This configuration of the Dell XPS M1730 is a 10.6-pound, mainstream consumer notebook computer.Compared to other general-purpose notebooks on the market, it is expensive at around $2,500.Has Wi-Fi (wireless connectivity) built-in.Features NVIDIA GeForce 8700M graphics with 256MB of video memory.

Pros:
Has 4 GB RAM, which is considerably more than some similarly priced notebooks.Also, this notebook has 1920 x 1200 native screen resolution, which is higher than some similarly priced notebooks.

Cons:
Has a 10.6-pound weight, which is considerably heavier than some similarly priced notebooks.For example, the HP Business nc6400, at around $2, 365, has only a 4.6-pound weight.The Dell XPS M1730 comes with simple word processing software ? if you often need access to special character sets you will likely need to upgrade to a full-fledged office suite.

Suitability:
A general-purpose notebook, suited for general mobile computing.Preserve home movies for future generations by saving them onto DVD with this notebook's DVD burner.With 256MB of dedicated video RAM, this machine will do quite well compared to most other notebooks, when it comes to multimedia applications and games.If you have a wireless network at home, wirelessly browse the Internet from any room in your house with this Wi-Fi enabled laptop.

Value:
Despite its expensive price, this notebook has good features for the money.However, if you were to judge strictly by how large the screen is, the average price of consumer level products with a similar screen size is quite a bit less -- in fact around $1,558.

Suggestions:
(1) Given this device's Wi-Fi capability, you may want to get a wireless access point for your home, so that you can browse the Internet more conveniently from any room.(2) Using this PC's Firewire (1394) port, you can connect to many digital videocameras and other equipment to rapidly upload data to the computer hard drive.