While it was long ago that tablets came in the form of the iPad to give the PC industry lots of headaches, both manufacturers and Microsoft have evolved to offer a variety of hybrid machines that offer the best of both worlds.
Dell is the one to look out for this time. This is the review of the Dell i5368-4071GRY, one of such hybrids that promises the performance of a fully fledged computer with the portability and ease of a tablet —all of that with some other features mixed in as well within a tight price point.
Pros: powerful intel core i5, Full HD IPS Display, convertible modes, 4GB of upgradable DDR4 RAM (not the standard DDR3).Cons: no DVD reader nor ethernet port.
Design and build
Let’s get the basics first: the Dell i5368-4071GRY is a 13.3 inch convertible laptop that the company advertises with four possible positions: the regular “laptop mode”, “tent mode” for shallow footprint spaces, “stand mode” for multimedia playback and finally “tablet mode” for, well, all things tablet related.
The final piece of the puzzle is Windows 10, which offers a responsive interface that adapts depending on how you want to use it (miles ahead of the heavily criticized Windows 8).
Display and graphics card: Is this a gaming laptop?
Display and graphics card: Is this a gaming laptop?
Dell includes a 1080p IPS display with the i5368-4071GRY that, obviously, has touchscreen capabilities. A convertible unit without a touchscreen and IPS technology for viewing angles wouldn’t make much sense, after all. The high resolution will make it ideal for playing any kind of media, so you can expect to use it for that purpose quite a bit.
Games at full resolution, on the other hand, will not run very good. This is because the i5368-4071GRY has no dedicated graphics but the integrated unit: Intel HD Graphics 520. Though older titles as well as new ones with low requirements will work with medium settings, more demanding games will only work on low ones. Gaming is an option, just not what this laptop is made for.
CPU and memory
Dell chose an Intel Core i5-6200U processor for the i5368-4071GRY. This is a mid-level chip that works with two cores clocked at 2.3 GHz (max. 2.7 GHz) and offers great balance between performance, price and power consumption.
With that in mind, you can expect the machine to behave with even demanding applications for specific work like editing and creation tools. Simpler tasks like web browsing, office work and multimedia playback will go without a hitch.
On the multitasking corner we find 4GB of RAM (DDR4, 2133 Mhz) included. Though a bit less than some models, the speedier spec will still help you open several programs at once —and besides, you can expand it to 8GB if that’s what you want.
No tablet has this many ports
In this review of the Dell i5368-4071GRY we found that connectivity is your standard fare for a laptop, though when looking at it from a tablet perspective it certainly doesn’t have a match. The laptop has two USB 3.0 ports, and one 2.0 port for a total of three, which is a very decent number.
Closing up is an SD card reader, the audio combo jack and an HDMI port that makes this an excellent multimedia hub. There are no optical drive or LAN ports to be found, though that’s expected for this category of laptops that have slimmer bodies and aren't intended to be used as desktop machines but rather mobility devices.
Battery life and storage
Dell includes a 42WHr, 3-Cell battery with this one and claims that it can last up to 8 hours on this configuration. If we expect a bit less than that, it’s still a great number, so you can expect to be most of the time plugged off. Ideal for a convertible when portability is the name of the game.
Finally, on the storage department of this review we stumble with a 128GB SSD that will add performance improvements thanks to its speedy reading cycles. An SSD is the correct choice in this case even if that means less storage, but if you want more space, you have the option to expand it.
That said, we find that anywhere between 128GB and 256GB tends to hit the sweet spot for most consumers who either way tend to have an external hard drive on hand.
That said, we find that anywhere between 128GB and 256GB tends to hit the sweet spot for most consumers who either way tend to have an external hard drive on hand.
In closing: Is this convertible my best option?
After this review of the Dell i5368-4071GRY we find a capable, if not powerful, fully-fledged multimedia laptop that also happens to double as a tablet and a screen for some surfaces. That’s thanks to its Core i5 processor, 1080p IPS display and sleek body.
Tablets are a great choice on most occasions, but with systems like this it’s easy to see why convertibles are already becoming a consolidated category. If you happen to be looking for a laptop, a tablet and maybe even a small display for your kitchen, you might have found all of those things in just one package.