Dell Inspiron 17R-3530DBK
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Average of 1 scores (from 1 reviews)
Reviews for the Dell Inspiron 17R-3530DBK
Source: PC Mag
Archive.org versionThe Dell Inspiron 17R (I17RN-3530DBK) delivers solid performance, thanks to its Core i7 CPU and a generous helping of DDR3 RAM. While it doesn’t blow the competition away it holds its own with other similarly priced and similarly configured desktop replacements. But a higher-resolution display would be a welcome upgrade, as would a Blu-ray player. An hour or two more of battery life would sweeten the deal. If you want a bit more graphics muscle, fuller sounding audio, and a durable metallic finish, the HP dv7-6143cl is the way to go, though it’ll cost you $120 more.
Single Review, online available, Very Short, Date: 10/18/2011
Rating: Total score: 70%
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Series:
The Dell Inspiron 17 5000 is a nice-looking desktop-replacement laptop that offers good productivity performance and decent battery life for a very affordable price. Dell’s Inspiron series used to aim at entry-level users who do not run resource-hungry applications, but the new Dell Inspiron aims to succeed with powerful and high-quality components. The notebook's lid is made of gunmetal-gray plastic with the Dell logo in silver. Lifting the lid reveals a 17.3-inch, 1920 × 1080 display surrounded by a thick bezel, an island-style keyboard, and a silver, plastic deck. At 6 pounds and 16.7 x 11 x 1 inches, the Inspiron is both larger and lighter than the competition. For example, the Dell Inspiron 17 7000 2-in-1 weighs 6.2 pounds and measures 16.2 x 10.9 x 0.9 inches. With its 1.2 millimeters of travel (1.5 to 2 mm is typical) and 74 grams of force required to press, the keyboard feels shallow. However, the 4.1 x 3.1-inch touchpad is nice and spacious and responds to Windows-10 gestures. A user can tap with three fingers to activate Cortana and swipe with ease with three fingers to show all open programs. The Inspiron 17 5000 appears to have a familiar Full-HD (1920 × 1080) IPS panel. As a result, the display has excellent viewing angles. It covers 94% of the sRGB color gamut, thus colors will appear vivid and vibrant. The display guarantees a pleasant multimedia experience thanks to the decent maximum brightness, wide sRGB coverage, high contrast ratio, and wide viewing angles.
As for the performance, the Dell Inspiron 17 5000 is equipped with an Intel Core i7-8550U, which is part of the new 8th-generation Kaby Lake Refresh family. With the latest alteration to the ULV (ultra-low voltage) processors, Intel doubles the core count from 2 to 4 and retains the so-called Hyper-Threading technology, keeping the same 14nm manufacturing process and the same 15W TDP. The chip also incorporates a newer Intel Gen-9.5 integrated graphics card called Intel UHD Graphics 620. For graphics, the laptop has an AMD Radeon 530, which is made for entry-level notebooks and can be used for general multimedia and light gaming. The memory setup consists of 4 GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 2250 MHz that is connected to the graphics processor using a 64-bit interface. For storage, it has a 1TB HDD and a 128GB SSD. The RAM installed in this laptop consists of 8 GB of DDR4 at 2400 MHz. Due to the limited 3-cell, 42Wh charge and rather demanding Full-HD 17.3-inch IPS display, the battery life is definitely not the best. Still, it should get users at least a couple of hours away from the plug. On the left side of the laptop, users will find the power jack, Ethernet, HDMI output, a pair of USB-3.0 ports and a headphone jack. On the right side are a DVD drive, a USB-2.0 port, an SD-card reader, and a Noble lock slot.
Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam
Intel HD Graphics 3000: Integrated graphics card in the Intel Sandy Bridge processors (Core ix-2xxx). The HD 3000 is the faster (internally GT2 called) version with 12 Execution Units (EUs).
Only some 3D games with very low demands are playable with these cards.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
Intel Core i7: The Intel Core i7 for laptops is based on the LG1156 Core i5/i7 CPU for desktops. The base clock speed of the CPUs is relatively low, but because of a huge Turbo mode, the cores can dynamically overclock to up to 3.2 GHz (920XM). Therefore, the CPU can be as fast as high clocked dual-core CPUs (using single threaded applications) but still offer the advantage of 4 cores. Because of the large TDP of 45 W / 55 W, the CPU is only intended for large laptops.
2630QM: Fast Quad-core processor based on the Sandy Bridge architecture with an integrated graphics card and dual-channel DDR3 memory controller. » Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.
17.30": This display size is a standard format for desktop replacements (DTR). The DTR laptops are heavier to carry, need more power, but texts are easy to read and high resolutions are no problem. DTR are mainly intended for stationary desk use, where weight and energy hunger don't matter. In return, you enjoy the advantages of high resolutions (more details, better legibility).» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.
3.3 kg:
A laptop with this weight is comparatively heavy and less designed for mobility than for use at the desk. Therefore, the devices tend to shine less with battery life than with a large screen and higher performance.
Dell: Dell is a U.S. manufacturer (based in Texas) of computer hardware founded in 1984 and is one of the largest international manufacturers in terms of both market share and notebook models. Its product line includes desktops, notebooks, storage systems, monitors, servers, printers, consumer electronics and peripherals. Dell offers laptops that are suitable for various applications, such as business laptops, gaming laptops, ultra portables and workstations. Dell's business laptops from the Latitude and Precision series are an option for professional users and businesses.
In 2023, Dell had an approximate 17% market share of global PC sales, ranking #3 after Lenovo and HP.
For gaming enthusiasts, Dell's Alienware brand is for gaming notebooks.
70%: This rating is poor. More than three quarters of the models are rated better. That is rather not a purchase recommendation. Even if verbal ratings in this area do not sound that bad ("sufficient" or "satisfactory"), they are usually euphemisms that disguise a classification as a below-average laptop.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.
