New Dell Inspiron 15R

The Dell Inspiron 15R is a good budget notebook with great design and good battery life. The notebook suits those who want a high performing laptop without paying extortionate prices, perfect for students.

What we like best

The Dell Inspiron 15R is one of the few dell Laptops with an Intel Ivy Bridge processor, giving the computer more power while using less energy.

Our favourite feature on the Dell Inspiron 15R, although perhaps a little superficial, is the interchangeable lid. With over 30 different lids to choose from, you can really personalise your laptop.

It’s a very sleek and beautifully designed notebook with round edges and few curves, making it look more expensive than it is.

The notebook isn’t missing anything on the connectivity front. It has two 2.0 USB ports, one of which can double as eSATA as well as two 3.0 USB ports. There’s also an HDMI 1.4 port, a SDXC card reader and a Gigabit Ethernet port. If you want to stay wireless, don’t worry. The computer has Wi-fi N and Bluetooth, as well as a HD webcam to keep you happy.

The battery life is also worth a mention. It boasts one of the best batteries of any notebook on the market, which is really convenient if you need to use it on the road.

What we like least

The keyboard is well spaces out and easy to type on and there has definitely been some thought put into it. The only problem we have with it, is the rattling noise it makes when you type which could get very annoying. Saying that, the track pad is better than expected; it’s very responsive and has multi touch capabilities like zoom and scrolling.

The high gloss screen is also a problem. Although it’s expected with a budget notebook, the glaring is rather annoying. It also means that the viewing angles are quite restricted, and from the side it’s hard to see much at all.