If laptops had personalities, the Dell Inspiron range would be that dependable friend who always shows up on time, remembers your birthday, and won’t judge you for eating cereal for dinner (the opposite of me in other words). In this laptop review Dell Inspiron, I’ll dig deep into the various models, their costs, what the warranty is really like, and whether you’d want one at the office or on your couch with Netflix.
When someone says Dell Inspiron, you could be forgiven for thinking there’s only one model. But much like the endless spin-offs of The Fast and the Furious, Dell keeps refreshing the Inspiron lineup.
This is Dell’s entry-level Inspiron range. The Inspiron 3000 series laptops are made for people who need something reliable without spending the GDP of a small nation. Students, casual web surfers, and parents who just want to check their email without breaking the bank gravitate towards these.
But BE WARNED – while these work and do what they say on the tin, you will likely find that over the next 2+ years, you will need a replacement. These laptops are aimed at todays apps, websites and graphics, but not an ounce more. So if you want some longevity, my personal opinion is to look further up the tree.
Specs vary by configuration, but you’ll usually find:
They’re not built for gaming marathons or editing your 4K drone footage, but for everyday tasks, they’re solid.
Move up a level, and you’ve got the 5000 series. These laptops balance performance with affordability, which is why they’re popular with both small businesses and families.
However, I am a systems engineer and spend 60+ hours per week on my computer. I had a 5000 series for years, even after I spilt a mug of coffee directly over the keyboard. I put it in a box of rice and sure enough it was fine! The point is, when the guy at the store encourages you to buy something more than a 5000 series because these aren’t powerful enough, well just tell him he’s wrong and go to another shop!
Back in the day, I used to pull apart Inspiron 5000 series laptops for my job as a Desktop Support Officer, probably about 10 laptops per week. I can tell you they are simple and built well considering their price tag.
Key highlights include:
The Inspiron 5000 is for people who want a work horse. Maybe to run a business, to become the new “main laptop” at home, or to do uni assignments. Like I said, it worked for me and I work my laptop harder than anyone I know.
Final comment and my only negative comment is the keyboard which used to p**s me off. The keyboard was a bit flimsy. When you struck the keys, it had a tendency to spring up and down a bit. A bit annoying, but nothing an external keyboard can’t solve.
The Inspiron 7000 laptops are where Dell starts flexing its muscles, but like many gym bro’s it has more bark than bite. They are generally higher spec, but to be honest the difference is not enough. The current 7000 series Inspiron (known as the Inspiron “Plus”) comes with something called a Snapdragon X Plus CPU. Ignoring the boring tech talk, there is one big advantage – battery life.
The battery life of the Inspiron 7000 series is reported to be as high as 18+ hours, where as the 5000 series could be as low as 8 hours. This can be a pain because batteries these days are integrated and you can’t take them out easily. It also doesn’t support charging via USB-C, which means external batteries/power banks are not possible. If you are like me and have the laptop plugged in 99.999% of the time, who cares. If you have time and money to travel the globe, maybe that’s worth the jump to the 7000 series.
Expect the following spec:
Dell has also given us the Inspiron 16 Plus, which was basically for content creator’s at a relatively affordable price. These are all 7000 series, but Dell doesn’t seem to like referring to them strictly as 7000 series – for simplicities sake I will call the “Inspiron plus” series 7000 series laptop.
The Inspiron 16 Plus is currently marked as “Unavailable” on the Dell website in all counties and it’s possible this is from the reviews.
The Dell Inspiron 16 Plus (not the Dell 16 plus) has many poor reviews online, mostly due to the issues with the trackpad. While this might be resolved soon, it highlighted Dell’s sub-par support for the Inspiron laptops. Multiple users quoting 7 week turn around times to replace hardware even though hardware was not the root cause of the issue.
That being said, the laptop is a high performance piece of kit and can even been used for gaming. It’s i7 CPU options and high end graphics cards makes it possible to play first person shooters at relatively good FPS.
Battery reviews are poor, but you have to remember this has very large CPU and GPU power, so arguing battery sucks is like buying a V8 Mustang and complaining about fuel efficiency, doesn’t make sense does it?
