Serious Gaming Laptop for $800 - Dell Inspiron Gaming 15 2017
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2017-05-06
·
1,366 words · ~6 min read
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you guys loved our review of the Dell Inspiron
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7559 from last year where I gave it a solid recommendation for its wolf and
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sheep's clothing Wicked gaming performance and its understated looks
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not to mention price now over the last year Dell has been hard at work tweaking
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that formula and they've even gone as far this time as to include gaming in
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the product name but have those tweaks
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actually added up to anything substantial let's check it
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out browse privately and securely with
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video description the inspiring gaming has a
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red matte finish with mean looking triangles on the front and the back
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hexagons are very 2016 as I've been recently informed it mostly avoids an
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over-the-top look like some gaming laptops but it is red though if that's
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too shouty for you there's a black version available as well it's clear
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that thinness wasn't a top priority for Dell here with lesser specs than the
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latest MacBook Pro it's nearly double the thickness but assuming they used the
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extra space for cooling I can't be too critical
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especially if the intent is for users to game on it for long periods at a time
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the build quality is great for a budget segment laptop the chassis feels solid
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and the screen Flex is about what you'd expect opening the lid is easy and the
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hinge moves smoothly if you took this thing 10 years back in time and told
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someone it costs less than $1,000 they wouldn't believe you we've come a long
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way the io is more traditional than most
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laptops these days as well it's unlikely
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that you'll have to reach for a dongle
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though I will say at least having the option for a typc or Thunderbolt port on
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a premium config would have been welcome
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our model is not the cheapest but it hits a really nice sweet spot with just
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enough of pretty much everything for gaming and without spending extra money
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on an i7 for example that doesn't make
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games run faster I mean that money could go towards buying books or beer and
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gaming performance is really solid the included 60 HZ TN panel looks pretty
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good for a TN with above average viewing angles from side to side again for a TN
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and on high settings at 1080p which happens to be its native resolution this
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laptop plowed through our test lineup comfortably meaning that in between
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homework and Facebook you should be able to run modern AAA titles without issue
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thanks in no small part to the strong performance of the inspiring Gaming's
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cooling system during our ID to 64 stress test it was not only able to keep
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the CPU at a relatively comfortable 80°
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but the I5 was able to use its turbo boost the whole time too meaning
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performance won't dip after a couple of minutes of gaming it was far from silent
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but wasn't disruptive and it's much quieter than a thin and light gaming
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machine like a razor blade and if that
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sound good to you you'll be happy to know the speakers are better than you
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might expect as well the internal subwoofer doesn't add as much depth to
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the sound as the subs in their XPS laptops several years ago did but
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overall Clarity is good until some Distortion Creeps in at nearly full
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volume as long as you're right in front they're highly directional so if a
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diminished off AIS movie watching experience is a real turnoff for your
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friend you might not be doing any chilling while you
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Netflix though even if you have to be by yourself at least you'll be doing it for
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a long time battery life came in at a
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very impressive 6 hours and 48 minutes
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one of the best results we've ever seen in our PC Mark workbench Mark and more
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good news just like its predecessor it's
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easy to get inside all it takes is one
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screw okay I'll stop that now and as an
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SSD only model ours has a completely
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free hard drive bay with mounting hardware and a cable included as well as
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an empty RAM slot Dell really couldn't make this any easier moving back to the
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outside the keyboard feels very similar to previous Inspiron models but nicer
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the keystrokes are short with a pleasant click and avoid being mushy spacing is a
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strong point and there's a full numpad with appropriately laid out arrow keys
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the red back back lighting isn't bright enough to be having an inspiring
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inspired dance party with it or anything
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but it's functional and if you're actually in the dark you'll be able to
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read the keys can't complain the trackpad is also quite good the feel of
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the click isn't super consistent from the top to the bottom but it performs
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accurately at high sensitivity settings and it does a great job of figuring out
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when I have my thumb at the bottom for clicking as opposed to when I'm trying
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to use multitouch now let's talk about what you
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are not getting with a value model like this the first unfortunate compromise is
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the 1ex one Wi-Fi giving me a maximum speed of around 20 megabytes per second
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in my data transfer test so if you want fast downloads you will have to wire in
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the storage is also rather slow it is an
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m.2 drive and it is an SSD but it runs
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at SATA speeds not PCI eeds and finally
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the screen is far from the most vibrant and high contrast that I've seen now
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that IPS is the standard even a decent TN looks washed out by
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comparison so who is this laptop for then well unsurprisingly the Dell
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inspiring gaming is a great value laptop
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for people who want to game and need the portability of a laptop for 850 bucks
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you could build a better performing desktop that is more upgradable but you
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can't exactly take that to class or wherever it is that you might need it so
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if you're looking for something to buy that's inexpensive and works well before
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