Dell Inspiron dell inspiron 15 Black 2024

A multitasking beast with 32GB of RAM trapped in a dim, plasticky body. Buy it for desk work, not for the display.

The 32GB of RAM is the real star here. It sits in the 79th percentile for its class, which means you can basically ignore memory management and just open everything. The i5-1155G7 processor is a different story. It's a 24th percentile chip, and you feel that age when pushing it with anything beyond basic tasks. What surprised us most was the storage speed. The 1TB SSD is snappy and lands in the 70th percentile, making boot-ups and app launches feel way more premium than the price suggests. Just don't try to game on the integrated Intel UHD graphics. Our gaming score of 16.5 out of 100 says it all. This thing is for spreadsheets, not shooters.

Stacked against something like the ASUS Zenbook Duo or an HP OmniBook X Flip, this Dell feels ancient. Those competitors offer brighter, more color-accurate screens, newer processors, and premium metal builds. The Dell's only real weapon is that 32GB of RAM at a low entry price. An Apple MacBook Pro M5 is in a different universe performance-wise but costs way more. If you just need a ton of memory for office work and don't care about screen quality, the Dell is a practical, if unexciting, choice. For anyone who values a good display or build quality, the extra cash for an ASUS or HP is money well spent.

Pricing is a total mess across vendors, with a wild spread from $585 to an absurd $14,195. Ignore the crazy high end, that's just marketplace noise. At the low end around $585, this is a solid deal for a 32GB RAM office laptop, assuming you get it from a reputable seller. The real risk isn't the price, it's the seller. We've seen reports of third-party sellers swapping out the SSD for a cheaper one, which completely kills the value proposition. Buy from a source you trust, or factor in a potential headache.

This Dell Inspiron 15 is a weird mix of smart specs and questionable corners. Someone in the config department was paying attention, because 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD in a budget-minded laptop is a genuinely great combo. You'll fly through a dozen browser tabs, Slack, and Office apps without breaking a sweat. But then you look at the screen, a dim 220-nit panel that feels like it's from five years ago, and you remember this is still a budget machine at heart. The one thing to know? It's a workhorse for multitaskers on a desk, not a portable powerhouse for creators or anyone who works outside.

If you're looking for a laptop with a gorgeous screen for Netflix or photo editing, this isn't it. Go get an ASUS Zenbook or a MacBook Air instead. The 220-nit panel on this Dell is a constant disappointment the moment you're not in a dark room.

The Dell Inspiron 15 is a single-purpose machine done reasonably well. It's for the person who lives in Excel, has 40 Chrome tabs open, and never unplugs from their desk. The 32GB of RAM and roomy SSD make it a multitasking champ for the price. But the dim screen, plastic body, and older CPU mean it's a terrible choice for anyone who travels, works near a window, or does anything creative. Buy it for the memory, tolerate it for everything else.