Having a laptop that moonlights as a tablet has become increasingly attractive among travelers, considering that the 2-in-1 laptop market has become more affordable. The Dell Inspiron 13 5000 i5379-5893GRY-PUS is the best you can get your hands on, at least for now. It is an entry-level model, well priced system, with enough processing power for most users.
We know there are strong contenders out there with good upgrade options, but the Dell i5379-5893GRY-PUS is priced well below the likes of the Lenovo Yoga 920 or the Microsoft Surface Book 2, making it worth your consideration. As you look around, keep in mind that with the lower prices you’re seeing, most of these 2-in-1 laptops cut corners to remain affordable. One such corner on the Inspiron 13 5000 happens to be battery life (it isn’t the worst, though) –and, to some extent, the build quality.
Design
While not as light as the HP Spectre x360, the Inspiron i5379-5893GRY-PUS is smaller than both the Lenovo Yoga 920 and Microsoft Surface Book 2, albeit slightly. Weighing 3.5 pounds and measuring 0.79 by 12.7 by 8.8 inches (HWD), the Inspiron 13 puts portability first. The screen is held in place by two inches, that conveniently let you use the Inspiron in various modes: standard laptop, tent, or tablet orientation.
The Inspiron 13 has a 2-in-1 convertible hybrid design, meaning the screen can be flipped around and used in: Tablet mode as a handheld; Stand mode with the keyboard facing down; and, Tent mode with the hinge up while the keyboard is facing away from you. In all these three modes, the touch screen is placed in the front and center, so you can seamlessly interact with Windows 10 or watch your videos easily.
The remaining Laptop mode lets you use the Inspiron as a traditional laptop, with the functionality of a typical clamshell notebook PC. The system’s body, top lid, bottom lid and keyboard deck are finished in a dark gray theme, while the glossy screen has a black bezel beneath the glass surface.
if your work entails holding a PC in one arm for more than an hour, then you’re safe with a detachable hybrid, let’s say something like the Surface Book 2, which has a 1.6-pound tablet that is easily separated from its keyboard case.
Display
Upon opening the lid, there’s a bright 13.3-inch narrow-border FHD (1,920 x 1,080) touch display that’s easy on the eyes. It has tiny bezels, an approach used by Dell to pack a larger display into a smaller case. In doing that, you have a larger screen fitted on a small case, without comprising the quality of the screen. The touch display responds well to taps and swipes are captured smoothly.
While a QHD+ (3,200-by-1,800) screen would have been better, 1080p is still perfectly fine if all you do is primarily stream videos from YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix. With a full HD screen, you benefit from extra pixels that give better fidelity for watching 1080p movies, more screen area for viewing web pages, easy editing of PowerPoint presentation layout, or working on Excel spreadsheets.
Ports and Keyboard
An easily accessible keyboard is perhaps the main reasons you’d prefer a 2-in-1 convertible laptop over a detachable or slate tablet, and the Inspiron 13 has a really good one. The backlit keyboard is easy to type on, and its one-piece touchpad is wide enough and well proportioned, with support for multi gestures. This gives it an edge over using a traditional mouse for anyone considering it over the touch screen.
On the Inspiron 13, connectivity is varied, but with a couple of caveats. There is a headphone jack, a HDMI port, one USB 2.0 port, two USB 3.0 port and an SD card reader. It doesn’t have a USB-C, which is now pretty standard among entry-level systems, the same way it skips a LAN port for wired connectivity. It supports dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2 for wireless connections.
Performance
The configuration of the newer iteration of the Dell Inspiron 13 is impressive, especially when you factor the price. Last year, we reviewed the Inspiron i5379-5043GRY-PUS and we disliked it for a few things, including a slow hard drive. In this model, we come out rather impressed. Dell’s Inspiron 13 5000 runs on an 8th Gen., Intel Core i5-8250 processor, alongside 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD, both upgradable, with the memory going up to 16GB if needed.
This configuration can’t quite keep up with the Surface Book 2’s performance, but that’s expected considering the Surface 2’s internals are benchmarked by a quad-core i7 processor, 512GB SSD and a dedicated GTX 1050 graphics card.
Still, the Inspiron 13 stacks up well against the Yoga 920 in spite of its stronger spec sheet. Strong performance is noticeable if you’ll be using the Inspiron 13 for everyday tasks. With this configuration, app launch is very fast and performance is lag-free for a 2-in-1 laptop, you can even have multiple tabs open on Chrome without hiccups. The integrated graphics card won’t allow you play modern titles in native resolution but works well if you go casual.
Battery Life
Just about the only (almost) disappointing aspect of the Inspiron 13 5000. Dell promises up to 8 hours 30 minutes, which isn’t bad as you expect almost an hour short of that on daily use. Granted, the Inspiron 13 is a 2-in-1 laptop, it suggests less than all day battery which would be nice to have since the laptop will be always used on the go, maybe in the office or over cross-country flights.
Certainly, the newer processors are energy-efficient, that’s why we’re seeing systems such as the Lenovo Yoga 920 last a remarkable 22 hours 38 minutes, outlasting both the Surface Book (19:17) and Apple’s MacBook Pro (16:24), each with a record of excellent battery life.
Verdict
In finding an affordable laptop than other in the same category, there’s always some give and take. The Dell Inspiron 13 5000 i5379-5893GRY-PUS is no different. It is a nicely designed system, portable and powerful, but lacks all day battery life. For that, you’ll be hard pressed to consider if you need portability and performance over battery life, and whether what’s lacking here matters to you and if so, by what margin.
Overall, the Inspiron 13 5000 may not match to better equipped systems on paper, but as a daily use system, it’s a fully capable 2-in-1 laptop worth having at the top of your list.
