Dell Inspiron 13 Announced

Today Dell released the newest addition to the Inspiron family of PCs: a sub-$700 13-inch laptop. The new Dell Inspiron 13 arrives just in time for back-to-school shoppers and will be available starting next week at Wal-Mart.

With a starting weight of less than 5 pounds, the Inspiron 13 combines "a simple and clean design encased in glossy Pacific blue with black trim." Key features include a 13-inch LCD, touch-sensitive media buttons, 8-in-1 media card reader and slot-loading DVD drive. Optional features include built-in broadband wireless networking, built-in webcam and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity.

A special $699 configuration of the Inspiron 13 will be available at Wal-Mart in the U.S. starting August 3rd. Fully configurable systems will be available worldwide on the Dell website later in the month.

The big news here is that Dell is expanding the Inspiron notebook line to include smaller notebooks. The previous Inspiron releases in the US have focused on 14-inch, 15-inch, and 17-inch notebooks and this is a more travel-friendly solution for students and casual consumers.

 

Wow. That's a nice looking notebook, looks like they included a hinge similar to the M1330/Studio lines..
Great price point for it as well.

 

I got some hands on with a prototype Inspiron 13 back in May. It's light for sure, but the build quality was lacking with a lot of plastic for the casing. All the same, great form factor and great price along with apealing design (plain but sleek and clean), just won't be able to take a real beating -- which is kind of what students do to their notebooks.

Interesting to see Wally Mart will get this first.

 

it looks identical to XPS M1330 except it's made out of plastic.. glad they went with glossy finish with no silver trimming.

 

I cant wait till I see someone walking out of walmart with a case of beer under one arm and a laptop under the other. In my numerous trips to that store I have NEVER seen anyone looking at the desktops or notebooks.

 

Any clue as to what the weight is? Under 5 lbs doesn't seem very promising so far, it suggests 4.5 and above to me.

 

Looks like all the design elements that were introduced in Dell's XPS series are not officially being carried over to all their lines.

For the price, it looks excellent - I'm sure the quality, as Andrew mentioned -- isn't as good as their XPS series laptops. Still, Dell looks to have hit a home-run with this laptop introduction.

Not a MacBook Killer or anything like that - but I can tell you as a 13.3" user; it's a great balance of usability and portability. I can barely feel my laptop on my back - and I have the 9-cell!

 

Edit: Ok, i'm an idiot. Wifi is not the same as broadband.

If anyone read my embarrassing comment, please disregard

Thanks, Chris!

 

Yeah looks identical to the M1330 to me. Damn.

 

damn, I just bought a Studio 15!!
I wanted something thin and light... I'll have to start saving money!

 

I was surprised when I saw Dell on the news headlines, was thinking finally the dell Montevina laptop...

But well, anyway good to see Dell expanding their line of products.

 

^your studio is much better

 

I'm pretty sure you're still within your return date.

 

vostro 1310 much?

 

A weight of 5lbs is not very light for a 13.3" notebook and should indicate a good thickness of plastic in the construction. Maybe it has put on weight since the prototype?

John

 

Any idea's what the resolution will be. I really hope is 1440 x 900 as i will then get this over the XPS m1330.

 

this could be promising

 

Man...Dell is obfuscating their lines! Too many options...Inspiron, Studio, XPS...

I get the idea with business Latitude's and Precision's...but three consumer series...

 

too much is never bad....

look at nokia.. e series n series.. xpressmusic series...

a while back people were saying dell doesn't have many computers to choose from!!!

 

I realize you're a Mac user and all, but "optional built-in wireless broadband" is not "optional WiFi." Thanks.

 

Wait, Inspiron uses 4-digit names, you sure this isn't Studio 13?

 

No. This is the Inspiron 13. The original product name was going to be "Inspiron 1318" but Dell changed the product name at the last minute. They might be switching to this new two-digit naming convention going forward.

