Dell Ultrabooks Comparison: Inspiron 14z Vs XPS 13 Vs XPS 14
A non-technical person usually doesn't have much knowledge of the technical words like registers, retina display, 1080p, multiple core processors, etc. Yes, they do have heard of these words but they really don't know what exactly the meaning of these technical terms is and how these terms get their name. Same is the case with the word “Ultrabook”. A non-technical person might consider it as a category of laptops. At this point, one should know that Ultrabook is neither a brand name nor a category of laptop. It is a word trademarked by Intel. A laptop computer having a certain set of features is said to be an Ultrabook. This definition of Ultrabook is to rival Apple's MacBook Air laptops. Many laptop manufacturers have joined Intel and offered their own Ultrabooks, and Dell, the laptops leader, tries to take the lead in this competition by offering several models of Ultrabooks, such as XPS 13 and XPS 14.
Pros of Ultrabooks
Cons of Ultrabooks
Computer vendors started releasing Ultrabook laptops from the start of this year. Dell, being one of the top computer manufacturers, also released Dell XPS 13 as company's first Ultrabook. Later Dell came up with two more ultrabooks; Inspiron 14z and XPS 14. In this article, we are going to discuss the specifications of these three ultrabooks. We hope that this comparison will help you choose the most suitable ultrabook for your mobile computing solutions.
Display
Dell XPS 14 has 14inches HD (900p) Truelife Infinity Display. It has Skype certified high definition webcam. XPS 13 has 13.3-inch HD (729p) Truelife WLED Display. It also has 1.3 MP HD Webcam. Inspiron 14z comes with 14-inch of HD (1366 x 768) Truelife LED Display with 1.3MP HD Webcam.
Dell is using the word “Truelife” for the display of its Ultrabook laptops (and also for some notebooks). So, what is this Truelife? It is Dell's trademarked word used for the marketing purpose. This Truelife word defines an anti-reflective technology. A Truelife LCD screen is anti-reflective, has sharper contrast and displays clear and colorful images. It is capable of absorbing nearby light and can be seen clearly even from wider angles. This is, without doubt, great technology for better visuals. With this technology our games and movies are much clearer, thereby making them more thrilling and enjoyable.
Processors
Dell XPS 14 comes with 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3517U processor with 4MB of cache and 3.0GHz of processing. Dell XPS 13 comes with 2nd Generation Intel Core i7-2637M processor with 1.70 GHz of processing with Turbo Boost 2.0. Dell Inspiron 14z comes with 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3517U processor with 4M Cache and 3.0 GHz of processing, which is the same as XPS 14.
XPS 14 and Inspiron 14z have 3rd generation Intel core processors while XPS 13 have 2nd generation Intel core processor. What is the difference between 2nd gen and 3rd gen core processors? Intel uses the term “generation” to describe its new and better-than-previous processors. By 2nd generation, it means processors that have Sandy Bridge architecture and by 3rd generation, it means processors that have Ivy Bridge architecture. Ivy Bridge processors came after Sandy Bridge and according to Intel these (Ivy Bridge processors) are less power hungry, smaller in size and much faster than Sandy Bridge processors at normal clock speed. However, it is found that overclocked Ivy Bridge processors are highly inefficient than overclocked Sandy Bridge processors. Overclocking a processor means running it at higher clock rate than the default clock rate. This increases processing speed but also needs a proper cooling system as the processor starts heating up.
Another term that might look strange to you is turbo boost. Turbo boost, also known as “dynamic overclocking”, is a technology implemented in specific processors of Intel. With this technology, the CPU can request the processor to increase its processing speed because of the workload. XPS 13 comes with Turbo Boost processor which means that it can increase its processing speed from 1.70 GHz to 2.80 GHz in the need of time.
RAM
XPS 14 comes with 8GB DDR3 1333MHz memory, XPS 13 comes with 4GB dual-channel DDR3
1333MHz memory and Inspiron 14z comes with 8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory. DDR3
is a standard for random access memory. It stands for double data rate. In the market, you will find RAMs of DDR, DDR2, DDR3, DDR4, and DDR5. These all are standards of RAM and each of them is considerably faster than its predecessor. These all standards are incompatible with each other.
