The Dell Inspiron 5150 is a powerful notebook with some nice components to give you plenty of power and needs on the go! The power of this notebook is run by the 3.06GHz mobile Intel Pentium 4 processor with 333MHz of DDR memory and the ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics chip.  
 
The Inspiron 5150 is upgradeable with several options, this one that I am reviewing has 512MB of 333MHz DDR RAM, and 64MB of 266MHz RAM for the ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics chip.  
 
Other features include a 15" Ultra Sharp UXGA Display, a 60GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive and a 2x CD/DVD burner. (DVD+RW/+R) Added upgrades for Microsoft Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Works Suite 2003. We added a leather case which brought the cost to $2377 before tax with a 1 Year Limited Warranty plus 1 Year At-Home Service. The Dell Inspiron 5150 starts as low as $1499.  
 
The Memory  
One disappointment in upgrading the Inspiron 5150 was the memory. The 5150 comes with two slots and the 512 MB of memory for one slot was $150 higher in price, so we settled on two 256MB chips. Here is one of those deals that Dell continues to rip off the consumer because the price of two 256MB chips and the one 512MB chip should be about $20 difference in cost.  
 
The good part is they are using PC 2700 333MHz DDR memory for a faster performance.  
 
The Processor  
The Dell Inspiron 5150 is available with only one processor, the 3.06GHz mobile Intel Pentium 4 processor with on-die 512K L2 cache and 533 MHz Front Side Bus.  
 
This is plenty of processor for anything that you may need for now.  
 
The Display  
The Inspiron 5150 comes standard with a 15" SXGA display and an upgrade to a 15 UltraSharp UXGA TFT high-resolution display.  
 
The upgrade to the 15" Ultra Sharp UXGA Display was a good investment because the display is crystal clear with brilliant colors.  
 
Graphics  
The choice to go with the ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics was a great idea. It comes standard with 32MB of DDR RAM running at 266MHz. It is an AGP 4x graphics card and can be ordered with the 64MB installed. I highly recommend the 64MB over the 32MB.  
 
Other Features  
FireWire  
S-Video-out,  
VGA, Ethernet  
Two USB 2.0 ports  
A 56Kbps-modem V.92  
One Type II PC Card slot  
A jack for headphones and a jack for a microphone  
 
The Looks  
The Dell Inspiron 5150 comes in a new Moonlight Silver and Venice blue that makes it look very attractive.  
 
Looking at and around the notebook in the Front & Top you have the 15 inch screen, keyboard, mouse pad and a pair of front mounted speakers.  
 
The left side has a PCMCIA Type I/II card Slot, Microphone/headphone jacks and a Media bay. The right side has the 56K modem.  
 
The rear has an AC adapter plug-in, S-video out, Two USB ports, Monitor out, IEEE 1304 port and 10/100 Ethernet port. The bottom has an access door for the memory, the hard drive and battery compartment.  
 
Overall  
Dell didnt include a serial or PS/2 port; these are ports that are outdated today. No big loss on these ports I think you will see them disappear from most systems yet to come. Good choice Dell!  
 
Overall the performance is fast; playing DVD movies are no problem at all with a clear and smooth running movie. Games are fast and produce beautiful graphics with no hesitation at all.  
 
Color is beautiful on anything that you do with the Inspiron 5150; the games are the most impressive.  
 
The sound through the speakers are fair, they are missing a good bass sound. Adding a nice set of speakers for use at home would be helpful.  
 
The built-in mouse is easy to use, not as good as a regular cordless mouse but for trips it will do fine. At home I still prefer a USB cordless Optical mouse.  
 
I was very impressed with the battery use; I get roughly 4 hours of usage before I need to recharge it. An extra battery here could get you around 8 hours of usage, this maybe something to consider if you are on the go a lot.  
 
I am very impressed with the quality that went into this notebook, in my book the Dell Inspiron 5150 is one of their best computers on the market today!  
