While not quite as exciting as March's week of Latitude scoops, we've got ourselves some infos on what look to be Dell's upcoming Inspiron 1435, 1535 and 1735 consumer laptops. Seems they'll all be sharing the same basic design language, pictured above, and will be privy to some rather expansive aesthetic customization options if you're into that type of thing. Specs are the typical Dell smorgasbord of options, but all three laptops start at around 1-inch thick and taper up to 1.5 inches thick. All three also sport slot-loading drives, with a Blu-ray option, and processors ramp up to Core 2 Duo T5850 2.16GHz chips. 3G options are also available across the lineup, and just about anything else you might find useful in a mid-range laptop. Apparently the 1435 isn't due until October, but the 1735 is coming on June 9 and the 1535 on the 26th of this month.

Grabbing a laptop with a built-in Blu-ray drive isn't at all difficult; finding one that's reasonably affordable, however, is. Starting today, users looking to pick up a new BD-equipped lappie can get their kicks for under nine bills, as the base model Inspiron 1525 can be fitted with a Blu-ray combo drive (and the requisite 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo T5550 processor) for the low, low price of $879. Kicking things up to a Blu-ray burner will tack on another $200, and given the 1,280 x 800 screen resolution, we get the idea you'll be utilizing that HDMI output in order to enjoy the 1080p capabilities (if it'll even reach above 720p). Still, the aforesaid configuration is pretty lacking in most respects (1GB of RAM, 80GB HDD, and a woefully underwhelming GMA X3100 graphics accelerator), but hey, at least you'll have Blu-ray! Grab yours now if you're situated in Canada, Europe or the US of A.

Ooh, like we're so surprised Dell. The ever-popular Inspiron series of laptops is getting Intel's latest inside, with the Inspiron 1720 configurable with up to a T9300 2.5GHz Penryn processor for as low as $1,199, while the Inspiron 1420 does up to a T8300 for as low as $924. Granted you'll probably want to pair Penryn with more than the base specs (or you might be able to skim some more off those prices if you really work at it), but it's not hard to nab yourself a well-specced Penryn machine for well under $1,500. Our only questions is, what's taking the 1525 so long to get this upgrade?

Ubuntu lovers, rejoice. The Round Rock powerhouse has saw fit to add the open-source OS to yet another one of its products, this time the recently released Inspiron 1525. No surprises here -- just a vanilla 1525 with Ubuntu 7.10 loaded in along with built-in DVD playback capabilities and a warm, fuzzy feeling to boot. It should be noted, however, that US users will be forced to wait until "later this month" before being able to snap up one of these rigs, while consumers in the UK, France, Spain and Germany can indulge right away.

Jonesing for more wireless USB options in your laptop? Dell's got you covered with extended availability of the $145 add-on in its XPS M1530 (plus its Gaming Edition), Inspiron 1525, which brings the tally to those and the 17-inch Inspiron 1720 and 13-inch M1330. Still out of the wireless USB loop: the low end 14-inch 1420, the XPS M1730, and the juggernaut M2010 (which really should have it by now).

[Via Electronista]

This laptop wasn't much of a secret as it was, and it turns out reviewers got an early shot at it as well. The Inspiron 1525 from Dell is about as cheap as standard-size laptops go, with a starting price of $500, but Dell has made surprising gains in the looks and size department -- the major complaints levied towards the 1520. Dell shaved 25% off the size, 30% off the thickness and half a pound off the weight in building this new model, and while it might not exactly have the looks of the m1330, it's certainly not the eyesore the 1520 was. Reviewers got to play around with a $999 configuration, and found performance to be just fine for standard applications, but the lack of a dedicated graphics option makes this one a non-starter for gamers. Perks like HDMI out and solid battery life for this price range are icing on the cake, and there are multiple color options and patterns you can trick out your 1525 with, but for the most part this is a simple but nice budget laptop, so we're guessing you've already got a decent idea if it's what you're looking for.

[Thanks to everyone who sent these in; image courtesy of NotebookReview]

Read - Laptop Magazine (4.5 out of 5: "Our favorite mainstream budget notebook.")
Read - NotebookReview - ("The Inspiron 1525 is exactly the notebook that the Inspiron 1520 should have been in the first place.")
Read - PC Mag - (3.5 out of 5: "Unfortunately, the slimmer design also means that it had to forgo an option for dedicated graphics.")

Well it missed a 2007 release by just days, but now Dell's Inspiron 1525 -- upgrade to the 15.4-inch 1521 -- is finally available for purchase in the US, starting at just $500. Of course, it'll cost quite a bit more to configure one of these colorful rigs to a power user's specifications, and even then, you're capped off at a 1,200 x 800 screen resolution being pushed by integrated graphics. Still, even the starter model provides quite a few nice features, including integrated 2 megapixel webcam, travel remote, HDMI port, and perhaps most exciting of all, built-in Wireless USB. You can hit up the Read link for more info and instructions on how to order.

