The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Performance, Storage, Battery & Verdict
Contents
The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Performance
The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 (Price Check) laptop is powered by the 8th Generation Intel Core i7 or Core i5 processor. Specifically, you have the option of either using the Intel Core i7-8550U or the Intel Core i5-8250U processor.
The Intel Core i7-8550U has a maximum clock speed of 4 GHz and a 8 MB L3 cache, while the Core i5-8250U has a maximum clock speed of 3.4 GHz and a 6 MB L3 cache. Despite being quad-core processors with large caches, they are low-power 15 W processors.
Surprisingly for a laptop in this price range, it has a dedicated graphics processor – the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX with 384 stream processors. While it uses the older NVIDIA GM108 GPU,, it is still far more powerful than the Intel UHD Graphics 620 integrated graphics, especially when it comes with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory.
Our model came with 8 GB of fast DDR4-2400 memory, which is fantastic. Anything less will greatly limit the performance of this laptop.
Dell offers 4 GB of DDR4-2400 memory with the Core i5 model, but we recommend upgrading to 8 GB.
The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Storage
The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 (Price Check) comes with both a M.2 solid state drive, and a SATA hard disk drive. The Core i5 base model comes with a small 128 GB SanDisk X400 SSD, while the Core i7 premium mdoel comes with a roomier 256 GB SanDisk X400 SSD. Both models come with a 1 TB Seagate ST1000LM035 hard disk drive.
Our model came with the 256 GB SSD, which is very nice. We have to point out that with a 128 GB SSD, you will be left with about 93 GB of free space in the SSD – hardly enough to install more than a few applications and a game or two.
That said, it comes with a 1 TB hard disk drive. It may be much slower than the SSD, but it offers plenty of storage space for your other applications, games and content. Just remember not to shake or drop the laptop while you’re using it!
The Battery
The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 (Price Check) is powered by a small 3-cell lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 42 WHrs, which is recharged by a 65 W power adaptor. We understand the need to keep the Inspiron 15 7000 thinner and lighter, but this means it has a relatively short battery life.
In our battery life tests running YouTube videos on the Inspiron 15 7000 with the display brightness set to 40%, it lasted 4 hours. In our real world usage tests, we were able to work on it for about 5 hours before the battery capacity dropped to 10%.
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Our Verdict On The Dell Inspiron 15 7000
The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 (Price Check) may be a workhorse model, but it follows the trend of making thinner and lighter laptops. It is now just 20 mm thick, and weighs just 2 kg. A far cry from the older 15.6″ Inspiron models of the past.
In fact, the overall size of the Inspiron 15 7000 has been reduced, Thanks to thinner bezels, the large 15.6″ display fits in a form factor that is closer to that of a traditional 14″ laptop.
What the Inspiron 15 7000 lacks in inspired beauty, it makes up for in sheer power – quad-core Intel processors, and an NVIDIA GeForce 940MX GPU with 4GB of RAM. It even comes with dual storage drives – a fast solid state drive, and a large capacity hard disk drive.
The truly unfortunate thing is its small 3-cell battery. We managed to get 5 hours of real-world usage out of it. Not bad considering how much performance we are getting out of the Inspiron 15 7000, but it sure gave us battery life anxiety when we used it on-the-go.
All in all, the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 (Price Check) offers a nice combination of powerful computing and graphics performance with a large display in a relatively thin and compact form factor. On top of that, you get the best of both worlds when it comes to storage – a very fast solid state drive + a spacious hard disk drive.
| Pros | Cons |
| 15.6″ Full HD IPS display with 178° viewing angle | Small battery capacity, with a relatively short battery life |
| Smaller form factor that is 20 mm thin, and only weighs 2.0 kg | Unimpressive speakers |
| Comes with both an SSD and a HDD | Bulky power adaptor |
| Has an NVIDIA GeForce 940MX GPU with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory | |
| Cool-running, thanks to improved cooling solution | |
| Fingerprint sensor and infra-red camera for quick Windows Hello login. | |
| Full-sized backlit spill-resistant keyboard |
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Thank you for this review. I’ll probably buy it now. Like other Dell notebooks, this one seems to have user-replacement parts as well. As availability & prices happen, I’ll be replacing the SSD, HDD and other parts, as usual.
My 2013 model Dell XPS-15 has an old Intel i7.
Now to an upgrade, with user-added 2TB HDD and 2TB SSD, but the fastest Intel CPU, at the moment. Only my “old” 2TB HDD might transfer to the new unit, but prices have dropped so much now, that the old 2TB HDD to 4TB is easily upgraded.
On the audio upgrades, many hardware options now exist. Bluetooth & other wifi units of all kinds. Cabled units of many types also are easy, cheap & high quality now. Trouble is that these options are so new, so rapid, that that this year’s “best” changes each year. The low-priced items being made in China, with strange China-brands, seem worth purchasing, every year now, imho.