Pros: Quad Core i5 CPU, 1TB storage+8GB flash storage, 8 GB of RAM, Nvidia GeForce GTX960M, outstanding battery life, low price for a gaming laptop.
Cons: Lacks an Optical Drive.
Finding an affordable gaming laptop is not an easy task for anyone to take on. Often times, when we think we've hit the jackpot it turns out we're looking at a refurbished model or even worse, the comments make it clear that this laptop is far from great. That said, once in a blue moon, a couple of affordable gaming laptops do come to light. Such is the case of the latest Dell Inspiron i7559-12623 RED.
It's with this new laptop that Dell takes yet another step towards dominating this segment. The company's first step was the launch of the Dell Inspiron i7559-763BLK we've reviewed over here and now we arrive at this new model.
So, what does Dell have in store for us this time around? Well an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M and a Full HD display are just a couple of its best attributes. However, as we love taking a deeper look, let's do the same over here and review the Dell Inspiron i7559-12623RED in all its might.
How are customers reacting? Check out the reviews here!
Dell Inspiron i7559-12623RED Review of an Affordable Gaming Laptop
Stellar display on top of an invigorating design
When you go down the path of manufacturing a gaming laptop you can't really do so without paying special attention to the display. After all, it's on the display where the user will explore new worlds and uptake new challenges so the display must be up to the task.
Dell had this very present at the moment of designing the Dell Inspiron i7559-12623RED and therefore endowed the laptop with a 15.6 inch IPS LED-backlit display with Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080) and Anti-glare technology. This means that you'll be able to take on your favorite games in its fullest glory even with direct sunlight in your way.
Moving on to the keyboard, as expected, it's a backlit keyboard with a chiclet styled design and a dedicated numeric pad on the side. There's also a very ample trackpad which, of course, supports multi-gestures.
Overall we really like the clean and simple design that Dell has given this particular model. It's not too flashy and not too robust either, weighing just 4.6 pounds and measuring roughly an inch. It should be noted that this model lacks an optical drive, however you can always buy an external optical drive since they are quite affordable nowadays.
Enough talk about design, it's time to see what you're really paying for. To the point, Dell's latest gaming laptop comes equipped with a 6th generation Core i5 processor that responds to the name 6300HQ. This is a particularly interesting processor not only because it's a Skylake model but because it's a quad core processor that works over 4 threads with 6 MB of Intel's smart cache clocking in at 2.3 GHz and reaching a maximum speed of 3.2 GHz.
The geeks who are reading this - amongst which I include myself - will know what this means. To the rest of our readers i'll say that this is an excellent processor, a force to be reckoned with. Whether you're into hardcore gaming, 4K video editing or would like to run several virtual machines at a time, this CPU won't disappoint. There is truly very little that this CPU won't be able to tackle.
In terms of RAM, we've got 8 GB of DDR3L SDRAM running at 1600 MHz. Sure DDR4 RAM would've been better but laptops with this kind of RAM are few and far between and at these prices we're willing to let it slide.
That said, 8GB is more than enough for intensive multitaskers, especially with the onboard processor but you can always choose to upgrade another 8 GB in the future if you find that the onboard RAM isn't enough.
What games can I play?
Being a fully fledged gaming laptop, the Dell Inspiron i7559-12623RED comes with an Nvidia GeForce 960M graphics chip with 4 GB of vRAM. What does this mean? Well it means that you'll be able to play most current games at Full HD resolution without loosing sleep over the amount of frames per second you get.
Games such as Rainbow Six Siege will perform at roughly 40 fps at Full HD resolution, Fallout 4 will perform similarly as well as Call of Duty Black Ops 3. Mad Max, Dirt Rally and Evolve will also do very well for themselves and even the latest Need for speed 2016 won't have any trouble at working with a respectable frame rate.
Yes, this truly is the gamers dream, an affordable gaming laptop that will deliver an excellent frame rate at a high resolution with a relatively low price tag attached. You can take a look at the full details of this GPU's gaming performance over here.
What's so special about this laptop's storage and battery life?
Dell truly went all out when developing this particular model, proof of that is in the storage. To be precise, while we do see a standard 1 TB hard drive working at 5400 rpm, there's also 8 GB of flash storage cache. This is essentially the same as the Fusion Drive introduced by Apple a few years back on its iMac lineup.
That is, a base storage where you can store all your apps and files and an extra small flash storage where your most used programs are stored in memory to grant you fast access to them. Some would call this the best of both worlds and it is, unless you can afford a laptop with ample flash storage which are typically far more expensive.
As we review the Dell Inspiron i7559-12623RED, we see that battery life is also a big deal, which is great for many users who really value battery life such as myself. To the point, this model comes with a 6 cell removable battery that, according to Dell, can offer us up to 10 hours of battery life. Honestly, while I doubt the 10 hour mark will be reached by normal usage, this does indicate that a good 8 hours are more than likely.
Miscellaneous stuff
As expected, connectivity is also a segment where Dell has gone above and beyond. Specifically, we've got a very fast WiFi ac connectivity which performs up to three times faster than standard b/g/n connectivity, Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI, ethernet port as well as an SD card reader. There's also an HD webcam and a very interesting set of stereo speakers and subwoofer with MaxxAudio Pro technology.
Of course there's no absence of USB 3.0 ports (3 in total) and Windows comes in its Windows 10 version of 64 bits.
Closing arguments
Sometimes, when we reach the end point of our review we must balance the price in regards to the specs to form a verdict. However, in the case of our review of the Dell Inspiron i7559-12623RED this is not the case. Some laptops are simply great, whether you take the price into consideration or not, and this is one of those laptops.
We love the powerful quad core processor, the spectacular graphics card and the vicious amount of RAM which will make multitasking a fluid and effortless activity. Storage is also a big pro on this model thanks to its 8 GB of flash storage cache and battery life is beyond average for a gaming laptop.
Sure, there's the lack of an optical drive but quite honestly this is not something we really care about. If you do care we would still advise you buy an external DVD reader taking into account the low price point most of these have attached.
Overall this is an excellent powerhouse laptop and it's really hard to imagine anyone would be disappointed by it whether you're a casual user wanting to go on the safe side or a pro user who wants a machine who's up to the challenge, this is a great laptop for all intents and purposes. You can check out pricing and availability for this model here.
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