Small and low-price laptops belong to a very relevant category of users (perhaps the biggest in raw numbers, in fact) who look for portability and a simple yet useful experience, all of this without having to invest too much money to achieve it.
In this case we have the review of the Dell i3169-0011RED, a laptop that aims for this kind of balance; but with a twist: it’s also a convertible. That means that you could potentially kill two birds with one stone —if you also happen to be looking for a tablet.
Pros: convertible, portable size, 500 GB of hard drive, Intel Core M3 processor, affordable price point.
Cons: display isn’t IPS, an SSD would’ve been better
Dell i3169-0011RED Review of an efficient Core M3 convertible
The size of a netbook, the size of a tablet
Dell usually demonstrates that it’s a company who cares about design, and personality, and this is one of such cases. The Dell i3169-0011RED has a clean look with an all-red body that will certainly turn a couple heads. The color might denounce its netbook-esque category, though the twist comes when you bend the screen to a whole 360 degrees making it a conveniently sized tablet.
That touchscreen is an 11.6 inch HD panel (1366x768) that, while not the highest in resolution, will still work for a small screen like this one. This is an interesting size because it enters standard tablet territory, so using it in that mode should be very pleasant as opposed to many other models that, when “converted”, end up as extremely oversized tablets that can't be used for that purpose when you're out and about.
Skylake’s latest brings power efficiency
In this review of the Dell i3169-0011RED we find ourselves with an Intel Core m3-6Y30 processor from Intel’s latest and best Skylake generation. This a very power efficient chip with two cores clocked at 0.9 GHz (up to 2.2 GHz) and perfect for tasks like office work, web browsing and multimedia consumption. In short, what most tablets and noetbooks are meant to do.
On multitasking, the 4 GB of DDR3 SDRAM present (1600 MHz) are adequate precisely for that kind of activities. You’ll be able to handle a bunch of tabs open in your browser, as well as a pair (or more) of programs too; though heavy sessions could result in slow loading times. The best part of it all, though, is that you should some amazing results on battery life and heat emission.
Is gaming an option?
The short version is that this convertible is not meant for gaming, as you might’ve guessed. This is because it comes with an integrated unit, the Intel HD Graphics 515. This one is very much capable of running less intensive games (think Counter Strike, indie games and classic titles), but few modern blockbusters will run smoothly.
All-day battery
The Dell i3169-0011RED comes with an 2-cell battery that promises to get you through a whole day without needing to charge it, specifically we mean around 6-7 hours according to the consumer reviews.
Considering the choices on low-power internals, we should expect exactly that. Though Dell doesn’t specify numbers, you can be sure this one is ok in terms of battery life.
Considering the choices on low-power internals, we should expect exactly that. Though Dell doesn’t specify numbers, you can be sure this one is ok in terms of battery life.
Storage and battery life
First, let’s mention what the Dell i3169-0011RED offers: two USB ports (one 3.0, one 2.0), your standard audio combo jack, a MicroSD card reader and the best part: an HDMI port for connecting external displays. This gives the machine a very nice additional feature we did not expect.
On the storage department, Dell chose a 500GB mechanical hard drive for the i3169-0011RED. This is a choice that, while it won’t get you the fastest speeds, will still offer lots of storage for saving anything you want.
Final words and opiniones
On a simple world, we found in this review of the Dell i3169-0011RED that this machine would pass as a very common thing among competitors. Fortunately, this is not a simple world, but a very complex and fun one, and that’s why we’re left with a convertible machine that offers all sorts of features.
The presence of an SSD is surely missed, but the Dell i3169-0011RED still accomplishes what it sets out to do, and the small size coupled with Windows 10’s touch friendly interface will prove it to be a great tablet for some web browsing or multimedia consumption.
Overall, if you're looking to buy a convertible with some real processing power and you're not willing to drain your bank account in the process then this model is an affordable alternative to most of the convertibles that've flooded the market.
Overall, if you're looking to buy a convertible with some real processing power and you're not willing to drain your bank account in the process then this model is an affordable alternative to most of the convertibles that've flooded the market.