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Dell Inspiron 14z review

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Verdict

An unfussy little laptop with great performance, plenty of stamina and an attractive price

Review Date: 17 Oct 2011

Reviewed By: Sasha Muller

Price when reviewed: £483 (£579 inc VAT)

Overall Rating

Features & Design
4 stars out of 6

Value for Money
5 stars out of 6

Performance
5 stars out of 6

PCPRO Recommended

Dell’s vision of Intel’s Ultrabook concept is still under wraps for now, but its latest Inspiron laptop looks enticing nonetheless. Pitched in the no man’s land between Ultrabooks and the traditional desktop replacement, the Inspiron 14z fuses a 2kg chassis with a Core i5 processor and, best of all, packages it all up at a very reasonable price.

Visually, the 14z takes the styling of Dell’s Inspiron range, grabs it by the lapels and gives it a darn good smartening up. The inset hinge and curvy chassis are unmistakeable, and the laptop’s underside remains plastic, but lid and keyboard surround are now finished in a swanky metallic brown. It’s a much classier affair.

Dell has maintained the Inspiron 14z’s clean, curvy lines by hiding all the connectivity behind plastic flaps. With two USB 3 sockets on one side; HDMI, powered USB 2 and mini-DisplayPort on the other; and Gigabit Ethernet and a memory card reader found elsewhere, the 14z is pretty well equipped for its size. It is a bit annoying having to peel the plastic flaps back every time you need to get at the ports behind, but it keeps things neat.

It feels nicely built, too, with a chassis that’s stiff and sturdy and a lid that’s outstandingly taut. There’s a little give in the base if you really tug it to and fro, but even our firmest prodding on the millimetres-thick lid failed to cause show-through on the LCD display itself.

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Comments

User comments

Screen options

It is worth noting that unlike other Dells there is no option of a high resolution screen upgrade.

By tirons1 on 24 Oct 2011

Dell in the ultrabook market???

Dell left the tablet market very quickly recently with the terrible Streak. I think they'll be leaving the Ultrabook market just as quickly...wait until Intel comes to the party with their Ultrabooks! I really think Dell as a company is starting to show its age now. Bring on the tablets: iPad 3/Kindle Fire etc...(more of these types of reviews please editor).

ashane
http://kindlefiregeek.blogspot.com/

By ashane on 24 Oct 2011

Laptop market is tricky to navigate

This Dells sounds pretty good for the price. I was recently advising a friend on laptop buying and found the market a bit of a mess. I can see why Intel is getting involved. Apple have a simple structure of laptops at various price points with good feature sets albeit at premium prices. The other manufacturers often have a rather complex range of subtly different models which are difficult to compare. Most people chose a price point and then decide what to buy. PC manufacturers could make things much simpler and Dell is one company which partly does that.

By AdamD6 on 24 Oct 2011

You had me until...

...1,366 x 768

Come on guys, not every laptop is used for just watching movies. Some of us want to actually work on them.

By ChrisH on 24 Oct 2011

No dedicated Page Up / Page Down / Home or End keys

Why why why have laptop manufacturers started this ridiculous anti usability fad of removing these keys??? I would have seriously considered this if it wasn't for this - if it had a 1600x900 screen resolution at least too I would definitely have bought it. PCPro - I am a 10yr+ subscriber - please cover these missing dedicated keys in your future laptop reviews and maybe just maybe we'll get the good old laptop keyboards back again!

By John_F_R on 18 Nov 2011

@John_F_R
My Dell 14z does have the dedicated keys for page up/down /home etc.
You can even just make them out on the above pics..
So not a valid complaint.

By curiousclive on 21 Nov 2011

Difference with the 14

I also see a inspiron 14 in http://www.laptopbattery4.co.uk/dell-inspiron-14-b
attery.htm What's the difference with the 14Z.

By luxl85 on 21 Dec 2011

Screen resolution

@ChrisH

What is so bad with 1366x768 I can work on it very well without having to wear binoculars to see the letters.
Screen resolution is not everything visibility is.

By curiousclive on 12 Feb 2012

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