A rather chubby Ultrabook that fails
to overly impress
Oh dear, we do get grumpy when
manufacturers release notebooks with a name that’s gone before. Dell has
already released an Inspiron 14z and now the company has come up with another
model, with ‘Ultrabook’ appended. The new model looks different to its
predecessor so why not, Dell, please, give it a new name.
Dell
Inspiron 14z
That grumble over with, the Dell Inspiron
14z ($944 inc. VAT) is an Ultrabook by name, but it sports that thing
Ultrabooks have tended to lack - an optical drive. It isn’t the lightest or
sleekest on the block either with a weight of 1.9 kg and measurements,
according to our trusty ruler, of 344 x 240 x 21 mm.
There’s a reasonable range of ports, with a
combi headset and microphone port, card reader, HDMI, Ethernet and two USB 3.0
ports. We’d have liked more of the latter, and we’re nonplussed by the fact the
one on the left of the chassis sits under an unnecessary hinged cover. The
cover also hides the HDMI port, and there’s a separate small cover for the
Ethernet connector. Not only are the covers fiddly and awkward in themselves,
they also mean the connectors are really recessed. We cursed the covers every
time we used them and can’t see why Dell has bothered. Dell might be confused
too - the USB slot on the right edge is not covered.
Customise is king
Like many Dell notebooks you can customise
the specs, and in this case that means you can opt for Core i3, i5 or i7
processors, with our review sample sporting a Core i5-3317U 1.7GHz with
integrated Intel HD Graphic 4000. You can also opt for discrete graphics.
Performance levels were fine for everyday
computing, though those wishing to push their equipment hard might like to note
that we got average ratings for both our Cinebench and 3DMark benchmarks.
Battery life isn’t great either with Battery Eater clocking just 172 minutes.
And a word of caution to those who fear battery failures - the Inspiron 14z
retains the Ultrabook staple of having a battery you can’t get at.
The
covered ports are irritating, the battery life isn’t great, but the keyboard is
worst aspect - probably not our group test winner
There’s enough metal in the chassis to
ensure solidity, and the rounded edges are easy on the eye. Cleverly, the light
coloured rim round the lid section repeats itself inside. The screen bezel is
on the thick side and somehow makes the screen look less than its 14 inches.
The glossy, very reflective display has reasonable viewing angles, but DVD
video looked washed out.
Now we come to the most disappointing
feature of the Dell Inspiron 14z - its keyboard. The chiclet design is fine:
keys are large and well-spaced. The truncated cursor keys are irritating but
far from unusual. The tall but narrow Enter key was very easy to miss when
typing at speed. But that’s not the worst of it. There’s a lot of flex in the
keyboard and all but the lightest of typists are likely to encounter it. Not
only is it disconcerting, it might indicate build quality issues.
That keyboard annoyance coupled with the
oddly covered ports are very irritating features on what is, after all, a
lowish cost Ultrabook which, while being a bit oversized, sports an optical
drive. It’s a case of the pluses and minuses evening themselves out to the
average, we’re afraid.
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Info
Price: $944
Website: www.dell.com
What’s it best for
Web, mail & photos
HD, movies & TV
Light & portable
Key features
Supplier: www.dell.com
OS Windows 7 Home
Premium
Processor Intel
Core Í5-3317U 1.7GHz
Memory 6GB
Storage 500GB
Screen size 14-inch
Screen resolution 1,366 x 768
Graphics Intel HD
Graphics 4000
Weight 1.9kg
Verdict
Value: 3/5
Features: 3/5
Performance: 3/5
Total: 3/5
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