Dell inspiron 11 3000 series

Today from this post I’m going to write about a budget laptop that runs a full version of windows 10 for the price of a chromebook. That is Dell Inspiron 11 3000 series laptops. 

Windows 10 has inspired a number of manufacturers to create affordable windows laptops that offer a viable alternative to google’s chromebooks. The new Dell  inspiron 11 3000 series is a great example. Its ultra-low price of $190 immediately grabbed my attention, as it’s cheap even compared with many chromebooks. 

The range’s bold colors are hard to miss, too. The model I reviewed came in an eye-catching shade of red, which extends beyond the glossy exterior case to the interior. Blue and white models are also available if red isn’t to your taste, but whichever one you pick, the colored matt interior is complemented by a black screen bezel and a modern-looking keyboard with flat, square keys that resemble dark scramble tiles. 

Watch the video of this device  

Build and configuration 

When we talk about the build and configuration it’s surprisingly well put together for a budget laptop. There’s an abundance of plastic, as you’d expect at this price, but it feels as if it would survive a few bumps and knocks in a backpack. We noticed a quite a lot of flex in both the lid and the main body, though. 

At 18.5mm thick andd weighting around 1.2kg it’s a practical size and weight to carry around without undue strain, but you might not want to work on it for long periods. The keys are reasonable size, but the keyboard isn’t as comfortable to type on as others we’ve tested it doesn’t  offer much feedback when you press a key, which leads to the occasional missed keystroke. At least dell has used a standard keyboard layout and hasn’t done anything crazy to fit it inside the small chassis. 

The touchpad is a good size and precise enough, considering how small the laptop is. The integrated mouse buttons work well, and you can adjust the touchpad’s sensitivity using dell’s own software. You can also configure a multi-touch gestures and the level of pressure required for each swipe to be registered, all of which worked well. 

Inside the laptop, you’ll find a dual-core 1.6 Ghz Intel Celeron N3050 processor, which is a popular choice in budget-friendly models. This is paired with just 2GB of memory and 32GB of eMMC storage, which isn’t dissimilar to the specification of other sub-$250 laptops. 

Performance 

As a result, this PC isn’t suitable for strenuous tasks such as gaming or video editing. The Inspiron 11 scored just even in our Windows benchmarks, but it’s still more than capable of handling basic tasks such as checking your emails, browsing the internet, working on the occasional document and watching a video. 

The laptop will struggle if you try to do too many things at once, however, which is when the limitations of its meager memory allocation and cheaper processor become apparent. Open too many browser tabs and applications, for instance, and the system slows down noticeably. Provided you work within its limitations, though, the laptop performs about as well as you can expect for its budget price. 

From the side by at least a centimeter and aren’t ideal if you want to leave the card in the slot permanently. 

I was disappointed by the lack of free cloud storage or bundled office 365 subscription, which would have helped alleviate the storage problem. A year of Office 365 personal  is worth around $65 alone and is included with other budget laptops. Instead, all you get is a 30-day trial, which feels a little stingy. 

Battery life was reasonable at five hours and 50 minutes in my video playback test. It achieved this with the screen set to our standard brightness of 170cd/m², which is perfectly sufficient for indoor viewing. Under more general use with reduced brightness, you can just about eke out enough power to get through a work or school day. The display, however, is disappointing. Its resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels is typical of laptops at this price, but its viewing angles are atrocious, specially vertically. The display is lacking in contrast, too, with a pitiful contrast ratio of 203:1. This is reflected in its exceedingly high black levels of 1.32cd/m² , which makes solid blacks look grey. It also displays only 57.8% of the standard set of sRGB colors, which is poor , but at least the maximum brightness of 266.6 cd/m² is reasonable. The screen’s other saving grace is its matt coating, which helps limit annoying reflections. There are only two USB ports, but one of them is a USB3 port. That’s something you don’t always see on a budget laptop and will make file transfers quicker. A full-size HDMI post is also included for connecting a display, and there’s a headset jack for audio.

The two stereo speakers above the keyboard provide a surprising amount of volume. They’re not particularly impressive, with a bright, tinny sound, but they’re good enough for watching films. A 720p webcam is also included, which is more than sufficient for Skype calls. 

Specifications 

• Dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Celeron N3050 processor
• 2GB of memory
• 32GB eMMC storage(11GB free)
• 11.6in screen
• 1,366 x 768 pixels resolution
• Touchpad
• 1 x USB3, 1 x USB2 ports
• microSD memory card reader
• 802.11sc Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• Windows 10 Home
• 1.18kg
• 292 x 196 x 18.45 mm 

Pros

• Great value
• Small and portable 

Cons

• Disappointing screen
• Low on storage and memory