Dell Inspiron 15 i5548-1670SLV Signature Edition Touchscreen Laptop (and 1669SLV) Review

Dell Inspiron 15 i5548-1670SLV Touch Laptop via Amazon

Dell Inspiron 15 i5548-1670SLV Signature Edition Touchscreen Laptop



Dell Inspiron 15 i5548-1670SLV (or 1669SLV) is a classic mid range Signature Edition touch display laptop with an aluminium lid that is designed for both work and play, multimedia and productivity with the reliable performance and speed of a fifth generation processor, generous storage and memory, long battery life, lightweight, good sound and more that makes it suitable for all the daily tasks- web browsing, Word and Excel, casual gaming and heavier stuff like photo and video editing as well when required. Dell Inspiron 15 is offered with the Broadwell Intel Core i5-5200U processor (3MB Cache) at 2.20GHz speed with turbo boost up to 2.70 GHz, 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3L SDRAM at 1600MHz for problem-free heavy multitasking and that can be expandable up to 16GB, 1TB Serial ATA hard drive at 5400 revolutions per minute spindle speed and 64-bit Windows 8.1 operating system that you may upgrade to Windows 10 very soon (otherwise Windows 8 isn’t great as many users would point out).

15.6 inch high definition Truelife LED-backlit 10-finger multi-touch support touchscreen with 1366 x 768 pixel resolution and 16:9 image aspect ratio is there for vivid colours, whiter whites and darker blacks. Intel HD 5500 graphics card offers decent multimedia performance- photo and video editing and some level of gaming with older titles you’ll get to enjoy studio quality, immersive, loud and clear sound with better bass from Waves MaxxAudio with stereo speakers, so both the sound and image quality are just fine for editing photos, streaming videos and playing games. It also comes with a 1 megapixel webcam and dual array microphone to chat live on Skype with friends and family. Silver and black (aluminium lid and black plastic around the keyboard) Dell Inspiron 15 i5548-1670SLV weighs 5.3 pounds and is only 0.9 inch thick when the lid is shut (0.9 x 15 x 10.2 inches in dimensions)- relatively thin and lightweight. It has a backlit chiclet style keyboard with somewhat small keys, a 10-key numpad and a large touchpad with integrated click buttons that is also spill-resistant. Battery is a 3-cell 43.50 WHr capacity that is smaller than the 4-cell batteries on the other i5548 computers but this also makes this laptop lighter. Connectivity options include the 802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 4.0, Gigabit Ethernet for wired internet access, 1 x USB 2.0 port, 2 x USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI output, Multiformat Media Card Reader, Wi-Di wireless display technology, Microphone and Headphone combo and Kensington Lock Slot. There is no DVD drive but an external once can be purchased cheaply if you need one.

Dell Inspiron 15 i5548-1670SLV Signature Edition Touch Laptop

Conclusion: Dell Inspiron 15 i5548-1670SLV (and 1669SLV) is a decent mid-range laptop at an affordable price. We like the very large hard drive size of 1TB which is a lot more than what most computer customers would need even though it is at 5400rpm rather than 7200rpm and 8GB is heaps for very efficient multitasking. Although it is easy to replace both the RAM and hard drive through the bottom of chassis, there is no reason for upgrading the 8GB memory and if you prefer the speed of an SSD feel free to swap the HDD with the way faster SSD as they are also coming down in price. Longer battery life of up to 5 hours is achieved by the 30 percent better usage of energy by the new fifth generation Broadwell processor. Just like the other Dell laptops, the Inspiron 15’s are also tested for durability- hinge, battery, keys and more. Intel i5-5200U has a Passmark benchmark score of a bit over 3800 at the moment and this puts it in the high end processor category. Glossy finish of touch display makes it prone to fingerprints, it is not a Full HD display and no IPS panel with very large viewing angles. You’ll get the Inspiron laptop, Power adapter, User Manual/Quick Start and a 12 month limited warranty for parts and labor by Dell. Signature Edition simply means this laptop doesn’t come with unnecessary junkware or third party trial software that you will find commonly on many other models. It is nice to have the aluminium lid / backing for the display but this also makes it heavier than the Inspiron 3000 series laptops, boots up fast, runs quietly and stays cool, is lightweight despite having a touch display and it is quite a decent machine for the dollar.

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