The interior sports a similarly luxe-looking brushed aluminum wrist rest (which is not switchable), as well as a black plastic bezel surrounding the glossy screen. Dell is clearly trying with the fancy aluminum plates, but the rounded corners and plastic edges just make the computer look a little cheap. And, well...it is.

The Inspiron 17R also has a full-sized keyboard with matte black island-style keys against a shiny black plastic base, as well as a 10-key numeric keypad. The keys are a little small, but are slightly indented to allow for more accurate typing. I found this keyboard one of the more comfortable I've used recently, as the keys are nicely spaced and offer good tactile feedback. They are initially a little stiff, which takes some getting used to, but typing quickly and accurately is easy.

Above the keyboard are three buttons: a settings button, which opens the Windows Mobility Center; a Waves MAXXAudio button, which lets you toggle through sound presets such as "movie" and "voice"; and a configurable "Instant Launch" button, to which you can assign your desired function.

A large trackpad with discrete mouse buttons is located below the keyboard, slightly offset to the left. The trackpad is actually a continuation of the brushed-aluminum wrist rest, though it has a slightly rougher texture. The trackpad is large and sensitive, and performs multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom and two-finger scrolling smoothly. The buttons are large, but a little difficult to press as they don't have much tactile feedback. They are pretty, though, and they look like they've been neatly cut out of the aluminum background. The trackpad can be turned off using the Fn F3 key, and a small orange light turns on when the trackpad is disabled.

Port-wise, the Inspiron 17R is acceptable: four USB 3.0 ports (two on each side), HDMI- and VGA-out ports, and microphone and headphone jacks, plus gigabit ethernet, a lock slot, and a multicard reader. This isn't the greatest port selection I've seen on a desktop replacement, but the USB 3.0 ports on either side of the machine are a nice touch.