Pros: 6 GB of RAM, Quad Core AMD CPU (Core i5 equivalent), 1 TB of storage, Touchscreen, entry level price, over 7 hours of battery life.
Cons: Not well suited for gaming.
There's no denying that touchscreen laptops have become very popular over the past year. What was once a pricey option is now a very affordable bonus that many laptops feature as an extra selling point. It's with this in mind that today we'd like to take a look at one of the latest touchscreen laptops to hit the market; the Dell Inspiron i5555-1428BLK.
This new laptop stands out not only thanks to its tactile screen but also due to it's low end price and mid range specs such as an AMD processor and a very impressive 6 GB of RAM. Interested? Then come on over and read our full review of the Dell Inspiron i5555-1428BLK to uncover it's pros, cons and everything else worth knowing before you click the "buy button".
Are the buyers of this laptop happy? Find out what they have to say!
Dell Inspiron i5555-1428BLK Review of an affordable touchscreen laptop
Let's talk about the display and overall design
On the design front we're actually pretty impressed with Dell. Don't get us wrong, this is by no means a premium design laptop but it does boast a very slim figure of just about 1 inch and it's weight is hardly an issue at 5.4 pounds.
All in all, it's relatively lightweight but not enough as to compare to a MacBook Air, for example. The keyboard is your standard chiclet island style keyboard for optimal ergonomics and, as is the case with most 15 inch laptops, it includes a dedicated numeric pad for all those "aspiring accountants" of the world. Unfortunately the keyboard is not backlit (bummer, I know) but that's also the norm within its price range so we really can't complain.
The screen, one of the laptop's main selling points, has a 15.6 inch diagonal with LED backlit On-Cell touch Display technology with an HD resolution (1366 by 768). This is pretty much a fancy way of saying it's your typical laptop display with touch capabilities.
What can I do with its processor? How's the RAM for multitasking?
Moving on to the more technical segment of our Dell Inspiron i5555-1428BLK review it's time to tackle the more serious issues and tell you what this laptop is actually capable off. That said, the processing power comes from an AMD A8-7410 processor that runs with 4 cores at a 2.2 GHz clock speed and can go up all the way to 2.5 GHz depending on the task you're performing.
If this sounds like chinese because you come from Intel based notebooks then we should note that the A8-7410 is roughly comparable to a 5th generation Core i5 processor. AKA; maximum efficiency at a minimum power consumption.
All in all it's a pretty good processor for basic computing tasks as well as more demanding tasks. Stuff like running virtual machines and rendering code shouldn't pose much of an issue on this particular model while it should also breeze right through your standard web surfing, video streaming and image editing activities.
In regards to the RAM we're pleased to say that the i5555-1428BLK comes equipped with 6 GB of DDR3L SDRAM working at 1600 MHz (upgradeable to 8 GB).
What this means is that you'll be able to run several programs at the same time without much of an issue. Nowadays the standard RAM for an entry level laptop is 4 GB and that's generally enough for most users so 6 GB should fit the demands of the more demanding set of users as well as the standard "light" users.
Is it suitable for gaming?
As is the case on most budget laptops like the one at hand, the Inspiron i5555-1428BLK comes with an integrated AMD Radeon TM R5 graphics card which is, generally, not your ideal graphics card for gaming purposes.
Games such as Sims 4 and Minecraft might fare well but more complex and current games will have to be adjusted to the lowest of settings and even then a decent frame rate is pretty hard to guarantee.
Overall, if you're a gamer or a graphic designer then this shouldn't really be your first pick for a laptop and you might wanna head over to Amazon and search for notebooks with a dedicated graphics card. However, that would also entail that you'd have to stretch out your budget by quite a bit.
Strong battery life and vast storage
Aside from presenting a touchscreen, the Dell Inspiron i5555-1428BLK also has another big thing to brag about; it's battery life.
With its 4 cell battery coupled to an energy efficient CPU this laptop can withstand more than 7 hours without being near a power outlet, reaching up to 8 hours depending on usage. That, in itself, is a very powerful claim to fame, especially when you take a quick look at the competition which rarely goes beyond the 4 hour mark.
Storage-wize there's not much of a surprise but that's not a bad thing. To be specific, this model includes a 1 TB hard drive that works at your average 5400 rpm. Of course we would've loved to see a 256 GB SSD storage option but if such where the case then the price would pretty much go through the roof.
Miscellaneous
As we approach the finishing statements we take a look at the ports. Nothing to surprising on this side of the woods; we've got one USB 3.0 port, a couple of 2.0 ports, an HDMI entry, ethernet port and of course your typical SD card reader, DVD reader and audio combo.
The OS behind the scenes is Windows 10 in its 64 bit version and the company hasn't forgotten to include Bluetooth support for your wireless peripherals as well as WiFi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity.
Finishing Statements
As we put a nice little bow and wrap up our review of the Dell Inspiron i5555-1428BLK it's become clear that we're looking a top contender in the mid range market. Take its affordable price (look it up here!) , add a touchscreen and include ample RAM and you've got an absolute winner.
There's really nothing bad to point out on this laptop therefore we think it will probably make for one of the most popular models in 2016, rivaling an Asus X555LA-AB31 which, while being a great and affordable model, lacks the touchscreen capabilities, ample storage or the improved RAM present on this Dell model. Overall, we quite simply love this model.