Pros: Lightweight 14 inch laptop, SSD storage, up to 8 hours of battery life, very low price point.
Cons: Designed for basic computing.
While many of us are searching for a powerhouse laptop that can perform excellently to our wildest demands, there are plenty of users who don't need a laptop to go that far. On the contrary, many are just happy with a laptop that serves their needs of surfing the web, talking with friends and doing some number crunching on excel. It's for this specific audience that Dell has launched a very interesting model under the name Dell Inspiron i3452-5600BLK.
While one of the main features of this laptop is it's low cut price, it also stands out thanks to its SSD storage and lightweight 14 inch design. However, don't take us on our word and check this laptop out on your own in our review of the Dell Inspiron i3452-5600BLK.
Dell Inspiron i3452-5600BLK Review of a budget 14" laptop
An unusual screen and a very portable design
Price aside, one of the main features that this laptop uses to stand out is its minimalistic yet attractive design. It's clear we're not looking at a high end model but the design on this notebook still affords us with a nice "on the go" feeling.
It's weight doesn't even amount to 4 pounds and its thickness is of just 0.87 inches. The screen, a 14 inch IPS LED display with a 1366 by 768 pixel resolution comes with your standard aspect ratio of 16:9.
It's obvious that Dell didn't reinvent the wheel over here but we do like the portability that a 14 inch screen affords us as well as the extra screen real-estate when compared to the more portable 13 inch models that are currently flooding the marketplace.
The keyboard in place is your average island style chiclet keyboard. The one drawback on this point is that Dell had to renounce to implementing a dedicated numeric pad if it wanted to maintain the overall ergonomics of the notebook. It's a sacrifice that most of us are willing to accept, especially Macbook users who've been living without a dedicated numeric pad for years now.
What's inside this laptop? How will it perform?
Performance on the Dell Inspiron i3452-5600BLK is provided by an Intel Celeron N3050 processor that clocks in at 1.6 GHz and can reach a maximum processing speed of up to 2.16 GHz. It's a dual core entry level CPU with 2 MB of cache and 2 threads. Overall this CPU is aimed at students and people who want to work on the go with light computing tasks at mind.
Stuff like editing docs, talking with friends and watching videos on Youtube are all fine but if you're looking to perform more intensive tasks then this laptop will fall behind fast.
The CPU is coupled with 2 GB of RAM which we really recommend upgrading to at least 4 GB or even 8 GB if you want to see a significant increase in performance. If you're a dedicated multitasker then you'll be disappointed with the 2 GB of RAM but then again if you where looking for a powerhouse laptop you'd hardly be reading the review of the Dell Inspiron i3452-5600BLK.
SSD storage and a great battery life
One of this laptops most attractive features right next to its design is the kind of storage it implements. To be more specific, this model comes with 32 GB of SSD storage which means this laptop will be quick to boot up and boot down as well as access your files in a quick and timely manner.
Though it's true that 32 GB of storage is often very little for many of us it's worth noting that this laptop wasn't conceived as a stand alone laptop but rather a companion device for your on the go needs.
As a testament to Dell's intentions of making this it's go-to portable ultra affordable laptop we'll tell you that this notebook supports up to 8 hours of battery life thanks to its 4 cell removable battery. If battery life is as big a deal to you as it is to us then that alone will be one of this laptops biggest pros.
What games can I play on this laptop?
This segment is going to be veeeery short because gaming is pretty much out of the question all together on the laptop. Taking into account it's integrated Intel HD Graphics card couples with basic RAM and an entry level CPU this laptop won't really let you play games so you should scratch that right off the bat.
More stuff you should know...
Now that we've covered the most relevant elements of our review we should take a quick look at the extras. In this sense we've got a couple of USB ports (one USB 3.0), an HDMI out, SD card slot, Bluetooth 4.0 and obviously WiFi b/g/n connectivity.
There's also a webcam and the OS installed is Windows 10. There's also a bunch of bloatware which we wholeheartedly advise you to uninstall since it will take up some much needed space and limit performance.
In Conclusion: Is it worth it?
As much as we would like to give you a yes or no answer to this question it will really depend on several things, mostly your budget and needs. If you're looking for a laptop to give a kid or a student who doesn't need much horsepower and your budget is limited then you could very well make due with the Dell Inspiron i3452-5600BLK in review.
However, if you need a laptop to do more demanding tasks and 32 GB of storage is not enough then you should probably save your money and buy something better down the line. There are several good options in the market if you stretch you budget by a bit more. That's not to say that this is a bad option.
We like the fact that storage is SSD and we really like the battery life and portability that this laptop gives us so if you're computing needs aren't very demanding and your budget is tight this could make for a good option. You can check pricing and availability over here.