named Asus Eee. Then there's the E Slim, which is a 12.1-inch screen, 0.8-inch thick competitor to the MacBook Air and Lenovo X300.

Dell's further segmenting the notebook with E Classic, E Video and E Video+, which has more RAM, flash storage, webcam and Bluetooth. E Slim will get WiMax shortly after its original release date as well. The smaller Dell E looks to start at $299 in August, whereas the E Slim still has no price, but is supposed to hit August-September. [Engadget]

Dell Inspiron Mini Due Later This Summer

matt buchanan — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:25:07 EDT

We're finally getting some more bits on Dell's lil' Inspiron. Most importantly, Dell's confirmed a quasi-release date: later this summer, which is behind the rest of the ultraportable pack because they've been working so hard on the keyboard, apparently, which is now a bit different than the one Blam saw. And Inspiron Mini is the name that's "been bandied out." Other than that, Dell's holding tight on info: no specs (probably Atom/XP though), price or anything else. Guess we'll know soon enough. [APC Mag via Lilputing]

Dell Studio Laptops Look Like a Cross Between XPS and Inspiron

Benny Goldman — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:51:11 EDT

Looks like those thin mid-range Dell laptops that look like the lovechild of the XPS and Inspiron lines is a new mid-range line called Studio, says Engadget. They also say the Studio line will have desktops, and may eventually supplant the high-end XPS. It's still all rumors and conjecture for now, but who's geeked for a Studio? [Engadget]

Exclusive: Dell Mini Inspiron, Their First Mini Laptop

Brian Lam — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:07:39 EDT

I bumped into Michael Dell at All Things D after his interview, and he was nice enough to show me this laptop that he was carrying that he said no one's seen before. It's a small form factor notebook, just like the Asus Eee and the HP 2133. He wouldn't tell me what OS it's running, or the pricing, but that it's a low-cost notebook meant for developing countries, and I hope here. Maybe it's Atom-powered. Who knows? But I do see three USB ports, a card reader, VGA out, Ethernet, and that red candy shell. I couldn't tell how big the screen was before it was tucked away into a black sleeve and ushered from the building, but it's small. Update: Dell just released a pair of shots that add to the sense of scale, but no official name yet.

Rumor: New Dell Inspirons Take Shot At Macbook Air, Lenovo X300

Mark Wilson — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:50:00 EDT

While Apple and Lenovo may have started the latest thin laptop trend, Engadget reports that Dell is entering the ring with their Inspiron 1435, 1535 and 1735. The three laptops are said to share a similar design, with a graduated thickness from 1 to about 1.5 inches. With processors up to Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz, each model will support optional 3G and slot-loading Blu-ray. It sounds good so far, but we'll have to see how competitively they are priced if/when the first of the models hits later this month. [Engadget]

Dell Goes Urban With Mike Ming's Art House Laptops

Jason Chen — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:38:32 EDT

What's the best way to make kids who are all hopped up on Apple's MacBooks to get excited about your laptops? Hire Mike Ming, a Brooklyn-based artist, to decorate up the backs of your laptops in graffiti-like designs. These paints are available on the Inspiron 1525 in both Mike Ming and Mike Ming Extreme Edition. The extra cost for Mike Ming to go extreme? $100. Available now for $699 and $799. Also, in about a year, you'll be able to order a laptop with your own custom designs, such as your face or a picture of your kids. [Dell]

Dell Marks End of Format War with $880 Blu-ray-Equipped Inspiron 1525

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:15:10 EDT

Dell is commemorating Blu-ray's victory by offering a Blu-ray playback (not read-write) drive in its cheap, many colored, 15.4" laptop, the Inspiron 1525, and for a decent price. Starting at $880, you can watch BD movies on its screen (at 720p resolution) or send the video to HDTVs via HDMI. In case you're wondering how decent playback would be on a PC with integrated graphics, Dell mentions that it's using a built-in Broadcom Media PC accelerator located in a mini-card slot. See details after the jump.

