Dell Inspiron Duo

The new machine launched by Dell, Dell Inspiron Duo, is an impressive gadget. It can be considered partly as a tablet and partly as a netbook. But this new feature added does not compromise with anything else like in portability. It’s not like that we are attracted by the physical specifications of the netbook. While looking at Dell Inspiron Duo, it seems like we are looking at any plain old netbook. But once you open up the lid and press against the screen, the screen swivels around. Then when you close the lid, it seems like you are looking at a tablet. This is the most interesting feature of the machine launched by Dell that it can be used both like a netbook and a tablet.

Let’s take a detailed look on the specifications and the features of this convertible tablet/notebook hybrid. Dell Inspiron Duo is equipped with Intel Atom N550 (dual core), 2 GB of DDR3 RAM, 10.1” Multi-touch LCD (1366x768 resolution), Intel HD integrated NM10 GPU, 320 GB Hitachi Travelstar Z7K320 7200 RPM HDD. It looks like while engineering such an awesome piece, Dell team has not compromised with other features. Let’s get shifted towards the most interesting feature- the rotating display. The border of the lid has been provided with a soft rubberized plastic to increase its beauty. The back side of the display has been covered in a beautiful coating with a not so easily recognised pattern. When the screen is changed from netbook to tablet mode or vice versa, the magnets embedded on the sides of the display lock into each other allowing the display to be firm and not flip around. There’s some problem with the display properties of the rotating display. Not all the viewing angles are that very good. Even at an angle of about 35 degrees, the colors and the brightness starts to fade and the view starts getting distorted.

Dell has added another feature to its hybrid machine, its DuoStage software layer. This layer provides quick and easy access to mostly used applications like photos, videos, music, internet, games and paint applications. This software layer decreases the performance of the system to some extent. However, while running only Windows the speed is quite good. This awesome gadget has one more weakness attached to it- its battery life. The maximum time out a user can expect from this small gadget is about three and a half hours. Then also, what more can you get at such an affordable price.