The Dell Inspiron 15.6” 7000 2-in-1 is a great laptop featuring a sharp 4K display, a fast 512GB SSD with 32GB Optane memory, 16GB RAM, the latest 10th generation i7-10510U processor, and an MX250 GPU with dedicated 2GB of GDDR5. Everything you would want Dell has added to this powerhouse making it the perfect all around laptop for practically everyone (apart from serious PC gamers). On the outside there is a satin metallic black finish that gives it a clean look but attracts fingerprints. The left side has a traditional power port to charge the device with the included brick, a full size HDMI port, Thunderbolt 3/USB C, and micro SD slot. The right is flanked by two USB 3.1 ports and combination microphone/headphone jack.
Opening the device reveals a colorful 4K display, a nested stylus stored magnetically in the hinge and a full size keyboard with a 10-key numeric pad. A few gripes here is the trackpad isn’t the best, my trackpad has some play/movement when pushed down before it clicks. On what otherwise is a solid device, the trackpad falls short. The small amount of play aside, tracking is good and scrolling is smooth. The keyboard makes up for my issue with the trackpad by offering fantastic typing feel. The keys have decent travel and offer great feedback without being noisy. The power button inside is also a fingerprint reader, which works well and is a convenient way to switch users. The stylus is battery operated and is a nice addition but I will primarily use this as a laptop as this is a less than ideal tablet. The display, while rich and colorful, has noticeable light bleed in the top corners of the screen. It is most apparent when waking the device as it briefly shows a black background, revealing a flaw that is otherwise obfuscated by colorful backgrounds and content. One of the key features of this device is the ability to fold the display all the way back, allowing it to be held and used like a tablet. Unfortunately the weight of the device and active cooling make this a poor tablet experience. Don’t get me wrong, it is a cool feature and some people may find it manageable but for most you will have a far better tablet experience with a different form factor. The fans are mostly silent except for when you try to run a graphically demanding game, which is to be expected. Don’t expect a gaming machine but you can play less graphically demanding games with the settings turned all the way down. For instance, I was able to navigate No Man’s Sky with everything turned off but it easily became overwhelmed during action sequences. Again this isn’t what this laptop is for but it gives you an idea of the performance it is capable of.
Back to it’s strong points, I couldn’t be happier with this as a laptop. Of the 460GB storage partition, mine had 400GB available after running updates. The SSD recorded a blistering 2300 MB/s read and 1100MB/s write, likely due to the Intel Optane memory. Geekbench recorded 1266 single core and 4380 multicore on battery, which isn’t bad for a laptop. Arbitrary numbers aside, the laptop feels fast and I have been pleased with the performance. Battery life is pretty good as well. It can hold a charge for 4 or 5 days and still manage to get 5+ hours of battery life with mixed usage. Overall, it really is a great device. Dell has managed to provide something for everyone in a nicely packaged 2-in-1.