Dell Inspiron R 15 inch laptop review (video)

The Inspiron R is the latest model from Dell’s entry level laptop line, offering some great features at a reasonable price.

New Dell Inspiron R by Tomas Mowlam at PC Site

The internals specs are standard for a laptop in this price range, with an Intel Core i5 CPU (M430 @ 2.27GHz) with 4GB RAM and a 500 GB hard drive.

The Inspiron R packs a 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 graphics card, which makes it good for gaming and means it’ll easily handle HD content on the 15.6 inch (1366×768) WLED display.

The display is one of the few faults on this machine; very glossy it becomes difficult to read in environments with light interference.

There’s a 7 in 1 card reader, one joint USB e/SATA socket, three USBs, a wired LAN, a security slot, VGA port, audio in, audio out and an HDMI port.

The placement of two of the USBs at the back of the laptop is a minor inconvenience, and watch out for the wireless switch which is now on the F2 key.

At the front there are two speakers which give cracking sound for a mid range laptop, and handled our bassy music selections without a hint of distortion. Though the placement of speakers on the front means they’re angled down and lose some volume.

There’s a disable touchpad key, which could be useful if you’re in for a long typing session, and the actual pad is very responsive with two physical buttons.

In terms of appearance the Inspiron R feels sturdy despite an all plastic construction thanks to a moulded rim, suggesting the body and top plate wont part company as with many laptops. Our review model came with a metallic pink lid and was resistant to mucky fingerprints.

It’s also nice to see a proper tray drive for the DVD-RW, sure they’re not as swish as slot drive, but they’re hell of a lot quieter.

The keyboard is good to type on and usefully comes with a dedicated numeric keypad. The only annoyance is the arrow keys, which have been shrunk down in order to accommodate the number pad.

Battery life was average tipping four hours of light use on standard setting.

What we like

Good build quality, powerful components for a modest price tag

What we don’t like

Tiny arrow keys, USBs on the back. Yeah we’re petty.

Specifications

• Intel Core i5 M430 @ 2.27GHz
• 4GB DDR3 RAM
• 500 GB 5,400 RPM hard drive
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 graphics card
• DVD-RW Drive
• Dell Wireless 1501 Mini Card (802.11g/n)
• 7 in 1 card reader, 1x USB e/SATA socket, 3x USBs, 1x wired LAN, 1x VGA port, 1x audio in, 1x audio out and 1x HDMI port
• 15.6 inch (1366×768) WLED display
• Windows 7