Dell's newly-redesigned Inspiron 1420 laptop line lets you put high-end dual-core processors into a chassis of almost any color; you can opt for more subdued brown or black, or you can go with a bit more flourish with a pink or yellow. Any color other than black adds to the price tag, but it might be worth it to have your portable computer stand out from the crowd.

But there are plenty of other features that set these laptops apart. They feature 1.6GHz Pentium Dual Core T2330 baseline processors that provide decent core power; users interested in more horsepower can upgrade to a Core 2 Duo processor for a nominal fee.

Dell pairs this CPU with a healthy gigabyte of 667MHz DDR2 memory; an optional upgrade to 2GB boosts performance nicely. These laptops support up to 4GB of RAM, so there is room to grow down the road as well.

The storage space harbored by these laptops is good, thanks to an 120GB, 5,400rpm hard drive; you can upgrade this to up to 320GB of storage, which gives you nearly a third of a terabyte of space, which comes in handy if you'll be housing lots of multimedia or other large files.

The default optical drive built into these units is a combination CD/DVD writer. Dell also lets you add Blu-Ray high-definition DVD drives to these laptops, although it's not cheap and it requires processor upgrades, so you will end up spending more there as well.

Dell aims for a nice sweet spot between power and portability with these laptops -- their screen size is only 14.1 inches and they weigh in at just over 5 pounds. The default widescreen offers 1280X800 resolution, so it's plenty sharp for the average user. If you'll be doing a lot of photo editing or other detail-oriented tasks, you can opt for a higher-resolution 1440X900 upgrade.

Graphics are integrated on these laptops, so they are not gaming machines out of the gate. Dell does, however, offer the ability to upgrade here as well; you can add an NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS graphics card with 128MB of dedicated video memory.

Connectivity options include network interface, modem, and 802.11g wireless (802.11n is available for an additional cost). You can also connect a variety of peripherals thanks to four USB ports and a mini-Firewire port. There is also an 8-in-1 media card reader for transferring files and photos. You can also add Bluetooth connectivity and a 2.0-megapixel integrated webcam to this laptop.

Dell lets you upgrade nearly every aspect of their Inspiron 1420 laptop line, but if you do, you could end up doubling its reasonable starting price tag very quickly. But if you play the upgrades tightly, you can keep the price low while still ending up with a powerful, portable laptop computer.


Pros: Very portable, customizable colors
Cons: Upgrades can get expensive

Warranty
1 year, limited