Dell Inspiron 11z Review Discussion

I'm enjoying mine with a few provisos:

The clicking problem on the track pad is a pain. I am adjusting (moving to using tap to click instead) but it doesn't bother me greatly.

The blue light on the cable is visually distracting.
Also the big charger is a pain.

not having draft n is unfortunate from a configuration setup but has no real impact on my usage.

I got the one from carphone warehouse in the UK for £399. I really wanted the Asus 1810/1410 but it just doesn't seem to be anywhere yet in the UK and I need the laptop now.

Likes:
The keyboard, size, travel, arrow keys all make life easier.

The screen, the extra pixels make all the difference over the standard netbook fare, really night and day for me. The bright backlight has been fine out of the sun.

It *feels* snappy compared to every atom I've tried. Your benchmarks simply aren't tallying with my experiences. I'm not entirely sure why (perhaps much of the benchmarking tasks aren't affected by either the memory bandwidth or the in order execution.

Vista is a mixed bag, obviously it has negative effects on performance compared to XP but it does allow them o include more memory/HDD and grunt out of the box. This will not be such a big deal once win7 comes out but sadly that is a month or so too late for me.

The UK one appears to come with the 6 cell battery (it would appear to last for around 6-7 hours of web browsing over wireless from my limited initial testing.
Essentially it never runs down before I end up putting it away again.
That said I would like to see about getting a 3 cell one if it cuts the size down when travelling.

Chrome runs great on this machine, starting snappily (sub 2 seconds) and the whole boot process is more the hassle of typing in my password (again, after removing all the junk,widgets,startup apps) than any serious delay.

I'm having fun playing portal on it at the mo.

 

oh, I should add that the blue bias is really very pronounced but pretty trivial to remove with the driver applet.

 

The Elan buttonless touchpad performs way better than the Synaptics buttonless touchpad. It was the lesser of two evils for Dell.

 

I thought the touch pad in the Macbook Pro Synaptics. It's the best touch pad I've used.

 

Synaptics has nothing in the Macs. Apple provides all their own touchpads. A while back they bought a company called Fingerworks that does capacitive technology and now Apple develops all touchpads in house.

 

Very nice review. Seems as it's not worth purchasing because of the touch pad.
I have difficulties with my current laptop and I don't want to buy another one with a terrible touchpad.

 

I was (maybe still is) seriously considering this laptop until I was turned off by this article (thanks!) and the price hike (399 -> 449).

Regardless of the (kind of) negative review here, 11z is ranking around 1st-3rd among the most popular laptops in this website. So I guess the touch pad problem is not as bad as the review indicates, or it's a matter of getting used to, or there is a practical solution (like turning off some "advanced functions"). More hands-on opinion of actual users would be highly appreciated!

 

At mamber-m, there is always a solution.
The 11z has the advantage of being as small as a netbook, but as powerful as a CULV, so it is popular.
You can disable multi touch, use a mouse, teak the settings on the ALPS, etc...

 

@Serg
Thanks for reply. Yes, I am interested in this baby since I am tired of small screen + slow chip. I posted because the way Kevin described sounded to me helpless.

Well, I don't want to carry around mouse, so I should either disable the multi touch (then it is usable, I suppose? I never use fancy functions of touch pad) or tweak the setting (which Keven seems to have suggested not working...)

Anyway, thanks again!

 

Price on the 11z is back to $399 if you use this month's E-Value Code: 6F983-DNPCIW1

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?cs=19&kc=6f983&oc=dnpciw1&x=0&y=0

 

I think the review gives a bit of a bad rap. If you take the time to learn the touch pad it's not a bad unit at the$399 price.

We have one in house that we evaluated and it's a decent unit. There is lots of talk about the acer 1410 and we have one of those as well. The acer is better specced but real world doesn't seem any faster than the 11z.

And the screen on the Acer is not even close compared to the 11z. Bulid quality seems a bit higher on the dell too.

They do need to ship the dell with something other than the three cell battery though.

 

Still, it is a shame that the touchpad is not working as good as f.e. an Asus EEE, which can be had for around the same (netbook, I know), but my point is that the price point in no excuse for a rather bad touchpad.

desertlap, how do you find the touchpad works?

