Best Dell Laptop For College: Buyer’s Guide By Experts

Many Dell laptops are available to fit every taste or budget, and professionals may take home one of Dell's best laptops without wasting money or losing performance. These are our best options, which range from lightweight Ultrabooks to functional 2-in-1 hybrids.

#1. Inspiron 15 3000 - Best For Silent Operation

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Important Specifications

• Processor: Intel N4020 Dual-Core.

• Hard drive size: 512GB.

• Maximum resolution: 1366 x 768 pixels.

• Operating system: ‎Windows 10.

Product's highlights

This laptop does not amaze with its super-capabilities, but it will do quite well for everyday use. The device has a discreet practical design and an average level of stuffing, which is enough for basic tasks. 

The connecting element of the upper and lower parts of the laptop is two small plastic hinges. If desired, you can open the lid easily with one hand. 

In this case, there are no cracks or backlashes. The entire underside of the laptop is black. 

The keyboard and palm surface are also completely non-staining and very pleasant to use. The touchpad pleases with its size, and it is smooth and convenient to slide your finger on it.

The 15.6-inch laptop screen has a matte surface, which is very comfortable to look at. The display resolution is 1366x768 pixels, which is not enough by modern standards, but it is suitable for everyday work. Viewing angles are acceptable for everyday work, and distortion occurs only with a strong deflection.

Usually, such home laptops cause skepticism in multimedia capabilities, but the Inspiron 15 3000 was a pleasant surprise. At maximum, the sound does not gasp, and there are problems with bass and mids, but, in general, the sound quality is acceptable.

Unfortunately, the keyboard is not equipped with a backlight, so you will have to highlight the buttons with the display without external lighting when typing. The keys' travel is average, rather firm; you can hear a not too loud click when pressed.

It is noteworthy that the keyboard does not flex even during intensive typing. You can find the power button in the upper right corner above the keyboard.

It has a round shape and not too tangible borders. When pressed, the button is not highlighted. Therefore, it is difficult to understand whether you press the key until the OS welcome picture appears on the screen.

It's time to test how noisy this laptop is. The result was frankly pleasing: during the idle time, it was 43.8 dB, and under load, it slightly increased - 46.7 dB. 

As expected, the laptop turned out to be the quietest among its competitors. For the rest of the models, the noise level was significantly higher.

What We Like

• Reasonable price;

• Good performance;

• Capacious RAM;

• Beautiful design;

• Silent operation;

• Excellent materials of quality.

Things to Consider

• Built-in graphics

#2. Inspiron 15 5000 - Best For Touchscreen

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Important Specifications

• Processor: Intel Quad-Core i7-8550U.

• Hard drive size: 1TB.

• Maximum resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels.

• Operating system: ‎Windows 10.

Product's highlights

The Inspiron 15 5000 did perform well in our tests. It offers good, high-performance components for its value and decent RAM and storage configurations.

In the configuration we tested, the Inspiron 15 5000 is truly luxurious. At the heart of the laptop is the Intel Core i7-8550U processor, which has four cores and 4.0 GHz overshadows earlier generations of the device. 

Even demanding users are unlikely to find fault with performance. Here, the device impresses you with a whopping 16 GB of RAM and a fairly large SSD drive as much as 1TB of capacity.

Further, it comes with a 360-degree hinge and a touch screen. Thanks to this, you can not only control the laptop with one finger, but also it becomes possible to use the device as a tablet, and quite a large one. 

In terms of interfaces, here is a standard set for laptops: 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0, HDMI-out, webcam, and SD-card reader. The keypad has backlit buttons.

The Inspiron 15 5000 is mostly well-received by users. The laptop lacks many of the shortcomings typical of budget laptops while being one of the most affordable solutions on the market. 

Both components have made it one of the most popular computers in its segment. Without exception, everyone praises the build quality and controls. 

The laptop is sturdy, without backlash and unnecessary squeaks. The owners liked the mobile processor, which turned out to be very fast and energy-efficient. 

In a sparing mode of operation, people managed to work with the "machine" for a full studying day. Those who are used to listening to music and watching movies using the built-in acoustics liked the system, which does not emit wheezing at high volumes.

What We Like

• excellent configuration of RAM and storage

• fast processor

• transformation function and touch display

• Design that is both dynamic and enticing.

• Exceptional performance

• Excellent audio quality

• There are HDMI ports available.

• Separate numeric keys.

• Long-lasting battery

• A fantastic set of USB ports

Things to Consider

• backlit keyboard

• the keyboard takes some getting used to

• rather dark and highly reflective display

#3. Latitude 14 7000 - Best For Sufficient Performance

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Important Specifications

• Processor: Intel Core i5-6300U.

• Hard drive size: 256GB.

