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The Ultra Battle: 7 Intel CULV Notebooks Fight it Out!

By Aloysius Low - 9 Feb 2010

Dell Inspiron 13z

Dell Inspiron 13z

Dell's Inspiron series has always been tailored for the average consumer, so it's no surprise to find a 13-inch model in the mix, the Dell Inspiron 13z. The unit sports a pretty looking design that's all glossy on the outside, and 'slightly' matte on the inside. By slightly matte, we mean the keyboard, because everything else is still glossy. While the build of the unit feels solid enough, the keyboard didn't live up to our expectations. Our experience with it was rather middling with a lot of flex observed.

Round and glossy is the game and the Dell Inspiron 13z is both.

Located on the front of the Dell Inspiron 13z is the card reader.

The right side plays host to the usual USB 2.0 ports and audio jack, but with the surprising addition of an optical drive.

On the left side are your LAN, HDMI, VGA and one USB port. Pretty simple really.

As mentioned the interior retains some of the glossiness, though the keyboard is spared.

We didn't quite like the keyboard as the flex upon usage was very apparent. Plus we prefer the chiclet style of the other contenders. The trackpad had decent tracking performance, but it lacks multi-touch capabilities.

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