Dell Inspiron 11z 11.6-Inch CULV Ultraportable Hits $399 Price Point

Dell may have canned their Inspiron Mini 12, but they've replaced it with a new CULV ultraportable in the shape of the Inspiron 11z.  The new notebook has an 11.6-inch display running at 1,366 x 768, paired with Intel's Celeron 723 1.2GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard-drive.  Thanks to stepping up to CULV rather than Intel's Atom range, the 11z gets past the CPU/storage limitations the chip company insists upon; that should mean buyers get a more capable ultraportable for their money.

And there's not much money at stake, to be honest.  The Inspiron 11z begins at $399, which puts it firmly in netbook territory rather than alongside other CULV notebooks we've seen lately.  You also get WiFi a/b/g, Intel GS45 integrated graphics and a 3-cell 28WHr Li-ion battery that Dell claim is good for up to 3hrs runtime.

Finally there's a 1.3-megapixel webcam, HDMI port, three USB 2.0 ports and a memory card slot, together with Vista Home Premium (with an upgrade to Windows 7 once it's released).  Frankly the only dreary part is that battery life – a 6-cell pack can't come soon enough – but from $399 we're tentatively happy campers.  It's available in the US now, and will land in the UK and France from August 25th.