Dell Inspiron line refreshed with six new models
updated 12:25 pm EDT, Tue June 5, 2012
Line ready for back-to-school, home usage
This morning, Dell introduced its expanded Inspiron notebook line, catering to graduation gifts and the back-to-school buying season. Three different Inspiron lines have been refreshed. The Inspiron z, R, and R Special Editions have been renovated, catering to the home and education-minded customers. All of the new models are available at retail on June 19.
The Inspiron 13z and 14z have a brushed aluminum finish, and come standard with 6GB of RAM and an estimated battery life of up to seven hours. They also have SkullCandy speakers, USB3 ports, Ethernet, HDMI 1.4, and Bluetooth 4.0. The 14z is available in moon silver and fire red. Switchable color lids adorn the 13z, and are also available in moon silver, and fire red, but adds lotus pink to the color lineup.
A 13.3-inch display running at 1366x768 is installed on the 13z, with Intel Wireless Display technology. An Intel Core i3 Sandy Bridge processor running at 1.4GHz with HD Graphics 3000 is standard, with a possible upgrade to an i5 Ivy Bridge 2.6GHz processor with HD Graphics 4000. Storage is a 500GB hard drive, with a 8-in-1 media card reader installed. The 13z is available for a base price of $600.
The Inspiron 14z has a 14-inch display running at a 1366x768 resolution. A Sandy Bridge i3 1.4GHz processor with HD Graphics 3000 is standard, but can be upgraded to either a 2.6 or 3.0GHz i5 or i7 Ivy Bridge processor. The graphics can be upgraded to an Intel HD 4000 as well. Storage is either a 500GB hard drive with a 32GB mSATA option, or a 128GB SSD. An upgrade to the 7570M mobile graphics chipset with 1GB GDDR5 graphics is available for the i5 and i7 upgraded models of the 14z. A 3-in-1 media card reader supplements the hard drive. The 14z starts at $700.
Both the 15R and 17R are equipped with 6GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, USB3 ports, Ethernet, HDMI, VGA, Waves MaxxAudio 3, an 8-in-1 media card reader, Bluetooth 4.0, and Intel Wireless Display technology.
The Inspiron 15R is available in moon silver, lotus pink, fire red, and peacock blue. A 2.4Ghz Sandy Bridge i3 processor with HD Graphics 3000 is standard, with upgrades available to Ivy Bridge i5 and i7 processors with HD Graphics 4000 running at 2.9 or 3.1GHz, respectively. The 17R has a Sandy Bridge i3 running at 1.4GHz standard, with the same processor upgrades available as the 15R. The 15R costs $550 and up, and the 17R starts at $600.
Special Edition 15R and 17R models finish off today's announcements. Both have an anodized aluminum black finish, USB3, HDMI 1.4, DVD-RW standard (with a Blu-Ray combo drive available as an upgrade), a backlit keyboard, Ethernet, VGA, and an 8-in-1 card reader.
The 15R Special Edition comes equipped with an Ivy Bridge i5 processor running at 2.9GHz, with an upgrade of a quad-core Ivy Bridge i7 processor running at 3.1GHz available. RAM starts at 6GB. Storage standard is a 750GB hard drive. The 15.6-inch display running at 1920x1080 is driven by the 7730M chipset with 2GB of GDDR3 video RAM. The 15R special edition starts at $900
The 17R Special Edition has the same standard 2.9GHz processor, but the upgrade option is a 3.3Ghz quad-core Ivy Bridge i7. RAM is maxed at 8GB. A 1TB hard drive is standard, with an optional 32GB mSATA SSD. The 17.3-inch WLED display runs at 1920x1080, with a 3D option available. The 17R Special Edition in its base configuration begins at $1,100.