 

@ Phinagle (is it Philly + Eagles?), Desertlap Thanks!

I might buy one.

I understand that on the spec sheet 1410 looks much better... It's a bit irrational but I do not trust ACER as much as Dell in terms of building with solid finish/quality. Just due to my previous experiences with the manufacturer (I love Lenovo / Dell by far).

I love this new category as the machine I loved most in the recent years was Dell 700m. Spec-wise, if this new wave of laptops are equipped with an optical drive (I expect somebody would try sometime soon), it's basically going back to a bit thicker and probably a bit cheaper 700m.

 

I'm of two minds about the trackpad. If you are used to some of the better ones out there like the apple pad or some toshibas then it will frustrate you. We have a woman in the office who has a mini 10 which has the same trackpad and she likes it and works very well with it. The key is that she took the time to go through the tutorials. If you do that and use it consitently you get good at it as well.

My thought being that if this was you primary portable you'd get used to it and be fine with it in a few days. I think most of us here who regularly use multiple machines will have the most trouble with it. If I have been using my macbook pro, going back to the trackpad on the 11z drives me nuts.

That all being said, they could put better pad on this, but on the other hand, the quality of the screen and the keyboard and overall fit and feel is quite good.

 

So the trackpad is not that much of a trade off in your opinion?

 

I dont think it's a deal breaker. And the screen is superb. But it's also price dependent. at $399 the unit is a good buy. Above that not so much

 

hmmm interesting to hear.
thanks! but i still stand that there are netbooks with comparable price points and highly superior touchpads...i wonder why Dell went with ALPS instead of Synaptics.

 

From the sound of it, the biggest complaint people have had with it is the touchpad. I don't think that's enough to scare me away, since you're able to disable to functions you don't like.

Does anyone have any clue on when this will be hitting Sweden? It seems it's already out in France and the UK, but I haven't seen any dates for when it'll be launched in the rest of Europe, which is really annoying.

Thanks in advance,

Allen

 

Allen, since you're in Sweden make sure to check the Acer 1810T and 1810Tz.

You get a lot more performance and features for less money. You also get a multi touchpad made by Synaptics, superior to Elan touchpads.

 

Hey Phil - thanks for the reply!

I took a quick look and the cheapest Acer 1810T I could find equated to 6000 SKR, which equals $850. A Dell Mini 10 costs about 4000 SKR and the 11z is supposed to be in the same price range, if only a tad more expensive - but the thing is that I can buy Dell computers via my bonus-dads work, allowing me to take off the valued added tax which amounts to 25%.

So in the end I'd probably be able to get the 11z for somewhere between 3000-3500 SKR; almost half the price of the Acer, which is very alluring for someone currently in college.

The only negative parts that I've heard about the 11z is the touchpad which doesn't sound all that bad to me, and that it isn't quite able to stream HD content on Hulu (we can't watch Hulu here in Sweden just yet, due to license issues). Other than that, it sounds pretty good! I just want a relatively cheap netbook that I can take to school and use when I'm traveling, for multimedia purposes. I'm not overly concerned about it not being able to stream HD-content as regular quality is just fine, and besides, it can still play up HD-material perfectly once it has been downloaded to the harddrive. And the HDMI-port is something I like a lot, especially after having bought a 32" HDTV for my room, considering I can't connect my old laptop to the tv.

Though I'm no expert on computers, but that is what I've gathered by reading many reviews of it. But I do agree that the Acer seems better - I'm just not very willing to pay twice as much for it.

It's a shame I can't seem to find any launching dates for the 11z here in Sweden. I'm beginning to wonder if we'll even get it.

Janne

 

According to engadget they are adding the option to have a dual core su1400 processor starting very soon, maybe tomorrow. That makes this computer alot more attractive imo but I'm still going to hold off buying a culv computer until Win 7 comes out and everyone has them released, should be able to compare and choose the best one for me then.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/30/dell-adds-dual-core-su1400-cpu-other-options-to-inspiron-11z/

 

In the Netherlands Dell started selling the SU4100 option a couple of days ago.

