Dell Studio 1535

Dell's Studio line of laptops is an attractive middle ground between the inexpensive Inspiron line and the high-end XPS line, incorporating some of the design cues of the XPS systems (such as their tapered bodies) with a mainstream set of components that won't break the bank.

We were very fond of the previous incarnation of this retail-only configuration, dubbed the S1535-125B. The updated version, the $849 S1535-143B, knocks the CPU back a bit, from a 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 to a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T5800. The difference in real-world performance is negligible, but since the older version is still available for a slightly discounted $799, it might be worth a look. One difference to keep in mind--the newer S1535-143B has a bigger battery, which adds about 80 minutes of battery life but is positively huge, adding bulk and heft to the system