SUB-$1,000 BLU-RAY LAPTOP NOW AVAILABLE FROM DELL
The wait is over for an affordable, award-winning laptop that offers the richness of Blu-ray high-definition video

March 28, 2008, Round Rock, Texas - The high-definition format wars are over - and you won: Dell customers can now get a Blu-ray laptop for under a $1,000. Available today on dell.com, movie buffs can pick up the Inspiron™ 1525 with optional Blu-ray disc playback starting at $879.

As retailers and video rental companies expand their high-definition offerings, Blu-ray is the new "must-have" technology to help get the most out of your viewing experience.

The award-winning Inspiron 1525 laptop features a 15.4-inch high definition wide aspect display with 720p resolution. It also includes an HDMI port for easy connectivity to high resolution displays and HDTVs.

The Blu-ray player disc drive is fully backwards compatible, and will play as well as burn traditional DVDs and CDs. Consumers can also chose a Blu-ray burner drive, which is great for backing up and storing important files like digital photos, videos, financial records, etc. A Blu-ray disc will hold up to 50 GB of data, vs. 8.5 GB available on the typical DVD disc.

The lightweight Inspiron 1525 is all about self expression, allowing customers to complement their individual style with a laptop that offers designs like Chill, Blossom and Commotion, or a spectrum of vibrant colors, like Sunshine Yellow, Midnight Blue and Ruby Red.

Dell Inspiron 1525 laptops with Blu-ray disc drives incorporate Broadcom Media PC technology that allows PCs with integrated graphics to play high definition video. The high-definition video playback is enabled through a built-in dedicated accelerator located in a mini-card slot.

Like all Dell consumer laptops, the Inspiron 1525 features Dell MediaDirect technology which provides one button instant access to media files, even if the system is powered off or in hibernate. Optional accessories for a great movie watching experience include a slim travel power adapter ($80), Dell travel remote control (IR) that slips into the ExpressCard slot ($22), and Creative noise-isolation earphones ($25). The Inspiron 1525 laptop with Blu-ray is available today in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

[Product Page]

Ubuntu Linux Comes to the Dell Inspiron 1525

Sean Fallon — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:50:42 EST

Linux fans should be pleased with the announcement that Dell has added the Inspiron 1525 to their Ubuntu 7.10 lineup. It also features built-in DVD playback to save users some valuable downloading time. The laptop will not arrive in the US until later this month, but customers in the UK, France, Spain and Germany can get theirs today. [Direct2Dell]

Dell Inspiron 1525 Is a Whole Lotta Laptop for Less than a Grand

AddyDugdale — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 06:00:36 EST

Dell's Inspiron 1525 gives you a lot for your $999. With a 15.4-inch high-res screen, 2-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 processor, built-in webcam, and almost four-and-a-half hours' battery life and all sorts of holes for you to stick things into, including an HDMI port. Full specs are below the gallery.

CPU 2.0-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7250
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium
RAM/Expandable to 2GB/4GB
Hard Drive Size/Speed 120GB/5,400 rpm
Optical Drive 8X DVD+R DL
Display/Resolution 15.4 inch/1440 x 900
Graphics Intel GMA X3100
Wireless Networking 802.11a/g/n
Ports Four USB 2.0, FireWire, HDMI, S-Video, IR, VGA, S/PDIF, Ethernet, modem, two headphone, mic
Card slots ExpressCard, 8-in-1 memory card reader
Size 14.5 x 10.8 x 1.4 inches
Weight 6 pounds
Warranty/Support One-year parts and labor/one year 24/7 toll-free
[Via Press Release]

Dell Eliminates Almost All Crapware From Dimension and Inspiron Notebooks

Jason Chen — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 14:15:49 EDT

Dell's expanding their no crapware option from their high-end XPS systems to their entire Dimension desktop and Inspiron notebook line; meaning you're going to get the option at purchase time to opt-out of pre-installed trialware and shareware that slows down your computer considerably even when it's brand new. The one caveat is that these computers aren't entirely trialware free—it still has antivirus, Adobe Acrobat Reader and Google Tools left behind.

