Pros

  • Budget laptop with large hard drive and decent display
  • Large hard drive; power efficient

Cons

  • Mediocre to poor performance and battery life
  • Mushy keyboard and lots of bloatware

At A Glance

The Dell Inspiron 13z is short on speed and sex appeal, but its budget price makes it worth considering for routine computing.

Manufacturer’s Description

Dell Inspiron 13Z Laptop Computer Inspiron 13z 6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory 3rd Generation Intel Core i5-3317U processor (3M Cache, up to 2.6 GHz) 13.3 High Definition LED Display (1366 x 768) with Truelife 500GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive Intel HD Graphics 4000 Skullcandy Speakers with WaveMaxx 4.0 Integrated 10/100 Network Card

The Specs

Pricing
Part Number FNDAA31BC
UPC Code 884116083672
Processor
Processor type Intel Core i5
Processor speed 1700.0 MHz
Cache size 3.0 KB
Processor count 2
Memory
Memory size 6000.0 MB
Memory type DDR3
Memory speed 1600.0 MHz
Memory max 6.0 GB
Display
Display size 13.3 inches
Display type Glossy LCD with LED Backlight
Resolution 1366 x 768 pixels
Storage
Drives included 1.0
Drive size 500.0 GB
Hard Drive Speed 5400.0 RPM
Other storage
  • Memory Stick
  • SD/MMC Card
  • SDHC Card
Drive type Hard Disk Drive
Ports and Connections
SDHC Card or Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) 1.0
SD/MMC Card 1.0
Available Interfaces Bluetooth
MultiMedia Card (MMC) or MultiMediaCard (MMC) Yes
Ethernet Type 10/100 Mbps
Wireless connection 802.11 n
Video Interfaces
  • HDMI
  • VGA
Slots
  • Memory Stick
  • SD/MMC Card
  • SDHC Card
Dimensions
Width 13.0 inches
Depth 9.0 inches
Height 0.9 inches
Weight 3.8 pounds
Weight with Accessories 4.5 pounds
Sound
Speakers Stereo
Storage Media
Memory stick Memory Stick
Included Software
Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Included Software Microsoft Office 2010; Nero 10
Other Features
Docking Station Port No
Devices
  • Built-In Microphone
  • Built-In Webcam
Input devices
  • Keyboard
  • Touchpad (multitouch)

Performance

Overall Performance
Worldbench Score 87.0
Worldbench Version 7
Battery
Battery Life 5:12   (hh:mm)
Start Up
Start Up 26.1   seconds (lower is better)
Office Productivity
PCMark 7 Productivity Suite 1406.0   score (higher is better)
Web Browsing
Web Performance 11.0   Frames per second (higher is better)
Storage Performance
File Compression 556.9   seconds (lower is better)
Hard Drive File Operations 471.6   seconds (lower is better)
Content Creation
Image Editing 237.1   seconds (lower is better)
Video Encoding 207.7   seconds (lower is better)
Audio Encoding 156.9   seconds (lower is better)
Power Usage
WorldBench Green Score 82.0
Working power usage 3.5   Watt hours
Idle power usage 8.6   Watts
Gaming
Gaming Score 65.0
Crysis 2, High Quality, 1366x768 12.0   Frames per second (higher is better)
Crysis 2, High Quality, 800x600 18.4   Frames per second (higher is better)
Crysis 2, Low Quality, 1366x768 16.3   Frames per second (higher is better)
Crysis 2, Low Quality, 800x600 25.3   Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 3, High Quality, 1366x768 18.0   Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 3, High Quality, 800x600 23.7   Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 3, Low Quality, 1366x768 34.5   Frames per second (higher is better)
Dirt 3, Low Quality, 800x600 40.6   Frames per second (higher is better)