Who needs a freaking 17" Tablet????
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2017-05-06
·
1,521 words · ~7 min read
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I'll be the first to admit that I'm usually all about the extreme stuff. If
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it's the thinnest notebook in the world, you've got my attention. If it's the
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biggest, baddest curved display, you've got my attention. So, why on earth then
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am I bothering to cover the Dell Inspiron 177000 series, a hyper
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mainstream model that bears more resemblance to my wife's compact from
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college than it does to anything else that I've ever covered on this channel.
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because it folds up to be a 17in sixlb
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tablet. What the
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Whoa. Mass Drop is featuring the M220
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semi-open headphones from AKG, boasting
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a pretty steel black and white color theme. Check them out at the link in the
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video description. Let's open up with the basics. When I
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say the Inspiron 177000 series is
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mainstream, I really do mean it. This is a moderately thin 17-in machine with
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solid build quality in the $900 to $1,400 price range. Not cheap enough to
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be a commodity box made of plastic, but
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it's not trying to be some kind of mobile workstation powerhouse. So, the
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hardware inside is pretty modest, keeping the overall cost fairly low.
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It's available with a Core i5 6200U or a
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Core i76500U. But like I mentioned in the Techquicky
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episode about what i3, i5, and i7 actually mean, the 6500U, while an i7,
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is actually a dual core hyperthreaded 15watt low power skew, not designed for
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more than moderate productivity or light content creation or gaming. Anyway, mine
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is the middle-of the road model, rocking the Core i7 processor option, 16 gigs of
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DDR4 RAM, a 128 gig SSD with a 1 TB hard
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drive for overflow, and a GeForce 940MX
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2 gig dedicated graphics card. Something I was pleased to see even on the
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entry-level model since a DGPU can make a big difference in certain video
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editing workloads, as I covered in my can you edit 4K video on an Ultrabook
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video here. In terms of I/IO, on the
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right is an SD card reader and a Are you
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for serious right now, Dell?
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Starting to remember why I don't cover mainstream stuff. A USB 2 port. This I
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got to see for Yeah, that's a USB 2
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port. Damn it, Dell. Anyway, on the left is a headphone microphone jack, a USB 3
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port, an HDMI 1.4 port, and a USB type-C
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port that'll handle USB and DisplayPort duties. and you can actually charge the
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laptop with it. So, that's kind of cool, I guess. Even if the IO isn't
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impressive, at least I can find some comfort in the solid construction. Good
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build quality actually doesn't really surprise me anymore since everything
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Dell has shipped me since they took the company private again has been very
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solid for the price. And the Inspiron 177000 continues this trend. The palm
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rests don't really flex unless you put a lot of pressure on them. The speakers
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are surprisingly good for bottom-mounted ones and don't suffer from that sounds
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like it's coming from behind you thing that I've experienced before. And the
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webcam is a solid pretty good. Though, if I was using this regularly for video
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conferencing, I would probably wish for a better microphone. Moving on to the
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experiential things. The keyboard is a little spongy, but it's quiet and didn't
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slow me down too much with a basically bog standard layout and the number pad
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being one of the nicest things about carrying around something this size.
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Side note, I'm glad keyboard backlights are standard now. The touchpad tracks
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well and is thankfully an appropriate size for the 17inch 1080p IPS
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touchscreen display. Another huge improvement over the displays of
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mainstream notebooks of your and I
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hadn't really used Windows Hello much, but the facial recognition from the
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integrated IR camera is really, really
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fast, even in pretty poor conditions. Though, I haven't experimented much with
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having other people try to break through it, so your mileage may vary. Let's talk
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about the killer app now, though. The laptop by day, tablet by night, twoin-
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one conversion that can be done with a quick backflip of the LCD panel.
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Honestly, whether it was watching
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movies, playing casual touchscreen games, or
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what else do people even do on tablets? I really wasn't sold on this feature.
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Dell's promotional images are all focused on touchscreen DJing
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applications and people enjoying concerts. So, I guess there's a market
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there that they're going to go in and corner. But from an average user's
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perspective, the weight, something Dell
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either forgot or conveniently omitted from the product page and size end up
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being more of a hindrance than a help for the Inspiron 177000 in this
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operating mode. But that's okay as long as the tablet mode doesn't hurt the way
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it functions as a normal laptop. So, does it? In a couple ways, maybe, but
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not much. The display is a bit heavier,
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making actual laptop operation less
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feasible since it's poorly balanced and will easily fall off your knees if you
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move around too much. And my guess is that the 360° hinge is the reason that
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it can't be lifted with one finger. But
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that's about it. Screen wobble, which some of you are probably noticing when I
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bang on this table, is almost entirely due to this table being unstable. It's
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not a laptop issue. So then if I was to
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completely ignore the twoin oneness, there's a lot to like here. Battery life
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is really solid. Thermals are a strong point with the aluminum chassis
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remaining at much lower temperatures than I'm accustomed to with all the
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gaming laptops that come through here, even while under heavy CPU load. And on
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that note, the dedicated GPU doesn't cause overheating either, even when it's
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working hard at the latest casual games like Lego Batman 2, making this machine
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suitable for keeping the kids busy, as long as they don't expect to be playing
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the latest AAA titles at 4K or whatever.
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This is what Tomb Raider looks like, by the way, at 720p, all lowest details.
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Not pretty, especially at less than 30 FPS. So, that's the bottom line here,
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then. If you can forgive the weight, something folks who desire a 17-inch
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laptop are probably going to have to deal with one way or the other, the
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Inspiron 177000 gets a solid recommendation, even if I personally
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think the tablet mode contributes nothing to the experience. And beyond
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that, made me feel kind of ridiculous while using it. Every time I do one of
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these spots for Blue Apron, it kind of annoys me because they're not available
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in Canada yet, and I have heard absolutely rave reviews about the
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service. It's really cool. So, Blue Apron allows you to create delicious
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chef-designed recipes at home. They deliver all the farm fresh ingredients
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that you need right to your doorstep in exactly the right proportions. No
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unnecessary trips to the grocery store, no wasted food, and they're delivered in
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a refrigerated box so the ingredients will stay fresh even if you're not at
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home when your package arrives. They offer two types of plans, the twoerson
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plan and the family plan. And there is no commitment. You can skip or cancel
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the service at any time. The meals are between 500 to 800 calories per person
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and can be prepared in 40 minutes or less, which is actually, from my rough
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napkin math, less than the time that it takes for me to gather up all the kids,
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go out to somewhere for takeout, and carry it home. I mean, it's actually
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more efficient to just make my own food and it's better for you. So, Blu-ray
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print offers a large selection of recipes and is always adding new dishes.
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And if all of this sounds appealing to you, all you got to do is be one of the
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first 100 people to use our link in the
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description below to get three free meals on your first Blue Apron order.
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So, go check that out. So, thanks for watching, guys. If this
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the video description. Also linked in the description is our merch store,
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which has cool shirts like this one and our community forum, which you should
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totally join. Now that you're done doing all that stuff, you're probably wondering what to watch next. So, click
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