Dell Inspiron M101z Pro Reviews

I enjoyed my time with the Dell M101z, but as I often find to be the case, the M101z stumbles not because it is bad but instead because there are other products that are slightly better. Still, the M101z’s fabulous display and great audio does make a case for itself. For example, students should consider this laptop because it is pleasurable to use in a lecture hall as in a dorm room. Buyers who need maximum battery life, however, will need to consider a different ultraportable.

The M101z has decent battery life and a vibrant screen, all wrapped up in a luxurious chassis, but better cut-price ultra-portable options are available.

It took us a while to look beyond the M101z's pink shell, but when we did we came to really like the little guy. Er, girl. Of all the 11.6-inch machines we've reviewed lately, it provides the best combination of build quality, performance and graphics capabilities for the price. (We should note, a similarly configured HP Pavilion dm1 costs about $100 less, but we haven't reviewed it yet). Sure, it's a bit thicker than the others (and we still can't help but be disappointed by AMD's power-thirsty platforms), but if you can deal with only four or so hours of juice, then the M101z won't disappoint those looking for a... well, we still don't know what to call the category.

There's plenty to like when it comes to Dell's Inspiron M101z. As far as 11.6in notebooks go, it's one of the best-looking and best-built systems we've come across. The chassis is rigid and finished with style and smooth curves, and both the keyboard trackpad are a pleasure to use. Despite the system's ultra-portable dimensions, both the display and the built-in speakers manage to impress, and the AMD innards are capable of providing a snappy user experience that's superior to Intel Atom-based machines of this size. The system can however get a little warm under heavy use - and consequently noisy, too - but the M101z's biggest failing is battery life. Unfortunately for AMD, and Dell in this case, Intel CULV-based notebooks offer better CPU performance and almost double the battery life at around the same price. If you're willing to do without extensive longevity, the Inspiron M101z is a well-rounded package that impresses in almost every other aspect.

With the Inspiron M101z, Dell has put a powerful subnotebook with an 11.6" HD screen on the market. The fast DDR3-RAM, which is however limited to 800 MHz, an ATI Radeon HD 4225 graphics card and an AMD Athlon II Neo K325 processor make for good office performance. The subnotebook lends itself more to playing films and music or surfing the internet since the 3D performance is insufficient for gaming. For a broader range of use with a greater reserve of processing power, an Intel Core or AMD Phenom processor is recommended.

But that noted, we like the Dell Inspiron M101z a lot. Decent video playback, combined with enough power to run key apps without flinching, makes it useful. The wonderful keyboard and touchpad make it easy to use. And while it could use a little more muscle and a lot more juice, it is a little tiny laptop for under £400. we're happy to take it adventuring.

The M101z is so neatly packaged that Dell can legitimately start to compete with Sony on its own territory, and that's quite an achievement.

A pint-sized beauty that combines great build, good looks and a keen price

Dell has produced an outstanding portable laptop in the Inspiron M101z. It doesn't quite match Intel-based systems for battery life, but it's not embarrassed by them and the build quality, features and usability of the M101z is a cut above.

I really like the Dell Inspiron M101z a lot. I was surprised to see that it didn’t score as high as the Acer Aspire One 521 in some benchmarks, because it feels very zippy, and unlike the Acer laptop the Dell has a full sized keyboard and a larger 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel HD display.

Dell's latest take on the Mini line is a dual-core AMD-powered 11-inch system that leaves Netbooks in the dust in terms of both power and price.

Very nice keyboard. Excellent navigating components. Fast hard drive. Lightweight. HDMI included. Plays back 1080p HD clips beautifully. Very good speakers for a little laptop.

This good-looking 11.6-inch ultraportable delivers a comfy keyboard, snappy performance, and strong sound quality for the money.