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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program
*** Quick edit / update: I need to say that all around, this is a very good laptop. It performs well and has a great keyboard with a more than adequate screen. It has touch screen capability and has plenty of ports. It is small enough to be mobile and powerful enough to be a desktop replacement. All in all, a solid, solid machine.You will get good value from this machine and should do great for many years.
First of all, the Dell 15R here is a solid performer in all areas except one. I would certainly give it a solid 5 stars for performance and value except for one detail. The screen resolution. I am not sure why all the windows 8 laptops that have touch enabled have moved to this lower resolution. The resolution is slightly better than 720p, but not by much. The additional cost to upgrade a screen size to full 1080p couldn't have been that large. So it makes me think it must have something to do with the touch screen interface and the ability of windows 8.
Anyway the keyboard is fantastic, the battery life is very respectable (I was able to get 5 hours + of decent use), and it has a good array of usb ports, a dvd drive, a HDMI port, and a sd card reader. This is really best designed for students that need a laptop that they can do everything at the dorm and occasionally pack it up and take it to the library.
The finish is good, but when when you pick it up, it has the plastic bottom. Bummer. It feels very solid and I have no doubt the quality of the machine will allow it to last.
Pro's:
1. Solid and capable construction with a nice brushed aluminum look tot he cover and keyboard area
2. Fantastic keyboard that is wonderful to type on. Good travel and no flex.. Awesome ..
3. Very fast processor, good drive space (500GB), and good amount of RAM
4. Has all the ports you need and a dvd drive
5. Good price with tech support (not mom and dad at 10 pm on a wed night yippie!)
6. Touch screen, but this is low on the list. I am not sure that the touchscreen is all that useful for 99% of the work you do an a laptop ... I think it is kinda gimmicky ...
Cons:
1. Plastic bottom, with no sex appeal :(
2. Low Screen resolution
3. Windows 8 (jury is still out, but I like windows 7, hopefully windows 8.1 will bring back the productivity of win 7)
Otherwise, you cannot beat the affordability and the "bang for the buck" in productive tasks. It works, it is fast, and will handle anything you throw at it. Any student will be able to do whatever school work and more on this machine. Just be warned, that if your new college student is at all socially minded and wants to be like the other kids, they will want a mac. While Dell has done a good job at making an attempt at a sexy laptop, it just doesn't compare to a sexy macbook.
This is an effort to match the affordability and raw horsepower of a Dell, but also adding some design elements (cover and keyboard platform in brushed aluminum) to give it some respectability, just wait to pick it up and put it away when everyone else isn't looking.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This is a very good laptop, and overall nice parts overweight its issues. However the price is approaching ultraportable levels, so the choice is not a clear cut one.
First the things I liked:
The touch input actually works. The combination of the touch screen, with the trackpad makes both local movements (like scrolling), and targeted movements (like closing a window) very easy to perform. The Dell configuration application is very useful for this purpose. Yet, I should say that I could not get some of the trackpad gestures working.
There is actually little "crapware" installed on the system. I only needed to uninstall the antivirus, and some Intel drives (you would not need RAID on a laptop). This is of course if you like the installed OS that comes with the system.
Overall performance is very good, the boot speed is fast, and applications rarely slow down. The only thing I would recommend after switching the antivirus program is getting an SSD. I could not find this model offered with such on option neither here on Amazon nor on Dell's own site. This makes the installation harder. Unfortunately UEFI and OS migration rarely work smoothly.
It is very silent. The third generation core processor helps keep the fan off most of the time.
The laptop seems to be upgradeable. There is easy access to RAM, disk, and several other on board items. If you need more headroom in the future, this might help keep your options open.
The battery life is rather good. I can use it for a few days without needing a recharge. My usage is light, but the battery easily lasts more than six hours in total.
There are a few bad parts though:
The port locations are not optimal. The USB on the right side is on the middle, below the optical drive. This makes connecting a wired mouse more difficult than necessary.
The SD card reader is only USB 2.0. I understand that USB 3 bandwidth is precious, and better spent on regular ports, however given recent expansion of SD storage, I would prefer to transfer my media faster. An HD recording easily takes 10GB per hour depending on bitrates.
The driver update failed on the first run. Generally OEM software for these kind of purposes are really low quality, and Dell's updater is only slightly above average.
Wifi did not work on 5GHz band. For most apartments, this is a less congested option than the regular 2.4GHz.
My overall judgement about this laptop is positive. While there are annoyances, they are minor. This is a job well done by Dell.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I have a mixed relationship with Dell laptops. I have been using or helping those who are using Dell laptops since about 2004. They had a great build quality then, great service and prices. But, it seems that Dell goes up and down in quality as the years past. You never know if you're buying during a lemon year (2008) or a great year (2006). I note those years because those are specific laptops. My wife had one from late 2008 and it was constantly causing problems. Constantly crashing, restarting, freezing. It was always a bother, even with lots of attention. Finally died entirely early last year.
On the other side, I got a laptop in very early 2007. Still use it. I've replaced some parts here and there, like the touchpad and keyboard and LED screen. But, it keeps on ticking. Works great. We got a Dell Desktop in 2010 and it works great.
So I want to like Dell, but I've known others who have mixed stories like we do, and so I'm cautious.
