Dell Inspiron 5160 review

The 5160 ups the spec of the 5150 released last year. The processor is 3.2GHz, there's 512MB RAM and an 80GB hard disk. This gave the 5160 a solid benchmark score of 1.21.

The chassis is large, and houses a 12-cell battery that gave three hours of life under light use. The screen is decent, offering sharp text and few artefacts during DVD playback.

Both the keyboard and touchpad are rather lacklustre and not up to Dell's usual standard. But the 5160's main downfall is the lack of a DVD writer, offering only a DVD/CD-RW combo drive, although you can upgrade to one for £50.

With additional USB ports, S-Video and PC Card slots, it's a well-rounded notebook at a reasonable price. However, it's outdone by laptops in our low-cost laptop group test.