Most desktop replacement users--because they want as much from their laptops as they would from a full-size PC--will demand good performance from their notebook; long battery life would also be a nice side benefit. However, those who might salivate over the Inspiron 5150's smooth performance and long battery life may be too put off by its weight to seriously consider it even for occasional travel. The Inspiron 5150 sailed along for 5.5 hours on one battery charge, longer than any other Dell or Mobile Pentium 4 notebook we've tested. It's fast, too, thanks to its 3.06-GHz/1.6-GHz Pentium 4 chip (the only processor it's available with) and its 60GB hard drive, one of the first 7200-rpm models available for notebooks. The top-notch components helped the Inspiron 5150 earn a PC WorldBench 4 score of 121, neck and neck with the average score of 122 we've recorded for notebooks equipped with the newer 1.6-GHz/600-MHz Pentium M chip. Digitally hip consumers will enjoy this notebook's fixed DVD burner (a $180 option included with our review unit), which is great for data archiving or recording home movies. The Inspiron 5150 we reviewed also included a dual-mode 802.11b/g 54-megabits-per-second Wi-Fi card ($54). The good-looking blue-and-silver portable also comes with Corel's WordPerfect Productivity Pack.Users who are handy with a screwdriver will appreciate the removable hard drive and easily accessible memory compartment. On a minor note, our machine came with both memory slots filled; a single 512MB chip, desirable if you want room for future RAM upgrades, adds $125 to the $1799 price.

Unfortunately, the Inspiron 5150 stumbles in other areas. For one, it's too heavy and chunky at 8.5 pounds and 2 inches thick (about a pound more and a half inch more than typical) to move around much, even from room to room in a wirelessly networked house. The blocky power adapter adds almost 2 more pounds.The 5150's connections will cover most needs; they include two USB ports, an S-Video-out port for attaching a TV, and a FireWire port for hooking up a digital video camera. Consumers with older printers might miss having a parallel port, not to mention the option to buy a docking station, which would make the Inspiron 5150 a viable contender for replacing a desktop PC. (The 5000 line is one of the few in the Inspiron series with no docking option.)In previous 5150 models we've looked at, we had trouble getting the button that ejects cards from the PC Card slot to stay recessed, but the button on this one did not work at all. The keyboard feels firm and steady, and has a good layout and oversized mouse buttons in a can't-miss shade of blue. But it lacks fancier features you might expect at this price: You get only one programmable quick-launch button and no handy rocker between the mouse buttons for scrolling pages.

The Inspiron 5150's stereo speakers are loud enough and clear enough to watch DVD movies without headphones, but that's all. There are no audio controls, or even a thumbwheel; instead, the Page Up and Page Down keys double as volume buttons. The UXGA screen of 1600 by 1200 may be overkill for home buyers. Most won't need the increase in viewable area--1.3 times--over the standard SXGA+ resolution of 1400 by 1050 pixels ($100 less). The extra pixel density lent no noticeable difference to the quality of DVD movies, which looked fine except for the ubiquitous black bands. The 5150 does come with good documentation. The software-based help is mostly generic information that doesn't directly apply to this model, but the printed manual is thorough and attractive.

A home user or small-business worker who mostly stays put could be happy with this heavy-duty performer, but anyone who wants to actually move their notebook around will find this 5150 too bulky.

Carla Thornton