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Dell has a knack for releasing new machines with minor updates over previous models, almost to the point that you can’t tell them apart. However, that seems to have changed with the Dell 15 DC1525, which updates some of the insides of the Dell Inspiron 15, but not much that you’d notice from a glance at the outside.
Surprisingly, the internal. And exterior upgrades don’t come with a bump in price, and that sees this new model start for well under $400 (it goes even lower on a sale). It’s still a budget PC through and through, and it still verges on the $300 mark, where I’ve seen many more exciting laptops dip down to with deals.
Dell seems to have the low-end market cornered with its MSRP, and it at least has a usable laptop on its crosshairs with the Dell DC1525, and for anyone who’s been looking for a discount on back-to-school tech, this seems like one of the best choices right now.
Dell 15 DC1525 Specs
- Display: 15.6-inch FHD
- CPU: Intel Core 3-100U
- GPU: Intel UHD Graphics
- RAM: 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 512GB SSD
- Size: 0.75 x 0.67 x 14.1 inches
- Weight: 4.19 pounds
Design & Features
Nothing about the Dell 15 laptop is shining things up over its predecessors. This model sports all the classic looks of the Inspiron – thicker plastic bezels, an all-plastic design, a black and gray colorway, and a subtle mix of hard angles and gentle curves. It’s not a very beautiful machine to look at, like, let’s say, the Apple MacBook Air (M4), but it isn’t badly off either.
This is firmly a dudget, no fuss machine, so it’s no surprise that it gets a plastic chassis, which shows a bit of flex here and there. It doesn’t feel cheaply built, but it’s not premium in the least. On the bright side, Dell claims to use recycled plastic in the bottom and palmrest.
The Dell DC1525 is a little hefty, tipping the scales at 4.19 pounds. That’s not extremely heavy for a 15-inch laptop, but remember this is a low-end model without much top-tier hardware on the inside, so there’s less reason for it to be so heavy since it doesn’t use a nig cooling system. Between the display and larger bezels, the Dell 15 laptop ends up a little large as well. At least Dell keeps the depth to 0.75 inches, which is thin enough to still slip easily into a laptop sleeve or backpack.
The Dell 15 gets a comfortable chiclet keyboard that’s fitted to the entire deck just like you’d find on Dell’s premium models. The large trackpad sits flush on the wrist without being too obtrusive, and it even has the already-mentioned fingerprint scanner for locking up your system.
Port selection is excellent for a budget laptop, and you’ll conveniently dock most of your devices. The right side has a single USB 2.0 port, an SD card reader, and an audio jack. The left side has the rest of the ports: a proprietary power jack, a USB 3.2, a USB 3.2 Type-C, and an HDMI 1.4 port. Wireless connectivity comes via Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2.
Display
The Dell 15 DC1525’s 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080 display has fairly thin bezels on either side, with a bit more at the top to accommodate the webcam. But beyond the fairly widescreen look, the display’s dim color profile (250 nits rated) and unwieldy viewing angles make it an underwhelming device for consuming online video.
It’s not very bright, typical of budget systems, but the Acer Aspire 3 looks a bit brighter at 300 nits; still, both models are below the industry average of 268 nits. The viewing angles, too, are very tight, so you’ll have to look at the laptop at an exact angle – about 100 degrees – to see the display without shadows.
This affects dark colors, especially black and gray, and if you attempt to use it in dark mode, the issue is hard to ignore within most apps. Whichever way we try to shake it up, the Dell 15 laptop isn’t simply meant for your cinema and movies. While you can stream YouTube movies and watch some Netflix episodes, it still lacks the cinematic experience of the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED or other top-tier 4K laptops out there.
Performance
The Dell 15 packs an Intel Core-100U processor and 8GB RAM, despite being bottom of the chain. You can scroll through dozens of Google Chrome tabs, plus shuffle through your cloud-based libraries without the fans sounding like they are about to take off. The Intel UHD graphics can run your old favorites like Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, maintaining between 18 and 25 frames per second, but it won’t suffice for modern titles like Cyberpunk 2077 or Overwatch.
It seems you can do a lot with the Dell 15 DC1525, but most of these budget laptops initially feel this way. The Intel Core 3-100U is an entry-level notebook CPU based on the Raptor Lake-U Refresh series, released in January 2024. The CPU offers 2 performance cores and 4 I thw 8 efficiency cores. The p-cores support hyperthreading and should offer better performance compared to ild Skylake cores. This chip offers pretty decent performance for daily basic productivity tasks and is fine-tuned for office work and college use.
The Dell 15 DC1525 is an effort to deliver a fully-functioning full-sized 15.6-inch laptop for under $400.
Even with the modest spec sheet, none of those facts suggests a high level of performance, but should prove sufficient for day-to-day use, and the good news is that the Dell 15ivobook Go can run everyday productivity and entertainment tasks without signs of strain or delay. Running a couple of dozen Chrome tabs and a video in VLC didn’t cause any problems, nor did editing some sizeable RAW image files in GIMP.
Most budget laptops like the HP 14-ep0299nr can last well over eight hours on a single charge of the battery, but the Dell 15 struggles to hit this mark. It lasts only 6 hours and 42 minutes through continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. While it beats out the Acer Aspire 5 (6:13) and the HP 15 (4:58), it’s still below the industry average of other budget laptops (6:41).
Dell 15 DC1525 Review: Bottom line
The Dell 15 DC1525 is a nice 15-inch laptop at a good price. It has solid build quality, solid performance, a Full HD screen, a Core 3-100U chip, and 512GB SSD storage for a very reasonable price compared to competitors. That’s hard to argue with, especially if you catch it for a few hundred dollars off on a sale.
For simple school studies, portable evening entertainment or distractions, and getting light office workloads out of the way, it’s a great little package with respectable battery life, and a great contender for the best budget laptop. Plus, it comes with Windows 11 Home, giving you better leverage compared to most budget laptops that come with Windows 11 in S Mode.
If you’re looking for a 15-inch laptop with solid everyday performance and fine styling, the Dell 15 DC1525 laptop should be a great choice. It’s especially a good device for working, browsing, streaming, and basic photo editing. But the battery won’t last all day, the screen isn’t particularly bright or colorful, and it’s far from the most powerful machine out there.
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