Dell Inspiron 8600

Dell Inspiron 8600

Welcome to a laptop battery specialist of the Dell Ac Adapter

Never one to rest on its laurels, Dell has sprinkled its Centrino fairy dust on the Inspiron 8500 with adapter such as Dell XPS 1340 Ac Adapter, Dell XPS PP17S Ac Adapter, Dell Inspiron 13 Ac Adapter, Dell Inspiron 1318 Ac Adapter, Dell XPS M1330 Ac Adapter, Dell XPS M1350 Ac Adapter, Dell Inspiron 1470 Ac Adapter, Dell Inspiron 14Z Ac Adapter, Dell Inspiron 1570 Ac Adapter, Dell Inspiron 15Z Ac Adapter, Dell P04F001 Ac Adapter, Dell Inspiron 13ZD Ac Adapter and produced the Inspiron 8600. Gone is the old-fashioned 2.4GHz Pentium 4-M; in its place is a brand-new 1.7GHz Pentium-M.

But don't be fooled by the lower numbers - it scored a scorching 1.65 in our 2D benchmarks, making this the fastest notebook we've seen in 2D. Not only that, but the less power-hungry processor increased the battery life to 255 minutes under light use, which is a significant improvement. That said; don't get any big ideas about carrying this notebook around, as the 3.4kg weight will put a stop to that.

This is still slightly lighter than the 8500, though, and the 8600 has retained its predecessor's excellent 15.4in widescreen TFT too, which runs at 1,920 x 1,200. The 3D performance was just as impressive, with 3DMark2001 SE returning an unprecedented (for a notebook) 9,931 in 32-bit XGA. This is thanks to the super-fast 128MB GeForce FX Go5650, which, with DirectX 9 support, will look after your future 3D needs too.

Storage has had a thorough upgrade as well. The 8600 now includes a cavernous 80GB hard disk and a handy DVD+RW drive, which will write and re-write at 2.4x.

Unfortunately, one area that hasn't been improved is the disappointing build quality that let down the 8500. Although the hard disk and screen both enjoy reasonable protection, the chassis has an uninspiring flimsiness, particularly around the keyboard. The keyboard itself suffers too and, despite a good layout, springs under the lightest touch. It's a shame when this is otherwise such a well-featured machine.

On the plus side, there's both a touchpad and a trackpoint, plus you get both parallel and serial ports, as well as two USB 2 ports, FireWire, infrared, 10/100 Ethernet and a V.92 modem. The bad news is that the Centrino branding means you lose the 8500's 802.11g WLAN, although Dell can supply a suitable 802.11b/g card for £30.

With its superior performance and battery life, the Inspiron 8600 is certainly an improvement on its predecessor, and the screen is fantastic too. There may already be widescreen competition from the likes of Hi-Grade (see opposite) and HP (see p59), but neither can compete with the Dell's feature set. While the build quality needs to improve before we can wholeheartedly recommend the Inspiron 8600, it's still worth a look if you're after fast performance and a vast set of features. Use E-Value code 200-i08REV to order.