Dell’s Inspiron laptops has always been hard to beat in terms of pure value, thanks to their mid-range processors and modest dedicated graphics cards at reasonable prices. Last year’s Dell Inspiron 5000 won a Best Buy award, thanks to its bargain price, great performance and decent battery life, so I was keen to have a look at this year’s model.
Dell has gone back to the drawing board with this general-purpose laptop, keeping similarly powerful components but completely redesigning the chassis and installing a new screen. There are several Inspiron 15 5000-series models available; our review unit is the second-most powerful model, with an Intel Core i5 processor and dedicated graphics. A Core i7-powered version with dedicated graphics tops the range. There are two less powerful machines, with Core i5 and Core i3 variants, both without dedicated graphics.
Dell Inspiron 15 5000 keyboard.In place of the 1, 366x768 screen used on last year’s model, the new Inspiron now has a 1, 920x1, 080 panel, which finally suits the high-spec components you’ll find elsewhere on the laptop.