It's difficult to argue seriously for the practicality of 17-inch laptops — especially when they're not loaded with outrageously high-end hardware that you can't affordably fit into a 15-inch model — but some people do seem to love their desktop replacements. That's why Dell has introduced a 17-inch model in its personal-use Inspiron line.

The Inspiron 17 has a 1600 x 900, 17.3-inch display, a choice of various Intel Pentium Dual Core or Core 2 Duo processors, at least 2 GB of RAM (maximum appears to be 4 GB), up to 500 GB of storage, and a measly Intel X4500HD integrated graphics chip. We're not sure what the point of a 17-inch laptop without a high-end mobile graphics card is, but at least you can still throw a Blu-ray drive in there for good media measure.

The Dell Inspiron 17 should start shipping sometime in August, and the base configuration is a very affordable $499.