Is the 11.6-inch Dell Inspiron 11z laptop worth it for $349.99?
Posted on 07. Dec, 2011 by LaptopMan in Deals, Laptops, Laptops
The 11.6" Dell Inspiron 11z has simple yet compact design. Image: Dell
$349.99 can buy you a lot of different things, but in the laptop market it can normally only get you a netbook or a really low-end laptop. Today the Dell Inspiron 11z ultraportable laptop is available today through the 15th of this month for only $350 if you use a special coupon code on Dell.com (coupon code: W5Z2Q56B2ZTTTD). Is the $350 price tag a steal for the Dell Inspiron 11z laptop?
Dell originally released the Inspiron 11z that’s available for purchase today in 2010, so the notebook you can get today is a bit old and outdated compared to today’s available ultraportable laptops. With the Inspiron 11z you’ll find a low-voltage Intel Core i3-330UM dual-core processor, Intel GMA graphics, a 11.6″ WLED display (1366×768), 2GB of DDR3 RAM, a 250GB HDD, no optical drive, a 1.3MP webcam, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for wireless communications, WiMAX mobile broadband support is built-in, LAN 10/100 with an Ethernet RJ-45 jack built-in, HDMI output, three USB 2.0 ports, a 6-cell battery, and Windows 7 Home Premium.
For $349.99 the Dell Inspiron 11z laptop seems to be comparably equipped, right? As you consider buying a laptop things go deeper than just technical specifications, some notebooks that have really great tech specs. aren’t really good computers. In the case of the Dell Inspiron 11z it’s got some pretty big faults that the specifications do a good job of concealing.
According to just about all owners of the Inspiron 11z the notebook has a rubbish touchpad/trackpad, the touchpad/trackpad is what you’ll be using to control the cursor for the laptop if you don’t use an external mouse (most 11z owners recommend using an external mouse if you can’t stand the laptops multi-touch pad).
Some other owners of the Inspiron 11z complain about the difficulty for upgrading the RAM in the laptop, you have no easy access door on the bottom of the 11z you must take out a lot of screws and dislodge the keyboard from the bottom half of the laptop to gain access to the memory slots. This issue is troubling because with just 2GB of RAM included out-of-box Dell is pretty forcing you to upgrade your RAM if you want to have the smoothest multi-tasking experience. From personal experience not having enough RAM in a Windows 7 PC will result in disruptive warnings from the OS, frequent hang time/stalling for programs; just a very poor computing experience all around and 2GB isn’t going to cut it if you run more than a few programs at once (a browser with a lot of open/active tabs will hurt fyi).
A few other complains include a lack of light indicators for when caps lock/ num lock/ scroll lock etc. are enabled on the keyboard, no VGA port (you’ll need an adapter for HDMI-to-VGA), and no optical drive (you’ll need an external USB powered drive).
However as a computer most had no major performance issues with the Dell Inspiron 11z (most owner reviews are given in comparison to netbook performance). So, with all of the cons considered and the fact that as a computer it’s not bad is the Dell Inspiron 11z worth $349.99 to you?
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