Dell Inspiron i3531-1200BK 15.6 inch Laptop Review

15.6 inch Dell Inspiron i3531-1200BK
via Amazon

Dell Inspiron i3531-1200BK is the lowest cost 15.6 inch laptop PC with still decent features and specs that enable it to perform well and be a good helper in daily tasks. It is light, slim and portable, has a spill-resistant keyboard with 10-key numpad, a good quality Truelife LED backlit display, sufficient RAM and hard drive and comes with the latest Windows 8.1 pre-installed.

Dell Inspiron i3531 has the Intel Celeron N2830 (1M Cache) processor at 2.16 GHz up to 2.41 GHz Processor with burst, 4GB Single Channel DDR3 memory at 1600MHz (1x4GB) to do problem-free multitasking, 500GB at 5400rpm hard drive plus 20GB of free DropBox space for 12 months and Windows 8.1 operating system.. The budget dual core Celeron N2830 processor is designed for day-to-day things and works faster than processors like N2850- budget Intel Atom processor.

Don’t expect to play modern day games or to use complex multimedia or engineering programs on it but internet surfing, word processing, spreadsheets, light games and other daily things are fine. Both the storage space and system memory are more than adequate- even quite generous for a laptop at the price level. Then you have the Windows 8.1 with its even better features than the Windows 8, after a small learning curve you’re a lot likely to like it more than even the older Windows 7 or XP. Beautiful 15.6 inch LED backlit display with high contrast Truelife and HD resolution with a maximum of 1366 x 768 pixel resolution and Intel HD graphics with base frequency of 313-750MHz.

There is no optical drive on this model, no Ethernet connectivity and no Bluetooth but 802.11 bin wireless, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI port, 4-in-1 Media Card Reader that supports SD/SDHC/MS/MS Pro formats and a security slot. Modern Dell Inspiron with textured lid and palm rest weighs 4.67 lbs (well under 5 lbs so quite light for a 15.6 inch laptop as it doesn’t have a DVD drive) with dimensions of 0.98 x 15 x 10.2 inches. Its 4-cell lithium ion battery should give you around 6 to 6.5 hours of battery life. It comes with a full-size keyboard with 10-key numpad for easy data entry and that is spill-resistant. You also have a touchpad that supports multiple gestures and allows integrated scrolling.

Conclusion: The first thing that we noticed with the Dell Inspiron i3531-1200BK is its price tag as it has to be the one of the cheapest computers we’ve reviewed so far and started wondering how they can offer a well-functioning computer at this price. Well, we were pleasantly surprised with what it’s all about and its features such as the spill-resistant keyboard for when you spill your coffee into the keys, 10-key numpad, long long battery life, great quality WLED screen, generous amounts of RAM and SATA hard drive and Intel Celeron processor that is well capable of performing daily tasks. Sure it doesn’t have a DVD drive but when was the last time you needed one? No Bluetooth and a USB dongle costs a few bucks online, feel free to order with your purchase of this computer.

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