Dell has a winner with the Inspiron 15R here. I recommend it absolutely. It's not a sleek, light laptop, but you have to pay a fair amount more for that. It's really the laptop that has been around for about 10 years, updated with contemporary technology. And updated well.
First of all, it has Windows 8. Windows 8 can be a real bother for all kinds of reasons, but I find this computer works as well with it as possible. No glitches or crashes or any problems. My wife has an HP model of similar build and price, and it seems to have consistent problems with drivers or other concerns which cause a freeze. After 6 weeks of constant use of this (I'm a professor and writer), not a single problem. The trick to getting Windows 8 to work right is a very cheap program called Start8. Look it up online, made by stardock. It basically restores Windows 7 convenience while still making use of Windows 8 functionality.
As to this computer. The touchscreen works wonderful, though, I find I have to remind myself to use it. I'm used to the old fashioned way. Add to this the problem that Microsoft insists on Windows 8 having a touchscreen look, while not really making a touchscreen all that necessary. For instance, the Office programs have very little touchscreen functionality that I've found. It's good for apps and such but basically a distraction.
Features include USB 3.0, which is the newer standard and makes USB transfers extremely fast. Which usually isn't a big concern except for backing up onto an external hard drive. And with only 500GB of space on this computer, I'd definitely recommend an external if you're doing any multimedia. There's also an HDMI out, which is wonderful, but there's no VGA out, so if you're planning to use this for presentations you might need to get an adapter.
This 15R has strong wi-fi and bluetooth, picking up and holding onto signals better. I have a Onkyo CS-355 CD Hi-Fi Mini System with Bluetooth. The bluetooth signals from other laptops I tried would be very, very tentative. Move the wrong way, signal is lost. Sit the wrong way (like with the laptop on your lap) it would lose the signal. With this laptop, it's consistent and strong. Another one of those minor strengths that points to the overall build quality of this laptop and the components they are using. In other words, they're not shoving in cheap and sketchy components just in order to boast about features. The features work and they work well.
The memory is 6GB, which is probably the minimum for good running computers these days, however, it's easily upgraded. It often costs more to have higher memory upfront than to upgrade later.
Video works solid, HD though not the highest resolution. Honestly, you probably won't notice. I don't notice a big difference between my computer and my wife's, which has a dedicated video card and higher resolution. Such dedicated cards take away battery life and add complexity to the system, resulting in more problems.
The touchscreen itself is great. Multi-touch, meaning it can sense at least ten points of contact. I only have 10 fingers, so that's all I was willing to test. Very sensitive, very fluid. There are good apps that do make use of it well.
My one complaint has to do with the screen. Very glossy which means very reflective. Turn it on and you're looking at yourself in a reflection. It has good brightness, so mostly overcomes this, but if you're working outside a lot, this might be an issue.
All in all, I'm exceedingly pleased with this model. I'm not entirely sold on touchscreen necessity yet, but the great thing about this is it's a bit more future-proofed should software (like Word or Powerpoint!) be increasingly more touchscreen optimized. It makes for a great bridge between a traditional laptop and a workable tablet like access. Great for school or work. It has worked well with all the software I've used and that includes Microsoft Office, the new Adobe Suite, Corel Painter, and other multimedia. Not a glitch, or a problem to note at all.
Highly recommend if you're looking for a workhorse laptop with a touchscreen.
Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron 15R i15RMT-5099SLV 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Moon
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program First of all, this laptop ships with Windows 8, "Metro" user interface and all. This isn't going to be a review of Windows 8, but users should be aware that it's a huge and weird UI shift anyhow.
Second, it has a touch screen. You might not think you want it, but this is a surprisingly great feature for everyday tasks like web-surfing and scrolling as you read documents. It's not perfect -I found it sometimes mistook a swipe for a click, with unintended results, and it's very hard to tap small targets -but it's pretty good. The screen itself is somewhat thicker, and feels more like the image is under glass (rather than like the pixels are right at the surface), as a result, but it's a reasonable tradeoff for the neat functionality.
The 15R's hardware specs are all very reasonable, especially considering the price. But before buying, check the pricing on the 8 GB / 1000 GB model before purchasing -the prices fluctuate, and sometimes the more capacious unit seems to be available for a very small upcharge over this one.
The other thing to realize is that it's a very big and bulky laptop. It's every bit as thick and clunky in shape as you might think, and it's much heavier than the claimed weight -Dell's data sheet says it has a 5.1 lb "starting weight," whatever that is, but the actual laptop (with battery, but without counting the power adapter) weighs 5 lbs 13 oz on my scale. I wish they wouldn't lie about these numbers. And for all the size, the keyboard is quite small and fiddly in feel, and off-center, because they've added a numeric keypad. Which is great if you need that, but otherwise makes typing words less pleasant.
All in all, despite a few minor flaws, this is a great low-end laptop for Windows 8 users. Recommended.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dell Inspiron 15R i15RMT-5099SLV 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Moon
I hate trying to pick out a computer. So many options, so hard to decide. I finally narrowed it down to this one and then spent time trying to find the best price (which honestly changes from day to day on many sites). I have a just about figured out windows 8 and the computer works great. Of course my old computer was 85 years old in computer years (5 years), so this machine seems like a wonder comparatively.
