15.6 inch Dell Inspiron i3542-3333BK
via Amazon
Dell Inspiron i3542-3333BK is a versatile and compact 15.6-inch laptop, suitable for school, work, home entertainment and multimedia but more like an everyday stuff kind of machine with the 4th generation i3 processor, 4GB RAM and 500GB storage space at a budget price.
Dell Inspiron has a 1.9 GHz base speed Haswell Intel Core i3-4030U processor (3M Cache), 4GB DDR3L SDRAM at 1600MHz (1x4GB), 500 GB Serial ATA hard drive at 5400 rpm rotational speed and the latest Windows 8.1 operating system as a stable platform to run all your apps, programs and browsers with the multitasking power of 4GB RAM. Intel i3-4030U release date is the second quarter of 2014 so it is a pretty new dual core processor designed for ultra books that stands out with its very high energy efficiency and although it is not capable of running the advanced games at higher settings with its integrated Intel HD 4400 graphics processor, it can run office and multimedia applications comfortably. 500GB is good amount of storage space- more than what most people would need for their pictures, music and movies.
15.6 inch screen with standard HD resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels and the integrated Intel HD 4400 graphics card still offers decent picture quality and the HD Audio enhanced with Wave MaxxAudio is not bad for sound at this price level for when you’re editing photos, playing songs, chatting on Skype through the built-in HD quality webcam or streaming videos. You have the HDMI port if you want to view your laptop display on your HDTV screen. It has an integrated Tray Load DVD drive, comes with a good variety of modern connectivity options such as 802.11 bin wireless, Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, 802.11 bgn wireless, Media Card Reader, 1 X USB 3.0 port for fast transfer of files to external devices, 2 x USB 2.0 ports and a built-in webcam with microphone. It allows you to get on with things faster with the FastAccess Facial Recognition.
Dell Inspiron i3542 weighs 6 pounds and has the dimensions of 19.02 x 13.39 x 1 inches, it is not a lightweight computer for a 15.6 inch screen but a fairly slim one so you can fit it in your bag and take anywhere you want easily. It comes with a 40 WHr 4-Cell battery that gives you up to 6.5 hours of battery life in normal daily use so you can go away from the power outlet with peace of mind. The English keyboard has a 10-key numpad for easier data entry, is not backlit for ease of use in the dark but is spill resistant as the accidents can and do happen- if you spill your drink into the keyboard, believe me it won’t be a good scene. It comes with a limited 1 year parts and labour warranty by Dell and a great 24/7 customer service in North America.
Conclusion: Dell Inspiron i3542-3333BK is a good budget notebook with technical specs that will help you perform your everyday tasks smoothly- including multitasking of a few apps and programs while keeping many browsers open. It is not a spectacular powerhouse kind of a machine on which you can play the latest demanding games or edit complex multimedia but it is more than adequate for pretty much everything else. It would be suitable for students as it doesn’t cost much, will be good for business use and more in home office setting as well as different kinds of home entertainment as both the video and audio quality are satisfactory although the screen is glossy. It is nice to have a DVD drive, Bluetooth connectivity, USB 3.0 ports, a spill resistant and ergonomic keyboard and a very long battery life.
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