Flex Tronic

General product information

Product Features

Core 2 Duo T7100 1.8GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache
2x1GB DDR2-667 RAM
13.3' widescreen LED backlit display WXGA (1280x800)with VGA webcam
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS 128MB GDDR3
120GB 5400RPM HDD (Hitachi 5K160 series, 8MB cache)
8X DVD-RW slot load ODD
Intel Pro/Wireless 3945abg
Fingerprint reader
6-cell and 9-cell batteries
Microsoft Vista Home Premium
Dimensions: 12.5' (31.8cm) x 9.4' (23.8cm) x 0.87'-1.33' (2.21cm-3.38cm)
Weight: 3.97 lbs w/ 4-cell, 4.3lbs w/ 6-cell

Description

Dell launched the new line of Inspiron laptops and desktops with much fanfare on June 26th, 2007. The flagship laptop, the XPS M1330, garnered a lot of press coverage. The launch coincided with a revamping of Dell's marketing efforts in an attempt to lose the 'beige-box' manufacturer cachet and move more upstream by making the brand more appealing to a wider demographic.
Aside from the redesigns to the notebook line-up, Dell was also touting the multitude of colored lids that the new laptops would ship with, allowing a bit of personalization by customers. In addition, the XPS M1330 was touted as the thinnest 13.3' notebook and boasted a radically new design for Dell, challenging manufacturers such as Sony and Apple, who were traditionally viewed as more 'stylish' companies, known for their design. There was substantial press coverage for the launch as well as for the new product line, something that hasn't been terribly common for Dell in recent memory. After years of building my own computers, I decided to give Dell a try and ordered the XPS M1330.
The XPS M1330 with its 13.3' widescreen display falls somewhere between the thin-and-light and ultra-portable categories. Its weight, at just under 4 lbs with the 4-cell battery and LED backlit display, puts it squarely in ultra-portable space, but its relatively large footprint means it's not an ultra-portable in the strictest sense of the word. Nevertheless, at under 0.9 inches thick at its thinnest point, with the LED backlit display, it's a very stylish and small laptop, convenient for carrying around and using in all but the tightest of spaces.