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Dell Inspiron M101z 11.6in notebook
Class-leading performance
Impressive inside and out
The X125 does rather better in 3DMark 06, its integrated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 leaving Intel's integrated graphics far behind, but it's still bested by the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225 in the M101z.
No optical drive here...
So much for the internals - the outside is impressive too. The M101z Dell sent in for testing had a rather fetching "tomato red" lid, but you'll pay an extra £19 for that - better to stick with the shiny black standard.
...but there is an HDMI port round this side
Under the lid is the glossy LED-backlit screen and a black calculator-style keyboard that's both solidly underpinned for flex-free typing and surrounded by glossy black plastic. All around it is gun-metal grey plastic that manages to look good in the way that so much mock-aluminium plastic notebook cases don't. It's also free from unnecessary buttons and LEDs. Only the basics - power, hard drive activity and an on-off switch are present.
The keyboard's nice to type on. The action of the trackpad keys is a little flacid, but the pad itself is well sized for a notebook of the M101z's compact dimensions and stands out as little as it needs to from the surrounds wrist rest area.