Zardon

Read The Review Here
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We have reviewed many high end gaming systems in the past from both Alienware and parent company Dell, but today we take a look at something slightly different - the new Inspiron 13z. The Inspiron 13z has been designed by Dell to enter into the market just above the 'netbook' sector - for those wanting more versatility, higher quality screens and faster processing speed.

BlueMak

Very nice. With a better GPU and a price point about 500 or less it would be unbeatable for the size.
Still, very good.

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

SeraphicSorcerer

These Netbooks or low end laptops. to me just don't seem that great, I think this is alright but as Bluemak said, give it a better GPU and it might take off, for 5-600 or less.

But then again the problem is people WANT cheap computers and don't always know what they're paying for.

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comp_ali

I am not quite interested , The decent spec here is th 4GB ram only , the cpu is dual core 1.6GHZ (not impressive) and the gpu is mainstream . I would pick this one from Toshiba , slightly better specs (C2D 2.0GHZ , 14" TFT) and yet cheaper !

Zardon

When are you ever impressed? lets be honest. That toshiba will be on its second recharge by the time the battery in this dell runs out. The businessman stuck in an airport waiting on a plane wont be wanting an hour playing Doom3 either he will be doing productive office work.

Also please read the reviews before commenting, its not a dual core 1.6ghz dual core its an ultra low voltage 1.3ghz machine.

Zardon

You see this is the issue, you guys arent the target market at all. these machines are built for maximum battery life, decent performance and dell have managed to do this and incorporate a great LED, 64bit OS, high memory count, fast hard drive and a really nice keyboard methodology. Not only that but there is digital HDMI out and it handles 1080p content.

If you add a gaming GPU its a different market, prices will rise and the battery life will get hit. They sell other gaming based laptops for different demographics. Perhaps in future I will refuse all laptops apart from gaming machines because our audience just don't seem to get this specific market at all.

humonous

We have this machine in work and its great, when we go on work based trips its a fight to get it as the battery lasts for a full day without a recharge and its fast enough to handle our workload on the move.

I agree though, I think DH is maybe too 'gaming oriented' and the guys here constantly measure worth on higher CPU figures or GPU performance (ive seen this happening before and I always groan) - although it would be good if people actually read the reviews before making comments! **cough comp ali **)) - glad the reviewers here are able to differentiate however cause there is a huge market outside gaming. great screen on this dell too, you can safely budget 100 of the cost just to this panel.

SeraphicSorcerer

I know I'm not the target market, because I demand 500 FPS while playing solitare.

In all seriousness, I seriously hate most integrated graphics solutions simply because I've never seen them scale to the next generation of software requirements. for what this comes with sure, it's great. But if these companies really wanted to they could make battery life a non issue by throttling it in all non video/gaming environments.

I get what you're saying business oriented product, but what if i get done with my TPD report and want to go frag a little eh?!!!

I own a Studio XPS 16. I absolutely despise the battery life on it, but I carry a spare for that reason on travel. Macbook pros with their 6 (advertised 8) hour battery life impress me.

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Zardon

Then you compromise 5 hours on the battery life and get a more expensive model. Part of the attraction for this machine to me is the fact it never professes to be a gaming machine, it isn't marketed as one but yet manages to do everything else brilliantly. The fact it runs very cool, and will do so all day for work related tasks means a lot to me.

Certainly you can argue it could cost less, but I think people who say they want a gaming graphics card in it or faster CPU are missing the point, Dell already offer those in different ranges.

incidentally I have one of those macbook pros, the gen 5.2 17 inch machine (use it for design work into a 30 inch screen), but it cost me about 2 grand and I put in 8gb of ram and an SSD, so totals about 3 grand, 6 times the price of this Dell. If I said its a different market entirely would I be stating the obvious?

SeraphicSorcerer

Ah yes, but can your Dell run Mac OS X. LEGALLY?

you sir, can be captain obvious.
but I can be lieutenant smartypants.

