AMD touting Inspiron M301z [0.95" thin]

Just found this on the Dell Singapore Site



Dell Inspiron M301z

Looking mighty delicious.

I love the new move away from the glossy lids to the brushed aluminum. It looks a lot more classy and also making an external DVD writer standard on all model is pretty cool on Dell's part.

Do you think this is what the new Inspiron refresh will look like? Would love a review for this machine if anyone has seen it. Totally considering AMD as a competitor for my next laptop purchase.

GOOD COMPETITION!!

UPDATE: While linking the image i saw that filename is "inspiron-13z-intel-design1.jpg"
WHOA!!! Loving the new look. When can we expect a full release DELL?

 

I was wrong!

 

A little on the expensive side for that class of notebook but I suppose if it has decent battery life (5-6 hours realistically), and the build quality is up there (which it should be since it's now aluminum), then I think it could be a winner. Definitely beats glossy plastic with corny designs etched into them and integrated graphics for $700.

 

this was discussed in another thread about a month ago, since that's about as long as they have been available in Singapore. No indication that this model will be available in EU/US markets yet. Engadget just posted today that Dell will instead be throwing out an extremely ugly Inspiron refresh (14R, 15R) for the back to school season.

Dell debuts Inspiron R line with glosstastic new looks, Intel Wireless Display -- Engadget

 

Has Dell decided to just fire all of their designers?

Bronsky

 

FUGLY!!!

What do you mean?

I checked out the Dell malaysia website and they have the maxed out version of this laptop selling for RM 2,399 which is about $699. I don't think thats too bad. $700 for a maxed out portable is pretty good IMO. I hope DELL follow HP and make their Intel version $50 more expensive than the AMD version and we get a maxed out Intel version with i7 for $750. Wishful thinking? I know!!!

 

I've noticed that Dell tends to price its stuff in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia cheaper than other places, probably because they face heavy competition from Acer and Asus there. It is probably cheaper to serve those markets as well, since the manufacturing base is much closer to the market geographically than elsewhere.

In general, it is very disappointing that Dell isn't trying to build a true competitor to the Macbook Pro, a real aluminium thin-and-light with a fast processor and great battery life. They came close with the Studio 14z, but that's been discontinued now.

HP, Asus and Acer seem to at least be trying with the Envy, UL30JT and 3920TG. Dell for its part seems to be happy pushing out heavy, but capable machines like the Studio 15 and XPS 16 (Lenovo is also guilty of this). Unfortunately, Dell is still the only PC brand I trust (Sony is too expensive, and aftermarket parts are hard to find), and right now its premium models (Adamo and Latitude Z600) don't offer enough durability or power for the price. I'll probably still end up buying one of them anyway, even though I know I should probably get a Vostro V13.

 

For anyone interested this notebook scores 878 on 3dmark 06.

SM 2.0 score is 278
SM 3.0 score is 353
CPU score is 985

This is the K325 1.5GHz version, 4225 graphics, 4gb ram.

 

Thank you for the information pillowshot. Would it be possible to get an idea about the heat management of the machine? Does it get too hot, is the battery life really as long as the quoted 5 hours?

 

It's my girlfriend's machine so I can't really say too much myself.. I'll be seeing her in about a week-10 days time so I can give my own hands on* then..

She seems to be very happy with it, says it runs windows 7 very snappily. With fast startups and shutdowns.

* hands on of the machine

 

Review for the M301z:
Notebookcheck: Review Dell Inspiron M301z Subnotebook