Here’s the part everyone skips to: price. Dell Inspiron laptops have a wide range depending on which series you pick and how you customise it.
Pro tip: never pay full price from the official website unless you enjoy donating money unnecessarily.
Dell’s warranty in Australia is surprisingly good. Most Inspiron laptops come with a 1-year limited hardware warranty, which includes mail-in service. That means if something goes wrong, you ship it to Dell’s service centre, and they either fix it or replace it.
But here’s where it gets interesting: Dell also offers upgrades. You can pay extra for Premium Support, which includes on-site service. Yes, a technician will actually come to your home or office to fix your laptop. Having used this warranty more than 30 times, it does come in handy, especially if you are like me and all thumbs… did I mention the full mug of coffee over my laptop?
Is it easy to claim? In my experience and from Aussie reviews online, yes. Dell has a dedicated Australian support line, and most customers report smooth interactions. There are cases (as there always are) with people getting messed around by their support, but for the most part these technicians are quite good. Most of the time the technician is in a hurry, so that means they arrive and have the faulty part such as a mother board replaced in minutes.
The current price for the on-site premium support is $74/year and the details of what this includes are on the Dell checkout page or here in the Dell Support table.
This is a laptop review Dell Inspiron so you need a clear answer right? If you’re after a laptop that balances cost, reliability, and performance, the Inspiron range is a no-brainer. From students to small businesses, it covers a wide spectrum of needs without overcomplicating things.
For Australians, the warranty support is strong, the costs are competitive, and the models available locally are varied enough to cover everything from casual browsing to serious productivity.
So, is the Dell Inspiron perfect? Not quite. But it’s reliable, affordable, and versatile – and in the world of laptops, that’s about as close as you get to perfect.
Eager to see more laptop reviews, check out our other Laptop Reviews.
It’s a common issue I have seen too many times to mention. Someone gets a laptop, treats it like a old hair brush, abuses it and after only 2 years it’s making all kinds of unusual noises and becoming a pain in the butt. The family go out and buy a new laptop only to start the process all over again!
STOP, follow these 3 simple tips to double the life expectancy of your Dell laptop!
Thank goodness Dell have made this easier than any vendor in the world! Head over to their website (link below) and enter the Service Tag. The Service Tag is on the bottom of the laptop – see this picture to help find the ST (Service Tag).
Once you enter the service tag, it will show you all the details of the laptop, the spec and how long you have left on the warranty.Dell Warranty Check
So you probably think the battery in a modern laptop can’t be changed – you would be wrong. As you can see from this video Change Dell Inspiron Laptop Battery, it’s not as hard as you would think. Older models have simple clips to remove the external battery and newer models simply need the laptop backplate removed and the screws removed using a small phillips head screwdriver. Using the Dell Warranty check mentioned above, you can easily find new battery cells and if you want to save some coin, you can check eBay and Amazon for affordable options with addedIf you are not confident doing it yourself, any reputable laptop repair company can do the work for you without it breaking the bank.
Not a simple answer unfortunately. Dell representatives even disagree on this, but ultimately Dell rarely recommend it. The issue is from ambiguous specs listed by Dell. Here is what I mean with an example. Sometimes when you fly internationally, there is a power plug in the planes bathroom. While you can get hair dryers, hair straighteners, electric shavers that will work perfectly fine, does that mean anything will? Can I bring the power tools from my garage and use my welder in the bathroom? No, of course not and nor does my welder say that it doesn’t work in airplane bathrooms in the instruction manual.So when it comes to Dell Inspirons using USB C power banks, although they state “Power Delivery” this does not always mean power in both directions, it just means power will come FROM the USB C port. In my personal experience, I have seen 2 Dell laptops report battery issues after a few months of using the wrong (non-Dell) chargers, so I wouldn’t risk it.
I liked mine. If it’s as far as the budget can stretch, I wouldn’t turn one down. They can come with enough spec to last 5+ years before you need an upgrade and when you consider the amount of parts inside them and the complexity, the price is really quite reasonable. If the Inspiron is all you can afford right now, I would personally go with the 5000 series, treat it well and you will get many years of life out of it.
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