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Dell's Inspiron 5000 is one of the first Speedstep notebooks we've had the opportunity to test. The whole concept behind Speedstep is to save power without overly compromising performance.
Previously, to double battery life you had to halve the clock speed. Sure, a 600Mhz notebook could last twice as long when running at 300Mhz, but that's quite a performance hit. Speedstep saves power by being the first processor that can switch its operating voltage on-the-fly. Under mains power, the chip runs at 1.6V, but automatically switches in a split second to 1.35V when you pull the plug. It returns the mains supply switches back up to 1.6V again, without the need for a system or even application restart.
The advantage of voltage switching is obvious to anyone who remembers their physics classes: power is proportional to the square of voltage, which means even a small voltage drop results in a big power saving. Intel believes that the power consumption could drop by as much as 40 per cent while retaining 80 per cent of the original performance. In practice, both the 650 and 600Mhz Speedstep processors drop to a still respectable 500Mhz clock speed in battery-saving mode, but consume just under half the power.
So does it work? In a word, yes. Windows or the user can tell it when to switch, whether in the absence of mains power, or for temporarily over-riding back to maximum performance for demanding presentations on the move, for example. The Inspiron 5000 behaved impeccably, running active applications and even uninterrupted video streams while we constantly connected and disconnected the power supply. Disconnected you're looking at a maximum of three hours under a single battery.
Of course, the whole idea of a fast Pentium III notebook is to match or even replace your desktop PC, and the Inspiron 5000 delivers in spades. Our review model came with a 12Gb hard disk, 128Mb of RAM (expandable to 512Mb using two SODIMMs), and a whopping 15in XGA display. Dell now offers a 15in SXGA+ TFT display option which supports 1400 x 1050 resolution.
Admittedly, both 15in screens overhang by 3mm on the sides and 8mm at the front, but their sheer real estate is vast and welcome to anyone replacing their desktop PC.
Graphics are supplied by an ATI Rage Mobility P chipset with 8Mb of SGRAM. Optimised to save power, it's not bad if you're on the move, but this is one area where a notebook will never replace the power-hungry 3D accelerators of desktop PCs - we measured Quake III Arena Demo2 at only 16.7fps in 16bit VGA and 8.2fps in XGA.
At the front-centre of the unit is Dell's media bay, which can take a second battery, CD or Zip drive, or in the case of our model, a six-speed DVD drive. DVD movie playback at full-screen, even under battery power or constant Speedstep switching, was flawless. The side-mounted stereo speakers may be tinny, but impress with spatial imaging. On the left is a floppy drive and modem, while a pair of PC Card slots sit on the right.
Round the back are serial, parallel, PS/2, USB, VGA and IR ports, along with a PCI docking connector and an S-Video output. Our model came pre-installed with Windows 98SE and Works Suite 2000, and the full-size keyboard was comfortable to use.
The Inspiron 5000 series has slimmed down to 40.4mm thick, even with the 15in display option. The unit's footprint is 324 x 259mm and it weighs 3.37kg with DVD and floppy drive.
Best of all, however, is the price. While perhaps not the most aspirational badge or sexiest design in the portable world, Dell has always sold top-of-the-range notebooks at highly competitive prices. Considering ours was fitted with Intel's latest mobile chip, accompanied by an impressive overall specification, Dell's asking price seems like a bargain.
Contact Dell 0870 907 5869
See also:
All Notebooks & Tablets PCs
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