Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series gaming laptop – Power that’s affordable
The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series is your, ‘knight on a white horse’ if you seek a budget-friendly and portable gaming machine that can truly give you a taste of the ultimate gaming experience. It has successfully crushed many of the competitors in its category on various grounds, particularly battery life and overall performance. The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series
The Inspiron 15 7000 comes in 2 colors (Red and Black), and 4 different configuration settings. The difference is based on processor, RAM, storage capacity, and graphics card.
The lowest in this tier is equipped with a 7th Generation Intel Core i5-7300 HQ Quad Core Processor, 8GB DDR4 RAM (Upgradeable to 32 GB), 1TB Hybrid hard drive, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU.
The highest features a 7th generation Intel Core i7-7700 HQ Quad Core Processor, 16GB DDR4 RAM (Upgradeable to 32 GB), dual storage drives (128GB Solid State Drive + 1TB Hard Drive), and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti graphics card.
Design and Appearance: No matter you choose the Matte Black color or the Luscious Red (Dell prefers to call it Hibiscus Red); with an attractive chassis and a stylish look, The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series seems worth much more than it costs. Weighing 5.8 pounds with dimensions of 15.2 x 10.8 x 1 inches, it may not be the smallest laptop around but if affordability is your main concern, you better overlook its size.
On the right side of the Inspiron are located a handful of ports, namely: 2 USB 3.0 ports, a full HDMI port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a 3.5mm headset jack. Along the left side of the laptop, you will find a noble lock port, a power port, a built-in SD card reader, and another USB 3.0 port.
The red lid Inspiron comes with a black keypad and Dell logo, but if you desire a more decent look, you can go for the Matte Black which has a red Dell logo and accents. The exterior is all plastic but it has high quality finishing and has a solid build. There is a crisscross venting system at the back, partially covered by a grey plastic.
A remarkable feature of its design is the reasonably stiff hinge. Gaming laptops are supposed to have stiff hinges because if they don’t, they will shake and wobble during intense gameplay, causing annoyance. If this has ever happened to you, you know exactly what I mean. Let us, therefore, do justice by saying that it has one of the best laptop hinges you can find around.
Keypad and Touchpad: Inspiron 15 series incorporates the complete number pad, along with the standard keypad, taking up most of the available space on this 15 inch frame. The keys are very well-placed at a suitable distance of 1.55mm from each other. The 58 gram key actuation provides a comfortable experience while using the keypad. I actually managed to get past my previous typing speed record (50 words per minute), with this keypad by scoring 56 words per minute, while taking the 10FastFingers typing test. The keys look pleasant with red backlighting and help a lot in visibility when you are in a dim-light setting.
The 4.1 x 3.1 keypad is textured plastic but it is very responsive. It is capable of reading gestures accurately, such as two finger rotation, pinch-zooming, and three-finger press.
Performance: Despite its budget friendly price, The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series does not compromise when it comes to delivering performance. The Core i-7 Kaby Lake processor has capabilities beyond expectations. It offers solid performance and multi-tasking abilities. I personally tried pushing the processor to its limits by opening more than a dozen tabs in chrome, streaming a video on Netflix, running Ulead Video Studio in the background, and jumping back and forth between my mail and social media account; and to my surprise, the machine didn’t give the slightest hint of a lag.
Not only is the Inspiron great for multi-tasking, but it can also run most of the popular heavy duty games (under medium configuration settings) exceptionally well. The Inspiron, as tested on the GeekBench3 (a synthetic test that examines overall performance), scored an impressive 9,873 points, enough to defeat the average 8,220 of the budget-friendly gaming laptops category.
Display: Here is the ugly side of the picture. Speaking honestly, the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series has a rather terrible display quality for a gaming laptop. The color intensity is quite dull; far from being called vivid or sharp. While the processor, RAM, and the Nvidia GPU provide ample gaming horsepower, the somewhat poor display quality may not provide a visually pleasant gaming experience. This is the most significant (and in my personal opinion, the only) disadvantage of this gaming machine.
Although the detail quality it produces in games is sharp enough, the lack of color intensity makes it a bit lifeless. If it wasn’t for this lack of visual performance, the Inspiron 15 could have rightly been titled the Jack of all Trades, since it will certainly not disappoint you in any other aspect of its performance and capabilities.
Sound: Two powerful speakers on the front and a subwoofer at the bottom of the Inspiron are highly capable of delivering loud, yet clear audio quality. Whether you play games or listen to music, this perfectly balanced sound system is going to exceed your expectations. You can go with the default sound settings, or choose to configure the sound according to your personal preferences through the Waves MaxxAudio Pro Software.
Heat: While the fans do an excellent job at keeping the machine cool, it can sometimes tend to get slightly warm, usually if it is burdened with too much load. The heat is not uncomfortable though, even while it is placed on your lap. For the most part, the fans do their job really well. You won’t usually hear them, unless the machine is exposed to multiple heavy duty tasks.
Battery: And here is the best part of the story. The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series is equipped with a powerful battery, capable of delivering up to 11+ hours of continuous usage (nonstop internet usage over Wi-Fi). This machine possesses a matchless battery life and can rightfully be regarded as the greatest of them all when it comes to power consumption.
Although gaming laptops are not a good choice when it comes to battery life, Dell’s Inspiron puts this statement upside down. The battery life of Inspiron is almost double that of the average battery life (6:50) in category of affordable gaming laptops. It even surpasses the ridiculously expensive gaming laptops in this regard, such as the Strix (3 hours, 41 minutes) and the Stealth Pro (2 hours, 54 minutes).
Software and Warranty: Dell has put a number of built-in software in this machine for performing system tweaks. There is the Power Manager Lite, which helps you in managing your machine’s power settings. The Support Assistant makes sure your machine runs smoothly by performing frequent diagnostics. You can also avail Dell’s Digital Delivery, to download the latest software for your machine and keep it up to date.
Dell’s Inspiron 15 7000 series offers a One Year Limited Warranty.
Complete Specifications:
| Processor | 2.5-GHz Intel Core i5/i7-7300/7700 HQ |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home Edition |
| RAM | 8GB/16GB (Upgradable up to 32GB) |
| Storage Size | 256 GB (Up to 1TB available) |
| Storage Type | SSD/HDD available |
| Display | 15.6 inches |
| Resolution | 1920 x 1080 |
| Graphics Processing Unit | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti |
| GPU Memory | 4GB |
| Wi-Fi | 802.11 ac |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 4.2 |
| Touchpad | 4 x 3.1 inches textured plastic |
| USB Ports | 3 USB 3.0 Ports |
| Card Slots | 1 SD Memory Card Reader |
| Other Features | HDMI/ Noble Lock |
| Warranty | 1 Year Hardware Warranty |
| Dimensions | 15.2 x 10.8 x 1 inches |
| Weight | 5.8 Pounds (2.6 kg) |
Strengths: solid gaming performance, attractive chassis, perfect hinge, super-long battery life, budget-friendly
Weaknesses: occasional heat issue, a bit heavy, lacks color intensity
Conclusion: Like any other gaming laptop, or any other device/machine for that matter, Dell’s Inspiron has its own pros and cons. While it lags behind in terms of visual performance, there are other capabilities it offers at such a decent 3 figure price. So if you’re looking for a gaming laptop that is not only capable but also in a budget-friendly range, you are not likely to find a better choice than the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series.
