Dell Inspiron i3552-8040BLK 15.6-Inch Laptop (Intel Pentium, 4 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD)

The Dell Inspiron i3552-8040BLK is a 350-dollar entry-level laptop computer with a 15.6″ display and a solid state drive as a stand out feature in comparison to its inexpensive competitors.

This no-frills machine is based on the Intel Pentium N3700 quad-core processor. The CPU is just a basic one, but still noticeably faster than the Celerons, typically used in cheap laptops. The Pentium chip will easily satisfy your day-to-day computing needs, like web surfing, multimedia playback, and work in office software like Word and Excel. The included Intel HD integrated graphics is good only for the lowest-level gaming, while 4GB of system memory is capacious enough for moderate multitasking. The built-in storage device is the best selling point of the Dell Inspiron i3552-8040BLK. We applaud Dell for using a solid state drive instead of an old-school hard disk in this affordable notebook. True, the 128GB capacity is far below 500GB or more of a usual HDD, but SSDs generally deliver much better read and write performance, making Windows and program loading way faster.

Another admirable fact is that storage and memory are user-replaceable, meaning you’ll be able to easily upgrade them. The notebook has a dedicated door on the bottom for that purpose, held by only two screws. The 40 WHr battery is user-replaceable, too. The default 40 WHr unit can provide “at least six hours” of battery life, according to Dell.

The i3552-8040BLK doesn’t have a built-in DVD drive, but other important features are included. There’s a full-size keyboard with a dedicated number pad, trackpad with click buttons integrated in its one-piece surface, stereo speakers, a 720p-resolution web camera, 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless, Bluetooth, HDMI video output port, one USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 connectors, an SD multi-format media card reader, and a combo headphones and microphone audio port.

Advanced users will probably dislike the 1366×768 display resolution. The screen might be a deal breaker for them and those who know that for the same amount of money can currently get a Full HD laptop. In particular, the Asus F555LA-AB31, which also includes a faster Intel Core i3 processor, and a DVD drive.

The weight of 4.7 pounds is below the average of the 15.6-inch laptop category, usually weighing above 5 lbs.

All components are wrapped in a simplistic-looking shell, made of black plastics.