Dell Inspiron 13 7370 (i5-8250U) Laptop Review

The simple silver matte case only has a few visual highlights, such as the flowery stripes on the back of the lid, the glowing Dell-logo, the highly glossy rim of the ClickPad as a well as the noticeable on/off button that doubles as a fingerprint sensor. Although the case is slightly sunken underneath the ClickPad, the edges on the top of the base feel too sharp. Fingerprints cannot be seen on any surface; the presented subnotebook always looks brand new.

The base can only be contorted with substantial force and within very narrow boundaries, and produces nothing more than a modest clicking sound. The lid also leaves behind a very strong impression, although it is not uniformly resistant to pressure and cannot be opened without holding down the device. A benefit of this is that it barely wobbles when the laptop is shifted backwards and is held firmly in position. The manufacturing makes a flawless impression.

Competing in the arena with our review unit and the MS Surface Laptop are two especially compact subnotebooks. The Tecra X40-D has the highest spec and ends up the heaviest laptop in the test, illustrating Toshiba has different priorities. The HP Spectre is only somewhat thinner than the Tecra, but has the smallest profile with a height of only 10.4 mm (~0.4 in). In addition, it is around 200 to 300 grams (~7 to 11 oz) lighter than its competitors.

Naturally, there is limited space for ports on thin and compact subnotebooks. Nevertheless, the Inspiron 13 7000 comes with 3 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, of which one is implemented as a Type C connection, and one can charge USB devices when the laptop is turned off. Missing are Thunderbolt and DisplayPort connections; there is only HDMI. The spacing between the ports is not generous, but sufficient. Dell houses the ports towards the rear on both sides, where there is less risk of accidental collisions with cables and USB sticks.

The SD card reader on the Toshiba device was good enough to support a USB 3.0 connection. On the other hand, our Inspiron 13 annoys photographers with its sluggish USB 2.0 speeds, which are not appropriate for its marked-up price. These measurements were carried out with our reference SD card, the Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II.

Taking care of wireless communications is the Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265, the common Wi-Fi module from 2014. The review unit leads in the pack in terms of upload speeds under ideal conditions one meter (~3 feet) away from our reference router Linksys EA8500 and comes very close to reaching the limit afforded by the overhead. However, it falls somewhat short of expectations in receiving data. Bluetooth is naturally included. Those wanting to use the current 4.2 version will probably need to install a driver update.

In view of people using the device on the go, the manufacturer has included not only an up-to-date TPM 2.0 chip, but also an on/off switch that doubles as a fingerprint sensor. This can easily be set up with the help of Windows Hello and unlocks the device quickly and reliably.

Just like the vast majority of laptops, the Dell 13 7370 only comes with the unavoidable QuickStart guide and safety notices in addition to its conveniently light and compact power pack. Dell is not offering accessories designed especially for the 7000 Series, although it probably sells generally useful accessories such as an external optical hard drive.

Since the device lacks a maintenance flap and an externally removable battery, ten screws must be removed from the bottom to gain access to the device’s internals. However, this unfortunately is not as easy as dismantling the maintenance flap. As the "tub" (tub-shaped area that houses the keys) extends all the way to the top side of the base, the latter can only be removed along with the keyboard, which in our experience can be somewhat of a hindrance. In addition, the potential loss of warranty should be considered.

As usual, Dell only offers one year of manufacturer warranty. However, it is a pick-up and delivery service. This does not interfere with the guarantees that a retailer is legally bound to provide. Longer warranties can be purchased and extended through Dell as well as selected retailers. Please see our Guarantees, Return Policies & Warranties FAQ for country-specific information.

The built-in Intel Core i5-8250U CPU (4 x 1.6 - 3.4 GHz, Hyperthreading, TDP 15 W) truly represents a new innovation. It is a refreshed Kaby Lake chip that was first introduced in August 2017 and is capable of working eight threads simultaneously, with twice the number of cores as well as Hyperthreading in comparison to older Kaby Lake chips such as the extremely common office multimedia i5-7200 processor (2x 2.5 - 3.1 GHz, Hyperthreading, TDP 15W). As the ULV-TDP has meanwhile remained at 15 W, the base clock speed had to be reduced to 1.6 GHz, which is made up for by the Turbo speeds reaching up to 3.4 GHz. The 8250U is already able to leave the 7200U in single thread benchmarks in its dust.

On account of the two additional cores and the increased turbo clock speed, Intel claims that a performance increase of up to 40% can be expected when running appropriate software. But at the end of the day, how well the chip will actually perform is heavily dependent on the cooling solution of the respective laptop. With respect to the four cores with only a 15-watt TDP, throttling is to be expected when operating under heavy loads.

Our Cinebench loop, which simulates a high, but still realistic scenario of sustained usage, shows how much the frequency can vary. While the clock speeds kept close to initial values in our first six tests, they collapse spectacularly later on, only to eventually recover. The single core Cinebench R15 test scores follow the respective single-core turbo speeds of the respective CPUs, while the quad-core processor separates itself from the pack in the multi-thread test as expected. The scores do not fall in comparison to initial values when running on battery.

Subjectively, the performance of the Inspiron 7370 is always smooth, as you would expect from the built in processor along with the SSD. The HP and Toshiba owe their slight advantage in the Work Benchmark in PCMark 8 to their faster Samsung SSDs. However, in the Home Benchmark, our review device comes out on top again with its four cores.

The Intel HD Graphics 620 graphics processor that could be found in the first generation Kaby Lake processors (e.g. i5-7200U) has been renamed the Intel UHD Graphics 620 and reintroduced without modification in the refreshed Kaby Lake chips. Its performance is as weak as ever. While 2D tasks are completed without a hitch and at low levels of power consumption, most current 3D games cannot even run smoothly on the lowest graphics settings at a resolution of 1024x768 or 1280x720.

As a shared memory GPU, the 620 benefits from the fast dual-channel RAM in the Dell Inspiron 7370, but in general, it has to make do with the low ULV-TDP of only 15 watts, which it then has to share with four instead of two physical cores in the i5-8250. Our review device was nonetheless in first place among its competitors in terms of pure graphics performance in the 3DMarks 11 and 13, and was at least able to reach 63 FPS in the graphics-easy Farming Simulator 17 on medium presets (1366x768). The combined score in the 3DMark (2013) test did not fall when the device ran on battery.

Frequenzdiagramm im Vergleich (Checkboxen oben an-/abwählbar!)

The device uses somewhat more power than its competitors do in our test because of the four cores of its 15-8250U. This speaks to the fact that higher power consumption is more noticeable under load than when idling. All measured energy consumption values remain within the normal range for this class of laptop.

Most users should get through a whole day of mobile use, with the device lasting almost seven hours in our practical Wi-Fi Test at reduced levels of brightness. To be on the safe side, you would need nine to ten hours of battery life, which only the Surface Laptop can achieve in our test lineup with an approximately 18% larger battery. The Toshiba Tecra performs poorly in our Wi-Fi test with its 48 Wh (+ 26%) battery and can only differentiate itself from its 38 Wh competitors when idling.