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IvanV

Well, I'm impressed. I have long ago abandoned ideas of gaming on a laptop, so I'm looking for portability, good battery life, decent screen and keyboard and performance that's "fast enough" and this one seems to tick all the boxes (Photoshop benchmark seemed a touch disappointing compared to Atom, but then I realized that it was a dual core model with hyper threading).

I'm puzzled by the GPU, I didn't know that Intel had discrete solutions?! (specs say Nvidia chipset and Intel graphics). Also, I expected the X4500MHD to help reduce CPU usage a little further in media playback tests.

EDIT: The only thing standing between OSX and ordinary PCs (legally) is OSX EULA. Legal weight of EULAs is disputable and it depends on the country and a judge you'd end up with (that is if anyone were actually legally persecuted over this).

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comp_ali

O.K man . I saw it like that

mac_angel

sorry, this thing is a piece of garbage. I don't see how it could get such great reviews next to Asus UL80VT-A1

Zardon

sorry but until you tell me why 'its a piece of garbage' ill file your response with "I just hate Dell no matter what they do, so there".

Explain to me why a WLED screen with glossy coating @ 720p resolution, 10 hour battery life with decent intel CPU performance (and cool at that), sub 600 price tag and 4 GB of DDR3 and 320 GB 7,200 is "garbage"

And make it more constructive than your first post - incidentally let me correct something, its not 'next to Asus UL80VT-A1' - its not next to anything actually it was reviewed on its own merits.

I appreciate everyone likes to hate Dell, same with Apple, but for god sake at least make your points in some way sound coherent.

comp_ali

I don't hate Apple nor Dell , it is just some kind of predilection based on how I view their products.

My dad has Apple Inspiron 1525 and it the battery life is very short , yes I know this will be better due to the low voltage processor. But for the same spec of 1525 different manufactures , the life time is higher . May be it was just a bad experience with this specific model not sure.
On the other side , me and my cousin was maintaining one of the old prebuilt Dell desktop computer today .The most things I liked about it that It was really solid and built professionally that everything fit in place in such a small case.

I didn't try the one you reviewed so I can't say any final opinion about it , my first post was just purely about the difference in price range for two models with similiar specs , that's it

Zardon

Well thats fine, but as a reviewer you cant already form an opinion before reviewing it. I spend a long time with the products and give my honest views and spend a lot of time writing them and detailing them across multiple pages. If I was here to 'look cool' id just slag off every Dell machine and every Apple machine available even if it is good, its exactly what most other people in my position do. Its a total cop out though.

If people disagree with what ive said, then thats why we have a forum, lets have a discussion, but I don't have much to go on if people just say 'its garbage' or 'my dad owned a different dell and its crap'.

There really is not much I can do to verify or confirm my testing to these kind of comments. Just a shame people are so quick to judge something on a 'badge', ive seen good and bad products throughout almost all manufacturers product ranges.

Anyway I had a few emails about this product and seemingly a few people are getting the market its for and appreciate the long battery life and cool running performance. perhaps if dell knock another 100-150 off the price people will be happier. To be fair the screen is pretty great and helps justify the price.

Incidentally comp ali, the comparison product you sent me is nothing similar to the dell on review today, that has a full core 2 duo processor and will likely have a 3 hour battery life, the Dell has a ULV cpu and if you had read the review properly you would see the benefits, not everyone is buying a laptop for ultimate performance at the expense of everything else.

BlueMak

Perhaps I should clarify what I said.

According to the review (I didn't check the site since that would be useless for me and others from Greece, Dell thinks individuals/customers in Greece are on Greece, Pluto) the laptop has the option of coming with a nvidia 105, which I assume will make the price go up at least $100-150. Where a $6-700 laptop would sell ok to the kind of people who would use it to do spreadsheets while waiting for the plane to land, a 500 one with the G105M would sell like crazy and that was my point. As for the battery life, a hybrid solution would work wonders, no?

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

ET3D

Thanks for the comprehensive review.

"Chipset: Nvidia 650i" -- looks like it's the remains of some old review or something. Chipset is Intel GS45.

Regarding a backlit keyboard, I think that the light from the top of the screen that my old Thinkpad X20 had was a good enough solution. I'm sure it's less costly than lighting the keyboard, and I don't know why it's not more common.

