The Dell Inspiron 6000 walks into this roundup with a serious disadvantage – packing only an Intel P-M 1.86GHz and an ATI Mobility RADEON X300 it is easily outgunned by the competition. Dell offers faster processors in the Inspiron range, but sadly the X300 is as good as it gets. The Inspiron 6000’s above average 15.4 widescreen display offers 1920 x 1200 native resolution, beating even its 17-inch competitors.
It deserves a more powerful graphics engine, which lets down the side with a poor gaming benchmark. Had Dell blessed it with an X700, the Inspiron 6000 probably would pip the Acer to take out best 15.4-inch notebook, even with the price difference.
Feature-wise the Dell has a few bells and whistles to lure in business users, with 802.11a, Bluetooth and horizontal and vertical scroll built into the trackpad. Unfortunately it is let down by a lack of gigabit Ethernet and a limited memory card reader. Backlit multimedia and volume buttons are a welcome sight for movie buffs along with a CyberLink media suite for high quality media playback. The DVD playback stood up quite well against the competition, but disappointing stereo speakers compared to the competition detract from the multimedia experience. A decent software bundle is offered, including Sonic MyDVD, RecordNow and the excellent PowerDVD. This is reasonably priced for 15.4- inch notebook, having recently dropped $300.
The personalisation colour panels, available in Charcoal Leather, Carbon Fiber, Cherry Burlwood and Mediterranean Blue, can’t hide the fact those after a faster power plant and beefier graphics will find more suitable models elsewhere in this roundup.