Great little laptop for the price. I bought this to replace an older, aging Asus ROG laptop and I absolutely love using it! It starts up fast, plays all my games great, and is nearly half the weight of my old gaming laptop! The fingerprint scanner works every time and is a much appreciated addition to the computer. The keyboard deck is a firm aluminum, which makes typing and using the laptop in normal use feel very premium, despite the rest of the chassis being made of plastic, though the plastic certainly does not feel cheap. The computer has a very professional look to it with a hint of that gamer charm in the red accents and keyboard. I personally find it to be a very tasteful and minimalist design, as opposed to the more flashy gaming laptops on the market, though others may disagree.
The screen is great for most uses, however it can seem a bit washed out in some areas and when it goes black you can see some backlight bleed around the camera. Other than that, it works just fine for everyday use and gaming, and I don't have any issues with viewing angles. Speaking of angles, however, the screen does not bend back very far. For use on a desk or table this won't be too much of an issue, but on your lap or propped up against your knees while laying down in bed, this can present some awkward viewing positions where you're looking above the screen, rather than directly at it. I don't have a huge issue with this, but others might.
The keyboard feels very tactile and easy to type on. Keystrokes are smooth and consistent and the WASD keys have a nice outline to them, further accenting the gaming aspects of this laptop. The keys seem to have a bit of a hollow, plasticky feel to them, but this does not detract from the experience unless you're the nitpicky type. I have not had any issues using this keyboard thus far.
The trackpad could be better, but it's not horrible. I was a little spoiled to the higher end trackpad of my ROG with the smooth glass feel, so coming to the textured plastic feel of this Inspiron is different. Precision is rather good and gestures work with no issues.
As far as sound is concerned the computer is silent during light use, such as web browsing and even watching YouTube. When I played Metal Gear Solid V, the fans kicked in but were not that loud or distracting. However, jumping over to PUBG, the fans went into overdrive, presumably because that game is much more processing intensive. You'll want to invest in a good set of headphones if you don't like to hear fans mixed in with your game sound.
Speaking of sound, the internal speakers are good for the price point. They are not the best and a better set of external speakers or a good set of headphones will be much better. The internal speakers, even maxed out, seem a little quiet. For normal use they'll get the job done, but you'll probably want headphones of your own.
The GeForce GTX1060 6GB packed into this machine has played whatever game I throw at it, from Fallout 4 to PUBG, at a consistent 60 frames per second. Even on battery the laptop can handle gaming, if at lower graphics settings and for a rather short 1 hour of playtime. Like any gaming laptop, you'll want to keep this one plugged in to play. Battery life, otherwise, has been hovering around 4-5 hours before needing a charge, a marked improvement for me over my ROG, which could barely hold 2 hours before dying.
TL;DR: You're not going to find another laptop at this price point that delivers what this one does. I paid $899 for mine, the other laptop I was looking at was the Acer Predator Helios 300, which packs a more powerful processor but does not have the SSD and HDD included, only the SSD. I would have had to pay another $50-60 for an additional HDD, along with the $1000 price tag of the Helios. This Dell saved me nearly $200 and delivers all the performance I need without needing to buy more stuff along with it. If you're looking for a gaming laptop that won't break the bank while delivering excellent performance, this is the one to get.
| Standing screen display size | 15.6 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 pixels |
| Max Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 Pixels |
| Processor | 3.5 GHz 8032 |
| RAM | 8 GB 2-in1 Media Card Reader, USB 3.1, Type-C |
| Memory Speed | 2400 MHz |
| Hard Drive | 1024 GB SSD |
| Graphics Coprocessor | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 |
| Chipset Brand | Intel |
| Card Description | Integrated, Dedicated |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 6 GB |
| Wireless Type | Bluetooth |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 4 |
