Asus has been doing a great job as of late and companies like HP and Dell are left to play the "catch up game". This is precisely what Dell has done with one of its latest laptops; the Dell Inspiron i5559-3349SLV.
Dell's new signature mid range model flaunts an SSD storage unit, Core i5 processor and 8 GB of RAM amongst its greatest strengths. Now we're going to take a deeper look into this model as we unravel everything there is to know in this Dell Inspiron i5559-3349SLV review.
Dell Inspiron i5559-3349SLV Full Review
A sturdy design with a standard display
We can't say that the Dell Inspiron i5559-3349SLV is revolutionary in terms of design or display. The new notebook features a 15.6 inch HD LED-Backlit display with your standard 1366 by 768 pixel count. At a time where many laptops are moving towards the Full HD display we can't say we're particularly pleased with Dell's decision to go for a more "low key" display.
That said, there's always something to be said about Dell's quality build and it's new model is far from an exception. Weighing 5.4 pounds and measuring 1 inch, Dell's new launch doesn't differentiate itself much when we look at the numbers alone. However, once we take a gander at its solid design we appreciate that it doesn't feel as "plasticky" as other models in this price gamut might appear.
The keyboard in this instance is not backlit. However, as expected, we've got a full on chiclet keyboard with a dedicated numeric pad on the side. Sure, the laptop's design doesn't feature any flashy elements but to the more discreet user this could very well be overlooked.
Grade A internals that will work effortlessly
While it's true that Dell's new notebook leaves a bit to be desired on the design front. It more than makes up for that when we take a look at its performance. Spearheaded by a 6th generation Skylake Intel Core i5-6200U. The new Inspiron i5559-3349SLV brags about processing prowess with a CPU that can deliver a base frequency of 2.3 GHz and go all the way to 2.8 GHz when faced with more challenging tasks.
What does this mean for the end user? Well it means that we're looking at a very powerful dual core processor that delivers a great performance on all fronts. Whether you need to deploy code, launch a couple of virtual machines or you set out to edit high definition video, this CPU ultimately has your back on all these scenarios and then some.
That said, there's more to performance than the processor. RAM is vital when determining a laptop's performance when handling multiple apps at a time, what we know as multitasking. In this specific case, we've got 8 GB of DDR3L SDRAM clocking in at 1600 MHz which is more than enough to launch several programs at a time and have several browser tabs open at a time.
All in all, unless you're working on a top secret NASA highly demanding program it's hard to imagine you would need or even notice more than 8 GB of RAM so we always say that 8GB is the best option for both intensive users who will use the RAM to its full extent as well as average users who'll be glad to know they've got the extra horsepower if they ever need to access it.
What's the deal with gaming?
As we said previously on this Dell Inspiron i5559-3349SLV review, both CPU and RAM are pretty good for all sorts of tasks but gaming is not really a specialty here. With an Intel HD 520 graphics chip, this notebook could fare well with games such as Fifa 16 or World of Warships at low settings but anything that's more graphically demanding than such games would end up disappointing the user.
No, this is not a gaming notebook and we wouldn't even venture to say this is a casual gaming laptop, if you're looking to play games you're better off with a dedicated graphics chip, preferably an Nvidia GeForce 950M.
The almighty storage and battery life
Storage is one of this notebooks biggest selling points, not because of the amount of storage but because of the type of storage. By now you must've heard that SSD storage is much faster than traditional hard drive storage. Yet up until recently it was very expensive for one to buy a laptop with this kind of storage so the mainstream kept using the HDD. However, as prices got lower, manufacturers such as Dell started implementing this kind of storage to gain momentum, and that's where the Dell Inspiron i5559-3349SLV comes in.
Dell's newest foray into the mid range market comes equipped with a 128GB SSD module. Sure, it's not a lot of storage for those who are used to the 1 TB storage options but if you're interested in speed you're really gonna want an SSD over an HDD.
In the end you can always use an external hard drive (they're also very cheap by now) if its storage capacity what you're after and you'll end up getting the best of both worlds, a super fast laptop and a vast amount of storage.
As for the battery life, there's not much info on the matter other than the fact that it boosts a 4 cell removable battery. However considering what we know so far we would venture to say that battery life comes in between 3 and 5 hours, though we can't confirm this specifically, but it's hard to imagine battery life going beyond that scope.
How's connectivity on this notebook?
Finally, as we reach the closing statements of this review we take a quick look at the connectivity options where we can appreciate the inclusion of a DVD tray, SD card reader, 1 USB 3.0 port a USB 2.0 port, HDMI entry as well as an audio combo.
We'd also like to point out that it comes with a WiFi ac antenna which delivers much faster download speeds than the standard b/g/n alternative and there's also Bluetooth 4.0 in case you'd like to connect the laptop to a bluetooth speaker or a bluetooth keyboard, for example.
Wrapping things up...
Our review of the Dell Inspiron i5559-3349SLV will be quick to show you that this isn't the best laptop in the market. It's got a solid build, typical of Dell laptops, a remarkable SSD storage unit, great processor and enough RAM for the most demanding set of users.
Could Dell have taken things a bit further? Yes. A Full HD display and a 7 hour battery life would've been great here and would've turned this into the perfect laptop. That said, this is still a very good laptop, it's just not the best . That title would probably be reserved to a model such as the Asus F556UA-AS54 we reviewed earlier.
However, for those set on buying a Dell laptop because of the companies good reputation and quality build this is an excellent choice and while you can get more bang for your buck with other brands that does not take from the fact that this is, by all means, an excellent laptop.