Dell's reasoning is this: most people want anti-virus built in, Acrobat Reader doesn't count as trialware (it's free), and Google tools is fine because it's from Google. You do have the option of declining the EULA for the antivirus on first boot to have it automatically uninstall, and Acrobat and Google Tools can be removed using Dell's new uninstall utility.

Although we would have liked for the machine to be completely empty when shipped—we've never had a use for Google Tools, and we like AVG's free antivirus just fine—we can live with this. [Dell]

Hype Sheet: Dell Shows Signs of Life

Brendan I. Koerner — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 12:15:22 EDT

The Pitch Who spiked the punch at Dell's ad agency (the mysterious Mother New York)? As the Flaming Lips' relentlessly awesome "The W.A.N.D." cranks on the soundtrack, images of LSD-tinged Americana fly by—a lime-green BBQ, a playboy curling pink dumbells, a sunglassed female guitarist incongruously strolling by a collection of teddy bears. Once we get to the elderly couple and their Inspiron 1420-equipped granddaughter tooling around the desert in a Pacer, we get our first spec porn—a shout-out to the new laptops' "long-range wireless" (a reference to the optional EV-DO card?). After a hippie kung-fu dude and a couple of raincoated old salts put in appearances, the ad ends with a truly memorable visual: a geek cruising about the 'hood in a robot that looks like a mod of ED-209. An eye-catching commercial, no doubt. But can this campaign rescue struggling Dell from its recent free-fall?

Rip-Off Of Spike Jonze's early music-video work, with a liberal dose of Wes Anderson whimsy thrown in for good measure. Other than that, props for the originality.

The Spin Like HP, the star of last week's Hype Sheet, Dell is in the midst of a rebranding project. Having awoken to the fact that it can no longer compete on price alone, the company is now taking a page from the Acer playbook and focusing on laptop aesthetics. The big pitch with the Inspiron 1420s is that they come in myriad colors; it took me a few views of this ad to realize that the featured laptops invariably match their surroundings, color-wise. (I especially like the sailors and their raincoat-yellow PC.) Case color may seem like a pretty weak spec to be harping on, but think about what Dell has to overcome right now—a reputation for making drab boxes that mark their owners as computing neophytes. On top of that, the Flaming Lips song is the real star of this ad—nothing says "effortless cool" quite like the greatest band to ever come out of Oklahoma City. What Michael Dell wouldn't give for the young'uns to think the same of his eponymous PCs.

Counterspin The conventional wisdom is that price wars plus a lack of retail presence are what got Dell into its current bind. (Gartner recently estimated Dell's U.S. market share at 29.9 percent, down nearly six points over the last year.) But the rot seems deeper than that, which makes the Inspiron 1420 play seem a little insubstantial. Sure, colors are great, and it's nice to know that Dell's brain trust gets that laptop consumers are a more culturally savvy lot than they're often given credit for. But most of the complaints I've heard about Dell are about service and bait-and-switch tactics, not aesthetics and specs. How does this admirably creative campaign address those concerns? It doesn't, of course—it just hopes that you'll come back to Dell once the brand's uncool stigma has been banished.

Takeaway The big news 'round Dell these days is that its founder is back at the everyday helm, after besieged CEO Kevin Rollins got elbowed out in January. So think of this campaign as Michael Dell's personal vision of how he'll rescue his baby. Mike's obviously a much cooler cat than Rollins, who probably thought those intolerable "Dude, you're getting a Dell!" ads were pure genius. And shedding the company's utilitarian rep is certainly part of the puzzle. But you've got to wonder how the billionaire Dell is going to address the deeper problems in his once and future kingdom, starting with customer relations. Stories like this one, about aggrieved folks still waiting for their XPS M1330s, are all-too-common, and the company has done a pitiful job of maintaining its call centers' standards. (If you're a Dell customer who's having problems with a Vista upgrade, may the gods be with ye.) It seems like Dell needs to rebuild trust even more than it needs to glam up its staid image.

Hype-O-Meter 8 (out of 10). The Flaming Lips song is a masterstroke, if only because you can't get it out of your head for a good 10 to 12hours (or even longer). And how can you hate on a commercial that features an honest-to-goodness Pacer? But if case colors are all Dell has to differentiate itself in the mid-range laptops market, it'll be a while before they climb out of the hole. This is a step in the right direction, but a baby step.

