DELL Inspiron 17R Special Edition Notebook Intel Core i7 3630QM(2.40GHz) 17.3" 8GB Memory 1TB HDD DVD±R/RW NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M

Pros: - Sturdy, well built
- Good ventilation
- Great gaming performance (I can play any game at reasonable FPS with High - Ultra High settings)
- Hyperthreading! Windows sees 8 cores in this i7
- Second HDD bay for installing another HDD or an SSD
- All of the ports (4) are USB 3.0
- The specs are good for the price (at least when I got it for $745)

Cons: - The HDD is a bit slow
- Windows 7 bootup times are a bit lengthy (I am installing an SSD soon)
- No matte screen (This is a glossy screen, just note that)
- Laptop is a bit heavy, but this is expected
- Battery life is not super either (I bought an extended battery on another site)

Other Thoughts: If you aren't made of money and you want a good laptop buy this one. It has great graphics, it's big, and it's well built.

Pros: Great value for the specs. Suitable desktop replacement for the same price. As of writing, seems to be the cheapest i7 3630QM comp out there + the 650m isn't bad at all. If you're looking for a better processor be prepared to pay twice as much.

17 Inch screen is huge.

Cons: Win 8 is practically locked to the computer. You can even swap out the hard drive with one that has Win 7 on it and you'll have trouble getting it to work. It might be possible to upgrade to Win 8 and then downgrade to Win 7 pro. I ended up using "classic shell" and disabling all of the metro UI I could after a day long struggle.


This laptop might like to overheat, I haven't tried to push it yet. Certainly seems to run hot and likes to idle at about 52C. Have a plan to elevate it for airflow, it is really big.

Power cord has a light on it ( though the computer itself doesn't have a big charging light which is a plus for me though).

Other Thoughts: The features list is a little sparse for this so I'll help fill it in:
3 USB ports, with an additional powered USB
Two SATA connectors on the MoBo- one has the 1TB drive attached and the other is empty (you could easily pop a SSD inside). There is no metal carriage thing for the second hard drive slot though.
Comes with Win 8 disc and key

Don't be afraid of refurbs, they're cheaper and guaranteed to have been inspected.

Pros: Geforce 650m overclocks to 660m, DDR5 2gb
Ivy Bridge CPU..overclocks to 3.4ghz quad-core
backlit keyboard, BRIGHT lcd
aluminum casing, black, silver
NICE chiclet- curved keyboard.
Windows 8 64bit version WITH disk in box
1 year ON-SITE Dell warranty

Cons: The ONLY thing would be battery life. It has a flush mounted battery so its not bulging out but it only lasts a couple/few hours on internet ect. But then again its a 17 inch so get over it :)

Other Thoughts: I originally purchased a RE-furbished G73 and G74. (yes I had 2 of them) and those things are just an absolute WRECK as refurbs'. I'm not sure who is doing their repair work but I will NEVER touch one of them again. They both went back and I picked up this computer.

My goodness am I shocked!!! I cannot believe the hardware (and support) you get with this machine. Its 100% rock stable, runs cool, has very very limited bloatware, and plays ANY game out there.

I have ALWAYS been impressed with DELL laptops. Yes I know they are pre-manufactured BUT the aluminum casing XPS gaming ones (from years ago) ect were VERY reliable. In fact I still have my 9200 rocking away with an old single core and radeon 9700m in it.

I'm telling you, BUY THIS MACHINE if you are looking for a gaming on the go laptop that does NOT look like some kinda of "kiddie" toy. They really dont make the gaming XPS machines anymore and this is the replacement from what I understand. This is the SPECIAL EDITION version. JUST BUY IT!!! I cant say much more! :)

Pros: Great specs for the price.
Runs Skyrim maxed out at the notebook's resolution of 1600x900.

Cons: I just don't like the Windows 8 operating system. Every time I selected one of the tiles on the Windows 8 dashboard, it would log me out. I would log back in, but it would repeat. I ended up installing Windows 7. Everything is working beautifully now. I love Windows 7.

Pros: Amazingly fast. what once took me 2 hours to set up a server now took me less than 1. this thing runs so fast i cant even walk away to multitask because its already moved on to the next task asking for me. total work horse.

downloads went very quickly with this as well. fastest network card ive ever experienced. had all of the Diablo3 content downloaded and played at 100% in under a half hour.

Cons: windows 8...i am not a fan of this. but i installed Classic shell when i first got it since i have previously played around with 8 in my networking class and i think it will work just fine. i can find about anything i want to with the windows+F function.

mine did not come with backlit keyboard, but i wasnt expecting it to either.

Pros: everything works lit keyboard is awesome graphics card wrks great far exceeds what i thought i was gettin plays games with no [roblems windows eight is easy to navigate websites work great is very fast ..

Cons: battery dont last too long but wasnt expectin it too with how powerful this laptop is

Pros: Very good condition

Cons: The keys qwer and uiop on the keyboard is not working...
If anyone can tell me how to fix this, it would be great!

Pros: .

Cons: .

Other Thoughts: It's means, that normal operating conditions it's is at 2.4ghz. But when put under load, it maxes out at 3.4ghz using a dynamic program preinstalled in the CPU it's self.
Btw this laptop is amazing spec's for the price.

Pros: n/a

Cons: n/a

Other Thoughts: tech specs on this shows a 3.4ghz type processor, then lower down in the list, shows it as a 2.4ghz processor. is this a typo. which processor is in it?