Review: Dell Inspiron 15R

Dell is known for making good performance laptops that suit different budgets. The Dell Inspiron 15R is such a laptop that fall under mid-range category. The Dell Inspiron 15R sports a new look by dumping the old plastic look and feel for new sleazy brushed faux-metal finish on the lid. The black matte keyboard and touch-pad are recessed which allows for flat and clean look. The entire keyboard is closer to the screen allowing more room to place your palm.

Features

CPU: Intel Core i3 370M processor (2.4GHz, 3MB cache)

RAM: 4 GB DDR3

Hard Disk: 500 GB

Display: 15.6-inch 1366×768 display with LED backlighting

Graphics: Intel HD integrated graphics

Optical Drive: DVD-RW

WiFi: 802.11n

Ethernet: 10/100 Ethernet

Other Features: USB, eSATA, SD Card, HDMI port, VGA port, Bluetooth

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

Dimension (W x H x D): 376 x 332 x 261.5 mm

Weight: 2.5 kg

Battery: 6-cell Li-ion 48Wh battery (approx. 3 hour 30 minutes)

Price: (approx.) INR 53,000 (Price in India)

Warranty: 1 year (in India)

Review

The Dell Inspiron 15R sports a sturdy and strong built chassis, and the keyboard has a very soft feel while typing but is smaller than other laptop keyboards, thus will be a problem for people with big hands. The touch-pad has smooth finish and offers enough resistance to track your movements.

The inbuilt Intel HD graphics is more than sufficient for watching HD movies, but is not good for playing games. The screen is comfortable for working long hours and has a good reproduction of colors. The 4 GB DDR3 RAM is more than sufficient for running multiple applications and watching HD movies. On a full charge it will last for 3.5 hours on battery.

The Dell Inspiron 15R has a good heat dissipation and runs relatively cooler than most laptops of the same price tag and is very quite too. The speakers are quite good for a laptop and produce sounds quite loud and clear. The only downside it the placing of speakers which is near the bottom and if you place the laptop at your lap, you may end up blocking the speakers.

For

• Great design and build
• Good speakers
• Nice and easy to use layout
• Decent performance
• Excellent battery life

Against

• Slightly pricey
• No discrete GPU

Conclusion

The Dell Inspiron 15R is a good laptop for day to day tasks and watching HD movies. It can handle anything you can throw at it except for games. The only downside is the price and we feel that if the price was reduced to INR 45,000, it would be great buy.