Inspiron 15R Special Ed. Core i5 1080p 15.6" Laptop $600 at Dell

RJHNY1

Member
Jan 28, 2002
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From bensbargains.net:

Is this a good laptop?

Dell has the Dell Inspiron 15R 7520 Special Edition 3rd Generation Core i5 1080p 15.6" Laptop (Stealth Black Anodized Aluminum) for $700 - $100 off with coupon code 3J836$$3GHW127 [Exp 9/14] = $600 with free shipping.

Intel Core i5-3230M 2.6GHz, 6GB DDR3 memory, 750GB HDD
2GB AMD Radeon HD 7730M GPU, 1080p LED display, Win 8 x64

I'm looking for a laptop in the $500 range. I'm just going to use it for regular home use. Some guidance would be most appreciated.
 

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
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Yes, it's a good laptop. The alu case ones are actually fairly sturdy, too. The displays have been pretty good, as well. Not a great laptop, but the overall design and build quality are good, and definitely $600 worth, IMO.

The main cons are battery life, it's not all thin and light, and that the HDD is going to be slow. Without serious portable use, that's probably not a big deal, and you can keep an SSD upgrade in the back of your head for the near future (when Thanksgiving rolls around, jump!).

It might be a little overkill, actually, and you won't need the GPU, and would probably be fine with a lesser CPU, but the case, display, and keyboard (yes, even though it's a chiclet), are good for the money. Also, the cooling is sufficient, though it can get loud if you put under a strain for more than maybe 10 seconds.
 

RJHNY1

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Jan 28, 2002
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What do you mean the HDD is going to be slow? 750 is a lot of storage space, no?

Should I keep looking for a better computer and a better deal? I'm not in a rush.
 

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
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What do you mean the HDD is going to be slow? 750 is a lot of storage space, no?
Slow as in a 5400 RPM HDD, needing 10-20ms to seek, v. an SSD needing typically <1ms. Most SSD-only laptops (of reasonable build quality, anyway) have typically stayed pricey, though, for various reasons. When supplementing one or more other home computers, storage space tends not to matter too much, once you get past maybe 100GB (get a NAS, or share out a folder on your desktop, and you're golden).

Should I keep looking for a better computer and a better deal? I'm not in a rush.
This one is good for what it is, but is what it is what you're after (in particular, will one a bit slower and cheaper, but otherwise similar, show up soon?)? That's a value call I don't have an answer for.
 
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