Dell Inspiron 15z Ultrabook

When I bought my first laptop, Dell was almost synonymous with trustworthy, budget laptops. While it had higher-end devices in the XPS range, Inspiron was what most students, young professionals and even families went for, when it was time to buy their first portable computers. Since then, its competitors have caught up and with choices aplenty, it has been a tough fight out there. Dell, however, has continued pumping up the Inspiron range with full-fledged laptops for home /office use. One of the latest ones to see the light of day is the Dell Inspiron 15z Ultrabook. We had it on our work bench for a week and here’s how it fares.

Supersize me!

When you first set sight on the Inspiron 15z Ultrabook, you know it’s going to be anything but portable. At almost 2.5 kgs it’s definitely more weight than I’m used to lugging in the age of compact tablets and sleeker Ultrabooks. While the first tendency is to blame the weight on the screen size (it has a 15.6-inch screen), the display is actually kept as thin as possible while still incorporating a touch panel in it, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. The base is what lends to most of the overall weight of the machine. It’s a given that the Inspiron 15z Ultrabook was not build to be carried along with you wherever you go. Unless you have shoulders of steel.

Touch and go

Dell has been supremely generous with the touch pad and keyboard on the Inspiron 15z Ultrabook. The chiclet keyboard occupies almost half the surface area on the body. Being used to comparatively cramped smartphone and tablet keyboards, typing on this massive layout felt a bit awkward initially. But, the keys are quite ergonomic and the travel satisfactory, so I could really get used to the dimensions.

There are three dedicated keys right on top of the keyboard on the Inspiron 15z Ultrabook for quick access to various functions. The first launches Windows Mobility Centre from where you can tweak a bunch of settings such as battery status, volume, wireless connectivity and touchpad options.

The laptop features Waves MaxxAudio 4 technology which gets its own dedicated button on the laptop. You have a one-touch equaliser button that lets you swap between audio presets such as Movie, Voice (for chats and video-conferences) and Gaming.

The third is a customisable button by default tagged as ‘Dell Instant Launch’. You can assign one of the various functions, which range from refreshing your Web browser, launching a specific program or turning off your display.

Multimedia

The company includes an optical drive in the Inspiron 15z, as it does in most of its other high-end laptops too. Although most content has now gone digital, there’s no harm in including a physical drive. Plus, Dell gives you the option to customise it while you place an order and upgrade it to a Blu-ray Disc drive.

There’s a bit of reflection while watching media on the screen because it’s a glossy one. Apart from that, there were no complaints as far as videos are concerned. While competitors such as ASUS and HP have partnered with Bang & Olufsen and Beats by Dr. Dre respectively to offer quality acoustics, Dell works in conjuction with Skullcandy. The Inspiron 15z has Skullcandy speaker grills located on the base of the laptop, but fortunately it’s set on an upwards slope, so the sound doesn’t get muffled when the laptop sits on a bed or a table. While this delivers a much better (and louder) audio experience than what Dell managed to pack in on its own earlier, the sound quality is not the best we’ve comes across on a laptop.

Connectivity & Performance

The massive form factor of the Dell Inspiron 15z Ultrabook allows it to pack in a bunch of ports and connectors along the bezel. So, you have four USB ports, on either side of the base. You have a mini-HDMI port, which is the only option if you want to hook it up with your TV or a bigger monitor. There’s an Ethernet port, the audio jack, a memory card reader and a Kensington lock slot to protect it from theft.

With the brightness tweaked down a lot, a constant Wi-Fi connection and occasional Web activity, the laptop lasts just about 4 hours after a full charge.

The unit we reviewed housed a 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3537U processor and comes with 8 GB of RAM. We ran the usual NovaBench tests on the Dell Inspiron 15z Ultrabook and it scored an average of 741 points. This was higher than the likes of Sony Duo 11, a Windows hybrid as well as Asus Taichi 31 with similar specs but lesser RAM.

Verdict

The Dell Inspiron 15z Ultrabook is quintessentially Dell. It delivers what it promises with its multimedia viewing experience, ergonomics and packs in great specs. However, if you’re in the market looking for something you can carry with you everyday, this is certainly not the device to be eyeing. If you’re looking at a comparatively portable home PC or personal workstation, then the Inspiron 15z Ultrabook finds a fit.

Rs 74,990 onwards

Love – Ergonomic, backlit keyboard, lots of screen space

Hate – Quite bulky, comparatively average audio quality and poor battery life

mahananda.bohidar@thehindu.co.in

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