Dell Inspiron 13 review

it might be tempting to do all your Christmas shopping online, but sometimes it's nice to see what you're spending your hard earned cash on.

Dell seems to have come round to this point of view, and in a departure from its usual direct selling approach it's now offering its newest laptop, the Inspiron 13, in PC World.

The model in question - the Inspiron 1318, to give it its full name - looks good enough to give even the most cash strapped of laptop buyers a rosy festive glow. For just £450 including VAT (which may be a bit less by the time you read this), the Inspiron 1318 boasts a 13.3 inch screen, a full sized keyboard, and a dual core processor.

What's more, it's not a bad-looking machine. You could mistake it for a substantially pricier laptop. Specifically, Dell's premium 13.3 inch laptop, the XPS M1330. It shares the same general size and shape, and even the styling owes something to its stablemate. All right, so the brushed aluminium lid and wrist rest have been sacrificed to the budget, but it's still got it where it counts.

The lid is finished in a dark, glossy blue, and the lustrous surface is interrupted only by a petite Dell logo at its centre. Tilt that lid back, and the interior is all black, enlivened by a gloss panel stretching around the display and swooping across a strip above the keyboard.

If there's one complaint to be made, it's that the Inspiron 13 doesn't feel quite as reassuringly sturdy as its cousin. Grab that glossy screen in both hands and it doesn't take too much leverage to get the lid to flex, gently creaking as it goes. Still, while we weren't too convinced by the display's ruggedness, the chassis beneath it is much better. Despite our most heavy handed efforts, the Inspiron's base refused to twist out of shape.

When you stop trying to assault the Inspiron 13, there's plenty to like. The keyboard stretches right to the very edges, a very good thing, as it allows Dell to squeeze in a comfortable, spacious keyboard despite the Inspiron 13's relatively compact frame. The trackpad may look annoyingly compact, but it too is beyond reproach in use.

Out and about

And while it may not be the lightest laptop going, at 2.2kg the Inspiron 13 is easily portable. That means you can take advantage of its very decent battery life, which stretched to four hours and 24 minutes in our light use test - perfect for doing a spot of work on any journey, or just enjoying the occasional rays of winter sunshine in the garden.

The rest of the specification is solid. The main processor is a budget Pentium Dual Core T2390, ably served by 2GB of RAM. It's not the most potent of combinations, but enough for everyday tasks, as it proved by scoring a very creditable 134% in our 2D (general) benchmarks. It's no surprise that the integrated Intel graphics processor won't cope with any but the least demanding of 3D games: our Call of Duty 2 test crawled to an unplayably low score of 13%. But that's enough to get away with some older or simpler games.

There's no lack of storage, with a capacious 160GB hard disk accompanied by a neat slot-loading DVD writer. Throw in 802.11b/g wireless networking and Bluetooth, and you've got a very well equipped laptop for the money.

If your budget can stretch a little further, something like Samsung's Q310 (search for 236475 at www.computerbuyer.co.uk) will give you more processing power and features. But if you want to spend as little as you can sensibly get away with on a solid laptop, and you're not bothered about playing games, the Dell won't disappoint.