• Maximum resolution: ‎‎1366 x 768 pixels.

• Operating system: ‎Windows 10 Pro.

Product's highlights

Although not as glamorous, the Latitude 14 7000 may be equivalent to the XPS consumer laptops. The attractive 14-inch machine is more compact and lighter than its predecessor, while the build quality remains the same. 

The case is sturdy and has a soft and tactile finish. The matte finish eliminates annoying reflections. 

In a laptop of this size and design, a respectable SSD is more than enough to get you started in terms of storage. This feature, combined with an Intel Core i5-6300U processor, demonstrates decent speed in real conditions.

The built-in IPS display is bright and accurate enough to color. Its brightness and clarity are excellent, providing a spacious and bright display to concentrate without becoming dazzled or causing eye strain.

The battery allows the device to work all day, even if it is not fully charged. The input devices are also good, especially the keyboard, which is without a doubt the best in a laptop to date.

If you can find fault with it, it is the noise emanating from the electronic components of the laptop. It is noticeable even at a distance of a meter from the device and does not depend on the computational load. 

We can only hope that this shortcoming is peculiar only to the test sample, but given that some past Dell Latitude and XPS laptops suffered from this "disease", it is likely that production copies will have this feature.

What We Like

• High-quality construction

• Good touchpad and keyboard

• Option for a stunning QHD touch display

• Overall, a fantastic performance.

• There are a lot of ports, including USB Type-C and Thunderbolt 3.

Things to Consider

• When equipped with options, it might be rather costly.

• There will be no more snap-in docking solutions.

• MicroSD card reader only

• A loud cooling fan is possible.

• Not all display options include an infrared camera.

#4. XPS 13 9310 - Best For Stunning Display

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Important Specifications

• Processor: Intel Core i7-1195G7.

• Hard drive size: 512GB.

• Maximum resolution: ‎‎1920 x 1200 Pixels.

• Operating system: ‎‎Windows 11 Pro.

Product's highlights

It's difficult to believe that the can make faults nowadays. We update our list of the best laptops every day, and XPS laptops continue to improve.

The new XPS 13 is more than simply a fantastic laptop. It combines cutting-edge technology with a gorgeous screen, lengthy battery life, and minor features.

It is light enough to tote when traveling, weighing only 2.8 pounds. Aluminum and fiberglass help protect your laptop from damage, stress, and scrapes that you can face while on the road.

Despite its small size and FHD resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels, the picture appears wonderful. The color contrast and depth are excellent. It implies you can easily watch and play high-definition movies and games.

The keyboard is sturdy and simple to use. This way, you won't have to worry about printing your jobs or reports.

The laptop is simple to operate and does not experience delays while installing applications across several operating systems. It has a battery life of up to 12 hours despite all the hard work and the battery charges in a reasonable amount of time.

The XPS 13 9310 series is the greatest all-around processor Dell has to offer, with the newest generation Intel Core i7 CPU. It's the ideal combination of business and home computers in one package.

This device, like its predecessor, is a significant investment, but the asking price isn't enough to turn off Ultrabook devotees. It's one of the greatest Dell laptops for 2021, and it's well worth the money.

What We Like

• Great design

• Nice 16:10 aspect ratio

• Best-in-class performance and graphics integration

• Very stunning design.

• Long-lasting battery

• Comfortable and springy keyboard

Things to Consider

• Only a few ports are available.

• The SSD is slow.

• Webcam isn't nice, and there's no privacy shutter.

#5. Vostro 15 5000 - Best For Strict Design

 

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Important Specifications

• Processor: Intel Core i7-11370H

• Hard drive size: 512TB.

• Maximum resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels.

• Operating system: ‎Windows 10 Pro.

Product's highlights

The inside of the laptop is already made of slightly different plastic, a little less solid than the outside, but still, the quality is on the face. The entire interior has black matt.

The first thing that catches your eye when you open the lid for the first time is a huge 15-inch screen. You can achieve a feeling that such a small screen is huge thanks to the minimum size of the screen bezels. 

Next, we will see the keyboard and touchpad of this device. The touchpad is large enough so that you can work safely on a laptop without a mouse.

Please note that this product has a fingerprint sensor. It's convenient if you are tired of constantly typing your password to unlock the operating system.

More importantly, you can adjust the keyboard backlight. Many obsolete models do not have such a function, which is why you have to struggle with excessive or insufficient brightness in the dark constantly.

Unfortunately, it will be extremely difficult to type on it for a long time and a lot. And the keys are too small for male thumbs.

In addition, we have already noted that this model is primarily designed for people whose main task is study. Otherwise, the design and filling will simply not meet the goals. 

You will not be able to play on the Dell Vostro 15 5000, even considering that the laptop has not a built-in but a separate video chip. The same is true for video rendering.

