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Taiwan-based Asus is universally credited as the pioneer in the netbook market. The ASUS Eee PC broke grounds for this niche and today, sales of these light, inexpensive subnotebooks are growing by leaps and bounds. While Acer Inc. now leads that market, trailed only by Asus, the rest of the manufacturers are fast catching up with their own legion of netbook models.

 

There has been concern that the netbook market is but a fad and that in time consumers will see these devices as mere toys compared to their more full-featured kin. However, we see manufacturers churn out netbooks that come with performance and features that nearly parallel those of full-sized notebooks and laptops.

 

Today, we take a look at Dell’s fancied netbook – the Dell Inspiron 11z. The number eleven represents the device’s screen size. While Dell’s own site calls this a laptop and even slots this in its Inspiron laptop series, the 11z is definitely a netbook.

 

Instead of relying on the netbook favorite Intel Atom processor, Dell took a different route, opting to go with an Intel Celeron low-voltage processor. The Intel Atom has proven its processing prowess in many netbooks – the Asus Eee series, Acer’s Aspire One, HP’s Mini 1000 and Compaq Mini 700 among others. So, it is a surprise to us that Dell made a decision with to go with a Celeron 723. Honestly, we feel that Dell should have stuck with the Atom processor given the average netbook user’s penchant for watching online videos and fiddling with multimedia content. The Celeron 723 has limited capabilities in these areas.

 

The Dell Inspiron 11z sports a simple yet business-like design. A glossy cover and a matte black chassis give it a tasteful yet understated look. It is both lightweight and slim and its build quality is up to par with netbooks in its price range. But, like many users we single out its touchpad as its worst feature – unresponsive at times and it takes an effort to get used to.

 

The Inspiron 11z’s 11.6-inch screen sets it apart from its netbook competitors – it offers as much space as regular notebooks. Inside, it features a Windows Vista Home Premium OS. Port selection is just about the same with other netbooks. This one though has HDMI instead of a VGA port.

 

The average buyer will most likely use this device for browsing, keeping in touch with friends and families or checking one’s finances. Notably, multimedia use is limited.

 

Dell Inspiron 11z SPECS	AVAILABLE OPTIONS (From Dell’s website)
CPU	Intel® Celeron™ 723 (1.2GHz/800MHz FSB/1MB cache)
RAM	2GB
Screen Size	11.6″ High Definition WLED Display (1366×768)
Operating System	Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1
Battery Life	About 3 and a half hours
Graphics	Intel GS45 Integrated Graphics

 

PROS

First, we commend the excellent screen and graphics card combo. Second, we like the way it is put together – the clean layout and the comfortable keyboard.

 

CONS

Our biggest gripe, as with other users, is the dreadful erratic touchpad. Dell has to do something about it and do it fast. The Celeron 723 processor is not as capable as the Intel Atom – giving the Inspiron 11z limited multimedia capabilities.

 

CONCLUSION

Notebookreview.com says “The Dell Inspiron 11z was one of those notebooks that looks like it could be the perfect machine on paper, but once you get it in person you find out it has some fatal flaw.” Our verdict – buy this if you intend to use this when you need to have a light device for browsing, email checking and keeping in touch with your friends. If you want something that can do more, we suggest you get something else.

Related posts:

1. Dell Inspiron Mini 10 – Review

Tags: Dell Inspiron 11z

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 7:11 am and is filed under Dell, and is tagged with Dell Inspiron 11z. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.