The 6000 Dell Inspiron computer is a midrange laptop which is supposedly designed as a good traveling laptop for gamers. Weighing in it at 7.1 pounds--tack on another 0.9 pounds for the adapter--the 600 Dell Inspiron is a tested, well supported, easily configured alternative to higher end Sony Vaio systems and the Toshiba E15 gaming system.

That being said, the Inspiron 6000 simply doesn't compare to these Sony and Toshiba models when it comes to graphical resolution or brightness. Indeed, many Dell users have complained about screen problems--including so-called speckling on white screens, which may or may not have to do with the composition of Dell's antiglare coating.

The 6000 Dell Inspiron offers an attractive design (white trim with silver), an ergonomically comfortable keyboard, and a stereo system that is much better than you might expect given the computer's graphical abilities. The Inspiron 6000 is configured around Intel's Centrino Sonoma system--for better or for worse. The Sonoma tends to run hotter than the previous Carmelo Centrino, but it does offer faster speed--1.6 GHz.

The Inspiron 6000 comes with 256 MB of DDR2 RAM, but you should probably upgrade to 512 MB. The 30 GB hard drive should be enough to accomplish most laptop applications, and the drive runs around 5,200 RPMs. The graphics card actually sucks a lot of system memory--approximately 128 MB--so non gamers may wish to reconfigure. Perhaps the best feature of the Dell 6000 Inspiron is its battery life, which consistently earns rave reviews from technophiles. Make sure to get the 9-cell lithium upgrade.