Quantcast
Channel: Techie Buzz » Laptops
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 9

Dell Inspiron 15z Ultrabook Review

0
0

Dell inspiron 15z is the latest touch based notebook in the Inspiron series. The new Ultrabook comes with good specifications at a very reasonable price. The laptop has a large 15 inch touchscreen which makes it user friendly while working on the Windows 8 operating system. Being an ultrabook with touchscreen it supports all the basic features of a regular notebook. The notebook though weighs 2.17kgs which is almost double the weight of the normal 13 inch Ultrabooks available.

Compared to other Inspiron notebooks, Inspiron 15z looks quite hefty. However with a 15 inch large touchscreen and with connectivity ports available like 4 USB 3.0 ports, a full HDMI slot, ethernet, card reader, a secure lock slot and jack for a headset, it is made quite compact. Inspiron 15z also comes with an optical read write drive which is not available in other ultrabooks in the market.

Specification

Processor Intel® Core™ i7
OS Windows8 64-bit
Memory 8GB 2 DIMM (4GB x 2) DDR3 1600MHz
Hard Drive 500GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD, 32 mSATA SDD
Display 15.6 inch LED Display with touch,
HD(1366 x 768)
Graphic Card Nvidia GeForce GT630M 2GB
Optical Device Tray load DVD Drive (Reads and Writes DVD)
Sound Card Stereo Speakers with Waves MaxxAudio® 4.0
Battery 6-Cell 44 WHr Battery (built-in)
Keyboard Dell™ Chiclet Backlit Keyboard with Multi-touch Touchpad (English)
Adaptor 65W AC Adapter
Card Reader 8-in-1 Memory Card Reader: SD, SDXC, SDHC, MS, MS-Pro, MSXC, MMC, MMC+
Web Cam Integrated 1.0mp widescreen HD (1280 x 720)
Bluetooth Bluetooth v4.0
Controller Card Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230, 802.11b/g/n + Bluetooth v4.0
Speakers Skull Candy speakers integrated
Slots/Ports HDMI 1.4,USB 3.0 x 3,USB 3.0  PowerShare x 1,RJ45 x 1,Microphone/Headphone Jack x 1,Kinsington Lock

Looks, Build Quality, Connectivity Slots

Dell inspiron 15z comes with a matt silver aluminium lid and light grey plastic border and similar to the other notebooks in the Inspiron series. On opening the lid the display screen is cornered with a glossy glass border. The frame with plastic borders definitely cuts down the cost but does not look of great build quality.

The ultrabook comes with a backlit keyboard. If you do not want to use the backlit keys you can manually turn it of using Fn + F6 key. The keyboard is spill resistant and comfortable enough to type on even for a longer duration. The backlit keyboard is helpful while you are sitting in a room with dull lighting.

There is also a large touch pad which is pretty smooth to use and comes with a couple of mouse button on it. Further below, the base has rubber support which give a better grip to the laptop.

The ultrabook looks a little huge (dimensions 15 x 9.8 x 0.9 inch) and is not that stylish. However, it is very simple and mainly for those who want to buy a simple looking low cost model with high specications and touch technology. It also has an integrated 1MP webcam and a microphone adjacent to it for video conferencing.

Connectivity slots provided are HDMI 1.4, three USB 3.0,one USB 3.0 which provides transfer of data at faster speed, common jack for Microphone/Headphone, a secure lock, a card read and also a CD/DVD optical drive.

Display, Touchscreen

15z ultrabook display border is made of a scratch resistant gorilla glass, thus giving it a little glossy effect. The 15.6 inch LED display touch with high definition resolution (HD 1366 x 768) is not good enough for a 15 incher screens. The resolution should have been a minimum of 1400 x 800 to suit the larger screen.

There is no multi touch support with this system. It comes with normal touch, however, touch based laptops is soon going to a basic feature with the Windows 8 operating system. It is very easy to swipe and switch between docs or interfaces. The touch feature also makes browsing menus, interaction with Windows 8 tiles and the Charms menu faster and easier to access.

The Windows 8 UI is created in such a way that the touchscreen becomes addictive and the lack of it makes it harder to navigate. The downside is that the screen might get dirty quickly with fingerprint marks.

Performance

The performance is of the Inspiron 15z Ultrabook is good. It takes about 16sec to boot with SSD caching. The skully speakers located at the base just at the chassis are quite large and outputs a good sound quality. The web cam with 1MP outputs a good quality image and adjusts with the surrounding lighting to offer a clear image.

The Inspiron 15z is not a gaming notebook but comes with Nvidia GeForce GT630M 2GB graphics card. It consumes less power and does not overheat. However, it is not convineint to use this for hardcore gaming.

The battery used is 44Whr which is a little disappointing because it only lasts for 3 hours which is not that feasible for an Ultrabook.

Conclusion

Overall it’s a budget ultrabook with all the latest specifications. There is no limitation on the basic features and ports provided in the regular notebooks. The screen is pretty huge and comfortable to work on with the touch feature. It also supports DVD/CD optical drive which is usually not found in many of the ultrabooks. It also comes with skully speakers which are good enough for the laptops.

The best thing is with the 3rd generation intel core i7 processor and memory of 8 GB, 500GB HDD, a pretty good 15 inch touchscreen with Windows 8, Dell Inspiron 15z costs only Rs. 74,990 which is quite reasonable compared to other same spec ultrabook available in the market.

The bad is its very heavy to carry and looks hefty. The display resolution could be much better. Poor battery life might also limit the amount of time you can use the device without using the AC adapter.


Dell Inspiron 15z Ultrabook Review originally appeared on Techie Buzz written by Shraddha Dsouza on Saturday 27th April 2013 01:48:25 PM under Reviews. Please read the Terms of Use for fair usage guidance.

The post Dell Inspiron 15z Ultrabook Review appeared first on Techie Buzz.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 9

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images