The Budget Desktop Replacement From Dell

When people think of desktop replacement laptops, usually expensive laptops come to mind. Almost all of them have powerful processors that are also paired up with powerful video cards, thus making them also gaming laptops.

How about the people who do not need those features? Well, Dell has an answer for that – the Inspiron 17R SE. For those looking for a big laptop without the need for extreme features, this will serve you well.

Design

The Inspiron 17R is a desktop replacement, but it doesn’t have the imposing frame its peers are known for. Rather, the 17R has a softer appeal, great for mainstream users who aren’t interested in playing games.

Being a 17 – inch laptop, you’re bound to have some weight to carry. Weighing at 7.27 pounds, that’s certainly a lot of weight, but better than most laptops of the same screen size.

Since this is a budget laptop, expect some compromises when it comes to the body. The bottom is made of plastic. Thankfully, the top lid is made of aluminum with a honeycomb pattern that looks nice. The aluminum design is also found in the palm rest.

Display

Featuring a wonderful 17.3 – inch screen, the 17R has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. It’s great because it compliments all of your HD videos.

Aside from that, the laptop has more than enough brightness to fill up a dark room. You can watch a movie comfortably in the dark with this laptop. To help with glare, Dell even supplies this laptop with a matte screen.

Due to its purpose of being a multimedia laptop, the display has good viewing angles, allowing you to watch movies with a friend or two.

Hardware

In terms of hardware, the laptop actually impresses. 

The processor is a quad – core i7 Ivy Bridge processor, the 3610QM. It’s actually a great processor because many gaming laptops offer it as a default offering. It’s a very capable processor allowing you to do heavy duty tasks such as rendering videos without any problems.

For graphics, you are provided with the fastest budget NVIDIA graphics card, the GeForce GT 650M. It’s a graphics card that actually turns the laptop into a decent gaming machine. You’ll find it in ultraportable boutique laptops.

How does it perform? You can play some demanding games on it, such as Diablo III. It runs at a smooth 29 fps on ultra at 1080p. Even Starcraft II runs at a playable 41 fps at 1080p. Some other games though can’t be played. The ultra – demanding Dirt Showdown moves along at a slow 19 fps with everything maxed out. However, reducing the image settings to High allows you to play at 47 fps.

Memory is at 6 GB, which is normal for budget laptops. Since this you’ll mostly be using this laptop for simple tasks, it’s more than enough. Storage comes at a measly 1 TB HDD. That’s enough, but it doesn’t compare to an SSD.

For the adventurous though, you can always install an SSD yourself.

Conclusion

Dell has created a great budget laptop for just 1,160 dollars. It manages to impress thanks to its decent gaming abilities and quad – core processor.

Well, this is better than your old laptop, so if you have decided to sell your laptop be sure that you will only transact to legitimate companies like Cash4Laptops.com.