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Dell’s vision of Intel’s Ultrabook concept is still under wraps for now, but its latest Inspiron laptop looks enticing nonetheless. Pitched in the no man’s land between Ultrabooks and the traditional desktop replacement, the Inspiron 14z fuses a 2kg chassis with a Core i5 processor and, best of all, packages it all up at a very reasonable price.

Visually, the 14z takes the styling of Dell’s Inspiron range, grabs it by the lapels and gives it a darn good smartening up. The inset hinge and curvy chassis are unmistakeable, and the laptop’s underside remains plastic, but lid and keyboard surround are now finished in a swanky metallic brown. It’s a much classier affair.

Dell has maintained the Inspiron 14z’s clean, curvy lines by hiding all the connectivity behind plastic flaps. With two USB 3 sockets on one side; HDMI, powered USB 2 and mini-DisplayPort on the other; and Gigabit Ethernet and a memory card reader found elsewhere, the 14z is pretty well equipped for its size. It is a bit annoying having to peel the plastic flaps back every time you need to get at the ports behind, but it keeps things neat.

It feels nicely built, too, with a chassis that’s stiff and sturdy and a lid that’s outstandingly taut. There’s a little give in the base if you really tug it to and fro, but even our firmest prodding on the millimetres-thick lid failed to cause show-through on the LCD display itself.