Graphics Card
XPS 14 has NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M with 1GB GDDR5 VRAM, XPS 13 has Intel HD Graphics
3000 and 14z have AMD Radeon HD7570M 1GB. Just as stated earlier, Dell Ultrabook laptops are not meant for gaming. XPS 14's GT 630 is a low-end graphics card and it can't play high graphics games. Some famous games that you can play with it are Diablo 3, Assassins' Creed 2 and Dirt 3. You can't play Batman: Arkham City and Battlefield 3 on it. XPS 13 Intel HD Graphics 3000 is integrated on the motherboard. We can't expect much from this graphics card. It can hardly serve the purpose of gaming needs. However, if you set the game settings to low then you can run a few games on it. Diablo 3 can run on Intel HD Graphics 3000 under low settings. Radeon HD 7570M is, little powerful but, very similar to Intel HD Graphics 3000. With this graphics card, you can play Assassins' Creed 2, Diablo 3 and Dirt
2 but you can't run Batman: Arkham City and Battlefield 3.
Storage
XPS 14 has 512GB SSD for storage, XPS 13 has 256GB SSD and Inspiron 14z has 500GB SATA HDD and 32GB mSATA SSD. Inspiron 14z has considerably more storing capacity than XPS 14 and XPS 13. SSD stands for Solid State Drive and for a non-technical person it can be considered as a large and complex form of a USB stick. A typical hard disk stores data mechanically whereas an SSD stores data using microchips. This makes SSDs extremely fast at storing and retrieving data. SSDs are also responsible for making Ultrabooks come back from sleep and boot up in a matter of seconds.
Operating System
XPS 14, XPS 13 and Inspiron 14z, all of these run Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.
Conclusion
Dell Ultrabooks are quite lightweight, fashionable, bright, modern, attractive and powerful enough laptops for professional work and mobile computing solutions. These are quite weak when it comes to heavy graphics processing but at the same time they are slim and can replace your netbook. We can't recommend any one of these three Ultrabooks as it depends on your budget and your needs. However, if you can afford an expensive Ultrabook then the new Dell XPS 14 will be a nice choice.
Author Bio:
Edwin Sun is a devoted technology and gadgets blogger and has written articles on various topics, such as cell phones, tablets, laptops, printers, and monitors. I am always willing to share ideas with those who want to learn more about the new cool gadgets. To write guest articles for us, please follow the link below.
Pros of Ultrabooks
- Ultrabooks are extremely light and thin. They are made lightweight and thin to make laptops more portable and competent in the rising market of mobile computing.
- Ultrabooks have 5 to 8 hours of battery life. This makes Ultrabooks even more portable, mobile and reliable for work.
- Ultrabooks normally boot up faster than an average laptop.
- Ultrabooks are more secure with Intel's AT and Intel's IPT. Intel's AT (Anti-Theft) technology helps you secure your data by disabling its access if your Ultrabook has been lost or stolen. Intel's IPT (Identity and Personal Information) technology protects your identity and personal information.
Cons of Ultrabooks
- Ultrabooks are not suitable for gaming purpose. They have low graphics support.
- Ultrabooks are normally not designed for heavy software applications.
- Ultrabooks are quite expensive as compared to the specifications they offer.
Computer vendors started releasing Ultrabook laptops from the start of this year. Dell, being one of the top computer manufacturers, also released Dell XPS 13 as company's first Ultrabook. Later Dell came up with two more ultrabooks; Inspiron 14z and XPS 14. In this article, we are going to discuss the specifications of these three ultrabooks. We hope that this comparison will help you choose the most suitable ultrabook for your mobile computing solutions.
Display
Dell XPS 14 has 14inches HD (900p) Truelife Infinity Display. It has Skype certified high definition webcam. XPS 13 has 13.3-inch HD (729p) Truelife WLED Display. It also has 1.3 MP HD Webcam. Inspiron 14z comes with 14-inch of HD (1366 x 768) Truelife LED Display with 1.3MP HD Webcam.
Dell is using the word “Truelife” for the display of its Ultrabook laptops (and also for some notebooks). So, what is this Truelife? It is Dell's trademarked word used for the marketing purpose. This Truelife word defines an anti-reflective technology. A Truelife LCD screen is anti-reflective, has sharper contrast and displays clear and colorful images. It is capable of absorbing nearby light and can be seen clearly even from wider angles. This is, without doubt, great technology for better visuals. With this technology our games and movies are much clearer, thereby making them more thrilling and enjoyable.