Brendan I. Koerner is a contributing editor at Wired and a columnist for both The New York Times and Slate. His Hype Sheet column appears every Thursday on Gizmodo.

Certified Wireless USB Takes Flight In Inspiron, ThinkPad Laptops

kthompson — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 21:49:18 EDT

Kiss your favorite cords goodbye, because Certified Wireless USB is throwing them out with the trash. Industry giants including Dell and IBM have come on board as early adopters of the new USB standard, which combines the data transfer rates of USB with the ease-of-use and cable-free nature of Bluetooth and WiFi. Dell is rolling out its new Inspiron 1720 next month, a mobile media notebook that includes a built-in Certified Wireless USB chip. In conjunction with new lines of CWUSB routers launched by D-Link and IOGear, the 1720 can connect with 127 other devices and swap data at a blistering 480Mb/s (at 3 meters; speeds fall to a respectable 110Mb/s at 10 meters).

The 17-inch Dell laptop is a media machine, sporting a high resolution UltraSharp display, 7.1 surround sound, a 2-megapixel webcam and a Blu-ray player to keep you entertained on the go. Continuing the wireless trend are the included Wireless-N card and mobile broadband capabilities. You can even drop nearly half a terabyte into these creatures (across two hard drives)! Shipping August 9th, the Inspiron 1720 can be yours for less than a grand (if you're willing to make some sacrifices).

The other major Certified Wireless USB notebook launch is the ThinkPad T61. A more modest offering than the Dell, it still manages to be a wireless beast with support for standard WiFi, Bluetooth and USB out of the box. A fingerprint scanner and unique shock absorbing roll cage keep your data safe and secure, though that data is limited to about 80 gigabytes on the top end. The 14.1-inch offering from Lenovo won't play your Blu-ray discs, but it will get your basic jobs done in a compact, wire-free way. Shipping now, the Thinkpad T61 starts around $1,500. [Laptops That Don't Need USB Cables]

Dell Rolls Out Inspirons and a Slim-Trim XPS Notebook in Splashy Colors

Charlie White — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 09:28:04 EDT

In the leakiest announcement since the Titanic, Dell officially announced a raft of notebooks, flat panels and desktops today, offering no surprises since we've been hearing about them for the past two months.

Heading the list is the gorgeous XPS M1330 notebook, claiming to be the skinniest 13.3-inch notebook in the world at just .9 inches. It's bringing LED backlighting to the party, along with an option to buy a 32GB solid state hard disk for an extra 600 bucks. They are offered in black, white or red, and you can order one now but don't expect to get it before July 27. Pricing starts at $1299, but fully tricked out with all the options and the fastest Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 Processor at 2.2GHz, its price is pushing $3000.

Dell also refreshed its Inspiron line, spreading out the brand beyond just laptops and into desktops and monitors as well. The big news with the Inspiron laptops (pictured above) is the palette of colors that's positively wild for Dell, offering the notebooks in your choice of a palette of the eight colors you see in a graphic here. Don't miss our favorite, bubblegum pink. But note that in all these colorful new offerings, the whole notebook is not festooned in these flattering colors, it's just the back of the display that's painted up all pretty-like. You can choose from 17-inch, 15.4-inch and 14.1-inch screen sizes. Pricing starts at $769.

Also included in this four-ring circus are Dell's Inspiron line of desktops (pictured above) that replace Dell's shopworn Dimension line of PCs that have been around for 15 years. These Inspiron desktops' main claim to fame are their "clean arctic silver and white design." Big woop. With pricing starting at $349, you can cram dual 500-gig drives inside, and take your pick of AMD or Intel processors. And looky there, there's a Blu-ray drive available, too. These are available in either a minitower or slim tower form factor, and besides that new color, there's not much else notable here.

