InspironM101z
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Dell Inspiron M101z review
We've been having a hard time figuring out what to call the recent influx of 11.6-inch laptops -- you know, the ones which are slightly larger and more expensive than netbooks, yet pack more than double the graphics and performance power. But regardless of what we call them – we're thinking notbooks -- the new category certainly has been building steam by the day, and we can't help but think Dell's new Inspiron M101z could be our favorite yet. Yes, unfortunately, our review unit was adorned in that bright pink color above that's most likely causing your eyes to tear, but don't let its sissy exterior fool you -- it's powered by AMD's new dual-core Athlon Neo II processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive. Yep, she's a heartbreaker on paper, but hit the break to find out if the $579 M101z is in fact a worthy companion. %Gallery-98872%
Dell Inspiron M101z tosses AMD Neo chips into a new 11-inch chassis
Dell's taking the slightly revamped "forward hinge" design language it introduced with the Inspiron R line and bringing it down to 11.6-inches with the new Inspiron M101z. The laptop is a followup to the Inspiron 11z, and packs your choice of AMD Athlon Neo K125 (single core) or K325 chips (dual core). AMD, which might still be a bit of a sore subject for Dell, really seems to have carved out a niche for itself in the 11.6-inch size, with its blend of more-than-Atom power, cheaper-than-Intel price, and decent-but-not-ULV power sipping; Dell claims a bit over 6.5 hours of battery life with the standard 6-cell battery. The AMD chips bring along integrated ATI RS880M graphics, and the laptops pack 2GB of RAM and 250GB HDDs standard. What we don't have yet is the US price: the laptop starts at £379 for a single core model in the UK, which should translate to something around $400-$450 US -- Dell has to beat out HP's $449, similarly specced Pavilion dm1, after all.