Processors
Dell XPS 14 comes with 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3517U processor with 4MB of cache and 3.0GHz of processing. Dell XPS 13 comes with 2nd Generation Intel Core i7-2637M processor with 1.70 GHz of processing with Turbo Boost 2.0. Dell Inspiron 14z comes with 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3517U processor with 4M Cache and 3.0 GHz of processing, which is the same as XPS 14.
XPS 14 and Inspiron 14z have 3rd generation Intel core processors while XPS 13 have 2nd generation Intel core processor. What is the difference between 2nd gen and 3rd gen core processors? Intel uses the term “generation” to describe its new and better-than-previous processors. By 2nd generation, it means processors that have Sandy Bridge architecture and by 3rd generation, it means processors that have Ivy Bridge architecture. Ivy Bridge processors came after Sandy Bridge and according to Intel these (Ivy Bridge processors) are less power hungry, smaller in size and much faster than Sandy Bridge processors at normal clock speed. However, it is found that overclocked Ivy Bridge processors are highly inefficient than overclocked Sandy Bridge processors. Overclocking a processor means running it at higher clock rate than the default clock rate. This increases processing speed but also needs a proper cooling system as the processor starts heating up.
Another term that might look strange to you is turbo boost. Turbo boost, also known as “dynamic overclocking”, is a technology implemented in specific processors of Intel. With this technology, the CPU can request the processor to increase its processing speed because of the workload. XPS 13 comes with Turbo Boost processor which means that it can increase its processing speed from 1.70 GHz to 2.80 GHz in the need of time.
RAM
XPS 14 comes with 8GB DDR3 1333MHz memory, XPS 13 comes with 4GB dual-channel DDR3
1333MHz memory and Inspiron 14z comes with 8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory. DDR3
is a standard for random access memory. It stands for double data rate. In the market, you will find RAMs of DDR, DDR2, DDR3, DDR4, and DDR5. These all are standards of RAM and each of them is considerably faster than its predecessor. These all standards are incompatible with each other.
Graphics Card
XPS 14 has NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M with 1GB GDDR5 VRAM, XPS 13 has Intel HD Graphics
3000 and 14z have AMD Radeon HD7570M 1GB. Just as stated earlier, Dell Ultrabook laptops are not meant for gaming. XPS 14's GT 630 is a low-end graphics card and it can't play high graphics games. Some famous games that you can play with it are Diablo 3, Assassins' Creed 2 and Dirt 3. You can't play Batman: Arkham City and Battlefield 3 on it. XPS 13 Intel HD Graphics 3000 is integrated on the motherboard. We can't expect much from this graphics card. It can hardly serve the purpose of gaming needs. However, if you set the game settings to low then you can run a few games on it. Diablo 3 can run on Intel HD Graphics 3000 under low settings. Radeon HD 7570M is, little powerful but, very similar to Intel HD Graphics 3000. With this graphics card, you can play Assassins' Creed 2, Diablo 3 and Dirt
2 but you can't run Batman: Arkham City and Battlefield 3.
Storage
XPS 14 has 512GB SSD for storage, XPS 13 has 256GB SSD and Inspiron 14z has 500GB SATA HDD and 32GB mSATA SSD. Inspiron 14z has considerably more storing capacity than XPS 14 and XPS 13. SSD stands for Solid State Drive and for a non-technical person it can be considered as a large and complex form of a USB stick. A typical hard disk stores data mechanically whereas an SSD stores data using microchips. This makes SSDs extremely fast at storing and retrieving data. SSDs are also responsible for making Ultrabooks come back from sleep and boot up in a matter of seconds.
Operating System
XPS 14, XPS 13 and Inspiron 14z, all of these run Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.
Conclusion
Dell Ultrabooks are quite lightweight, fashionable, bright, modern, attractive and powerful enough laptops for professional work and mobile computing solutions. These are quite weak when it comes to heavy graphics processing but at the same time they are slim and can replace your netbook. We can't recommend any one of these three Ultrabooks as it depends on your budget and your needs. However, if you can afford an expensive Ultrabook then the new Dell XPS 14 will be a nice choice.
Author Bio:
Edwin Sun is a devoted technology and gadgets blogger and has written articles on various topics, such as cell phones, tablets, laptops, printers, and monitors. I am always willing to share ideas with those who want to learn more about the new cool gadgets. To write guest articles for us, please follow the link below.
which one would you recommend for autocad + rendering programs? Is Inspiron-14z good enough or better go for a XPS14? I mean talking about performace vs price difference...
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