Discount Dell Inspiron 15R 15.6" Notebook with 2.26GHz Intel Core i3-350M

Customer Ratings:

The real product name of this laptop, as shown in BIOS and in Windows System Information, is Dell N5010. For its price, this is a good laptop, but it can also piss you off if you are peculiar about things:

1. For no reason at all, the fan will ramp up and whir every 2-3 minutes for about 20 seconds, even if there is no spike in CPU load. This can become really annoying in a quiet environment, such as a classroom or library. I've updated to the latest BIOS (A12), and the problem is still there. One possible way to fix this is using a tool called "i8kfangui", but installing it on Win7 requires some hackery (see the forums on its site).

2. For a 15.6" screen, the resolution is low: 1366x768. Business laptops have standard 1400x900 for 14" screens. I've had one for years and that resolution was great for the screen size. The screen is glossy and will reflect light. Outdoors, it's almost impossible to see anything, unless you hunch over the screen to shade it. POOR vertical viewing angles. 20 degree off the perpendicular direction to the screen, colors begin to shift visibly: whiteout if you look at the screen from above, darkened if you look from a bit below.

3. The keyboard can be really annoying:

silly reassignment of Fn keys to perform laptop-specific functions (volume up/down, Wi-Fi on/off etc.) instead of doing those by pressing Fn+F#. Configurable from the BIOS though.

besides that, the F# keys are labeled a faint blue on black, and are barely visible in a well-lit room. The reflection of the screen on the glossy laptop finish near the hinge doesn't help. The visible labeling is for the laptop function keys (Wi-fi on/off, brightness up/down etc.). This shows how the laptop is aimed at those who don't know what F5 does.

odd placement of the PrintScreen key between Insert and Delete

narrow trackpad buttons, often annoying to hit with the thumb

the arrow keys are too thin, half the height of normal keys

after having used laptops without a numeric keypad for the past few years, the keypad is not only useless; it gets in the way. where I expect Backspace to be, there's now Keypad Minus.

there is no Break key (useful for Win+Break to get the Windows System properties, or Ctrl+Break in command line applications)

there is no context menu key (equivalent to right click on the focused control)

So make sure these things don't bother you, or you'll hate the laptop. Try to get a feel for the keyboard and trackpad at a local store (Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, Fry's etc.)

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I bought this product, it is fast, however the support is horrible. The DVD player has never workers right freezes up even out of the box When I called dell, I got the run around and the long and short of it is that Dell doesn't stand behind their products. The Wi-fi is hit or miss, lucky it works well at home , but at work it doesn't connect and on public networks on the road it is hit or miss on getting a connection.

The unit is a bit of an energy hog, as the battery life doesn't last anything close to what Dell claims. Dell's answer was that I should buy the more expensive battery! The Battery lasts about an hour and a half, with all the power settings set to decrease energy use, and screen brightness turned down.

I would find another brand, Sad since otherwise it is a great computer.

Best Deals for Dell Inspiron 15R 15.6" Notebook with 2.26GHz Intel Core i3-350M

As description says "Sleek new design you can't take your eyes off of" it's a great well made laptop and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a great deal($549.99).