Dell Inspiron XPS Generation 2

Dell's Inspiron XPS Generation 2 is quite an aggressive-looking notebook, in keeping with its emphasis on gaming. The two lights at the front of the case stare out like a pair of headlights on a car about to rev up, and the general design is sturdy and uncompromising. This is clearly a computer designed with a purpose, and that purpose is playing games.

With a 2.13GHz Pentium M processor and 1Gb of memory, the Inspiron XPS
Generation 2 is at the top end of what is available in a notebook computer at the moment. The inclusion of an nVidia GeForce 6800 Go graphics card reinforces this, being the most powerful graphics option available for a notebook.

It scored extremely well in our graphics tests, which look at 3D performance - again, ideal for playing the latest games - and did reasonably well in the general testing. Because it uses a Pentium M processor, it's fast but does not get too hot, as Pentium 4-based notebooks tend to. It's a very heavy notebook, coming in at 4kg, even with an eye to function rather than form, it isn't an ugly computer.

Even though the XPS Generation 2 is a Centrino-based notebook, it's heavy power
consumption means battery life wasn't great - just under two hours before needing a recharge.

The colours of the two front lights - as well as the ones on each side, and the two 'XPS'-shaped lights on the back of the screen - can be changed using a supplied utility, and they can be switched off altogether if you find them distracting. You can even customise the back of the screen by slotting in a piece of paper or card, one of which is supplied, but this is a bit of a gimmick.

Although it has quite a large case, the keyboard only takes up a small part of the notebook's body - it could have done with being a bit bigger. However, Dell has made use of the large case to offer a selection of ports - two USB 2 ports on one side, along with a recordable DVD drive that supports all formats apart from DVD-RAM, an SD memory card slot, headphone and microphone sockets, a mini-FireWire port and a PC card slot.

On the back there are four more USB 2 ports, network, modem, S-Video out, power, and both DVI and VGA ports. The 17in widescreen display is good quality too. The computer comes with Windows XP Home and a three-year warranty.

The only real sticking point is the price - our review model came in at a little over £2,500, around double what you would expect to pay for an equivalent desktop computer. Because Dell build their PCs to order, however, you can reduce the cost by downgrading some of the options.

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