Joining the Dell Inspiron 11z, the new "Z" models have thinner, lighter bodies than the mainstream Inspirons. Both are an inch thin and feature new Intel ULV processors including Core 2 Solo, Core 2 and Core 2 Duo. Those processors also promise longer battery life; Dell says with the available 6-cell battery they will get up to 8.5 hours of juice.The 14z has a 16:9 14-inch display and the 15z a 15.6-inch.

You can configure the models on Dell.com with up to 500 GB 7,200 RPM hard drives, 8GB of RAM and 4 or 6 cell batteries. Unlike the 11z, these new models have optical drives. All run Windows Vista, but should be available with Windows 7 upgrades. I will never get why you would pay an extra $40 to get a Dell in red (or a different color), but the black one starts at $599. [Dell]

Yes, I do believe all cheap consumer electronics should signify their cheapness with tons of color, but you know, nice-looking color. Pay more, get less (color). It makes sense, right?

FASHION MEETS FUNCTION WITH NEW INSPIRON FAMILY, DELL MAKES IT EASY TO CUSTOMIZE LIFESTYLE AND DÉCOR

· People Have Complete Control of Power, Color and Size

· Fresh ID and vibrant colors express personal style and complement any environment

· Custom configurations to meet performance and budget

ROUND ROCK, Texas, March 30, 2009 – Style-minded families, students and teens want to personalize their PCs to meet their performance and lifestyle needs – blogging, chatting, sending photos or running a media center. Highly-stylized products, like Dell's new Inspiron slim and mini-tower desktops, deliver on design and customization, transforming the brand from the "built- for-me" model, into "made-for-me."

Dell's new Inspiron slim and mini-towers expand the design and personalization possibilities for consumers. Available in eight vibrant colors, Dell is the only major consumer desktop manufacturer to offer such extensive personalization options to reflect individuals' personal style or to complement their bedroom or study.

Inspiron slim and mini-tower desktops debut today in China and are available for purchase through Dell.com, distributor Digital China or retailers Suning and Gome. Starting at $299, the systems will be available worldwide later this spring.

The News:

· Dell's new Inspiron desktop lets people express themselves through choices of color (eight options), size (slim or mini-tower) and configuration.

· Vivid color palette to express your personal style: Piano Black, Pure White, True Blue, Formula Red, Tangerine Orange, Spring Green, Plum Purple and Promise Pink.

· Dell becomes the only major consumer desktop manufacturer to offer color options for the entire front of the machine.

· Customizable options to meet individual's budget, lifestyle and usage needs.

· Ideal for common tasks including email, Internet, blogging, entertainment (movies, music and casual gaming) and productivity.

· Features available on the new Inspiron desktops include:

o Intel® Celeron®, Intel Core™ 2 Duo and Intel Core 2 Quad options or AMD Sempron™, Athlon™ X2 and Phenom™ X4 processor options

o Integrated Intel or ATI Radeon™ graphics* on select systems with discrete graphics options available

o Up to 8GB* memory on select systems

o Up to 750GB* storage (slim tower) or up to 1TB* storage (mini-tower)

o Optional 19-in-1 media card reader and optional HDMI connectivity

o 6 USB ports (2 front, 4 back)

o Dual optical options (mini-tower only) including Blu-ray Disc™ drive

o Small form factor with its versatile horizontal or vertical placement is designed to easily fit into your home media center (slim tower only)

[Dell]

The offer is valid until January 31, and in order to receive the $99 pricing, you have to mail in a $350 Dell rebate. The two-year contract must be a qualifying AT&T LaptopConnect agreement. The subscription is pretty pricey, but its cheaper than the $120 Dell Mini price is still lower than it was a few months ago. [Dell]

According to the guides, the netbook will come with either an Intel Atom Z520 or Z530 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 1.3MP camera, three USB 2.0 ports, and either a 3- or 6-cell battery. You'll also be able to choose between Ubuntu or Windows Vista, probably getting a neat price reduction if you go for Linux. No information on pricing or a specific release date yet. [Engadget]

Inspiron: Simple, Yet Smart PCs for the Family

Dell also expanded its Inspiron family with the addition of the Inspiron 518 desktop and Inspiron 13 laptop. Both systems deliver solid performance and smart style at a great value.

The Inspiron 13 laptop is a great choice for back to school shoppers looking for a smaller, lighter, more efficient mobile PC. With a starting weight of just under 5 pounds, the Inspiron 13 combines a simple and clean design encased in glossy Pacific blue with black trim. Smart features include a 13-inch high definition display, capacitive touch media buttons, 8-in-1 media card reader and slot-load DVD drive. Optional features include built-in wireless networking, built-in webcam and Bluetooth connectivity. A special $699 configuration of the Inspiron 13 will be available at Wal-Mart in the U.S. starting Aug. 3. Fully configurable systems will be available on www.dell.com on a global basis later in the month.

