Dell's Inspiron 9200 line of notebook computers combines multimedia power with a 17-inch wide screen to make portable computers that feel like you're bringing the desktop along with you. The sharp-looking silver and white laptop isn't light (it weighs close to eight pounds), but it performs beautifully.

The baseline price includes a 1.6GHz Pentium M 725 processor and 512MB of 333MHz RAM, providing an excellent power core for any applications you can throw at it. You can add a faster CPU if you need more megahertz: a 1.8GHz Pentium M 745 will cost $100, while the 2.1GHz Pentium M 765 costs $500, stepping the power up nicely.

The 17-inch UltraSharp WideScreen is looks beautiful while watching movies or gaming. And speaking of gaming, there's an ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 128MB of video memory inside the 9200--enough for almost any cutting edge game.

The default optical drive is an 8X DVD-ROM, able to play DVDs but without any burning capabilities. For $49, you can make it a combination DVD-ROM drive and 24X CD-RW drive. Or, to burn your own DVDs, $199 will get you the 8X DVD+/-RW burner that burns to both DVD+R and DVD-R disks as well as Double-Layer media, which houses up to 8.5GB on a single disk.

Storage space starts at 40GB, a decent amount of room for the average user. But if you'll be using a lot of video or installing many games on your 9200, you may want to expand. You can increase the drive to 60GB for $49 or double it to 80GB for $125.

The default six-cell battery in the 9200 will provide a little over three hours of life on a single charge. You can bump that to over five hours with the $99 upgrade to a nine-cell battery.

In addition to a modem and network interface, there's integrated 802.11b wireless connectivity. The 9200 also supports Bluetooth for $49 extra.

While there are lighter and less expensive laptops on the market, the Dell Inspiron 9200 is one of the better looking and feeling systems we've tested.

Pros: Large screen, great components
Cons: Expensive



[Note: In 2006, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a voluntary recall of about 2.7 million lithium-ion battery packs used in Dell laptop computers. To learn more, follow this link]

Warranty
1-year limited