The Dell Inspiron I13Z-3637SLV is advertised as “ultrabook” on the Best Buy website, but despite being thin, it doesn’t meet all of the ultrabook standards. That’s primarily due to use of a hard disk, instead of a solid state or hybrid HDD/SSD drive. Besides a 500GB HDD, the 13.3-inch Dell I13Z-3637SLV has the 3rd Generation Intel Core i3-3227U ultrabook-use processor, and 4GB of RAM, and it has no optical drive.
Regarding the CPU performance, the i3-3227U isn’t the slowest chip from the latest 3rd Gen Core ultra-low voltage lineup, outperforming the commonly used 3217U. On the other side, it is slower than the standard-voltage i3-3120M and, of course, the i5 and i7.
The profile of the I13Z-3637SLV is 0.8 thin and the whole laptop weighs 3.8 pounds. It’s made of plastics in silver color, so it doesn’t features a premium design and doesn’t have keyboard backlight like on many other similar systems.
But, the laptop costs $380, making it pretty much the cheapest one in the 13.3-inch category on the market at the time of this writing. We can call it freely a “poor man’s ultrabook”. But if you need a laptop to get the job done easily on the road or in office at a low cost rather than for showing off, this model will suit you fine. Don’t get us wrong, we don’t think the laptop is ugly. It looks well balanced and utilitarian. Indeed, brushed aluminum laptops do look nicer generally, but you will have to shell out about at least $600 or more for them.
On the other side, if you don’t care much about portability, there are plenty of other choices on the market involving various more powerful 15.6-inch systems for about the same price.
Dell I13Z-3637SLV Specifications
- Display: 13-inch, 1366 x 768 pixels, glossy
- Processor: 3rd Generation Intel Core i3-3227U ultra-low voltage, dual-core, 1.9GHz, 3MB cache
- Graphics: Intel HD 4000 integrated
- Memory: 4GB DDR3, max. 8GB
- Storage: 500GB 5,400rpm HDD
- Optical drive: none
- Webcam: 1MP
- Audio: Stereo speakers
- Network: 802.11n wireless, Gigabit Ethernet LAN, Bluetooth 4.0
- Input: chiclet keyboard, touchpad with buttons
- Ports and Slots: 3 x USB 3.0, HDMI, VGA, 8-in-1 digital card reader
- Battery: 4-cell lithium-ion
- Dimensions: 0.8″ x 13.7″ x 9.1″
- Weight: 3.8 pounds
- OS: Windows 8
- Warranty: 1-year