Inspiron laptops feature Waves MaxxAudio technology optimized for Dell laptops to deliver studio-quality sound for watching movies and listening to music without the need for external speakers.
ENGADGET: Dell unveils Inspiron 14z Ultrabook, multimedia-friendly Inspiron 15R and 17R
Housed in a silvery frame that perfectly matched the brushed aluminum finish of our Mac and Dell laptops, the screen was equally easy to hook up to either one.
But in 2006, manufacturing defects in some batteries caused them to catch fire leading computer makers like Dell (DELL) to recall nearly 10 million laptops.
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Given the choice between a dull gray Dell or HP laptops out of corproate inventory, many employees opt to take their sleek personal PCs or MacBooks to work.
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The tech center in Cyberjaya is a stunner and is favored by very low taxes. (Mahathir deserves credit for that.) Malaysia's manufacturing center in Penang, where Dell assembles its laptops, is not as cheap as China is, but comes close.
"As one of the most widely used business PCs in the world, Dell Latitude brand laptops need to support a broad range of technology so our customers can connect virtually anywhere and at any time, and Qualcomm's Gobi platform helps us achieve this, " said Kirk Schell, executive director and general manager of Dell's Business Client Product Group.
ENGADGET: Qualcomm's fifth gen Gobi unveiled, supports a Lollapalooza of LTE, 2G / 3G bands
The stakes are high: Stylish laptops have been at the heart of Dell's plan to claw back market share from Hewlett-Packard with eye-catching designs that will appeal to customers snapping up laptops from retailers, such as Best Buy, that Dell has been cultivating over the past year.
As a result, attention-grabbing laptops hawked by Dell rivals Hewlett-Packard and Apple have helped both computer makers bounce back over the past few years--at Dell's expense.
As a result, attention-grabbing laptops hawked by Dell rivals Hewlett-Packard (nyse: HPQ - news - people ) and Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) have helped both computer makers bounce back over the past few years--at Dell's expense.
Dell's roadmap has the larger laptops hitting in August, with the 12 and 13-inchers showing up in September.
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Even though Quanta makes laptops for PC heavyweights like Dell, HP, and IBM, that doesn't necessarily mean that they'll want to implement Quanta's integration technology (to say nothing of the countless mobile device manufacturers that would have to get behind this).
ENGADGET: Quanta and MIT team up on seamless device integration
But while Apple slashed prices for several iPod models in September, analysts worry that Apple will have to cut margins further still to counter everything from cheap, new laptops offered by the likes of Dell to new media-friendly, touch-screen handsets being readied by Nokia.
Parents today want to give their kids the best advantages, and Dell is offering its tailored line-up of Inspiron laptops for the unique needs of families and students.
ENGADGET: Dell unveils Inspiron 14z Ultrabook, multimedia-friendly Inspiron 15R and 17R
The stakes are high: Stylish laptops have been at the heart of Dell's plan to claw back market share from Hewlett-Packard (nyse: HPQ - news - people ) with eye-catching designs that will appeal to customers snapping up laptops from retailers, such as Best Buy (nyse: BBY - news - people ), that Dell has been cultivating over the past year.
And he's remade Dell's product line with slicker designs and more of the laptops consumers crave.
Dell are in trouble, and it is becoming increasingly clear that laptops, tablets, and smartphones are gradually rendering the desktop computer obsolete.
Similarly, hard drives and other components used in small machines from Dell, Apple and many others were initially developed for use in laptops.
Synaptics supplies touchpads for 55% of the world's laptops, serving all the big players--like Dell, HP and Acer.
In a recent Buzz Marketing Group study on technology, sponsored by Dell, we found that 79 percent of moms surveyed have between two and four laptops in their homes.
Now Dell is bringing some of the eye candy it's been cranking out for consumers to its business laptops.
It's not going to set any records for thinness or price, but laptops like this one are a big part of the reason the Round Rock, Texas-based Dell is turning in better numbers lately, and the M1330 could be a case study on how to hit a sweet spot in a fast-moving market.
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