 

hm.... i want to see the diff bw this and the m1330..... but i still think i love my m1330 enough($1268+tax for good spec), dont think that the inspiron 13 can match price with specs, unless ur looking for a cheap 13" laptop

the kicker is that the m1330 has been offered about $100 cheaper than last month..... who'll win? M1330 or I-13?

 

Yes ... broadband wireless is a reference to a WWAN option available through one or more mobile phone service providers. In other words, WiFi is STANDARD but you have the option of built-in broadband (WWAN) access so that you can connect to the internet anywhere you have cell phone service.

 

Interesting... Without the last 2 digits, I would like to see how they'll manage when they refresh the I13 line then.

 

Nice! Look's promising

 

So is the screen really a 13.3" 16:10 or is it the newer 13" 16:9 that's in the new VAIOs?

 

Dell inspiron II 13.

 

Anyone know if the black palmrest and trim will swap onto an M1330?

 

since when "build quality is lacking" relates to laptop with plastic shell? Especially at that price... As far as I know most laptops are still made with mostly plastic.

 

Is this Monteniva?

 

My M1330 is still in production. I wonder if I should cancel it and get this. Save me $500.

 

I've pretty much decided on M1330, and not going to change my mind for I13.
1. It may get delayed (and it's bad enough with 1330s).
2. I'm suspecting they'll leave out all the good options, like LED backlight.
3. Most important thing is, I don't believe they'll make it feel like a solid machine, made out of quality plastic. I hated Vostro 1310, and I13 seems to be same, now with XPS styling.
4. 700$ for base model, when basic M1330 costs 900$. For me that's not enough, considering adding a decent HD, second baterry, midrange CPU and some RAM would make them more expensive by about the same amount.

 

Does it have HDMI, Firewire, eSATA ports?

 

The optional components include "broadband wireless access". I think this is 3G wireless (one that requires a monthly cellular plan) rather than wifi. Engadget made the same mistake too.

 

Hummmmmmmm...

it definetely looks cheap, between this laptop and the thosiba U450 I have to say Dell will have a rough time selling this, even at that price tag...

That said, I would buy the Toshiba over this Dell in a hearthbeat.

I'd also like to see the Toshiba featuring the Puma platform, that would slash the price making it more atractive for people like me, thats always on a budget lol!

 

I just found another canidate for my next notebook.

 

Looks great... I would love a 15 inch looking like this...

 

wow...

nice leon
but for me 15" is so big hehe...

 

Ohhhhh, OK. That makes a lot more sense. The first thing I thought reading this review was, "Wait, no WiFi???" - broadband wireless access sure sounds like it refers to WiFi since that's kind of what you do with WiFi. There go those way-too-similar technical terms again!

 

It is up for order at Walmart now. At $699.99, you get Pentium Dual-Core T2390, 2MP webcam, 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, gigabit ethernet, DVD+/-RW drive, 2 USB, 1 Firewire, VGA port. NO modem, HDMI, eSATA though. No mention of bluetooth.

For this is specs, the price is OK, but not great. I think if it is $599.99, it will be better. I don't think there will be much to config at Dell website later this month, other than Core 2 Duo processor and bluetooth.

 

About time.
If you want to pay for the option, fine, but stop making a modem standard!

 

^^ Fixed my original message.

Thanks for correcting me...fixed.

Yup, makes perfect sense.

"Dell has never failed to provide compelling reasons -- particularly pricetags -- for students and / or their cash-strapped parents to pick up a Dell desktop or laptop on the way back to school. This year seems no exception, with Dell adding some special Inspiron configurations to its already beefy budget lineups. The Inspiron 13 laptop (pictured) is pretty much laptop 101, with a 13-inch screen, 8-in-1 media card reader and slot-loading DVD drive in the base model -- you'll have to fork over extra for WiFi, a webcam or Bluetooth."

Straight from engadget ^^

Engadget fed me false information, and then I spread it to the rest of NBR...

So yeah, that's why I originally posted "no wifi?!?! wtf?!?!" - and yes, that would be worse than Apple shipping a combo drive (CD burner) on their baseline macbook!

 

no hdmi out? guess there won't be a video card option other then onboard either.