And what's this? Why, it's the 2407WFP-HC a high-color version of Dell's glorious 24-inch widescreen flat-panel display. High Color—that's what the "HC" in there stands for. Like Dell's 30-inch 3007WFP-HC display, this 24-incher now offers 92% of the color gamut, meaning that mortals won't be able to tell much difference, but the artistic community will wet its pants over this. Since we're already blown away by Dell's garden-variety 2407 monitor, this one we gotta see. Along for the ride is the entry-level ST198WFB, a widescreen 19-incher with 1440x900 resolution. That one will be good and cheap, that's for sure.

We also noticed Dell offering a year's worth of free online backup with every Inspiron product, letting you send 3GB to the mother ship in case your house burns down. If you're getting an XPS product you can load up to 10GB online.

Summing up, this is a welcome refresh for Dell's notebooks and desktops, as the company eases even further away from its formerly staid design rep. We especially like that super-thin XPS M1330 notebook, and are eager to find out how long its full complement of batteries will last with that LED-backlit display and solid state drive on board.

Product Pages [Dell]

Dell's Debuts Their Ubuntu Machines Today, Wal-Mart PCs Next Month

Louis Ramirez — Thu, 24 May 2007 11:02:31 EDT

It's a busy week for Dell, who's launching both their Ubuntu and third-party pickings. Later this afternoon they'll begin offering three Ubuntu-based systems. You'll have a choice between the XPS 410n, Dimension E520n, or the Inspiron E1505n (for the laptop crowd). The latter two will start at $599 while the XPS will start at ~~$899~~ $849. As we noted earlier, Dell will be offering hardware support for the systems (OS comes for an optional fee).

~~This weekend~~ Starting June 10, Dell's first Wal-Mart offering, the Dimension E521, will roll out into more than 3,000 locations. Naturally, both more computers and more retail partners will follow, since Dell sees third-party retail as one its major new avenues to growth. Of course, the name of the game is audience expansion, so it's no coincidence that we're seeing the fruits of "Dell 2.0" ~~the same week we're seeing its~~ close to its Wally World debut as it grasps for consumers on both sides of the traditional Dell spectrum of sales. – Louis Ramirez & Matt Buchanan

Product Page [via Direct2Dell]
Wal-Mart to begin selling Dell PCs [CNET via Between the Lines]

Free Go-Backs: Dell to Reintroduce Windows XP

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:55:00 EDT

After pulling XP from its desktop and laptop lines, Dell changed its mind and announced that it would offer it on new Inspiron 1405, 1705, 1505 and 1501 notebooks, and Dimension E520 and E521 desktops. The decision was driven by an overwhelming outcry on Dell's IdeaStorm feedback center, which at the moment reads like a meeting of the He-Man Vista Hater's Club:

•"Vista just isn't ready for prime time... Sorry that's just the facts."

•"Many software only run at XP."

•"I am looking to buy a laptop, but Vista will not be on it."

•"Windows XP works. Vista might work, later."

•"Boycott Vista."

The announcement came less than a month after Linux users stormed IdeaStorm and demanded availability on desktops and notebooks, to which Dell responded that it would get going. Just in case you haven't gotten freaky on that Linux lovefest yet, here's your chance. – Wilson Rothman

Don't Eliminate XP Just Yet [Dell IdeaStorm via ZDNet]

Dealzmodo: $305 Off Dell Inspiron Notebook

Travis Hudson — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 11:41:08 EST

Dell has a mighty fine coupon on the Inspiron E1405 Dual Core notebook. Save $305 instantly with the coupon code PZZ0Q3PZF27H1Z. This notebook has a Dual Core T2060 1.6GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, combo drive, 14.1-inch widescreen and Windows Vista Home Premium. The laptop normally carries a $1,054 price tag, but it gets knocked down to $749 after the coupon. –Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via

Inspiron 1501: Dell and AMD's First Love Child

Louis Ramirez — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 15:11:49 EST

Ever since we found out that Dell and AMD had been secretly seeing each other, we knew it wouldn't be long before Dell started packing AMD chips in their systems. And now Dell's proudly showing the world its first AMD baby, the Inspiron 1501. The 15.4-inch laptop will have all the goodness of its Intel siblings, but with AMD brains that range from the entry-level Sempron 3500+ to the Turion 64. Looks-wise, it's no baby Suri, but at $549, you won't hear us complaining.

