The Dell Inspiron 11z is Dell’s newest inspiron range of laptop in Malaysia. The Inspiron 11z is designed to offer true mobility with its light weight and extended battery life.
The Dell Inspiron 11z has been launched by Dell Malaysia in the Ultra Portable segment instead of the netbook segment in Malaysia. Maybe this is due to the fact that the Dell Inspiron 11z is using the new ultra low voltage processor from the Celeron stable instead of using the ever popular Intel Atom processor. The Intel Atom processor a commonly use in the netbook segment.
Here are the Dell Inspiron 11z specifications ( base model Dell Inspiron 11z in Malaysia):
Dell Inspiron 11z price in Malaysia at the time of writing: RM1749.00
I noticed that the specifications of the Dell Inspiron 11z in Malaysia differ quite a bit from the specifications of the inspiron 11z oversea cousin. For instance the inspiron 11z model being sold in United States is still using Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium as the Operating System and only equipped with a 1.2GHz Celeron 723 processor.
There is nothing to shout about the Dell Inspiron 11z design. The inspiron 11z Malaysia model design featured a glossy black screen with a black chassis. But Dell being Dell, you will be able to choose from 7 (funky) colour available. The casing is really slim when closed and although the Dell Inspiron 11z weight around 1.3kg, the casing and the chassis of the inspiron 11z felt durable.
The 11.6″ screen on the Inspiron 11z with 1366×768 maximum resolution is a nice change from the norm 1024×600 screen on the netbook segment. Enhanced with Dell Trademark TrueLife, the display on the Dell Inspiron 11z are really good, be it for browsing the web or multimedia usage.
The Dell Inspiron 11z keyboard is a full size layout and as most of Dell’s keyboard, fell comfortable to use. The feedback is great and there is no lag at all. The Dell Inspiron 11z touchpad however is another story. I have use some lagged touchpad in the past, but there are nothing compard the inspiron 11z touchpad. Try drawing a circle with the touchpad in a graphic application, and will get a wide sphere instead. Really frustrating. Nevertheless, this can be resolved by using a mouse, but it will defeat the purpose of being truly mobile, as the Dell Inspiron 11z aim to be.
Dell Inspiron 11z would truly shine in the ultra portable laptop segment if it wasn’t for touchpad. The price is cheap and affordable, and most featured easily exceed other laptop in the netbook segment in Malaysia.
With the built in Maxis Broadband, users in Malaysia can stay connected anytime and can, among other things, browse, blog, chat, do web research, send and check emails without having to rely on WiFi connectivity or external modems.
Afiz Abdullah, Maxis general manager and head of broadband was quoted saying,
“The response to this device has been encouraging and it is very popular with the ladies. It is so small and light, they can put it in their handbags.”
The Maxis Broadband-ready Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is available at all Maxis Centres and selected Maxis dealers at the price of RM99 per month for 24 months under a 0% interest easy payment scheme from participating banks.
The Maxis broadband service will automatically be extended at a promotional rate of RM77 a month after the sixth month.
Maxis have taken a bold move with the introduction of Dell Inspiron Mini 9 with built in Maxis Broadband in Malaysia. Hopefully other broadband provider will follow suit and bring more value to us customers.
The design of the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is kept simple by Dell, with the businesslike image that Dell are famous with. The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 build is similar to the netbook competitor, slightly bigger in dimension than Asus Eee PC and slightly smaller than Acer Aspire One.
Let us look at the specifications of the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 in Malaysia:
Intel Atom N 270 (1.6Ghz)
1024MB DDR2 Ram
8.9″ Glossy LCD Display
8GB SSD storage
802.11b/g Wireless Adapter
Integrated 1.3Megapixel Webcam
Integrated Bluetooth Adapter
Integrated 4 in 1 Media Card Reader
4 Cell Lithium Ion battery
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Price of Dell Inspiron Mini 9 in Malaysia at the time of writing: RM1199.00
The 8.9″ display on the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 maybe quite small to some. But the 1024px X 600px glossy screen are bright and nice to look at. The keyboard on this Dell netbook is smaller than its competitor, thus making it a bit harder to use. It will not be a problem when you get to use to the keyboard layout though.
Dell Mini Inspiron 9 offer the same feature set as it competitor in the market. It has three USB ports, 4 in 1 Media Card Reader which support SD, MS, MS Pro, and MMC, a VGA out, and an ethernet port.
The processing power of the Intel Atom N270 and the equipped 1024MB DDR2 memory in this Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbook is adequate enough for daily general purpose task. Some might find the storage to be a bit small after filled with Windows XP Home Edition installation, but you can always opt for external storage device.
Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is another contender in the ever growing netbook market in Malaysia, and it is a good thing that keep the customer with more choices and reduced prices.
Could you call the new Dell Inspiron Mini 12 as a netbook when it has a 12 inch display, say like the old Dell 700m?
Dell Inspiron Mini 12 Netbook with a 12 inch display
Dell said you can call the new Dell Inspiron Mini 12 a netbook as the Inspiron Mini 12 run on an Intel ATOM processor. If the new Dell Inspiron Mini 12 with a 12 inch display is a netbook, it will be the largest size netbook in the market. The largest netbook before the launch of Dell Mini 12 netbook was equipped with a 10 inch display.
The Dell Inspiron Mini 12 netbook will be available with Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, and the usual Dell utilities software. As with the new Dell Inspiron Mini 9 , the new Dell Inspiron Mini 12 has been a Japan only release for now.