It's a pity you didn't get the version with the NVIDIA graphics, though. I'm always interested in seeing lightweight laptops that could be used for a bit of gaming.

BTW, Dell US seems to be having a special sale. The Inspiron Zino HD with a Blu-ray drive for $479 (dual core AMD, 2GB, Radeon 4330) sounds pretty good to me for a HTPC (that could possibly even do some basic gaming on the side).

Zardon

Absolutely correct, my bad - fixed.

Thats another option which would work - personally I love a good backlit keyboard but I could well be in the minority - im not that bothered about it on a PC desktop system as the light from the larger screen lights it up well, but with a laptop I find it slightly more critical. I am perhaps too used to Apple Macbooks, but I always immediately miss it when its not there.

Yes I agree, but I had to review what i received - we will have another review up shortly with the nvidia GFX which is the more expensive option with this system.

Yeah thats a great price indeed.

SeraphicSorcerer

For what it is, it's a decent machine. It was a nice review, I just guess they're targetting the businessman on the go, I really hope that When AMD'S fusion comes out though, slightly higher default graphics become a defacto solution instead of a pipedream.

This unit's battery life is impressive, the volts are nice like you said Z, but. I bet they could run lower to bad you can't modify it like that

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Zardon

no doubt about it, the onboard intel solution on this machine is extremely weak and its something most of our audience wont really forgive. As I said in the review I would suggest people interested in this machine would look at the slightly more expensive nVidia option - would certainly help for 'casual gaming' however I would assume it might lower battery life a little. Almost always a trade off with these things and im not sure as a business machine or secondary 'portable/long life' computer for a general user it would really matter.

SeraphicSorcerer

I think the best part is where you say "most of our audience" and then go onto say you guys aren't the target audience at all!

It is a well put together review however. To be fair you do say the Nvidia option would be better, and in that I agree, but what I was basically hinting at was. I guess how they have cool n quiet and whatever Intel's throttling is called.... I don't see why they can't do that with discrete graphics solutions that go well beyond PowerVR where the voltage goes to nil, and the clocks to like 200 mhz etc. in order to accommodate battery, and whatnot.

There are other reasons to have graphic performance then just gaming. Movies, Presentations, Now with the advent of openCL, We could have far more optimized machines, I do see the appeal as a traveling businessman however. Where the desire to game, just isn't there, but to that I say that's no life at all.

That was the point I was basically trying to make, is that the on board solutions by Intel are so infinitely bad for such a insanely giant company that could easily implement that kind of solution. I wouldn't even care if it was Intel that did the graphics, Stick a larrabee and integrate it.

The processor however is a fantastic choice for power consumption, and this is the way All netbooks or similar type machines should be heading, not less powerful, but more powerful, using less power and you are right, it does shine in this area. It's just so hard to look at integrated graphic solutions anymore and be happy.

I hope you see the point I am trying to make, the only reason I post it is because we're sort of at this crossroad of technology, and I want to see us take the high road, and not the cheap road.

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Zardon

Well I think we can ascertain from the majority of people in this thread who are opting for 'full' core 2 duos and higher end graphics solutions that this is not their target machine - looking at the bigger picture I would assume that a huge portion of our audience will dislike this machine for its complete incapability of handling any game engines - when I received this machine I was excited as it targeted a completely different market to what DH normally reviews which are high power, insanely heavy gaming laptops with battery life under an hour.

When I first installed steam on this Dell to try some games I was sorely disappointed to see titles like Left4Dead2 running in single digits, even at 800x600 with all settings on minimum. It is why I mentioned how poor the solution was for gaming on the methodology page and that there was no point even showing frame rate graphs as it just can't handle it. The Nvidia solution Dell offer is in another laptop review we will be publishing this coming week and while it is still no powerhouse it is more capable for a 'casual' gamer.

