You probably have to stay with Ultra ATA as the connector is built-in the the board.
If your drive is 4500 or 5400 RPM you can probably see an improvement by getting a 7200 RPM drive.
There are several here:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=1277&name=2.5-Hard-Drive&

 

Any modern drive 7200 rpm or 5400 rpm by Western Digital, Seagate, Fujitsu, or Samsung will work fine. The 10,000 drives with the right connector will also work. Avoid those by Hitachi, Maxtor, TriGem.
Good sources are www.frys.com, www.directron.com, www.zipzoomfly.com, www.newegg.com, www.cdw.com, www.tigerdirect.com, www.pcmall.com, www.krex.com, www.Amazon.com, and so many others

 

So you are saying SATA HDs will work with my Ultra ATA Laptop? It is compatible? That is my main worry.

 

No. You need a PATA drive.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-ultra-ata.htm

 

Gotcha. So do they make PATA drives that are 7200rpm? I don't recall ever finding one, but i haven't really looked hard

 

They're getting harder to find:
http://www.drivesolutions.com/cgi-bin/shop/store.cgi?command=features&kind=laptop&pos=0&type=Laptop
Shop around for others.

 

Well you have to get the ones with the correct connectors, or else get an adapter... What is the Service Tag of your Dell?

 

Service tage: dy93p71

 

That computer shipped with Windows XP, and a Hitachi EIDE 60 GB hard drive.
You can replace that drive with any hard drive up to 320 GB EIDE from any of a number of online retailers... You will find the Toshiba ATA6 to be superb, as will be the Seagate and Western Digital IDE or EIDE. I would avoid the Samsung, but if you get a Toshiba, Seagate, Western Digital that is 120 GB, 160GB or if you can find it, 250 GB, you will be happy and it will last twice as long as the Hitachi did... easy to replace... just put the new drive in the caddy that now holds the old Hitachi.
There is a manual online at Dell you can locate using that Service Tag number if you need a little guidance... But you are essentially removing two screws from the case, and four screws from the old hard drive, and replacing them when done. You need a small philips screw driver for the best work... a #1 or smaller.

 

Do you think it really matters between 5400 rpm and 7200 rpm? I was looking to get the fastest possible without paying too much money. I can't find a 7,200 rpm for less than $100. Do you think it would make that much of a difference?

 

There is a significant difference between usable speed between 5400 and 7200, but you will not really notice it in actual use.
The 5400 rpm has SIGNIFICANTLY longer life and reliability, and is often a lot less costly... you will replace the 7200 RPM drive twice as often. You will not regret getting the 5400 for that Inspiron 6000... just get one larger than the 60 GB that it came with originally... 80, 100, 120, 160, 250, or 320... but of them all, the 5400 RPM 80, 100, and 160 have the longest useful life.

 

Perfect. Thanks