Dell Inspiron XPS(Extreme Edition) Notebook Review

The Dell Inspiron XPS (Extreme Edition), might be the most powerful laptop in the universe, but it has it's problems. The computer packs a near 12 pounds weight bear that will give some people some problems. As long as you don't lug this thing around it is an excellent machine, but don't expect to be running around with it everywhere, as it can be pretty painful. The updated version of the Extreme Edition features a 256 MB ATI Radeon Card which originally was at 128 MB. A laptop that can handle such power really deserves to be topped towards the top. Other features include 1,920x1,200 Native Resolution, a 15.4 inch widescreen display, and much more.

I am going to skip right too the connections part of the laptop because there are a lot of them. The Bay Houses can include either a DVD\CD-RW, or DVD+RW Drive, or an optional Floppy Drive or a Second Battery. The XPS also comes with a PCI Card slot for your wireless card needs or any PCI card needed. Firewire is no problem, and three USB ports come equipped with the XPS, along with a powerful fourth one for more advanced USB devices. Ethernet and 56 K for internet needs is no problem. Headphones and a Microphone can be plugged in on the side for compact music and sound listening or outgoing noise through the computer. Another thing that is great about the XPS, is it's speaker system, as it comes equipped with a Subwoofer which is pretty amazing. If you are playing a game you can surely hear all of the sounds and music to make you happy, and listening to music has never been so nice on a laptop. Now a day's laptops are advancing there speaker system's much more to make the sound greater, but the XPS has always had a nice speaker system.

What makes the XPS a hardcore gaming monster is it's Pentium 4 3.4 GHZ processor, which is just a side note compared to all of the other features included. There are different editions of the XPS as they either come with a 3.2 or 3.4 GHZ processor, but people also have the option to choose a 60, 80, or 100 GB hard drive, which is pretty spectacular. 256 MB's of video memory is truly outstanding, and can withhold any major game out there right now. We tried... Yes of course Doom 3 on this machine and it ran perfectly, on the highest graphics setting too! If your machine comes with the 9700 Radeon, you can allow a technician to come to your house from Dell and replace it with a 9800 Radeon, which add's some improvement to the graphics. But with all of this power, comes the battery draining problem. This machine only lasts about 1.5 hours, which is very very weak, but with all of the power you can't really change that.

With the XPS you have the option of choosing XP Home or XP Professional. I would recommend Professional in my opinion. Of course with all of this power, comes a steep price. Between $2,000.00 and $2,500.00 is the price range of this machine, and it is not too easy to find. I was looking online and many sites say Dell has discontinued this system, but it is not all true, as there are still many sites that sell this laptop. Dell is probably upgrading there already upgraded system, which is kind of weird, but we all know that the moment we purchase a computer it is outdated the next day.

Last but a very nice feature, is the XPS's different cases. You have the option of choosing up to four different shells for your laptop, which I think add's customization to the computer. Dell will make more shells for the laptop.

Overall the laptop is heavy, and bulky, but the power makes up for that. If you are just going to play games, and leave it in one place then this laptop is for you. I wouldn't recommend you take this around with you. Again Dell Support isn't the best, so don't expect a fast or even correct answer at times from there customer support desk. Power is this laptops middle name, so if you are a game go for it, and if you are the average computer user, just stick with a laptop that has a 2 hour or better battery. I give this laptop a 7.5 out of 10.