• Dell Inspiron 13z

    Dell Inspiron 13z

    Rohan Naravane, Apr 07, 2010 1707 hrs IST

    One of the best 13-inch laptops under Rs. 40,000

    DVD drive (good for a 13-inch ULV laptop), fairly thin and lightweight, good display clarity and brightness, comfortable keyboard and easy to use touch-pad

    No separate microphone jack, webcam could've been better, average battery life for the NVIDIA graphics based SKU

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13-inch laptops have always owned a premium spot in the market. Their dimensions and weight make them extremely portable, and gives it the perfect spot between tiny 10-inch netbooks and 15-inch desktop replacement models.

Rarely did we see 13-inch laptops sold under Rs. 50,000, until Intel released their Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) range of processors. Now we see quite a few 13-inch laptops in this segment; the Dell Vostro V13 and the MSI X350 being the recent entrants that sell for around Rs. 40,000.

But most of these ULV-based 13-inchers have one problem --the lack of a DVD drive. It is unfortunate that in the day and age of flash based media and high-speed internet, many people still use CDs and DVDs regularly. Thus, for such people the missing optical drive is the major reason why they refrain from opting for such models.



Breaking this trend is the Dell Inspiron 13z. This 13-inch ULV processor based laptop boasts a thin and light body, fair pricing and...(drum roll)...a DVD drive. Its spec sheet tells us that it's just about powerful to do office tasks and watch HD movies effortlessly. Isn't that powerful enough for many people who want to purchase a new laptop? We polish our magnifying glasses and inspect the Inspiron 13z in detail.


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Tag keywords
Dell Inspiron 13z review laptop notebook Dell 13-inch laptop Dell Vostro V13 MSI X350 Adamo XPS NVIDIA GeForce G105M graphics chip Acer Timeline 3810TZ



Discussion Board
(6) Comments
chintan
,ratlam, MP, on Jul 31, 2010 12:32 PM
hi all. i wanna buy a floppy. can anyone suggest how much it costs? is it affordable for a person like me?
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Sumeet Sachdev
,Mumbai, on Jun 07, 2010 01:40 AM
Gud choice..
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Krishna
,Bangalore, on Apr 08, 2010 11:45 PM
hey....didn't u guys check Asus U30JC ??? It has a Core i3 processor coupled with nVidia Geforce 310M 'Optimus' graphics card. With a battery life of around 9 hours and a price of around 44k, it beats Dell Inspiron 13z in every department!!!
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narendra
,bangalore, on Apr 21, 2010 04:37 PM
hey where can i get Asus U30JC here in bangalore
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Shailesh
,Mumbai, on Apr 08, 2010 05:06 PM
I agree with SM below & Rohan about th optical drive. I too have a ULV lappy bought from VSP but luckily I didn't fall for the spiel about buying a separate dvd drive coz i didn't have that money at that time :D When i borrowed my cousins ext dvd writer I faced the same problem u mentioned in ur post, it was with Moser Baer dvd's :(
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S M
,Mumbai, on Apr 08, 2010 11:56 AM
But most of these ULV-based 13-inchers have one problem --the lack of a DVD drive' agree totally. I bought an Acer Timeline 3810TZ and with that I bought a Transcend external DVD writer. The first was faulty the second seems to be ok but is temperamental as all cd/dvd media cannot be used. And the horrors of it all is the Acer quick start guide states that some ext dvd writers may not be compatible. To add insult to injury I paid over Rs3700 for the dvd writer at VSP where as the same is available outside, cheaper by Rs 1000. Actually I could have used my DVD writer from my desktop inserted into a external casing available for about Rs 600-800 to do the same as I feel I would need the dvd writer only occasionally. Like creating the restore discs etc else I would use a high capacity pendrive to bring files to my laptop
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