Dell Vostro 1710 notebook arrives: plenty of choice but little excitement

It’s tricky to get excited about Dell’s Vostro 1710 notebook, especially when you’ve already seen the upcoming , the 1710 is the largest of the new Vostro series (with the 1310 and 1510 having 13-inch and 15-inch displays respectively) and comes with ample choice of RAM (up to 4GB), integrated or discrete Intel graphics, dual hard-drives and Intel’s Core 2 Duo T9500 CPUs (up to the 2.6GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB chip).  Two screen resolutions are on offer: 1440×900 WXGA+ and 1920×1200 WUXGA.

If you’re Vista phobic then you’ll be glad to see XP in both Pro and Home flavors on offer (together with all the Vista versions), and there’s a choice between a 24x DVD/CD-RW combo drive or an 8x DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R write capability.  If storage quantity is your guiding star, then you can opt for 640GB (two 5,200rpm 320GB drives), whereas speed-freaks might prefer 320GB (made up of two 7,200rpm 160GB drives).  Graphics are either courtesy of Intel’s X3100 or a 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT.

Six USB ports, a choice of WiFi options that tick all the combinations (including draft-N), optional Bluetooth and an optional 1.3-megapixel webcam with microphone make for an intimidating (and potentially pricey) spec sheet.  As standard you get gigabit ethernet, a 4-pin Firewire port, VGA and ExpressCard slot.  The 1710 measures 393 x 286 x 40.5mm and weighs from 2.95kg.  It’s available to order now, with estimated shipping on June 3rd, priced from $799.