The Inspiron 1525 was supposed to hit sometime in "mid-December," and although that didn't happen, it looks like it still managed to squeak into the oh-oh-seven -- Dell's Australian site just put up a bunch of pages detailing the new machine. The 15.4-inch machine doesn't come packing a ton of surprises -- 2GHz T7250 Core 2 Duo, X3100 integrated graphics, 2GB of RAM, 160GB or storage, and WiFi -- but it's at least kinda cheap, at AU$1399 ($1228). The site lists an Australian ship date of January 9th, so we'd imagine we'll be seeing these hit the States relatively soon. Just don't tell anyone who scored a 1520 for Christmas, dig?

Despite the fact that the esteemed Mr. Mossberg doesn't seem to care for it too much, Les Delliens has it on good authority that Dell will be upgrading its line of Vostro small business systems this month, in the form of the 1200 laptop. Specs are not yet available to accompany the above pic, but we can assume from the model number that this will likely be an upgrade to the Vostro 1000, a low-end, AMD-powered 12.1-incher. In other Dell news -- well, other other news, really -- the same Les Delliens forum member has confirmed specs and images of the upcoming Inspiron 1525 / 1526 (pictured after the break), a 15.4-inch notebook rocking any number of CPU options from AMD or Intel and said to launching in Europe on December 14th -- four days before the rumored Vostro announcement.

[Via Notebook Italia]

Read - Vostro 1200
Read - Inspiron 1525 / 1526

Those pondering the purchase of an Inspiron 1520 / 1521 should probably hold off for a month or so if you can, as it looks like suitable successors will soon be available for both. The 6.6-pound 1525 and 1526 machines are the 15.4-inch replacements for the aforementioned pair and should target small businesses / low(er)-end consumers. Initial specs sheets reveal that the 1525 will be based on the Santa Rosa architecture, while the 1526 gets AMD-powered and offers up an ATI Radeon X1270 graphics set. Furthermore, the pair will feature up to 4GB of RAM, WXGA / WXGA+ / WSXGA+ panel choices, SATA hard drives, an optional Blu-ray reader (1525 only), built-in WiFi, optional WWAN and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR. You'll also find four USB 2.0 ports, a 4-pin FireWire connector, Ethernet / 56k modem, VGA out, optional HDMI, audio in / out, a 8-in-1 multicard reader, ExpressCard slot and your choice of Vista or Ubuntu Linux. Not much looks to have changed in the design department, and apparently, you'll still be able to order 'em with a custom lid color. Also, there's no definitive word on price just yet, but you can safely expect 'em to land in the same neighborhood as the units they are replacing when the duo ships to nearly every corner of the globe in mid-December.

We're not really sure how a company like Dell hasn't been able to track down anyone with some laptop coloring chops to fulfill its backlog of XPS M1330 and Inspiron orders, but whatever their reason might be for not figuring things out by now, Dell is pinning colored Inspiron delays on that exact same paint job problem they detailed for the M1330. As has been the case from the start, your best shot at getting a laptop in a timely manner from the big D is to completely disregard those ads of theirs and order a boring old black or white model -- individuality is overrated anyways.

For those of you who've recently placed a Dell laptop order only to find yourself high and dry on shipment, rest assured you're not alone -- not by a long shot. Of course, there have been problems with shipment on the XPS M1330 for some time -- problems so severe that a thread on NotebookReview's forum concerning delays for the laptop has had over 9,000 replies to date (a record for the site), but apparently that's not the only system affected. It would seem that customers who've placed orders for the Inspiron 1420, 1520, and 1720 are also feeling the burn of Dell's little stop-up. Some of the disgruntled purchasers have even gone to the trouble of breaking down Inspiron delays based on lid color, which, for the 1520 (for instance) runs the gamut from no delays for a black lid, to a whopping 11-day delay if you want to go red, green, or pink. This phenomena has even led to buyers forgoing their desired color choices just to get a laptop in a timely fashion. With the continued slowdown in production and increasing heat from the competition, Dell and its customers may find that this minor bump in the road is turning into a major headache.

[Thanks, Paul]

There's good news this morning for those of you stuck in the Dell XPS M1330 build queue. After weeks of delay, Dell has finally kicked it into large-scale production and expect M1330 systems to ship in all regions "beginning this week." Unfortunately, this update comes a tad late for those of you who felt jerked around by Dell's uninformed customer service reps. For the rest, your 13.3-inch LED-backlit fix should be on the way.

If you're like us, you've bopped along happily once or twice to USB.org's funky little wireless promo video, hoping that someday the wire-free utopia it promises could become a reality. Well now Lenovo and Dell have put us one step closer to the prize with two new laptops. Both the Dell Inspiron 1720 and the Lenovo ThinkPad T61 and T61p models are expected to be Wireless USB certified any day now, and ready to connect to... um, something. As the standard is just starting to see the light of day, there aren't a lot of options available unless you decide to get jiggy with a wireless router such as this Belkin hub -- but if things go as planned, in the next few years we'll all be trashing our wires and listening to really bad instrumental rock -- just like in the video you can watch after the break.

[Via CNET]

At this point there's not a whole lot for us to say about the m1330 that hasn't already -- except that we finally got a chance to check this bad boy out, and no surprise, we liked what we saw. Pictures in the gallery below -- lock on sights and accept our apologies for the less than desirable lighting on this thing.