Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 Review: Not An Extraordinary Laptop by Dell
Dell’s Inspiron laptop series might not be the highest-end range, but some of its best features and specification equipment have not been discussed in this segment.
The Black Edition (or Dell Inspiron 7390), with top performance internals, extravagance design, a clever style slot, is testament to the fact that the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 is an entirely high-end product.
Availability & Price
As starting point for Dell’s new Inspiron 13 7000-series laptops, Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 device is the first one in this family. The Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 was actually the ultimate edition of Inspiron 7000series until Dell jumped into 10th-Gen Intel Core processors.
Dell has already ended selling on this product, but much of Dell’s investment in this black version device is on display in Inspiron’s newest 13 7000 2-in-1 (7391), costing $1,299 (approximately £ 985, AU$1,905) for the closest configuration. The new model includes a 10th-genre Intel Core i7-10510U (decent upgrade), RAM 16 GB equivalent, Intel Optane memory 512 GB equivalent SSD, and Active Dell Active Pen enable 4K touch-screen and improved Wi-Fi 6. The design is almost consistent, while Dell’s USB-C port is updated to Thunderbolt 3.
The HP Envy 13 begins at 999 $(€ 849,AU$1,799) but is often available with significant discounts, even if the price goes up to sell the Inspiron we have described in similar terms. In the meantime, the HP Envy x360 15 is only $1,199 (about £910, AU$1,760), with equivalent specifications.
The Dell XPS 13 we reviewed had almost identical internals to Inspiron but cost a remarkable sum of $2,279 (approximately £1,730 and AU$3,345) at the time. And, although Dell also updated XPS to include Intel Core 10th-gene processors, prices remained relatively stable.
Display & Design
The Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 is good, but it is not the best, lightest or ultra-lift. The 2-in-1 element often has a weight and thickness balance, and this is articulated in it. At its thickest point, it measures 0.63 inches (15.9 mm) and weighs 3.1 pounds (1.39 kg). It is well above Dell XPS and the HP Envy 13t, which is 2.7 pounds and 2.59 pounds respectively.
That said, it’s very easy to carry. It fits well in our backpack on the laptop side, and weighs us down little.
The metal chassis is probably one thing that contributes to the weight. Dell’s gone for pressed aluminum while some computers opted for a lighter magnesium. When we apply pressure, it felt solid to the touch with minimal flex. The aluminum covers the bottom, the monitor, the keyboard and outside of the hinge, but the plastic inside the hinge.
The plastic inside of the hinge is a good excuse: the Dell Active Pen is attached there. It has a handy slot sculpted and is fixed with magnets. The magnets are sufficiently strong to roll the pen over the keyboard and drag the magnets into the slot correctly. This is a smart solution, which makes it difficult to lose the pen while also making access to the pen easy.
The laptop can be in various positions. It can fold open to a tablet, sit upright, or turn into a tent position like a traditional laptop. The pen is readily available for all of these guidelines.
The charging port on the left hand side with an HDMI and USB-C Port is positioned in this design to make the ports nice and balanced. There is a USB-A port, a 3.5 mm headphone box on the right hand side (things which we believe to be right, but which we believe to be more excusable in a2-in-1 box with the microSD card slots on the left side.
On the underside of the chassis, Dell has placed huge speaker grills close to the front but perhaps they do not include very large speakers. The audio is wimpy, with almost no low-end sounds and greater volumes contributing to a buzz.
The display makes the speakers a little bit more comfortable. At 4K, it is impressively clear, but it could be upbeat. For many cases, the full brightness is high enough, but when it is set against sunlight, it goes dark. The bezels on the sides and on the top are relatively small, but the top bezel give the 720p webcam a little more space. The bottom bezel has a width of one inch. This is not bad, but there are no competition between screen and body.
The graphics on this show are outstanding with a Blue-ray result. It is suitable for video use. If we run into high-contrast situations, we notice a strange thing. We have two windows side by side, mostly papers (i.e. a lot of text and a lot of white space, in our normal working configuration). When a window has a dark picture, we see the entire display slightly dim. We experienced it at high brightness and lower brightness.
Keyboard
The trackpad is smooth and sensitive and has ample room and even four-finger gestures to navigate. The keys may benefit from a certain contour, as for the keyboard, but otherwise feel good and smooth to type on. Dell prevents the arrow keys from buffing up, keeping a Shift key in full size and placing narrow keys beneath them. The fingerprint scanner/power button is the only annoyance from the keyboard. The delete key is unpleasantly place at the top right corner of the keyboard.
Thanks to a certain sensitivity pressure, the pen is quite capable, and the only drawback we notice is that when pressing against the display, very slightly, it cannot register and can move around the screen very quickly.
Performance
The Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 Black Edition is not an Intel Core i7-8565U powerful monster with integrated graphics available, but this is perfect for the work. The processor easily zips through simple tasks, boots, and begins the program.
Our benchmarks show that in laptops which are costlier than Dell XPS 13 and cheaper than HP Envy 13, the processor and with a RAM of 16 GB, it works neck to neck for the multi-task.
We had no problems with projects with dozens of tabs opened in Chrome, sometimes YouTube video, and Slack simultaneously in the background.
It doesn’t heat up. When it is under charging, the fans are not quiet, but they are not disgustingly noisy.
Graphics are one shortcoming in the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 Black Edition. The use of built-in graphics limits graphics’ ability. The Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 Black Edition is simply smoked with graphics to benchmarks, like our 3D Mark suite, compared to our HP Envy 13t which operates the same CPU, but is paired with a Nvidia MX250 2 GB graphics processor. It mostly succeeds in the same way as Dell XPS 13, which is designed similarly, and reveals the drawbacks between devices.
Battery Life
While the use of integrated graphics usually looks like a wise consideration of battery life, our tests show a new story here. Apart from Dell XPS 13 and HP Envy 13 scores, the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 Black Edition gained a 5-hour 32-minute score of PCMark 8 Battery Life.
This is good news for employees, because this test simulates work and browsing. Our experience with Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 Black Edition keeps the power setting lower and gives the display 50% brightness for the most part of one day. A full 8-hour work day would be a bit tedious, but the safe mode and brightness can increase the battery life further.
The laptop supports fast charge when the battery is low, to quickly retrieve it. With the screen brightness at max, we were able to get the battery from empty to 86% in just over 90 minutes.
We only had 5 hours and 42 minutes of playback–probably thanks to the 4K display–in our video test with a display of a 1080p video at 50% brightness until the battery goes down. At 8 hours and 12 minutes the Dell XPS 13 on a 4K display was a little longer.
Final Verdict
A powerful computer that makes Dell Inspiron 13 70002-in-1 a reliable partner for employees of all kind. The ability to multiple tasks, to take style notes and to enjoy sharp content on display make it a good laptop.
A full HD screen option could probably enhance the offer but the new 10th-generated Intel Core processors could improve the battery deficiencies while providing further configuration on the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 line.
