Dell Inspiron 6400

Never did I think I’d ever see myself recommending a laptop as a main computer. Their portability used to be the only advantage they had over desktop PCs. They were highly priced, easily damaged and expensive to repair or upgrade.

Recently though, the price of laptops has fallen to the extent that they cost little more than a similarly specified desktop computer. More importantly, even a relatively inexpensive model such as this should be capable of taking advantage of all the multimedia capabilities of the Microsoft’s Windows Vista when it’s released at the end of January.

That means you’ll be able to store and play your music collection, record and play back television programmes, play spectacular games, edit movies and along with all the computer stuff you’re got used to. Vista’s entertainment functions are a massive improvement on XP.

The one thing I wouldn’t recommend this, or any laptop, for is as a principal work computer. The problem is the standard clamshell design puts the keyboard close to the screen so users are inevitably hunched up while they type. That’s a sure way to back problems.

A large number of manufacturers can provide a similarly capable laptop to this one. What you need to look for is a machine with a dual-core processor, at least 1GB of memory, a separate graphics card and a free upgrade to Windows Vista.

The advantage with Dell is you can choose the parts before the computer is made specifically for you. That means it can cope with the sort of use that you’ll put it to. So, for instance, if you’re an ardent games player or want to edit home movies, you can make sure it’s got plenty of memory and the most powerful processor available. The only thing to watch for is the spiralling price as you keep adding desirable features.

This article was first published in The Scotsman in January 2007