Dell Inspiron 1501

Dealzmodo: 30 Percent off Dell Inspiron Notebooks

Travis Hudson — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:14:33 EST

Dell Home has a new, super fantabulous 30-percent off coupon code for Dell Inspiron Notebooks priced at $1299 or higher. This is savings of at least $390. The select Inspiron notebooks include the B130, E1405 Dual Core, E1505 Dual Core and the E1705 Dual Core. Use the coupon code 9D42R7W2D0?F0B at checkout for your savings. This deal ends November 3 at 7 A.M. eastern or after the coupon code has been used 7,000 times. – Travis Hudson

[Via Dealhack]

Dealzmodo: 20-Percent Off Select Dell Inspiron Notebooks

Travis Hudson — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 10:49:53 EDT

Normally, we try to keep our Dealzmodos at a manageable price that allows the impulse shopper in us all go crazy, but this is a pretty damn good deal if you are in the market for a new non-Apple notebook. Dell is featuring a 20-percent off coupon for select laptop computers. The discount applies to the following Inspiron models priced at $999 or above: B130, E1405 Dual Core, E1505 Dual Core and the E1705 Dual Core. Just apply the coupon code: J2LPP883X25918 at checkout and even get free shipping. This deal lasts until next Thursday, September 14 or until the code is used 4,000 times. Thanks, Dealhack – Travis Hudson

Gizmodo Frankenreview: Dell XPS M1710 Core 2 Duo Laptop

Mark Wilson — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 15:06:00 EDT

This past month, the Core 2 Duo laptop announcements flew by hard and fast. Intel's new Merom chips got jammed between the legs of every notebook out there, and the morning-after reviews are finally upon us.

The machine with the most acclaim? The Dell XPS M1710 Core2Duo gaming laptop. This big boy gets a 2.33Ghz CPU, an Nvidia GeForce Go 7900GTX gaming card, Wireless-N. PC Magazine's all hot and bothered by it, digging deep to come up with the "Awesome" verdict. But our review, patched together from the undead limbs of other reviews, will be better. How does the Dell compare to an HP, and a slightly less endowed Dell Inspiron? See the chart, and jump for choice quotes on each machine.

Frankenreview MEGA XTREME TIMES THREE

Dell XPS M1710 (high end)
"Continues to shine as the best gaming laptop on the market."
"When it comes to 3D games, though, the XPS M1710's new processor alone couldn't provide a performance bump"
- Low gaming resolutions will see performance bump. Higher resolutions will not.
"...quickly dispensed with processor-intensive tasks such as encoding MP3 files and multitasking"
"The biggest improvement comes in my video encoding tests. Thanks to the Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processor, video professionals should see more than a 20 percent differential."
- Edit that furry documentary you've been hanging on to.
-"The M1710's performance scores even surpassed those of the Area-51 m5550, made by Dell's recent acquisition, Alienware, even though both machines have the same processor."
-Doom 3 scores benefited the most from the processor upgrade, leaping 28 percent. Splinter Cell scores also improved by 15 percent.
-Battery life just over 2.5 hours.

Dell XPS M1710 Core 2 Duo Laptop Stat Smather:
Type: Gaming, Media
Operating System: MS Windows XP Media Center
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo T2600
Processor Speed: 2.16-2.33 GHz
RAM: 2048 MB
Weight: 8.8 lb
Screen Size: 17 inches
Screen Size Type: widescreen
Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce Go 7900GTX
Storage Capacity: 100 GB
Wireless: 802.11a/g
Primary Optical Drive: DVD+R D

HP Pavilion dv6000t (Midrange)
"...we love HP's QuickPlay feature for launching and controlling multimedia files"
"...deliver[ed] the best MobileMark 2005 score we've ever seen from a mainstream portable"
"The biggest differences (over 20 percent) can be found on running tasks such as video and audio encoding."
- We love our video.
"Battery life is mediocre, if not disappointing, at a mere 2 hours 27 minutes."
"Battery life was a respectable 3 hours and 39 minutes."
- FIGHT!

