Inspiron M301z: Dell's first laptop to take on AMD's new dual-core Neo
By Thomas Ricker 
posted May 17th 2010 1:53AM
posted May 17th 2010 1:53AM
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posted May 17th 2010 1:53AM
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Am I missing something or is this a MASSIVE yawn at 1 grand? What does this have over, say, an Asus UL30VT?
@azureblayze Better graphics but def not worth an extra 300dollars
@smitty5569 - actually, the Mobility Radeon 4225 is quite a bit worse than the GeForce G210M in the UL30vt, and on top of that, the Asus has switchable graphics as well, so you get much better battery life.
It really looked like a nice laptop at first glance, but $999 is a joke. Try $599 or $699 max and it would be worthwile...
@smitty5569 is ati really better than the nvidia offer in the ul series? I have UL50 with the 210m. I'm sure the 330 in the updated series are better. I've hit 10hrs of straigth usage too. Could have been more but it's over clocked. To 1.783.
@NewL
No matter the price, suckers gonna keep on suckin'...
@azureblayze As someone mentioned below, the price is in singapore dollars, and comes out to about $710 USD, which is a little better, but still fairly pricey for something of this spec.
@smitty5569 - $999 is the price in Singapore. $715 is the US price.
@NewL $999 in Singapore about $700 US, but prices doesn't always translate like that as you know. Though I would say chances are it will be a lot closer to $700 than to $1000
@azureblayze
Learn to read buddy. $715 in USA and its MSRP. Dell never sell anything at msrp. It will be closer to $600 probably.
Looks pretty nice, but depending on how that Neo performs it seems pretty expensive.
@TehSilentWolf
I also think that this is very expensive. I would go for an Intel i3 with these money.
@iBurger - you can probably get an i5 for that money...easily.
@TehSilentWolf
hp tm2>>>this at that price.
Uhh... A thousand dollars for a dual core 1.3ghz laptop with a 5 hour battery life...? There's something wrong with this picture.
@CJisohsocool Yes there is something wrong with the picture. The quoted price is in Singapore dollars. Something which is not made clear in the posting.
@CJisohsocool its $100 Singapore dollars change it to usd itl be a lot cheaper
Hmmm hunting down the netbook scene I guess. I'm still waiting for a m11x update with the amd stuff
At $1000 4GB of ram should be the minimum with 5 or 6GB's being optional
Seems like a bad deal when you consider the HP Envy 14 comes with an (admittedly lowest specced) i5 and switchable graphics between intel gma and radeon mobility 5650
Sure it's going to be a little bigger and a little heavier, but I think the spec bump is insane for the size bump at the same price.
I think they meant 1000 SGD which is nearly 710USD. :)
@sabby
Thank you...
Hmm maybe I'm missing something here, but I bought an Acer laptop with a 2.2ghz dual core processed and nvidia 240m and it gets 5 hour battery life, and it only cost $659
@dustinface oh, and it also has 4gb ddr3 ram and a 320gb hdd as well. This seems rather underwhelming.
@dustinface Yes the article is missing something. The price quoted is in Singapore dollars.
I just want to say that I'm leaning about as far away as possible. Both Dell and AMD scare me...
Sloppy reporting by Engadget here. The quoted price of $999 is Singapore dollars, and NOT American dollars. The price is 716.113 USD to be exact.
@mukatuna
that would make sense, and be a lot more reasonable..
@futurerheza
...Srsly.
Why would I buy this if I can get, say, a Macbook or HP Envy 14 for the same price? Both run circles around this one, it seems ... *shrug*
ah well, just saw the comment on the currency faux-pas - but still, not very impressive
"I AM THE ONE!!!"..... at failing
How's the performance of the AMD Neo processors? I have the impression that they are better than Atom (really, anything is better than atom), but poor compared to Core 2s.
It actually compares well to the Dell 13z (This is Dell's CULV that AMD is trying to compete with.)
AMD is about 25% cheaper, with better graphics but worse CPU (Core2Due probably out performs the Athlon II Neo, even at 1.5 GHz.)
Intel will probably give more battery life, however not so great when you compare using the Dell website tool. AMD however has a better LCD in this comparison.
That's all well and good, but Intel released these late last year and will come out with Core i3 ULV CPUs that will be very competitive to AMD (With the same old Intel integrated BS)
I'm waiting for a similar setup in a nettop. This will be a much better alternative to the disappointing Intel/nVidia ion2 nettops. The Radeon should be perfect for this, with an excellent HDMI interface and filters.
the most reliable
@cherryboom hows that $2000+ pricetag doing on your ass? My ASUS UL50 gets better battery life with a better gpu. For $800 with a zune.
I thought the idea behind going amd was to lower prices, if manufacturers are doing this just to increase margins then amd is gonna be seriously screwed
Finally getting over my Mac habit, bought a Acer Core i5, 4 GB of Ram, 500 GB HD and LED Screen for $599 from Amazon. This laptop is a joke, especially at that price. And every non business Dell computer I've ever owned has broken within 4 months of ownership I have no faith in Dell.
I do hope everyone realizes that foreign prices can NEVER be directly converted to US prices.... $999 Singapore may be ~$710 US, but I can guarantee you the price will be less than that here.
Dell and AMD? Glad we are combining the worst of the worst here. Kind of the opposite of Apple and Intel AMIRITE?
looks alot like the HP dm3
Dell has a LOT of laptops only available in Singapore and not the US. Kinda funny, considering that the USA is Dell's home turf...
- M301z (this article's device)
- Inspiron 13z - Lightweight Intel CULV with Nvidia discreet option
- Inspiron 13R, 14R, 15R - Inspiron series with i3/i5 options
Why can't Americans buy these yet? The 13z (1370) is available in other regions like UK, Australia, etc but not the US (or Canada). We (Americans and Canadians) have also missed out on the Inspiron 1320. We're still stuck with the two-version-old and bulky Inspiron 13. What's the deal??
@Elranzer: These lappies sold in Singapore have a major problem - they CANNOT be customised in terms of hardware except for warranty service, antivirus licence and other accessories. Main customisations are off-limits even to Singapore buyers. This also applies to the Inspirion 13R/14R/15R laptops as well.
@Elranzer: Those that can be customised in dell.com.sg usually starts from 1799SGD and above. And where is the update to Dell XPS 16 with ATI Mobility Radeon 5000 Series Graphic Cards?? (Even now they are still offering HD 4670)
first i thought, wow, nice design, but then i saw the battery life, which is just to low for a culv, especially at 700$.
ummm, sounds like an underpowered version of the first unibody 13inch macbooks- with Dell charging an "apple tax" like price from a sleek looking but yawn spec class (4GB ram limit in 2Q 2010- WTF) notebook?
** on the style departure from the ugly as sin wedge shapes, that nice flat bottom and rounded slam metal design echo's strongly to uni-body inspiration for this inspiron... .
@cosmicinglewood and I was aware of the USD price at $710..... snork G