Dell Inspiron 14R Pro Reviews

If you're looking for a basic laptop for your email, Web browsing, and video streaming, then the Dell Inspiron i14RN4110-8073DBK will provide. However, there are other laptops out there that you can get for $20 more that will give you more bang.

The Dell Inspiron 14R hits many of the right notes on its way to finding the sweet spot between cheap netbooks and mainstream budget laptops. Its design and specs are sure to appeal to any budget shopper.

The Dell Inspiron R14-1296PBL is an attractive 14-inch notebook with a strong wireless feature set, but its performance is lacking.

Dell has assembled a slick update to the Inspiron line that, despite a few shortcomings, will let students and home users do anything they need to without breaking the bank.

The Dell Inspiron 14R-1181MRB is a good-looking 14-inch laptop, but it fails to deliver in terms of either performance or battery life. Stylish though the Dell Inspiron 14R-1181MRB may be, it has a lot of trouble living up to its appearance. It's outclassed by every other similarly priced laptop we've looked recently at in terms of performance, right on down from the Editors' Choice Asus U41JF-A1.

The Dell Inspiron 14R proves that Intel's Pentium processor is still powerful enough for those who need a basic notebook for surfing the web, watching videos, and working on Excel or Word documents. Though it scored low on some benchmarks, this 14-inch laptop handled everyday computing tasks fairly well. Those who want more oomph can spend just $50 more to get a Core i3 version of this machine. Unfortunately, the battery life is pretty short for a 14-incher (unless you spring for the larger battery). If your notebook is going to remain in one place most of the time, you might prefer the 15-inch Acer Aspire 5742 ($549), which offers a larger 15-inch screen, keyboard, and better performance with comparable battery life. But if you want good audio punch in a slicker-looking design, the Inspiron 14R is a good choice for the price.

Its Pentium processor puts the Dell 14R-1440PBL laptop in the entry-level class, but it's still not priced aggressively enough.

With Windows 7 Professional and built-in WiMax, the Dell i14R-2265MRB is a retail laptop angling for the professional market, and as such might be a good option for a budget small-business machine.

The Dell Inspiron 14R has many features, one of which is a powerful 3D graphics chip, but be wary of the extra heat and mediocre battery scores.

The Dell Inspiron 14R-1898MRB is an affordable mainstream laptop that comes with a ton of options and a new look to spice things up.

Dell's next-generation Inspiron laptops have arrived, and while it doesn't reinvent the wheel, the Inspiron 14R presents a very solid package of Core i3 performance and ATI dedicated graphics for a fair price.

Dell Inspiron 14R is a good choice for students and other consumers looking for strong performance in an attractive, comfortable design. However, if you care about battery life you might want to either opt for a model with integrated graphics or get the nine-cell battery.