I am disappointed that Dell didn't have the foresight to include the nVidia graphics options on the laptop they sent us for review however as I stated, for a pure workhorse in a mobile environment this machine is very hard to beat - a huge business audience will love the fact you could fire this laptop up at 9am in the morning and still have battery left by the time you got home at 5pm. That to me is worth a hell of a lot, especially as the screen quality is excellent and the ULV processor doesn't chug along like the ATOMs we have reviewed in the past.

As for Intel, I do agree, they need to start tackling the mobile market with low power drain and semi capable gaming solutions but I am hoping 2010 might see the start of that. Just supporting 'aero acceleration' is not really ideal in such a competitive market.

SeraphicSorcerer

I certainly agree it has potential, I'm glad you saw the point I was trying to make however. This machine has potential. I am just saying it would be nice if we could get a graphical solution that was low power but midrange performance, like you I totally think just having aero support is not worthy of being called graphics "acceleration".

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Falstaff

Good review..
still not sold on Dell.
specs aside, I wonder how long before the average user moves up or down into a different product. The consumer may not logically approach the market with their real needs in mind, and perhaps this product fits into a slot that budget consumers patronize, but is it the best one?
Perhaps not, but it is a Dell, and I am sure loyal buyers and perhaps even first time buyers that interested in an "all around" product in this category will not be disappointed.
I know Dell could make it look a bit smarter, or even sexier?
But then I hated the Mac book Air didnt I?
no accounting for taste eh?
Christ almost forgot the ten hour battery life....
ummmm
nah...

lets test this product for one two or perahps three months of daily use and lets get a mileage report on problems and issues that crop up with this model, if not for my own edification, for the consumer.
Allan these reviews carry some weight, and I want to see what happens with the product in a few months.

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daglesj

Bit late but here is my 2c. I have the top of the range version of this laptop with the 3MB cache CPU and the 105M nvidia graphics for a month now. I have to say its the best laptop I've had and I've been using laptops for well over 12 years so I have gotten through a few.

I dont like netbooks, I hate the poor screen depth and tiny trackpads. They are fine for a few minutes use here and there but not suitable for a days use or so.

The size and weight is perfect, the build quality is great. Performance is just as I wanted. It hasnt struggled with anything I've asked it to do. I'm not a big gamer but I have installed Eve Online on it. On my Old laptop with a ATI 200M graphics chip I was lucky to get 6fps at lowest settings. This little laptop will give me 60FPS+ at the same settings! Mid settings drop to around 30fps.

Battery life is pretty incredible. It will go a whole work day on a charge and still have nearly a couple of hours left in it when I get home.

Everyone I've shown it to has liked it a lot.

Downsides? Well there are a few niggles. Glossy black top obviously. No HDD activity light, I find I miss not having one and no option for a 4 cell battery. I called Dell to ask if they had a 4 cell option just so I could have a lighter, low profile now and then but no, they have 8 cell only.

So I recommend spending the extra for the top spec model. This is a nice piece of kit.

Zardon

great idea, however if we held onto everything we tested for a few months it would be hard for me to find room to move. Its also not really practical, otherwise id be continually testing about 10 laptops and 10 desktops.

Like the idea however, great in theory, just not practical and these companies wouldn't allow such extended use, they get moved onto other teams and publications.

Neshi

I love I stumbled on this review, and you have at least 1 of the target adience for this laptop Z.
As you know I will soon need a laptop to take with me in classes and this sounds like the ideal solution for me. A responsive, small, light-weight, long-lasting notebook to do office and internet work. No games and other performance stuff, for that I will have a macbook or a desktop..

Would you advise this to a student?
But Falstaff has a point, several months in use.. will it desintegrate slowly?

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daglesj

I dont think it will fall apart. I had laptops (AST P & M series) back in the late 20th century that were far more frail than this and they lasted just fine. Back then you had brittle plastic flaps and stuff covering ports that used to last a week for some folks.

It's pretty robust. The smaller size helps make them more rigid.

The fact that the battery lasts ages, the keyboard, trackpad and screen are a good usable size would make this a good buy for a student.

It's the best little all round laptop I've used.

Zardon

Yes absolutely. great little machine. Its well built too, I can't see it falling apart at all.