Dell has made a great laptop that does its job almost perfectly. Not without problems and flaws, but the quality bar for all business-class laptops has risen slightly since the release of this model.

If you learn the greatest tips and methods discussed in this video, you will realize the greatness of Dell Vostro:

Youtube source: Dell

What We Like

• affordable

• reasonable input devices

• IPS matte display

• choices for excellent maintenance and repair

• Dedicated graphics

• Smart exterior design

• Good construction quality

Things to Consider

• dim display

• control of the fans aggressively

• SD card reader is sluggish

• PCIe writing rates are slow

#6. Inspiron 17 7000 2-in-1 - Best For Hybrid Function

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Important Specifications

• Processor: ‎Intel Core i7-1165G7.

• Hard drive size: 1 TB.

• Maximum resolution: ‎‎‎2560 x 1600 pixels.

• Operating system: Windows 10 Pro.

Product's highlights

Measuring 14.33 x 9.8 x 0.78 inches and weighing 5.36 lbs, the Dell Inspiron 17 7000 remains a massive yet unique laptop. 15-inch hybrids such as the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1, Lenovo Flex 5 1570, and Lenovo Yoga 720 are lighter and more compact than this giant.

The touchscreen in the Inspiron 17 accurately responds to tapes when navigating the desktop and scrolling through the tape in TweetDeck. It also responds quickly to screen border swipes and Windows 10 navigation gestures.

The keys on the Inspiron 17 provide adequate typing comfort. Testing the keyboard on 10fastfingers, we hit 69 wpm, slightly below the average of 80 wpm.

You will soon find that the fingers begin to feel the limitation of travel too early since the keys have only 0.04 inches of free play. We still prefer at least 1.5 mm.

In general, the situation with the keys is not a failure. They require 63 grams of force for actuation, higher than the minimum comfort threshold of 60 grams.

The ‎Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor and 32GB of RAM in the Inspiron 17 provide this laptop with tremendous multitasking potential. We didn't notice any lag.

It's possible to split the screen between a dozen Chrome tabs, including Slack, TweetDeck, and Google Docs, and streaming 1080p videos as Cuphead, downloaded from the Windows Store, and the system was preparing to update in the background.

The Inspiron 17 has worked quite a long for such a huge laptop. We measured 6 hours and 39 minutes on our Battery Test with web surfing at 100 nits of brightness. It beats the time of the Inspiron 15 (6:13) and Flex 5 (5:51). 

What We Like

• Stylish design 

• High-quality construction 

• 360-degree screen hinge allows for different modes

• Infrared camera supports 

• Windows Hello authentication 

• Good audio subsystem

Things to Consider

• hefty and large

• a screen with a moderate resolution

• The keyboard is a little cramped

• Battery life isn't as long as it might be.

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Below, we will answer some of the questions that many people are interested in:

Which Processor Generation Is Ideal For College Students?

A laptop with an i5 or i7 CPU from the 10th or 11th generation would be ideal for a student. However, you should consider other criteria when selecting a laptop because your CPU and other software/hardware must be compatible.

Is An I5 Sufficient For College?

In general, the i5 is a good general-purpose processor. As long as it has enough RAM to complete your tasks, you'll be good. For this, 8 GB RAM is a respectable amount of memory.

What Is The Difference Between An Intel I3, I5, And I7 Processor?

Core i3 processors have two cores, Core i5 processors have four cores, and Core i7 processors. Six or eight cores are available on some Core i7 Extreme CPUs. 

Most programs can't take full use of six or eight cores, so the speed improvement from adding more cores isn't as significant.

What Nation Manufactures Dell Laptops?

Dell established manufacturing facilities in Penang, Malaysia, in 1995, and Xiamen, China, in 1999. These plants build 95 percent of Dell laptops for the Asian market. Dell Inc. has spent an estimated $60 million on a new production facility in Chennai, India, to support the Indian subcontinent's sales of its goods.

Is A 15.6-Inch Laptop Suitable For College Use?

For most college students, a 15.6-inch screen is an ideal size. Anything greater than 15.6 inches won't fit inside a backpack easily. However, if it's less than 13.3 inches, it could be too little to be comfortable.

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The Inspiron 17 7000 features an 11th Gen Intel Core processor and an impressive battery life. So you can be productive instead of worrying about time. 

Alternatively, consider the XPS 13 9310. This laptop will offer a bright screen, free from weird illnesses, and work in 12 hours.  

If you are looking for a silent device, the Inspiron 15 3000 will fill that giant chasm in your life. It's sufficient for basic tasks and everyday study.

The decision on the best Dell laptop for college should still fit your needs and budget with whichever model you choose. We hope you enjoy our recommendations. Thank you for reading!

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