Dell Inspiron 13z

The Dell Inspiron 13z is a stylish looking ultraportable , with a clear identity design and reasonable price . Although not quite an ultrabook thanks to some Intel specification check box list -it's a tad too thick , and it lacks flash cache needed for quick time - the boot is still a decent portable sing . We just wish that Dell would not bog down an otherwise stylish design with no need port cover and unwanted software .

Design
Inspiron 13z features a color scheme of two - tone , with a dark gray lid and palmrest surrounded by a group of silvery - white aluminum . Built on the palmrest , and shares the same brushed metal surface , a multitouch trackpad with separate right and left mouse buttons . In our hands - on testing of the trackpad is smooth and responsive , and worked out a finger hovering over or perform actions such as two finger scrolling or pinch - zooming . The full - size keyboard features chiclet - style keys with rounded corners , and besides arrow - button shrunken down to half- size , the keyboard has a standard layout .

The Inspiron 13z has a display resolution of 13.3 - inch 1366 -by - 768 , which is the common resolution at this size , and offer a sufficiently high resolution to enjoy videos in 720p or tile windows side by side for multitasking . While the display is not necessarily amazing, the included speaker is pretty good , with speakers from Skullcandy , and software enhancements to WaveMaxx 4.0 . Not match the HP Envy 4 - 1043cl , with its Beats Audio , but it was still satisfying .

While not an ultrabook , it is lacking the fast flash memory cache needed to meet the specifications - the size of the attractive similar to the Lenovo IdeaPad U310 , measuring 0.82 by 7.13 by 9.05 inches ( HWD ) and weighs 3.81 pounds , as contrasted with Intel 's 3.75 - pound weight of Lenovo .

The Inspiron 13z has a USB 3.0 port with PowerShare , two USB 2.0 ports , an Ethernet port , and HDMI output , a combination headphone and microphone jack , and a built - in card reader ( SD , MMC , MS / Pro ) . Dell kept all of the ports on the back of the plastic port cover , which can be a pain to open and often get in the way when trying to plug in peripherals . While we can appreciate the functional protective port covers Dell rugged laptops , they are far from usable in Inspiron 13z , and may be more trouble than they are worth if you regularly plug in peripherals or headphones . No optical drive , so you may want to pick up an external optical drive if you want to enjoy DVD or burn the files to disk . The Dell Inspiron 13z is also outfitted with Wi - Fi 802.11n , Bluetooth 4.0 , and a 500GB 5400 rpm hard drive .

Dell includes a lot of software on the Inspiron 13z , some may want to just remove , such as desktop link to eBay , preinstalled programs like Bing Toolbar , Blio and Zinio reader , and a selection of games from WildTangent . You'll also find the Microsoft Office Starter 2010 , a 30 - day trial of McAfee Security Center , Nero and Skype . Dell throws in a number of proprietary offerings, such as Dell 's media programs MusicStage , PhotoStage , VideoStage and StageRemote . Dell Inspiron 13z also cover with a - year warranty .