The Dell Inspiron i3452-5600BLK is a brand new affordable laptop that promises to deliver a fair package of power, portability, usability and most importantly, a low price point. We feel that Dell has achieved those goals, managing to create a well balanced notebook suitable for the needs of most casual computer users.
Review
The Inspiron i3452-5600BLK is undoubtedly a surprising laptop, not only because it’s so cheap (around $230 at the time of this review) for the kind of specs and convenience it has to offer, but also because it doesn’t feel cheap or cheaply made. Yes, it doesn’t have an aluminium chassis, or a backlit keyboard, or a thin bezel around the screen, but the plastic it’s made from is surprisingly nice, the large and comfortable keys feel just right when typing and the design is anything but ugly: simple and understated.
The hardware components are nothing to rave about, but they’re picked and assembled in such a way that it allows this notebook to retain just as much computing power as needed, without compromising battery life, which I think is much more emphasized on the Dell. The processor is an energy efficient, dual core Intel Celeron N3050. To be honest, this CPU will be a bit slow if pushed to hard, having a benchmark score of around 800 points.
The available amount of system memory on the Inspiron i3452-5600BLK is 2 gigabytes, upgradeable to 4 gigabytes. Storage space is limited, but comes with the added benefit of being on a Solid State Drive, fast enough to boot up Windows 10 in seconds and run programs as fast as the RAM and CPU will allow. Considering it has only 32 gigabytes of available storage space, it’s wise to use cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive and even an external hard disk drive to hold your media collections or large files.
The raw power is not enough for serious multitasking, games or even programs like Photoshop. Of course, the laptop will run these, but will feel very sluggish when doing so. However, the Dell will have no issues browsing the internet, using Office products, watching, listening or streaming media content or editing vacation photos.
I think the Inspiron’s main strength lies in its surprising portability and functionality. At only 3.9 pounds, it’s very light for a device that’s under $300. Also, it’s fairly compact thanks to a screen size of just 14 inches. But what really stands out is the battery life: you can squeeze up to 8 hours of usage, enough for a full day’s worth of work. These stats make the Dell Inspiron i3452-5600BLK a serious option to consider for casual travelling business people, college students and light users who just want to browse the internet, read newspapers online and catch up with friends on Facebook.
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Considering how affordable and portable this notebook is, I’d say it’s a great contender to a lightweight Chromebook. For about the same price, you get a similar device that can run a full sized operating system which doesn’t constrain you to exclusively use apps on a day to day basis.
Technical Specifications
[table width =”100%” style =”table-simple table-hover” responsive =”true” class=”customtable”]
[table_head]
[th_column]Product[/th_column]
[th_column]DELL Inspiron i3452-5600BLK[/th_column]
[/table_head]
[table_body]
[table_row]
[row_column]PROCESSOR[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]CPU Name[/row_column]
[row_column]Intel Celeron N3050[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]CPU Type[/row_column]
[row_column]Dual Core[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]CPU Speed[/row_column]
[row_column]1.6 GHz up to 2.16 GHz[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]CPU Cache[/row_column]
[row_column]2 MB[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]SYSTEM MEMORY[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Installed Memory[/row_column]
[row_column]2 GB[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Maximum Memory[/row_column]
[row_column]4 GB[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Memory Type[/row_column]
[row_column]DDR3L SDRAM @ 1600 MHz[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Total Memory Slots[/row_column]
[row_column]1 slot[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]STORAGE[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Storage Capacity[/row_column]
[row_column]32 GB[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Storage Type[/row_column]
[row_column]SSD[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Storage Technology[/row_column]
[row_column]eMMC[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]DISPLAY[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Screen Size[/row_column]
[row_column]14″[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Screen Type[/row_column]
[row_column]Anti-glare LCD[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Screen Technology[/row_column]
[row_column]Truelife LED-Backlit[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Screen Resolution[/row_column]
[row_column]1366 x 768[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Aspect Ratio[/row_column]
[row_column]16:9[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Touchscreen[/row_column]
[row_column]No[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]GRAPHICS[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Graphics Processing Unit[/row_column]
[row_column]Intel HD Graphics[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Graphic Card Type[/row_column]
[row_column]Integrated[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Graphics Memory[/row_column]
[row_column]Shared[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]AUDIO & VIDEO[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Audio Technology[/row_column]
[row_column]MaxxAudio[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Speakers[/row_column]
[row_column]2 x Stereo speakers[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Webcam[/row_column]
[row_column]Yes, 720p[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]NETWORK AND COMMUNICATION[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Wireless LAN[/row_column]
[row_column]802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Bluetooth[/row_column]
[row_column]Bluetooth 4.0[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Ethernet[/row_column]
[row_column]No[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]INTERFACE[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]USB Ports[/row_column]
[row_column]1 x USB 3.0
2 x USB 2.0[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]HDMI[/row_column]
[row_column]Yes, HDMI 1.4a[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]VGA[/row_column]
[row_column]No[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Headphone/Mic[/row_column]
[row_column]Audio COmbo Jack[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Multi Card Slot[/row_column]
[row_column]Yes, SD/SDHC/SDXC support[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]LAN (RJ45)[/row_column]
[row_column]No[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]INPUT DEVICES[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Touch Pad / Track Pad[/row_column]
[row_column]Precision Touch Pad[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Keyboard[/row_column]
[row_column]Full Size, spill-resistant[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Backlit Keyboard[/row_column]
[row_column]No[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]BATTERY[/row_column]
[row_column][/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Battery Type[/row_column]
[row_column]Removable 4-cell Lithium-Ion[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Battery Capacity[/row_column]
[row_column]40 Whr[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Maximum Battery Life[/row_column]
[row_column]Up to 8 hours[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Other Features[/row_column]
[row_column]None[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Operating System[/row_column]
[row_column]Windows 10[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Dimensions (W x D x H)[/row_column]
[row_column]13.58″ x 9.57″ x 0.84″[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[table_row]
[row_column]Weight[/row_column]
[row_column]3.9 lbs[/row_column]
[/table_row]
[/table_body]
[/table]
Scores, Pros and Cons
[row]
[column lg=”4″ md=”12″ sm=”12″ xs=”12″ ]
[progressbar value=”60″ bartype=”progress-bar-warning” label=”Performance: 6/10″]
[/column]
[column lg=”4″ md=”12″ sm=”12″ xs=”12″ ]
[progressbar value=”85″ bartype=”progress-bar-info” label=”Functionality: 8/10″]
[/column]
[column lg=”4″ md=”12″ sm=”12″ xs=”12″ ]
[progressbar value=”100″ bartype=”progress-bar-success” label=”Price: 10/10″]
[/column]
[/row]
[list]
[li]Pros[/li]
[li type=”glyphicon-plus”]Impressive battery life[/li]
[li type=”glyphicon-plus”]Very affordable[/li]
[li type=”glyphicon-plus”]Light and compact size[/li]
[li type=”glyphicon-plus”]Understated design[/li]
[li type=”glyphicon-plus”]Comes with an SSD[/li]
[li]Cons[/li]
[li type=”glyphicon-minus”]CPU isn’t very powerful[/li]
[li type=”glyphicon-minus”]Only 2 GB of RAM[/li]
[li type=”glyphicon-minus”]Low storage space[/li]
[/list]
Final Thoughts
Yes, the Dell Inspiron i3452-5600BLK falls short on processing power, but the other areas make up for this shortcoming. I think Dell has made a decent contender to the popular Chromebooks, being targeted towards users needing extra versatility through a full sized operating system. I mean, battery life is up there, ease of use as well. This a good notebook for everyday casual use.
