The Dell Inspiron 11z is a thin and light laptop with an 11.6 inch display. It’s a bit larger than Dell’s Inspiron Mini netbook line, and it comes with an Intel CULV processor, which provides more power than the Atom chips found in Dell’s netbooks. But the Inspiron 11z is still portable, cheap, and a little slow compared with many of the company’s larger laptops.

The laptop comes with a variety of configuration options. Dell sent me a review unit with a 1.3GHz dual core Intel Pentium SU4100 processor, Windows 7 Home Premium, a 250GB hard drive, 2GB of RAM, and a 6 cell battery. This configuration sells for $544 (or actually, $584, since this model has a $40 jade green lid), but the base model is available for just $379.

Of course, to get the lower price, you’ll have to settle for a 3 cell battery, single core processor, smaller hard drive, and Windows Vista.

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The Dell Inspiron 11z is a thin and light laptop with an 11.6 inch high resolution display and an Intel Consumer Ultra Low Voltage processor. Dell has been selling the 11z for a few months, but only recently started offering models with Windows 7 and dual core processors. Dell was kind enough to send me a demo unit to review, and you can check out my unboxing and first impressions video after the break.

The model I’m reviewing has a 1.3GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core SU4100 processor and integrated GMA 4500MHD graphics. This is the first laptop I’m reviewing with this CPU, so Ill be curious to see how it compares with the SU2300 and SU7300 processors used in similar computers from companies including Acer, Asus, and Lenovo.

The laptop also has a 6 cell battery, 2GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive. It has a keyboard that appears to be pretty much full size, and a touchpad that reminds me an awful lot of the one on the Dell Inspiron Mini 10v thanks to its integrated left and right buttons. I wasn’t a big fan of the touchpad on that model, but we’ll see if it works any better on the Inspiron 11z.

The 6 cell battery should help the Inspiron 11z to get respectable battery life. But it juts out of the bottom in a way that almost doubles the height of the notebook in the back. That means the keyboard is tilted at a rather unusual angle.

More details soon. In the meantime, you can find my unboxing video below. Note that while this model runs Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, the Windows label on the computer says Windows Vista Home Premium, which confused me at first. I’ll chalk this up to the fact that I received a review unit, not a retail version.

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As expected, Dell has begun offering customization options for the Inspiron 11z thin and light laptop. For a starting price of $399 you get:

• Color: black
• CPU: 1.3GHz Intel Celeron 743 (single core)
• OS: Windows Vista Home Basic
• RAM: 2GB
• HDD: 160GB
• Battery: 3 cell, 28WHr
• WiFi: 802.11a/b/g
• Bluetooth: none

There are a number of configuration options, but here’s how I would configure my (nearly) ideal system for $564:

• Color: black
• CPU: 1.3GHz Pentium SU4100 (dual core)
• OS: Windows Vista Home Premium (with free upgrade to Windows 7)
• RAM: 2GB (You can upgrade to 4GB for $120, but I’d rather pick up some third party memory for cheaper)
• HDD: 250GB
• Battery: 6 cell, 56WHr
• WiFi: 802.11a/b/g (For $25 more you can get 802.11n)
• Bluetooth: none (You can get an internal Bluetooth module for $20)

While $564 isn’t quite in the same ballpark as $399, you should get noticably better performance out of the dual core processor and better battery life out of the higher capacity battery. I suppose the 250GB hard drive isn’t absolutely necessary, but it’s only a $25 upgrade over the standard 160GB hard drive.

The Dell Inspiron 11z is a thin and light laptop with an 11.6 inch display and an Intel CULV processor. Up until recently it was only available with a 1.2GHz Intel Celeron 723 CPU, 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive. But a few days ago Dell France began allowing people to customize the hard drive, RAM, CPU, battery, and other aspects. And now it looks like Dell US is following suit.

In a blog post this evening, Dell announced that customization options were now available. Last time I checked the web site, they weren’t. But here’s what you should expect soon.There will be a dual core Intel Pentium SU4100 processor option, up to 4GB of RAM, and up to 320GB of hard drive space. A 56Whr battery will also be available, which should provide about 6 hours of run time. Up until now only a 3 cell, 28WHr battery was available.

Update: The Dell Inspiron 11z is now available with a range of customization options for $399 and up.

If you want to pick up a Dell Inspiron 11z laptop in the US, here’s the configuration you’ll get for your $449: 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel, 1.2GHz Intel Celeron 723 CULV processor, 2GB of RAM a 250GB hard drive, and a 3 cell, 28Whr battery. It comes with Windows Vista Home Premium and a free upgrade offer for Windows 7. There are pretty much zero customization options.

In France, it’s a different story. There you can pick up the Inspiron Mini 11z with the following options:

• CPU: 1.3GHz Intel Celeron ULV 743 single core / 1.3GHz Intel Pentium ULV SU4100 dual core
• RAM: 2GB / 4GB
• HDD: 160GB / 250GB / 320GB / 500GB (all 5400rpm)
• Battery: 3 cell, 28Whr / 6 cell, 56Whr
• WiFi: Dell Wireless 1397 (802.11b/g) / Dell Wireless 1510 (802.11n)
• Bluetooth: Optional
• OS: Windows Vista Basic / Windows Vista Home Premium
• Colors: black / white / red / green / blue / pink / purple

You’re still stuck with only one display option, an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel screen. The base model runs 379 Euros, or about $556 US. But if you play with the configuration options it’s not hard to jack the price up to over a thousand Euros or closer to $1500 US.

