Excellent design - rivalling Apple products. The build-quality seems to be high, though I've only had the machine for a month. The attractive matt silver-grey finish is likely to age well and is classier than the super-gloss finishes on most Dells. The display is generally sharp and colour-rich and the extra width is useful for movies and applications that offer side toolbars (including Windows Vista). The keyboard, number pad and trackpad are solid and easy to use. The additional control keys make cd and dvd playing more acccessible. There is also a good range of ports for cards and accessories (but see bad points below). The inclusive software package is also useful. Overall, this is a very good alternative to a desktop but it would be too large for travel use. Good to have a Blu-ray rw drive, but I haven't tested it yet.
- The sound is better than many laptops, but there appears to be some distortion in the higher frequencies and volume levels - perhaps from small speakers and/or from a soundcard that has a limited response. I will compare the sound quality with another machine and update this review if possible. There are only three USB ports and these are located on the sides of the machine, near the front - this means that the plugs and leads are visible, detracting from the stylish look of the machine. There is no parallel port so you'll need to have a usb printer. The machine runs more than one application reasonably quickly but I'm surprised it's not even faster at some tasks - perhaps Vista is slowing it. No software/ backup disks are supplied so you need to create these before using the machine (DVD -Rs). Some touch typists may find that they keyboard spacing and its offsetting to the left of centre-screen may be strange at first - not a big problem though. Please note that I haven't fully tested battery life yet, but I suspect that it will be limited for multimedia use. If using Vista for the first time, I suggest customising your desktop and start menu by adding extra shortcuts and removing unnecessary ones
