The Macbook Air rivals are coming.
It started with Samsung’s Series 9, a pair of ultra-thin laptops cased in aircraft-grade materials and running on Intel’s latest Sandy Bridge platform. As you might expect, pricing caused a wince at $1,200 for an 11-inch model and $1,650 for a 13-inch model.
Next up is Dell, which will do its best Air impression with a $999 ultra-thin laptop, dubbed the Dell 15z according to the Wall Street Journal. Other details are scarce, but Dell says it’ll be the thinnest 15-inch laptop on the planet. A teaser video released earlier this month shows off the general aesthetic.
Dell’s previous effort in ultra-thin space, the Adamo, was an outrageously expensive, ill-timed flop, but it seems the company has learned its lesson and isn’t immediately pricing itself out of the market. The 15z could carve out its own niche as a premium, large-screened laptop, avoiding direct competition with the 11-inch and 13-inch Macbook Air. Apparently, Dell was working on a different set of sleek laptops earlier this year, and CEO Michael Dell pulled the plug.
But Dell’s success or failure with the 15z will ultimately depend on details. Will the 15z have a decent hard drive or meager solid state drive? Sandy Bridge or something older? How’s the battery life? How do the track pad and keyboard feel? And is that a DVD drive in the image above?
We’ll have the full details once they’re available.
(via Business Insider)