Off to school we go! Yes, it's that time of year again for many. But fear not! All is not lost, for it's also notebook hunting season. Of course, even if you enjoy going back to school, it's still a rare treat. After all, you are choosing a companion to help you stave off hours of boredom, and at the same time choosing an hombre to make your life a little easier. Mind you, this is one partner you will likely be stuck with for more than a year or two, so as always, choose carefully.
For the majority of those in "back to school" mode, shopping for a notebook will be limited to ultraportables or traditional form factor notebooks (14.1" or 15.0" displays). Why, you ask? Well frankly, these days the core of the Centrino platform, the Pentium-M, is able to match most of the performance characteristics we would expect to find in a desktop. Ergo, we don't really need to look at desktop replacements for the "average" student or computer user. Besides which, something in the 8 pound department has, at minimum, a 15.4" display. That, honestly, isn't a friendly notebook profile to carry around anywhere except between offices or on a trip down the hall. In our opinion, you'd probably want to limit such a notebook to a maximum daily trip count of one or two.
At the opposite end of the spectrum though, are notebooks like the Dell Inspiron 700m, which has been on the market for some time now. All things considered, it is a very good notebook for this time of year. It is Dell's consumer class ultraportable and is sought after by many. Now, let's see why.
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Review:
Hothardware