Laptop Thoughts: Flip Your Designer Lid with the Dell Inspiron 17R

"Can you really get a good big-screen multimedia laptop for under a grand? Yes, and the Dell Inspiron 17R is exhibit A. This 17-inch notebook combines a vibrant 1600 x 900 screen with a second-generation Intel Core i5-2410M CPU, an Nvidia GeForce GT525M graphics card, and a Blu-ray player--all for $899."

Dell's Inspiron 17R is a lot of computer for $899. Not exactly light, at 7.2-pounds, or 7.6-pounds with a 9-cell battery, has: a good keyboard with a full number pad and touchpad; a crisp, clear, but glossy LCD with WiDi (need an adapter from Netgear at $79) to output wirelessly to an HD TV; decent graphics; very good audio; the usual complement of ports, including two USB 3.0; Blu-Ray Player; HD webcam; good cooling for the top of the laptop, but a bit less cooling underneath; decent gaming performance; slow boot performance; very good battery life of over 4-hours with the standard 6-cell battery, and over 7-hours with the 9-cell battery upgrade; and average wireless performance. For the price, an outstanding value! And, if you don't like the looks, you can easily change the cover.