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Technology like Nvidia’s latest Pascal graphic cards has brought more power to trim gaming laptops, for ever reducing amounts of money. Case on point: the Dell Inspiron i5577-7359BLK-PUS, a successor to our Editors’ Choice gaming laptop from last year, that boasts even better gaming performance on all but the highest settings with its full HD display and discrete Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card.
And, it has an all-round aptitude that allows it to perform daily work and media tasks, when you’re not playing. The upgrades over last year’s model are monumental and given that the Dell Inspiron I7559-763BLK was already our top pick for gamers who value both portability and performance, this model is an easy pick as our Editors’ Choice for ultraportable entry-level gaming laptops.
If you want to play and work at the same, this model is worth having at the top of your short list.
Design
Having an all-metal premium build wasn’t ever in the card for the Inspiron 15 5000 Series –especially at this price range, but Dell managed to craft a pleasing design, without taking the cost high. The Inspiron 15 comes in a black body with red and accents and logo. The body is all plastic, but it has a soft finish on the lid and a generally sturdy body that prevent it from feeling cheap. As a whole, this simple but stylish design is more preferable to, say, the Acer Aspire VX 15, which comes off screaming gamer and boxy despite the solid gaming performance.
Measuring 1 by 15.7 by 10.42 inches (HWD) and 5.7 pounds, it strikes me as relatively slim and light, which is very reasonable for a gaming laptop. Last year’s model was slightly trimmer (1.0 by 15.1 by 10.4 inches), but all you getting is essentially the same size and looks, with improved performance. For a 15-incher, it is portable enough that you won’t scream at the prospect of carrying it around. While it’s slim, there exist more compact 15-inch laptops out there, though the 14-inch Razer Blade is an ultimate example of what’s possible when manufacturers decide to slim things here-and-there, but it comes with a price tag.
Screen, Keyboard and Touchpad
The 15.6-inch screen of the Inspiron i5577-7359BLK-PUS comes with all the bells and whistles: IPS display (superior to cheap TN panels in terms of colors and viewing angles), anti-glare coating and FHD (1920-by-1080) resolution. Touch is not supported, but for gaming purposes such a display should be very decent at least. A 1280×720 webcam makes for a few moments of filming videos or chat with your friends on Skype, with Waves Maxx Audio Pro for clear sound output.
The keyboard is backlit with white light, which is a walk from the red lighting in most gaming laptops. Not all laptops in this category include backlighting, but it’s generally a nice feature to have. The keys themselves are of good quality, though with, rather, short key travel. The touchpad has a smooth feel; and sturdy, though its positioning is slightly offset to the left.
Connectivity
Connectivity is excellent. The Inspiron i5577-7359BLK-PUS comes with three USB 3.0 ports, HDMI-out is also present, although DisplayPort is missing which is quite a drawback, and might upset some hardcore gamers. Optical drive isn’t something you find here either; if you need to install games from discs you’d better get an external DVD drive. Wireless connectivity comes via 802.11 A/C + Bluetooth 4.2 adapter; wired connectivity comes via an RJ-45 port.
Performance
You have no excuse to complain of not finding more bang for your buck than the Inspiron i5577-7359BLK-PUS’s Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU, 8GB of memory and 4GB of Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1050 at this price. It is the prime choice for general productivity and multitasking, with more than adequate gaming prowess. As the year begun, we’ve seen Intel’s Kaby Lake processor and Nvidia’s Pascal GPUs outfitted in laptops and desktops with very good performance benchmarks.
Currently, it is possible to get hold of beefier systems in the same line with an edge over the Inspiron 15, but they can be pricier, after all it’s not a world of difference for daily productivity like web browsing, word processing or enthusiast-level photo editing. Inside, the storage is both speedy and spacious, thanks to a 128GB solid-state drive (SSD) which is better than the slower hard drives, and an additional 1TB 5400 RPM hard drive for storing all your downloads and files.
Given that Nvidia’s Pascal architecture is fairly new, a number of entry-level gaming laptops are getting the GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti graphics cards. On the game grid, these cards do crunch numbers on most modern games, albeit at medium-quality (1,366 by 768 resolution) settings, although you can still do 1080p at reduced frames per second (FPS), which doesn’t deliver much eye candy.
Still, you’ll be able to get the system to play at native resolution that will involve some tweaking with anti-aliasing and quality settings. Generally, the Inspiron 15 can run modern games on all but the highest settings, which is good for an entry-level gaming laptop, hanging closely with more expensive laptops.
Battery Life
On battery life, the Inspiron i5577-7359BLK-PUS will give you around 7 hours 38 minutes. That’s remarkably longer that competitors like the Acer VX 15 (5:28) among others. Machines with better graphics performance, such as the Asus ROG GL552VW-DH71 and the Origin EON15-X, only last a little more than 2 hours given their processing power combined with large, hi-res screens sucking up power.
Bang for Your Buck
The Dell Inspiron i5577-7359BLK-PUS combines the same top-notch design as its predecessor, with cutting-edge components, a full HD screen, and plenty of extras for one of the most formidable gaming laptops in the market. It’s well-designed, offers a good mix of ports, and packs the newest graphics technology, all while staying reasonably affordable. The display doesn’t match the 4K resolution on the Razer Blade Stealth but is perfect for the price, period.
If you’re shopping on a budget but want a machine that’s capable of playing modern games and can handle productivity tasks at the same time, it’s certainly tough to beat this value. For all these, the Dell Inspiron i5577 is an easy choice to recommend for midrange gaming laptops.
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