Dell Inspiron 14z

With a new slim design, the Dell Inspiron 14z impresses by including an Intel Core i5 CPU and discrete AMD graphics, all for a very reasonable price.The 2011 version of the 14z (which looks very different from this one) was also a great-looking, slim, fairly priced laptop. It's almost enough to make you forget about Dell's higher-end XPS laptops. I wish the keyboard felt a little tighter, and a higher-res screen wouldn't hurt, either. Still, if finding the right price/performance/design balance is important to you, it wouldn't hurt to take the Inspiron 14z for a test drive.
Design and features
The Dell Inspiron 14z shows that Dell's mainstream Inspiron line has come a long way in the past few years. No longer are these big plastic boxes, too bulky to carry around more than occasionally, with mainstream, but limited, component options.
Instead, this new 14z (the "z" indicates a thinner design than some other Inspiron models) looks like the kind of laptop you wouldn't be embarrassed to pull out in your favorite hipster coffee shop, even if everyone else there has a MacBook.

The new designs are thin and modern, with two-tone lids -- most in either gunmetal-gray brushed metal (like our review unit) or red contrasted against a lighter border. The brushed-metal look extends to the system interior, with a sunken black keyboard tray and black keys. There's a bit of a back-and-forth feel, with your fingers touching metal one moment and plastic the next, and the construction looks just a bit sturdier than it feels in the hand. dell inspiron 14z