The Dell Inspiron lineup has a variety of laptop models designed to meet the needs of many users. These devices have different processor settings, amount of RAM, internal storage size, screen quality, etc. The Dell Inspiron 15 5510 reviewed in this article is a versatile laptop that will please even the most demanding users, as long as they are not “given in” to heavy gaming.
Design, construction and connectivity
While the notebook’s design doesn’t stray too far from traditional design, thankfully, Dell has given a modern twist to the new Inspiron devices. An example is the model I tested, which has a silver chassis but is brighter and brighter than usual. I dare say this look will easily appeal to any type of user, from young students to more experienced professionals.
In addition, the case is made of aluminum, making the device thin and light. When closed, it presents elegant and discreet curves. When opened, the Inspiron 15 5510 remains light silver on the inside of the chassis, touchpad and keys. The screen makes good use of the space of the device, as it has thin edges on all four sides.
Regarding connections, on the left side of the notebook we have the power connector, HDMI 1.4 output, first generation USB-A 3.2 input and a Thunderbolt 4.0 port with DisplayPort (only on models with Intel Core i7). On the right, we have a P2 input for headphones and microphone, another USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 input and an SD card reader.
On the bottom of the laptop we have the openings (closer to where the base connects to the screen) and the speakers.
Screen
The Dell Inspiron 15 5510 has a 15.6-inch WVA display with Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels). The monitor serves the purpose of the device well, which is what students and professionals need for a fast-response machine, but it doesn’t do wonders when watching movies, series and games.
“OK” quality but nothing sensational. I can say the same about the maximum brightness, which is 250 nits.
Still, the Full HD resolution offers enough comfort to view all types of content, including text reading.
Keyboard and touchpad
The keyboard is backlit and the keys are neatly arranged. Having a numeric keypad and meeting ABNT2 criteria still earns positive scores. This makes it easier to type words with cê-cedilha and use our common Portuguese accents.
The only downside to this is the “Shift” on the right, which is too big, forcing the “Enter” to fit. Not to mention the “up and down” directional arrows, which are so close together that they are difficult to use.
The Inspiron 15 5510’s touchpad, although the space is good, the finish is very simple, and there are no extra buttons. This may force the user to select the mouse in some cases. Anyway, it’s functional and can accept several taps to execute different commands.
Configuration and performance
The Inspiron 15 5510 variant I tested came with an Intel Core i7-11390H chip, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB NVMe SSD, and an NVIDIA GeForce MX450 graphics card (2GB GDDR5).
The processor has four cores, eight threads, base clock of 2.90 GHz, maximum clock of 3.4 GHz (all threads) and turbo clock of 5.0 GHz.
Intel intends this chip to be used for content creation, so it’s easy to recommend this laptop to users who want to do image and video editing.
It also allows you to run some popular games with reasonable quality by having a dedicated graphics card. The operating system pre-installed on the machine is Windows 11 Home Single Language.
As for memory, we have two 4 GB DDR4 memory sticks running at 3200 MHz, expandable up to 32 GB. The second variant even allows users to choose a configuration with 16GB of RAM.
The GeForce MX450, while a dedicated GPU, is not designed to run modern games, let alone have high image quality. For those who will use the notebook for gaming, this can be negative, as a dedicated graphics card affects the final price of the product without adding performance.
The device’s cooling system appears to be responsible for the hardware. I tested the processor with CPU-Z and it reached a maximum temperature of 94º C (limited to 100º C) without losing performance at any point.
In addition, NVMe SSDs allow devices to turn on and off quickly and run applications with satisfactory performance.
At a time when video conferencing has become the standard of communication for many companies, we have to warn our readers that this Dell model is not the best device for the event. The device doesn’t work, but it’s far from a replacement for a good external webcam.
Another nice addition to this model is the fingerprint reader integrated into the power button. This feature works with Windows Hello as a security device and can be used to unlock the device.
Sound system
The Inspiron 15 5510 has stereo audio, which means it has two speakers. They are located at the bottom of the product, making the sound more robust as it hits the table top and travels around the room.
By prioritizing the balance of mid and high frequencies, the sound system stands out in movies and series. Dialogue is crisp and clear, but if you’re looking for high quality when gaming or listening to music, buy a separate speaker system.
battery and charging
While it doesn’t offer great performance, I can say that it doesn’t make users desperate for a socket either. In fact, the performance and consumption setting used on the processor has a big impact on battery life.
Mobile processors typically offer configurable frequencies and TDPs that can be tweaked according to the device manufacturer’s interests. In addition, users can even select performance profiles in the operating system settings to prioritize overall performance or energy savings.
We did a basic test to determine the notebook’s performance in terms of power consumption:
- We charge the battery to 100%;
- Change the profile to “Better Energy Efficiency” (i.e. Windows 11 Eco Mode);
- We set the screen brightness to 50%;
- We changed the volume level by 30%;
- We enabled Wi-Fi for streaming tests;
- We stream videos on YouTube for three hours straight.
At the end of the test, the Inspiron 15 5510 battery still had 64% charge. This result shows that the activity consumes about 12% of battery power per hour. Thus, the laptop will be able to reproduce about eight hours and twenty minutes of video in full HD (without interruptions in the same conditions).
