The Dell Inspiron M101z laptop offers some tough competition to the competitors in this class of laptops. Bigger than a netbook, these 11.6” laptops provide the perfect balance of portability, performance, and affordability. These laptops are the perfect alternative for those who do not feel a netbook can meet their needs but still want the convenience and portability of a smaller laptop. This laptop weighs in at around 3.5 pounds.

Img Source: The image is taken from direct.tesco.com

The Inspiron M101z features 1366 x 768 pixels in its 11.6 inch glossy display. The keyboard and the touchpad feel a lot nicer than they did on some of the older models. There are 2 base models available. The less expensive of the two features a 1.7GHz single core AMD Athlon II Neo K325 processor while the more costly model features a dual core 1.3GHz AMD Athlon II Neo K125 processor.

Regardless to the model you choose, you will enjoy ATI Radeon HD 4225 graphics. The double core will however include a 320 gig, 7200 RPM hard drive, plus it features 4 gig of RAM memory, but the single core only includes about half of this with a 250 gig, 5400 RPM hard drive plus 2 gig of RAM memory. They also feature 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, SRS audio and Windows 7, Home Premium.

This nice little system can be found in your choice of 4 colours. You can choose from black, bright red, blue, or pink. All of the colours, except black, feature subtle designs built into the colour of the cover. The keyboard, bezel and bottom are black on all of the models.

If you view it from the side, the first thing you will likely notice is that this laptop is fatter toward the back than it is in the front. This is because the battery rests just under the bottom of the laptop. Dell offers the option of an upgrade to the larger battery that has 9 cells, but this bigger one will poke out of the back of the laptop. The payoff is a few additional hours on the battery. As you turn the laptop, you will also see an Ethernet jack, three USB ports, an SD card slot, HDMI port, and a headphone, and mic jacks. Unique to this model you will also find room for both a lock and VGA port in the back. This is because the battery does not take up space on the back.

The only access panel in the bottom is the cover to the RAM. If you want to upgrade the memory, it is as simple as removing only 1 screw. If you need or want to replace other components, such as your hard drive, it will be more difficult since there are not any other access panels located on the bottom. You will also find the speakers on the bottom, near the front of the laptop, along with some vents. Although this laptop is noisier than a lot of others, it offers a higher performance that makes it all the noise worth it.

This notebook is nice because of its full size keyboard. It has level keys with a bit of space in between each, making it easier to type with than a lot of the other smaller laptops. It is an easy to type with keyboard and you will find that you are easily able to type your average words per minute without any difficulties. One of the only downsides to the keyboard is that they arrow keys are stuffed into the bottom right corner and each key is only about half of the height that most users are used to having. As a trade-off, Dell omitted the page up, page down, home, and end buttons. The 4 arrow keys, with the help of the FN button, become the omitted buttons. Overall, this is a nice comfortable keyboard to use.

The touchpad on this model is wide and comfortable to use. There are two buttons for left and right clicking, making it much nicer to use than the older models that had the buttons built right into the touchpad surface. Multi-touch, such as two finger scrolling is also supported on this model.

The battery in this laptop will run for approximately 5 to 6.5 hours. This is with all of the settings left at the default battery settings that the computer comes with. If someone were to tweak the settings, they may find that they would have even longer battery life.

The Dell Inspiron M101z Laptop would not make a good desktop replacement, but it does do all of the things that you would want and expect your laptop computer to do. It allows you to easily surf the Internet and even use tabbed browsing on the web and have multiple tabs open at once. If you want to surf the web, listen to music and chat on your favourite IM program, this computer will handle of these things without a problem.

Overall, the Dell Inspiron M101z is a great laptop, especially for the price tag. It is comfortable to use, moves right along on the web, and features a full sized keyboard. There are a few drawbacks, such as the lack of compartment doors on the bottom, but overall you will not be disappointed in this super portable laptop model.