Dell Inspiron 17r-5000 Laptop Computer

Dell Inspiron 17r-5000 Highlights -

Pros: Sleek and modern casing. Energy efficient processor with decent performance.

Cons: Not suitable for high-end gaming. Few USB ports. No Gigabit LAN.

The Dell Inspiron 17r-5000 laptop belongs to the Dell Inspiron 17 5000 series of laptop computers. It is a mid-range series of laptops designed to appeal to the needs of a wide variety of consumers. The choice of processors featured in this series ranges from Intel Pentium 3558U to Intel Core i7 processors. Also, the storage options range from 500GB to 1TB with the choice of memory from 4GB to 8GB. All the laptops in this series come with a big 17.3 inch display with varying screen resolutions and optional touchscreen capability. This series is sure to appeal to a wide range of users with varying budgets and needs.
The Dell Inspiron 17r-5000 specifically comes with a high performance Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of memory and 1GB storage space. The laptop features a brushed aluminium lid with a narrow, silver-colored plastic rim on the lid's upper edge as it's distinguishing feature. With a modern design and body made of plain black (matte) plastic, the laptop is well built and feels solid.

Performance - The Dell Inspiron 17r-5000 is powered by a Intel Dual-Core i7-4510U, which is an energy efficient processor designed to consume very low amount of power. It features 2 physical cores (4 logical), initially clocked at 2GHz which can be boosted up to 3.1 GHz. Intel's HyperThreading, Turbo Boost and Virtualization are all enabled. The laptop's average performance is reflective of it's power efficiency thereby offering sub-par performance when running applications that demand a lot of processing power. Most routine productivity applications and games however don't require a very strong processor and games are mostly graphic intensive. Therefore, the processor exhibits sufficient power and performance for office productivity and multimedia applications. According to benchmark tests (source: CPUBenchmark), the Intel Core i7-4510U performed reasonably well, however if you're going to be running processor intensive applications like 3D modelling, video encoding/decoding etc. then we would recommend a laptop with Intel Core i7-4700MQ processor like the HP ENVY TouchSmart 17-j043cl.

Intel-Dual-Core-i7-4510U

Storage & Memory - The laptop comes with 8GB of 1600MHz DDR3L memory and 1TB (5400RPM) storage space. Whilst there is only one memory slot, it is user accessible thereby making future upgrades possible. Multitasking is easy with 8GB of memory and 1TB storage offers more than enough disk space for keeping documents and multimedia files like music, videos and photos.
Display & Sound - The 17.3 inch LED backlit display with Truelife offers HD+ resolution of 1600x900 pixels. Dell's TrueLife delivers 10% higher contrast ratio than the same display with an anti-glare coating, resulting in darker blacks and brighter colors. The display is great for playing games, watching DVDs and viewing digital photos. Please note: the screen is a TN LED screen, therefore the viewing angles in which the image is rendered naturally is limited when compared to IPS screens. However, the average brightness of the display is 270 Nit which is very respectable.
The Dell Inspiron 17r-5000 comes with processor integrated Intel's HD Graphics 4400, which is decent for routine tasks, but is limited to playing casual games or older game titles in reduced resolution. If you're looking for a 17 inch Dell Inspiron laptop capable of high end gaming then we would highly recommend looking at one of the Dell Inspiron 7000 series laptops - Dell Inspiron 17R that comes with an NVIDIA GeForce GT750M dedicated graphic card.
The speakers are hidden under the bevelled front edge and sound quality by Waves MaxxAudio seems quite rich. Also, the software program offers various preconfigured audio profiles and an equalizer that you can set according to your liking.
Battery - The 4-cell Lithium ion battery is advertised to have a battery life of up to 5 hours which is very good for a 17 inch laptop.
Operating System - Preloaded with Microsoft Windows 7 Professional operating system (64-bit). Windows 8.1 Pro disc is also included.

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Being a full sized laptop, the Inspiron 17r-5000 lacks a diverse range of connectivity options. To us, having only one USB 3.0 port and two USB 2.0 ports is not enough. Most similar laptops offer at a minimum, a second USB 3.0 port. A few more USB ports would have been nice. Besides that, most other 17 inch laptops also feature at least a VGA port in contrast to the sole HDMI output of the Inspiron 17r-5000. It does however come with a multiformat DVD-RW, a media card reader and a front facing HD (720p) webcam with digital microphone. For network connectivity, there is Intel Wireless-N 1705 802.11b/g/n, 10/100 MBit LAN and Bluetooth 4.0. The backlit keyboard with a 10 key numeric pad feels comfortable, however the clickpad is not as accurate as a touchpad with buttons. Nevertheless the clickpad supports multi-touch gestures and scrolling. Also, Dell offers a 12-month manufacturer warranty as standard. The laptop measures 16.20 x 10.20 x 1.10 inches and weighs 6.6 pounds.

ReviewsBucket's Verdict:
The Dell Inspiron 17r-5000 is packed with convenient features and is a great choice if you want to replace your desktop computer with something portable and mobile. The design is elegant and the aluminum lid makes it look premium. The specifications are very respectable with a Core i7 processor and 8GB memory. This energy-efficient processor has more than enough power to breeze through all routine applications including office productivity tasks, web browsing and even light gaming. Also, the laptop offers a great combination of display and audio with it's big 17.3 inch HD+ screen and Waves MaxxAudio. However, the connectivity is lean with only a few USB ports and lack of the latest wireless 802.11ac connectivity. Overall, we would recommend this laptop simply because of it's winning combination of specifications, performance, and value for money.

Apart from the Inspiron 17r-5000 laptop, below are some of the best selling models of the Dell Inspiron 17 5000 series of laptops:
Dell Inspiron i5748-1143sLV - Intel Pentium 3558U 1.7GHz processor with 4GB memory, 500GB hard drive and 17.3 inch HD+ resolution (1600x900 pixels) display.
Dell Inspiron i5748-2143sLV - Intel Core i3-4030U 1.9 GHz processor with 4GB memory, 500GB hard drive and 17.3 inch HD+ resolution (1600x900 pixels) display.
Dell Inspiron i5748-5000sLV - Intel Core i5-4210U 1.7 GHz processor with 8GB memory, 1TB hard drive and 17.3 inch HD+ resolution (1600x900 pixels) display.
Dell Inspiron i5748-8571sLV - Intel Core i7-4510U 2 GHz processor with 8GB memory, 1TB hard drive and 17.3 inch Full HD resolution (1920x1080 pixels) Touchscreen display.

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Readers Rating: 2.4/5
Dell Inspiron 17r-5000 Laptop Computer, 2.4 out of 5 based on 7 ratings

 

 

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