Review Dell Inspiron 14R

PC World - Just in time for the back-to-school season, Dell has released its new R series of Inspiron all-purpose laptops. Though the stylish silver accents are the first thing you'll notice, the Inspiron R series is more than just a cosmetic upgrade. The Inspiron 14R may have fewer configuration options than the Inspiron 14 and may carry a higher starting price, but its improved hardware and refined design more than make up for the difference.

You can get an Inspiron R laptop in any of four colors: Mars Black, Peacock Blue, Tomato Red, or Promise Pink. Anything other than black, however, will cost you an extra $40. The cheapest Inspiron 14R is $479 (as of July 14, 2010), just $30 more than the least expensive Inspiron 14, but that particular model includes a 1.86GHz Pentium 6000. The real reason to select an R model is to obtain a Core i3 or i5 processor, which you can't get in a regular Inspiron 14. Selecting such a processor bumps the minimum price up to $649, but it means a substantially faster CPU and better Intel integrated graphics.

Our test machine, which cost $779 at the time of this review, came with a Core i3-350M processor (2.26GHz, two cores, and four threads), 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 with 1GB of graphics RAM. It also carried a 500GB, 5400-rpm hard drive. The R series doesn't give you many configuration options: You can choose from several models with somewhat different specs, but once you pick a system you can only change its color and upgrade to 6GB of RAM. By way of comparison, when I tried to configure a regular Inspiron 14 that matched the specs of our review unit (as close as I could get, at least) the result cost about $40 more.

Beyond the internal hardware, the Inspiron 14R differs from non-R laptops in other important ways. The lid hinge is offset about half an inch forward from the back of the machine, and the internal keyboard-tray surface is a nice brushed-silver tone. The power plug extends from the back-right corner of the machine, next to a USB port (non-R units have the power plug on the left side, and nothing on the back). The left side of the Inspiron 14R includes the ethernet jack, the exhaust vents, an HDMI output, a combination eSATA/USB port, and a multiformat card reader. The right side has another USB port, headphone and microphone jacks, and the 8X CD/DVD burner. In addition, 802.11n networking is standard (an upgrade over the non-R models), and the SRS Premium Sound definitely produces better audio quality through the speakers than you get on the non-R Inspiron models. In all, the Inspiron 14R is quite an attractive package for a 14-inch, 5.1-pound laptop.