Dell XPS 14z 14in Core i5 notebook

Looks like a candidate

to replace my aging Vaio SZ. Quite compact but with a decent (NVidia) graphics card. Could do some CUDA/OpenCL stuff on that.

Expensive laptop, crappy screen

One of the good things about Dell was that you could spec your laptop with a high resolution screen. I went to the Dell site to check and this machine has one crappy shiny 1366x768 panel.

I don't get it, I've never heard anybody say, "the thing I really like about my laptop is the way I can use the screen as a mirror"

Whoops!

Make that a 1440x900 screen and you're on to a winner.

Nice!

Yet another fantastic XPS laptop.

Right now, if you want something that's stylish, well built, not an out and out gaming laptop, and not a Mac. The best choice is the Dell XPS range.

This just ads to it with a smaller than usual and far more portable offering.

I do agree with the low-res comment, Dell should just not offer the lower res screens. Make the product truly premium.

Comes with crapware.

We know that. Could El Reg either just stick to the hardware, or let us freetards know how well it spins up a LiveCD? (To be chosen at random from Fedora, ubuntu, etc., on the roll of a dice).

Got to agree on screen resolutions. WTF is the point of a 14 or 15 incher if it's barely got more pixels than my ten year old 12 incher?

Midrange product?

Maybe compared to prices of expensive bis of Apple or Sony kit, but 850 to me is expensive

Please more reviews of MEDIAN priced kit

Only 2xUSB ports?

So after the obligatory mouse, that makes one.

Come on, even my £150 netbook has 3!