Fan of the Inspiron series? There is great news for you since Dell has managed to release 4 new models of it Inspiron 17 5000 series, but rather surprisingly in a quiet manner. In a world, where GPUs are rather hard to get these days, all 4 of these models have the AMD’s onboard Vega graphics. Though, instead of Intel processors, these laptops are powered by the Ryzen 5 and 3 processors.
It must be noted that it is the first time that a Dell laptop has an AMD Ryzen 5 2500U processor along with Vega 8 Graphics, while the Ryzen 3 2200U processor boasts a Vega 3 integrated graphics.
Display and Ports
For both of the processors, Dell released two models each making up for a total of 4 models. There are quite many similarities between the models as all of them a 17.3” 1920 x 1080 anti-glare LED-backlit screen while the platinum silver finish is also on all of these. Not only this, but all 4 of these feature 2 USB 3.1 ports along with a USB 2.0 port too. Furthermore, HDMI 1.4b interface and an SD card reader are present on all four of these as well.
Moreover, each of these laptops features a DVD optical drive as well. Even if DVDs aren’t used today much, DVD drives can still come in handy when planning to use older software or creating recovery disks. Also with the 802.11 ac dual-band Wi-Fi networking channel you can be assured of wide connectivity, while also future proofing yourself.
RAM and Large Harddrive Capacity for your everyday needs
The battery is a 42Wh 3 cell one and is same across all four models. Perhaps, the difference is when it comes to storage and memory. Both of these varies across all of these. The low-end Ryzen 3 laptop has an 8 GB of RAM in the form of a single module of DDR4-2400 so there is still space for RAM upgrades. Along with this is a 1 TB 400 RPM SATA Hard Disk Drive as well. The other Ryzen 3 better version boasts 4 GB more RAM in the form of two memory sticks; One Being 8 GB DDR4-200 and the other 4 GB of DDR4-200 making for a total of 12 GB of RAM. The Hard Drive capacity is the same though.
When it comes to the Ryzen 5 model laptops, there isn’t any difference between both Ryzen 5 laptops technically. The RAM is same across both of them with a whopping 16 GB of Memory in the form of two 8GB RAM modules (DDR4-200) versions. Hard drive capacity is twice that of the Ryzen 3 laptops being 2 TB at 5,200 RPM. The only difference amongst the models is that the higher priced model has a year of Dell’s Premium Support Plus coverage. So it is up to you if you want to spend a $100 extra to get this Premium coverage.
To be honest, we expected Dell to finally offer an SSD as the primary storage for at least the higher end model, but Dell disappointed once again by just offering their “Premium” coverage for a lot extra.
Moderate to Hefty Price Tags
As far as the prices are concerned the New Inspiron 17 5000 with the AMD Ryzen 3 processor is available for a price tag of $679.99. Therefore, if you are on a tight budget then this laptop suits you. If you are in for a better RAM, then you can go for the other Ryzen 3 model which is available for $729.99. With the Ryzen 5 series, you will have to spend $899.99 to get the identical Ryzen 5 model without Premium coverage while the other one would cost you $999.99. Remember that this $999.99 price tag is a special courtesy by Dell since it was originally offered for $1038.99.
Other appealing features
All the laptops come with Windows 10 Home 64-bit English as primary OS. As far as the audio is concerned it is also the same on all four laptops. There are 2 tuned speakers; audio processing by Waves MaxxAudio® Pro. Then there is the usual combo headphone/microphone jack as well. The laptops also feature a Standard WideScreen 720p Camera as well, with inbuilt Digital Microphone making video conferencing experience a lot better.
Furthermore, all the laptop comes with a 30 Day free trial of Microsoft Office, so if you plan to travel with your laptop, you can just buy it off the shelve and use it on the Go. Not only this but these laptops also feature Security Software as well. There is a free 12 Month McAfee LiveSafe subscription along with these.
The laptops’ dimension are identical to each model with the Height ,Width and Depth being 0.98″ (25mm) x 16.35″ (415.4mm) x 10.99″ (279.2mm) respectively. Moreover, the laptops only weigh 2.972 Kg which is 6.55 lbs so are fairly portable.
Strength and Rigidity
As far as the chassis, there is a full-size, spill-resistant keyboard with a 10-key numeric keyboard present on all four laptops. Backlit keyboards are also available on select configurations. Also, for security purposes, there is an inbuilt fingerprint reader as well which works with Windows Hello. The Multi-touch gesture-enabled precision touchpad with integrated scrolling offers much easier scrolling and interaction with the system.
The laptops are also meant to sustain much heat damage. The laptops can work in even harsh heat conditions of up to 65 degrees Celsius or 149 Fahrenheit equivalent. Moreover, all of usually face loose hinges after a year or two and by the third year, they usually break. This is not the case with these laptops as they have been tested 20,000 times at least. Not only this but the laptops were also tested for 10 million keystrokes and its touchpad buttons for 1 million times with no failure. Therefore, go ahead, finish your novel.
The power and multimedia buttons have also been tested for 40,000 times and there weren’t any failures of any sort.
After seeing all these features it is safe to say that with this much rigidity these laptops have, one doesn’t have to look elsewhere but buy one of these laptops according to their budget.