Laptop Thoughts: Engadget and Laptop Magazine Review the Dell Inspiron M101z

Laptop: "And the award for most improved ultraportable goes to...Seriously, Dell has done a really nice job revamping the 11-inch member of its Inspiron family, banishing the lackluster touchpad with integrated buttons and slightly cramped keyboard in favor of a design that's much easier to use. And the Inspiron M101z (starting at $449; $579 as configured) is easier on the eyes, too, featuring bold color options and a sleek forward hinge design. When you add in powerful speakers and a dual-core AMD processor with ATI graphics, this 3.4-pound machine runs circles around your typical netbook. But is it the best value in its class?"

Enadget: "...we can't help but think Dell's new Inspiron M101z could be our favorite yet. Yes, unfortunately, our review unit was adorned in that bright pink color above that's most likely causing your eyes to tear, but don't let its sissy exterior fool you -- it's powered by AMD's new dual-core Athlon Neo II processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive. Yep, she's a heartbreaker on paper, but hit the break to find out if the $579 M101z is in fact a worthy companion."

Verdict? Engadget gave it a 7/10, and liked it because of the build quality, great keyboard, fast performance, and solid graphics performance. They knocked it for the thicker-than-normal size, and weak battery life (3 hours 35 minutes in their video run-down test). The results from Laptop Magazine were about the same; the less-punishing Web surfing test had the M101z lasting 4 hours 54 minutes, but the category average is 5 hours 33 minutes. Still, it offers decent bang for the buck and is worth considering.