Dell Inspiron i3542-1666BK 15.6 inch Laptop Review

Dell Inspiron i3542-1666BK 15.6-Inch Laptop Review

15.6 inch Dell Inspiron i3542-1666BK
via Amazon



Dell Inspiron i3542-1666BK is a versatile 15.6 inch low cost laptop with an entry level dual core Haswell Intel Pentium processor and decent features, suitable for home entertainment and multimedia as well as performing daily tasks such as preparing school assignments using Microsoft Word or Excel, surfing the net, streaming videos or playing games while multitasking without problems.

Dell Inspiron i3542 comes with a low cost but powerful 4th generation Intel Pentium 3558U (2MB cache) dual core processor at 1.7 GHz speed, which offers snappier performance than the other entry level Bay Trail Pentium processors for day-to-day tasks at home, school or work, along with the 4GB Single Channel DDR3L SDRAM at 1600MHz (4GBx1) that is upgradeable to 8GB max and that lets you run several apps and programs at the same time, 500 GB standard size but spacious and fast Serial ATA hard drive at 5400 rpm rotating speed as storage of most of your files and the latest Windows 8.1 (64Bit) operating system as a stable platform with additional functions for anything you need to do on a daily basis.

15.6 inch HD LED backlit display with 1366x768 pixel resolution and Truelife as well as the integrated Intel HD graphics offer great visuals with vibrant colors for a laptop in the low cost category but the graphics card is not designed for gaming or advanced multimedia editing and fine for anything else. The Wave Maxx Audio and built-in speakers give you decent HD audio that is quite reasonable for songs, movies, games and video chats with friends and family through its integrated 720p webcam with a built-in microphone. You have an HDMI port if and when you wish to connect to a HDTV and watch movies or play games on that bigger screen.

Dell Inspiron i3542-1666BK 15.6-Inch Laptop Review
Matte plastic black Dell Inspiron i3542 is quite slim for a budget machine at just 1 inch and light at 5.3 lbs so it is a compact laptop to carry around easily when you’re on the go- also the 15 inch screen and the long 6.5 hour battery life from its 40 WHr 4-cell lion battery help (battery is also removable by the user). It has a spacious chiclet style English non-backlit keyboard with a large trackpad for accurate and comfortable typing. Connectivity options include a Multiformat Media Card Reader that supports SD, SDHC and SDXC formats, 10/100 Ethernet LAN with RJ-45 for fast wired access, Tray load DVD Drive, 2 x USB 2.0 Ports, 1 x USB 3.0 Port, Dell Wireless-N 1705 802.11bgn wireless, Bluetooth 4.0, an HDMI port, a combo headphone microphone jack and a HD webcam and microphone. What’s missing here is the old-school VGA port that you probably won’t need.

Conclusion: Dell Inspiron i3542-1666BK is a functional, reliable, durable, versatile and a relatively powerful laptop at a quite an affordable price, suitable for home entertainment, home office use or school stuff. It doesn’t have a touchscreen and the keyboard is not backlit- you need to pay more and move to the next category of computers to get these features. Dell laptop PCs are reported to be tested thousands of times for reliability- harsh heat, tightness of hinges, keystrokes, lid and base and battery. It comes with a 12 month warranty and very good customer service by Dell. At this low price level, you’re getting quite a bit for your money overall: An Intel Haswell processor, good amounts of memory and storage, decent quality picture and audio as well as a good number of useful connectivity options.

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