Dell Inspiron 9300

If you are in the market for a new laptop or desktop replacement and love to multi-table, then the Dell Inspiron 9300 is for you. I’ve had mine since September and it is an absolute jewel. My last laptop was the Dell Inspiron 600m and when it basically blew up on me, I swore I would never buy another Dell laptop. However, a friend of mine sent me a link for a Dell coupon for 40% off so I couldn’t turn that deal down.

There are so many great things about the 9300 I don’t know really where to start.

The 17″ wide-screen display is brilliant and allows for easy 4 tabling. I recommend upgrading ($125) to the Ultrasharp UXGA Display with Truelife. Both DVDs and games come to life with the vivid picture.

As you can see, 4 tabling with no overlap is standard. If you are playing on a screen with overlap, you won’t believe how much your game will improve when you can actually watch all the tables without constant clicking. I sometimes even 6 table and the overlap isn’t bad at all.

Dell offers a multiple processor speeds of the Intel Pentium M processor. I went with the minimum (1.8GHz) because the extra cost for the speed really isn’t worth it unless you really, really need it. I also recommend upgrading to the 1 GB Dual Channel Ram. The combination of the processor and the upgraded RAM has impressed me. The laptop has never frozen once—even while 6 tabling on different sites, having multiple internet windows and IM windows open, and listening to mp3s. The only slow down I’ve noticed is when I’ve tried to play poker while burning a DVD. This was actually really stupid of me because the DVD copy will be pretty poor quality if other programs are running simultaneously.

The wireless network card runs like a charm. I went with the basic Intel 2200 B/G and it has not disappointed. It will detect and connect to wireless networks at my neighbor’s house (2 doors down).

The keyboard sits perfectly under the display and is the most comfortable of any laptop I’ve ever used. The keys are nice and large and the space to rest your hands is more than adequate.

There are lots of USB ports: 6 on the rear and 2 on the left of the laptop so you can plug in all sorts of extras like a mouse, printer, or external hard drive. There is also a DVI output for plugging in an HDTV monitor (not that you would need to).

The 8x DVD burner is another must upgrade ($79). Copying DVDs and burning CDs is a piece of cake, although you will most likely need some other software because the standard software (Sonic!) doesn’t allow for compression. I recommend DVD Shrink and Nero Ultimate Edition.
If you play video games, a final must upgrade is the graphics card: ATI Mobility Radeon X300 ($49). This card plays most games easily, though it did have a little bit of trouble playing Half-Life2/CS:Source. However, once I reduced some of the graphics options within the game, it ran really well.

The only drawback on the 9300 is its size, but if you are looking for a laptop to multitable you can’t really complain about that. The 9300 is deceptively light with respect to its size: it only weighs about 8 lbs.

Obviously, I highly recommend the 9300. The base system starts at $1,149 and with my recommended upgrades it is $1,498. You can always find Dell coupons online so be sure to search before you buy(www.slickdeals.net is a great site).