Dell announces its XPS 14z laptop

LAPTOP MAKER Dell has debuted its XPS 14z, a mid-sized thin and shiny laptop.

The XPS 14z follows on from the larger XPS 15z that we saw in June. It will offer high end performance in a more compact package. Dell has said it will be available on 15 November priced from £799.

"The XPS 14z delivers what professionals want - raw power paired with a stunning, sophisticated design that signals 'I've arrived'," said Steve Felice president of the consumer business group at Dell. "The XPS 14z is specifically engineered to help our customers do more in their personal and professional lives - and it advances our industry-leading vision for thin-and-powerful solutions that deliver performance without compromise."

The laptop will come with an Intel Sandy Bridge Core i5 or Core i7 processor to deliver good performance. It will have 4GB of DDR3 RAM with the option of doubling to 8GB.

The hard drive will come in either 500GB or 750GB capacity but there is also the choice of a 256GB solid state drive. An Nvidia Geforce GT 520M GPU with 1GB of RAM rounds off the key hardware specfications.

Dell said, "The 14-inch HD display easily fits into a 13-inch laptop form factor". The laptop is 23mm thin and tips the scales at just under 2kg. Unlike the XPS 15z, the XPS 14z has a standard definition display with 1366x768 resolution.

Battery life is quoted as a specific maximum of six hours and 49 minutes. The XPS 14z will come with USB 3.0, USB 2.0, HDMI and mini display port connectivity. It will also have a 1.3MP webcam. µ