The Inspiron 518 desktop features a gloss-black exterior with chrome accents. Families will appreciate the top media tray with two easy-access USB ports for quick MP3 player syncing and cell-phone charging. It provides performance to meet the most typical family PC activities, like faster networking connections with Gigabit Ethernet, DX10 integrated graphics for casual gaming, optional 500GB hard drive for storing digital images and music libraries, and optional quad core processors. The Inspiron 518 starts at $349, and is available immediately on www.dell.com.

Finishing Touches:

Dell offers a variety of service application and software programs that help ensure consumers’ PCs stay up and running and easy to use, including:

· Dell Support Center: Centrally located, easy-to-use application providing personalized support resources with quick links to service, support and system information resources www.dell.com/dellsupportcenter.

· PC TuneUp: An easy-to-set-up smart tool that helps manage regular maintenance of a consumer’s PC. Automatically finds and fixes issue that slow down system performance. Available for $39.95 at www.dell.com/pctuneup.

· Dell Dock: Automatically sorts pre-installed software into user friendly categories placing the most frequently used programs front & center.

· Dell Video Chat: A one-click easy to setup and use video and voice communication program that can be shared with friends and family, www.sightspeed.com/dellvideochat.

[Dell]

Dell's reasoning is this: most people want anti-virus built in, Acrobat Reader doesn't count as trialware (it's free), and Google tools is fine because it's from Google. You do have the option of declining the EULA for the antivirus on first boot to have it automatically uninstall, and Acrobat and Google Tools can be removed using Dell's new uninstall utility.

Although we would have liked for the machine to be completely empty when shipped—we've never had a use for Google Tools, and we like AVG's free antivirus just fine—we can live with this. [Dell]

Heading the list is the gorgeous XPS M1330 notebook, claiming to be the skinniest 13.3-inch notebook in the world at just .9 inches. It's bringing LED backlighting to the party, along with an option to buy a 32GB solid state hard disk for an extra 600 bucks. They are offered in black, white or red, and you can order one now but don't expect to get it before July 27. Pricing starts at $1299, but fully tricked out with all the options and the fastest Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 Processor at 2.2GHz, its price is pushing $3000.

Dell also refreshed its Inspiron line, spreading out the brand beyond just laptops and into desktops and monitors as well. The big news with the Inspiron laptops (pictured above) is the palette of colors that's positively wild for Dell, offering the notebooks in your choice of a palette of the eight colors you see in a graphic here. Don't miss our favorite, bubblegum pink. But note that in all these colorful new offerings, the whole notebook is not festooned in these flattering colors, it's just the back of the display that's painted up all pretty-like. You can choose from 17-inch, 15.4-inch and 14.1-inch screen sizes. Pricing starts at $769.

Also included in this four-ring circus are Dell's Inspiron line of desktops (pictured above) that replace Dell's shopworn Dimension line of PCs that have been around for 15 years. These Inspiron desktops' main claim to fame are their "clean arctic silver and white design." Big woop. With pricing starting at $349, you can cram dual 500-gig drives inside, and take your pick of AMD or Intel processors. And looky there, there's a Blu-ray drive available, too. These are available in either a minitower or slim tower form factor, and besides that new color, there's not much else notable here.

And what's this? Why, it's the 2407WFP-HC a high-color version of Dell's glorious 24-inch widescreen flat-panel display. High Color—that's what the "HC" in there stands for. Like Dell's 30-inch 3007WFP-HC display, this 24-incher now offers 92% of the color gamut, meaning that mortals won't be able to tell much difference, but the artistic community will wet its pants over this. Since we're already blown away by Dell's garden-variety 2407 monitor, this one we gotta see. Along for the ride is the entry-level ST198WFB, a widescreen 19-incher with 1440x900 resolution. That one will be good and cheap, that's for sure.

We also noticed Dell offering a year's worth of free online backup with every Inspiron product, letting you send 3GB to the mother ship in case your house burns down. If you're getting an XPS product you can load up to 10GB online.

Summing up, this is a welcome refresh for Dell's notebooks and desktops, as the company eases even further away from its formerly staid design rep. We especially like that super-thin XPS M1330 notebook, and are eager to find out how long its full complement of batteries will last with that LED-backlit display and solid state drive on board.

Product Pages [Dell]

Case in point: Dell, updating its XPS series laptops with Core 2 Duo processors, with the Inspiron, Latitude and Mobile Precision lines also soon benefiting from the Intel-quoted 12% overall system performance improvement over first-generation Core Duo processors.

The XPS notebooks now offer a choice of three Core 2 Duo processors, including the T7600 (2.33GHz), the T7400 (2.16GHz) and the T7200 (2GHz), and are priced from a steep $3500 for a XPS M2010, $2300 for the the M1710 (pictured above), down to the first Merom-packing Inspiron E1705 for $1124. Other Core 2 Duo-equipped Dell Inspirons, Latitude and Mobile Precision Workstation notebooks are forthcoming. We'll be reviewing one of Dell's Merom-packing notebooks in a couple of days, so stay tuned. – Charlie White

Dell XPS M2010
Dell XPS M1710
Dell XPS M1210
Dell Inspiron E1705