With powerful performance, a gorgeous screen, excellent documentation, and a keyboard rivaling the ones shipping with most desktops, the Dell Inspiron 2500 makes an excellent three-spindle notebook for students and budget buyers who aren't too concerned with their laptop's weight. The rather boxy, voluminous 2500 tips the scales at a hefty 3.4 kilograms--making it a drag to schlep back and forth to the library or office everyday--but it's a winner in most other respects, and it's even a pretty good bargain.
In today's market, where the aesthetics of electronic devices are decidedly streamlined and futuristic, the matte-black 2500's gaudy silver logo and hideous interchangeable, colour wrist-rest panels seem a throwback to a tackier time. Don't let this dissuade you, however. Opening the case reveals a wide, gorgeous 15-inch screen capable of displaying XGA resolution at 24-bit colour. The optional 4M video cache card in our evaluation model--used to supplement the system memory allocated to the integrated graphics controller--was able to drive external displays at up to 1600 by 1200 resolution at 256 colours.
Dell's Web site allows you to customise your Inspiron with ultra-fine granularity; ours came equipped with a fixed 8X DVD drive, a modular floppy, and a 10G hard disk, all of which the system accommodates simultaneously. Performance scores for this 700MHz Celeron-based system were better than that of the IBM ThinkPad i-Series 1171-7WU, the only other system we've tested with the same processor. Battery life for the 2500's 3800-mAh lithium-ion cell (a "smart" battery, no less, with a push-button LED charge meter) was adequate at just more than three hours.
Using the 2500 is a very pleasant experience. It's been quite a while since any notebook's keyboard has rivalled that of the legendary ThinkPad--until now, that is. Dell has obviously done work in this department, equipping the 2500 with a keyboard of uncompromising feel and layout, including a full-sized backspace key, arrow cursor controls set far apart from the other keys, and arguably the best feel of many of the notebook keyboards we've tested. Dell complements it with a fully programmable Synaptics touchpad with two large, if slightly stiff, actuation buttons.
Above the keyboard is a hardware volume control and a row of dedicated keys that serve as both audio-CD controls and one-touch Internet/application-launch buttons. These are easy to program via the icon in the system tray, but we have been critical of Dell in the past for not engineering a way for these buttons to toggle quickly back and forth between their two intended purposes. As it stands, you must switch their functionality via the Keyboard Control Panel, an awkward operation.
Audio quality was crisp and powerful with little distortion at top volume, although we found the operation of the hardware volume controls buggy. This was particularly a problem during DVD playback, when we couldn't seem to get the sound loud enough for our tastes. Full-motion, full-screen video looked very good for a notebook of this class--we noticed only the very occasional hiccup--and though game-play was by no means stellar, it was certainly acceptable.
Dell preloaded its wonderful assortment of help files, electronic documentation, and diagnostic tools on our demo system's hard disk, all under the umbrella of the well-designed Dell Solution Centre utility. This model comes standard with a one-year parts and labour warranty, although you can upgrade to more industrial-strength protection easily and affordably.
The Inspiron 2500's appearance and weight detract from an otherwise solid desktop replacement with an outstanding keyboard. But if sex appeal isn't a concern, its fine display, good performance, and excellent documentation may win your heart.
Dell Inspiron 2500
Company:Dell
Price:AU$2,523 to 3,122 depending on configuration
Phone: 1800 812 393
3%
2%
