Dell Inspiron 11z Netbook

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gripen

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Ok, I'm looking for a netbook with the following specs:
11.3" 720p LCD
6-cell battery
3 USB
Intel N550 or similar/better (NO Celerons!)
2GB RAM

With a budget of between R4000-R4500 ideally (MAX R5000)

Reason for use: Gautrain trip in the morning and evening (let's assume I forget to charge it during the day - hence the 6-cell). Also don't want to rely too much on the work laptop

So far, the best I can find us the Dell Inspiron 11z and the best price is R5000. The problem with all these "online vendors" is you can't touch and feel the thing before you buy it (unlike going to Corruption or Dion Wired). Anyone got any experience with the 11z and/or a better price?

It looks pretty good based on this review:
http://www.laptopmag.com/laptops/dell-inspiron-11z.aspx
 
They had a few at Game Menlyn on some weird sale a few weeks back. R2500. Was the Celeron ULV version, though. But I'd say it'd keep up with the Atom.

Otherwise, consider the Sony Vaio Fusion-based netbook; similar specs to the HP dm1z, and that performs admirably. In particular, the battery life on the dm1z (and I assume all the Fusion-based netbooks) is fantastic. Best of all, Dion Wired has the Vaio (R4999 last I checked), so you can go in and feel it. Unfortunately you missed the special @ Incredible a few weeks back on these They were about R2999 I think.
 
Right, I think it comes down to the Sony Vaio YB vs HP dm1z. Now what price can I expect to pay for the dm1z? The specs look good.
 
gripen said:
Right, I think it comes down to the Sony Vaio YB vs HP dm1z. Now what price can I expect to pay for the dm1z? The specs look good.
Click to expand...

R6kish... But not available yet in SA, as far as I know. R5.6k on WantItAll

I'd go with the Sony, to be honest. Doesn't look as good, granted, but it's a grand cheaper. They keyboard on the dm1z is magical, though. But not worth the lack of warranty.
 
I've got the Sony.

It's very good TBH.
I get about 4.5hrs on it's 4-cell battery.
Performs very well. No issues. Comes with Evernote for Vaio - find it very usefull.
:)
 
Ok guys, thanks for the input. Still shopping around a bit, hanging on for month-end specials. The Sony is very tempting but like Dell has some brand-pricing.

I did find the LG T280 at Game "was" R5499 now R2999
Specs:
http://www.lg.com/ae/it-products/notebooks/LG-T280.jsp
(SU4100 CPU, 250GB HDD. Not sure of the battery, not worth it if not 6-cell or higher - will have to go back and check).

Interesting thing is, even though it's a 1.3GHz, apparently it's not too bad according to CPU Passmark:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+SU4100+@+1.30GHz

LG makes fridges. That's what bugs me. What do you guys think?
 
Definitely not bad at all (specs wise).
I vowed to never ever buy anything LG ever again since all my LG components failed.
I had 2 monitors, 1 dvd-drive, 1 microwave and 2 TV's. All failed within their 2 year warranty periods.

So I now have Samsung components. All working superbly, even past their 3 year warranties.

The LG has a crappy graphics chip, but is good enough for most mobile needs.
So, for R2999 it's a very good deal. The question you have to ask yourself is if they releasing it at that price, what is it they are releasing in its place?
:)

gripen said:
Ok guys, thanks for the input. Still shopping around a bit, hanging on for month-end specials. The Sony is very tempting but like Dell has some brand-pricing.

I did find the LG T280 at Game "was" R5499 now R2999
Specs:
http://www.lg.com/ae/it-products/notebooks/LG-T280.jsp
(SU4100 CPU, 250GB HDD. Not sure of the battery, not worth it if not 6-cell or higher - will have to go back and check).

Interesting thing is, even though it's a 1.3GHz, apparently it's not too bad according to CPU Passmark:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+SU4100+@+1.30GHz

LG makes fridges. That's what bugs me. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Just btw the N550 Atoms are fairly decent.
I used a netbook with a n280 for a while and it would grind to a halt and was just generally slow.
The netbook I have now has a N550 and is quite snappy, it feels like using a normal pc.

Oh the other option is the new AMD netbook processors. The C50, has a much better GPU than the Intel atoms.
 
j4sk said:
I used a netbook with a n280 for a while and it would grind to a halt and was just generally slow.
The netbook I have now has a N550 and is quite snappy, it feels like using a normal pc.
Click to expand...

I'm still using a Samsung NC10 (N270) and it's more than adequate with Ubuntu 10.04 - it even runs a Virtualbox XP client satisfactorily, so would love to know what you ran on your N280???
 
iDenTiTy said:
Definitely not bad at all (specs wise).
I vowed to never ever buy anything LG ever again since all my LG components failed.
I had 2 monitors, 1 dvd-drive, 1 microwave and 2 TV's. All failed within their 2 year warranty periods.

So I now have Samsung components. All working superbly, even past their 3 year warranties.

The LG has a crappy graphics chip, but is good enough for most mobile needs.
So, for R2999 it's a very good deal. The question you have to ask yourself is if they releasing it at that price, what is it they are releasing in its place?
:)
Click to expand...

Well, I don't care that much for graphics. I have another proper laptop from the work and never use it for anything requiring a GFX card. Main thing is if it is a 6-cell battery. I don't care what they are replacing it with, like phones, once you start that process of waiting, you wait forever. It seems to have a 36 month warranty so that covers the "LG condition". Samsung etc would be better but nothing can compete with this T280 on price, not too keen to spend too much, it's a knock around netbook for using on the Gautrain and having in my backpack when I'm walking from Train to Work etc. If I get a R5k Sony, I might have to "look after it" ;-)
 
:)
Like I say, for the price - it's a very good deal.
:)

Netbooks are surprisingly powerful. I'm running SQL 2008 and Photoshop Extended CS4 just perfectly on mine.
:)

You will enjoy yours.
:)

gripen said:
Well, I don't care that much for graphics. I have another proper laptop from the work and never use it for anything requiring a GFX card. Main thing is if it is a 6-cell battery. I don't care what they are replacing it with, like phones, once you start that process of waiting, you wait forever. It seems to have a 36 month warranty so that covers the "LG condition". Samsung etc would be better but nothing can compete with this T280 on price, not too keen to spend too much, it's a knock around netbook for using on the Gautrain and having in my backpack when I'm walking from Train to Work etc. If I get a R5k Sony, I might have to "look after it" ;-)
Click to expand...
 
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