HP Pavilion dv6000t Stat Smather
Type: General Purpose, Media
Operating System: MS Windows XP Professional
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo T7400
Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
RAM: 512 MB
Weight: 6.1 lb
Screen Size: 15.4 inches
Screen Size Type: widescreen
Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce Go 7400
Storage Capacity: 120 GB
Wireless: 802.11a/g
Primary Optical Drive: DVD+R DL

Dell Inspiron E1405 (cheap)
"...the performance gains I had expected from the processor upgrade really didn't come to fruition"
"It appears to be about 10% faster than the proceeding Core Duo"
"...media related tasks will benefit more than office applications will from an upgrade to a system with the T5500 chip"
- Considering the E1405's price, there might be another bottleneck going on here.
"At the end of the day...who can argue with paying the same but getting more?"
- Even if it's just a tiny bit more. – Mark Wilson

Stat Smather for the Dell Inspirion E1405
Type: General Purpose, Value
Operating System: MS Windows XP Media Center
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo T5500
Processor Speed: 1.6 GHz
RAM: 1024 MB
Weight: 5.8 lb
Screen Size: 14.1 inches
Screen Size Type: widescreen
Graphics Card: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Storage Capacity: 80 GB
Wireless: 802.11a/g
Primary Optical Drive: DVD+R DL

PC Mag [Dell XPS]
PC Mag [HP Pav]
PC Mag [Dell Insp]
CNET
Computer Shopper
Notebook Review
Laptop Mag

Core 2 Duo Notebooks Launched, Dell Rocks XPS Line with More to Come

Charlie White — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 13:42:02 EDT

Today is the big launch day for the Intel Core 2 Duo processors, those laptop-specific processors which were affectionately known as Merom during their development stage. Just about every laptop manufacturer is trumpeting these updated dual-core processors they've dropped into existing notebooks.

Case in point: Dell, updating its XPS series laptops with Core 2 Duo processors, with the Inspiron, Latitude and Mobile Precision lines also soon benefiting from the Intel-quoted 12% overall system performance improvement over first-generation Core Duo processors.

The XPS notebooks now offer a choice of three Core 2 Duo processors, including the T7600 (2.33GHz), the T7400 (2.16GHz) and the T7200 (2GHz), and are priced from a steep $3500 for a XPS M2010, $2300 for the the M1710 (pictured above), down to the first Merom-packing Inspiron E1705 for $1124. Other Core 2 Duo-equipped Dell Inspirons, Latitude and Mobile Precision Workstation notebooks are forthcoming. We'll be reviewing one of Dell's Merom-packing notebooks in a couple of days, so stay tuned. – Charlie White

Dell XPS M2010
Dell XPS M1710
Dell XPS M1210
Dell Inspiron E1705

Dell Recalls 4.1 Million Batteries, Stops Big Bada Boom(s)

Travis Hudson — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 01:47:35 EDT

So, Dell laptops like to get hot and explode sometimes, if you hadn't heard. Well, they are finally doing something about it by recalling 4.1 million notebook batteries. This is the largest recall in Dell history. The faulty batteries have cells made by Sony and were sold from April 2004 until July 2006 in Latitude, Inspiron and Precision notebooks. According to Dell, 18-percent of the machines sold during the time period have faulty batteries that can overheat and possibly explode into a fiery ka-bloom. No word yet on how to acquire a replacement battery, but we'll keep you posted as the info comes through. Thanks, everyone who emailed this in. – Travis Hudson

Dell to recall 4.1 million laptop batteries [MSNBC]
Dell Recalls Batteries Because of Fire Threat [NY Times]

Edit: You can check to seei if your battery is one of the affected here.

E3 2006: Mac Envy In The Wild

gizmodo.com — Thu, 11 May 2006 21:07:11 EDT

We're at E3 this week writing stories for our dorky pale sibling Kotaku and just spotted this pitiful Dell Inspiron in the press room, desperately wishing it was something it will never ever be. And yes, we're totally typing this on our beautiful new MacBook Pro.