Dell lifts curtain on cinematic laptop

Dell has unveiled the latest addition to its consumer laptop range, claiming that the inclusion of ATI's Mobility Radeon 9800 graphics architecture delivers the best graphics processing power ever seen in a Dell Inspiron notebook.

The boosted Inspiron 9100, available until 5 September, is targeted at mobile gaming enthusiasts and power users requiring high-end performance.

According to Dell, the Mobility Radeon 9800 enables users to make the most of the very latest DirectX9 games.

The AGP-based Mobility Radeon 9800 offers multiple power-saving settings for mobile use and comes equipped with eight pixel pipelines and a 256-bit wide memory interface.

It also boasts features such as Smartshader HD and 3Dc for improved graphics detail and cinematic visuals.

The graphics processor is designed to enable encoding and decoding of many video standards, including Mpeg-1, Mpeg-2 and Mpeg-4, Real Media, DivX and WMV9. It also supports high-definition and widescreen formats.

The processor also monitors the laptop's workload and automatically adjusts clock speeds for optimised battery life.

"ATI's Mobility Radeon 9800 enables Inspiron 9100 customers to enjoy a truly cinematic experience using real-time, Hollywood-calibre graphics for the most demanding applications and games," said Inez Mahony, Dell product manager for Inspiron EMEA, in a statement.

As a measure of its performance, Dell claims the laptop can run the Splinter Cell 3 E3 weather demo at 30 frames-per-second.

The Inspiron 9100 is equipped with a choice of 15.4in widescreen displays, 802.11b.g and Bluetooth connectivity, and integrated DVI, USB 2.0 and FireWire ports. Clock speeds range from 2.8GHz to 3.2GHz and prices, including the graphics card, start from £1,513 including VAT and shipping.