Dell Inspiron 2650
From simply looking at the specifications, we suspected that the Inspiron 2650 was going to top out our Productivity tests. Then again, it had what some might deem an unfair advantage. While the rest of the field was made up of Mobile Celerons in the 900Mhz-1.2Ghz range, the Inspiron 2650 packs a meaty Mobile Pentium 4-M clocked at 1.6GHz.
Having that kind of muscle does have its drawbacks; its steroid-like stature might allow it to process at higher rates, but those extra clock cycles tend to eat up power like nobody's business. The Inspiron 2650 tended towards the bottom half of the battery life statistics, with 158 minutes in our Productivity tests and 224 minutes in our reader tests.
| Introduction |
| Acer Travelmate 223X |
| Apple iBook |
| Dell Inspiron 2650 |
| IBM ThinkPad R31 26562MM |
| Sony Vaio PCG-FX950 |
| Toshiba Satellite 1400 |
| How we tested |
| Benchmarks |
| Specifications |
| Editor's Choice |
The Inspiron 2650 isn't the prettiest Dell we've ever seen; while other Dell units branch out into multicoloured inserts and groovy additional buttons, the 2650 comes in basic black with a small keyboard layout. In order to conserve space, the Windows key has been shuffled up to the top right corner, which we found a little irksome. It's a flaw shared with the Toshiba Satellite 1400.
The Inspiron 2650 was the second heaviest notebook we examined (the Toshiba Satellite 1400 is 40gms heavier), which could be a concern for anyone planning to lug it around. 3.26kg might not seem like a lot until it's stuck on your shoulder for an entire afternoon, especially in summer.
As Dell's whole philosophy is build to order, the Inspiron 2650 is available in a staggering number of combinations. The unit we looked at shipped with 256MB of SDRAM, a 30GB hard drive and an 8x DVD-ROM drive.
The other catch with the 2650 is that it only has one PCMCIA slot, which again limits the upgrade/extension possibilities. The space where the second PC card might be placed houses a fan, presumably to deal with the higher heat requirements of the meatier processor.
Like the Acer Travelmate 233X, the Inspiron 2650 only just squeaks in under our AU$3,000 limit, but with the feature set it brings to the table, it's still excellent value for money. We have no hesitation in awarding it our Editor's Choice for budget notebooks.
Dell Inspiron 2650
Company: Dell Australia
Price: AU$2,999
Phone: 1800 812 393
