Brilliant! That's the word that best describes the Dell Inspiron 9300. Packing just about everything you'd want in a desktop-replacement laptop, the Dell Inspiron 9300 has an expansive 17-inch Cinematic wide-aspect display, high-end Pentium-M 750 (1.86GHz) processor, huge 1GB of DDR2@533Mhz SDRAM, expansive 80GB hard drive, and a bevy of top-notch components, including ATI's robust Mobility Radeon X300 graphics chip. The Dell Inspiron 9300 further takes the multimedia portable to the next level by incorporating the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (MCE 2005) OS operated through a Dell wireless remote controller.



The Dell 9300 laptop casing is constructed out of sturdy and stylish magnesium alloy and reinforced plastic. It has a matte finish, covered with a shiny silver paint. The hinges are made of the same material, which definitely makes it solid enough for long term use. Although it is lighter than most 17" laptops at 8Lbs, the sheer size of its chassis Dell classifies it as a Desktop Replacement laptop. Desktop replacements have a larger build than all the other classes of notebooks, and are designed with better ventilation properties and are well suited to cope with the thermal dissipation of cutting edge components.

Performance is a strong point of the Dell 9300 and it features the second generation of Centrino mobile technology by the name "Sonoma", after the Californian wine-growing region. The new Sonoma platform incorporates Intel's 915GM notebook chipset family which means increase in the CPU's front side bus (FSB) now clocked at 133 MHz which is a 33% increase over the first generation Centrino. For the new platform Intel decided to support DDR2 memory with speeds up to 533 MHz and dual-channel operation which helps satisfy the inner speed demon in us.



Mutli-media and Gaming performance is by far the Inspiron 9300's forte. The Mobility™ Radeon® X300 graphics accelerator is the optimum solution for notebook users seeking stable 2D and advanced 3D graphics performance. It is an excellent choice for users engaging in all web usages and improves everyday home and business PC experiences with faster screen refresh rates and better overall visual quality. Equipped with ATI’s HyperMemory™ technology, Mobility™ Radeon X300 uses the high-speed transfer capabilities of PCI Express® to deliver the performance you need with lower local graphics memory consumption for a lower overall notebook cost. The Mobility™ Radeon® X300 graphics accelerator is the optimum solution for notebook users seeking stable 2D and advanced 3D graphics performance. It is an excellent choice for users engaging in all web usages and improves everyday home and business PC experiences with faster screen refresh rates and better overall visual quality.

Completing the overall entertainment equation is audio, which in our opinion is just as pivotal as the display on the Dell Inspiron 9300 arer a pair of speakers at the front grille and with the assistance of a subwoofer hidden within the chassis, the Dell notebook had no problems in reproducing a thunderous audio atmosphere to bring out the loud ambience of a few action movies tested with the unit.



Connectivity is far from being any kind of issue with this monster. The Inspiron 9300 offers FireWire, S-Video out, VGA, a whopping Six(6) USB 2.0 ports(Yes, SIX), 56Kbps modem, 10/100 Ethernet, headphone and microphone jacks. Also available are Type II PC Card and Secure Digital slots and a swank DVI port should you want to connect the laptop to an even bigger digital LCD. Last, but definitely not least, the Inspiron 9300 includes a Multiformat Double-layer DVD drive.

The Inspiron 9300 delivers exceptional design, features, and performance. Powerful graphics card, strong performing CPU, a brilliant 17inch LCD screen, and integrated subwoofer; While all of this gets very technical, it all breaks down to one thing, and that is overall the Dell Inspiron 9300 is the an awesome bang for the multi-media laptop.