 

I'm thinking about picking up an 11z with the SU4100 dual core.. it's that or the Acer 1810TZ which isn't out just yet. Both with 6 cell battery and same CPU.

The preorder price I saw for the Acer was £450 for 3Gb RAM and 1 year warranty. Possibly ~8 hours battery.

The Dell is £400 with 2Gb RAM / 250Gb HDD, or £500 with 4Gb / 320Gb. Bump the top model to 3 year warranty (same cost as 2-year at the moment) + 802.11n and the cost with VAT is £590. Possibly ~6 hours battery.

£590 aint cheap, but then what's the competition? A 1 year Acer warranty doesn't give me confidence. I want to hold a laptop for at least two years - if not three - before upgrading.

Any suggestions for knocking the dell price down greatly appreciated!

 

You can use quidco to knock the price down by 5% and there is a 5% dell discount code floating around but I think your purchase needs to be over £650

 

A few remarks:
-Dell 11z has only 1 RAM slot as far as I know.
-If you buy after 22nd of october you'll get Windows 7 installed. This saves you the hassle of registering, paying for shipment and installing Windows 7.
-Acer's extended warranty is very cheap. ( link)

 

Cheers, food for thought. People seem to be getting their 1810TZ notebooks but I can't find one for sale in the UK yet.

 

Now full customization is available in the US!

I am planning to buy SU4100 (dual-core) + 2GB RAM + 250GB HD + Win7 after Oct 22nd. Maybe I will throw away $40 for a distinct color as well.

 

Don't forget to check out HP DM1 and Acer 1810TZ.

Dell 11z has only memory bank (meaning no dual channel memory), comes with a standard 24 Whr battery or an optional 48 Whr.

The Acer has two memory banks, dual channel memory and a 63 Whr battery.

 

Just ordered a 11z with su4100 4Gb 320Gb 56 WHr battery (standard in UK) and 3 year warranty. I pray that it does not suck. The 4Gb saves me from having to upgrade the 3Gb that would have come with the Acer. Battery life is nearly double what I got on my old m1330. By the time 6 hours starts to bug me, I'm sure I'll be able to buy a 9 cell beastie on ebay.

(Also ordered a 2408WFP and Logitech mouse for graphics work)

 

Thanks Phil: I never checked DM1. Looks like a close substitute (competitor) of 11z, although i never purchased HP machine yet. Beautiful machine, but worried about potentially sticking out battery, like other HP netbooks. As for the Time line, nothing personal but I don't buy ACER...

I hate the typical large battery which somehow sticks out downwards! They are not practical, and not aesthetic. I would rather buy one (or two) small batteries, if I can find a decent (not >$100 each!) deal.

This market is getting more and more interesting!

 

Another interesting 11.6" option is the Samsung X120, but I don't know about availability in the US.

 

Hey, does anyone know where can I find a good and CHEAP ultraportable in Europe with long battery life and dual core?

 

Count Lenovo in as another 11.6" contender with the U150.

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/15849/1/

 

Dell 11z with SU4100 and Acer 1810TZ are probably the cheapest at the moment.

If you can wait until 22nd October there's more choice.

 

Cheapest as in? And where?

 

If you go to different Dell sites you can find out where in Europe it's being sold. UK and NL for example.

 

I have been thinking about purchasing either 11z (with dual core CPU) or DM1, but there are two bummers. (1) DM1 does not seem available in the US yet. (2) Dell charges +$30 for Win7...

I am waiting for... (1) HP selling DM1 so I can compare, (2) Manufacturers stop charging extra for Win7. I might not buy one at the end...

Does anybody know if a large (6 cells) battery of 11z and DM1 stick out in an ugly manner?

 

cant speak to the HP but on the 11z the 6 cell battery sticks out quite a bit from the bottom the laptop.

On the good side it tilts the whole machine to a good angle for typing on and the battery life with the six cell (almost 7 hours) is very good.

On the bad side it makes a big hump on the bottom of the unit and doesn't fit well in those sleeves.

 

Sure does. Let us know if you find a good sleeve. I'll pick one up if I can be sure of a good fit with the 6-cell.