Report: Dell's slim XPS 14z rises to challenge MacBook Pro

Summary: With the 14z, it’s clear that Apple’s steller design tastes spreading to even Dell.

 

Apple’s MacBook is getting a lot of competition in recent months, and Dell is adding to it with its latest notebook, the XPS 14z.

The first thing you’ll notice about the 14z is its screen. By minimizing the 14z’s bezel, Dell managed to squeeze a 14-inch display into a 13-inch chassis, making the device nearly borderless.
Unlike the smaller 13z that it was announced with in August, the 14z features an internal optical drive, which, understandably, makes it a whole lot thicker the recent slew of notebooks that have dropped the feature. Alongside the 14z’s 1.3 mega-pixel camera and pair of USB ports Dell is also offering the option of a discrete NVIDIA graphics card.

And then there’s the design. Weighing at 4.36 pounds and measuring at just less than an inch thick, the 14z’s thin frame rivals the design of even the MacBook Pro. And speaking of Apple’s hardware, comparisons to the MacBook line should be pretty evident here, as it has been with many of the Ultrabooks.

On matters of price, the entry-level Core i5 version of the device sells for $999, with its more advanced NVIDIA GeForce-equipped counterpart retailing for $1599. The 14z hits stores November 1st.