No word on if or when we’ll start to see these options show up on Inspiron Mini 11z models in the US.

via Blogeee

The Dell Inspiron 11z is an 11.6 inch laptop with a high resolution display, a 1.2GHz Intel Celeron 723 CULV processor, integrated x4500 graphics, and Windows Vista Home Premium. On paper it looks like it should be a lot more powerful than your typical netbook, if a tiny bit larger. Liliputing Forum member Frank Ancona picked one up recently and seems pretty happy with the size, weight, and performance. But Kevin O’Brien at Notebook Review tells another story.

In terms of design, the 11z is attractive and has a nice keyboard. In fact, it looks an awful lot like the Dell Inspiron Mini 10z, although Dell isn’t slapping the “mini” label on the 11z because the company wants to differentiate this laptop from its netbooks. The primary difference is the larger, crisper, 1366 x 768 pixel display.

But Kevin hated the touchpad with a passion. Like the Mini 10v, the Inspiron Mini 11z has the left and right buttons built into the touchpad itself. In other words, you have to actually push down on the touchpad to click. The problem is that if you have two fingers on the touchpad (one to move the cursor, the other to click a button), you’re going to have a tough time accomplishing either goal.

In terms of performance, the Inspiron Mini 11z does well with graphics heavy tasks, but not so well with CPU intensive jobs. Unfortunately, some graphics jobs are CPU-heavy tasks, such as watching HD flash video. Kevin reports that HD video from sites like YouTube was laggy. And there were also problems playing standard definition video from Hulu. In a CPU-only benchmark, the Inspiron 11z actually scored lower than a number of Intel Atom powered netbooks, while overall performance in PCMark05 was a bit higher than your typical netbook thanks to the higher performance graphics processor. 3D graphics performance was far better than that on a typical netbook.

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When Dell launched the Inspiron 11z laptop a few weeks ago, it had a low $399 price tag, which meant you could pick up this 11.6 inch laptop with an Intel CULV processor, 1366 x 768 pixel display, GS45 integrated graphics, 2Gb of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive for about the same price as many netbooks.

But this weekend Dell tweaked the price, first raising it to $524 for a few hours before settling at $449. That’s still a pretty good price for a laptop this small and light, but the sudden price change ha’s left a lot of potential customers scratching their heads.

According to Laptop Magazine, a Dell salesperson indicated that the price change is because the new models have an improved WLED display. But some users are reporting that they’ve been told the original $399 price was a limited time promotion.

Either way, the Dell Inspiron 11z is now the same price as the Acer Aspire 1410, another 11.6 inch laptop with a CULV processor. There are some differences. The Aspire One has a 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Solo CULV SU3500 processor while the Inspiron 11z has a 1.2GHz Intel Celeron 723 CPU. And the Acer laptop has a 6 cell, 48Whr battery while the Dell model has a 3 cell, 28WHr battery.

The Dell Inspiron 11z has been shipping for just over a week, and Liliputing Forum member Frank  Ancona has already received his, and he’s posted his initial impressions in the forum.

The Inspiron 11z is an interesting machine. It has an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display and a 1.2GHz Intel CULV processor and integrated Intel GS45 graphics instead of the usual Intel Atom/GMA 950 graphics we see in 10 inch netbooks.

Frank reports that the laptop is very thin and light, weighing just about 3 pounds with a 3 cell battery. He reports it gets about 2.5 hours of battery life, which isn’t stellar. But if and when Dell offers a version with a 6 cell battery, it seems likely that you should be able to get 5 or more hours of run time.

You can read more in the forum.

The Inspiron Mini 11z is available from Dell for $399, although Frank points out that if you know anyone who can get you an employee discount, the price comes down to $359.

Dell may have just unveiled the Inspiron 11z this morning, but the folks at PC Magazine have already posted their early impressions of the laptop after spending some hands-on time with it. here are some of the highlights:

• Dell isn’t grouping the laptop with its netbooks, even though it has a smaller screen than the recently discontinued Inspiron Mini 12
• The Inspiron 11z will be available in up to 7 different colors
• The laptop is wider than the Inspiron Mini 10v, but almost as thing
• A 6 cell battery option will be available later
• The keyboard is 92% full size
• The touchpad is identical to the Inspiron Mini 10v touchpad with integrated mouse buttons
• The 11z is HD-ready and sports an HDMI output

PC Magazine didn’t have time to test the battery, but estimates that the 3-cell battery should run for between 2 and 3 hours.

In other news, Dell has posted a series of photos of the new laptop on Flickr, and offers more information in an official blog post. The laptop will be available in the UK and france on August 25th.

via Netbooked

Remember that 11 inch Dell laptop that the company was teasing us with the other day? Turns out it’s real, and it’s ready for the public. And it’s cheap too, with a starting price of $399.

The laptop isn’t much bigger than a typical netbook, but it shuns the usual netbook specs. Instead, your $399 gets you:

• CPU: 1.2GHz Intel Celeron 723 CULV processor
• Video: Intel GS45 integrated graphics
• Display: 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixels
• OS: Windows Vista Home Premium
• RAM: 2GB
• Storage: 250GB, 5400rpm HDD
• WiFi: Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g
• Webcam: 1.3MP
• Connectivity: Ethernet, 3 USB ports, 3-in-1 card reader, HDMI output
• Battery: 28WHr, 3 cell Li-Ion battery
• Dimensions: 11.5″ x 8.4″ x 0.9″
• Weight: 3 pounds

There aren’t any real customization options yet unless you want to add external storage, a USB CD drive, or other peripherals. But Dell is known for offering custom features, so if you wait a few days I wouldn’t be surprised to see additional options such as extended batteries, additional storage, or other features show up as options. Hopefully Dell will also continue its trend of offering a choice of operating systems and offer a version running Ubuntu Linux, but I’m not sure how well the operating system performs on CULV processors. Does anyone have any experience using Ubuntu or another Linux distribution on a machine with a Celeron 723 CPU?

via Electronista