Dell Inspiron i3000-(101SLV, 5099SLV, 10099SLV, 3275SLV) Cheap 11.6 Inch 2-in-1 Touchscreen Laptop

The Dell Inspiron i3000 11.6-inch 2-in-1 convertible laptop PC is among the bestsellers. That’s understandable, since the notebook offers a modern Windows 10 PC experience with touchscreen support at a very low price. The Inspiron i3000 with its fully-rotatable hinge and “Moonlight Silver”-colored 3.1-pound chassis starts at only $230. That’s the price for the most basic configuration with the lowest-end Intel Celeron N3050 processor, paired with only 2GB of system memory and 32GB eMMC storage. Thankfully, larger memory and storage capacities are available, as well as faster Intel Pentium N3700 and Intel Core i3-6100U processors.

The budget nature of Dell’s i3000 implies you won’t get premium-class features such as sharp display resolutions or keyboard backlight. Still, the laptop offers IPS wide viewing angles on its 1366-by-768-pixel multi-touch screen, a feature which is usually reserved only for pricier high-end notebooks.

Here’s a breakdown of the available configurations:

Dell Inspiron i3000-101SLV: Intel Celeron N3050 / 2GB RAM / 32GB eMMC storage / price ~$230
Dell Inspiron i3000-5099SLV: Intel Celeron N3050 / 4GB RAM / 500GB hard drive / price ~$330
Dell Inspiron i3000-10099SLV: Intel Pentium N3700 / 4GB RAM / 500GB HDD / price ~$330
Dell Inspiron i3000-3275SLV (or i3158-3275SLV): Intel Core i3-6100U / 4GB RAM / 12GB SSD / price ~$510

Generally the i3000-101SLV, is a solution only for those who are on a very tight budget. They’ll have to make performance compromises, since the Celeron N3050 and 2GB of system memory are suitable only for the most basic websurf, email, and media playback tasks, with very limited number of apps running simultaneously. The i3000-5099SLV gives more headroom when it comes to multitasking and storage space, but since it has the same price as the faster Pentium N3700-powered variant, the i3000-10099SLV is obviously a batter choice. Finally, the i3000-3275SLV a.k.a. i3158-3275SLV with its i3-6100U processor and solid state drive storage offers excellent performance for the most users, with very noticeable performance boost over the configurations with the Celeron and Pentium. Furthermore, the i3-6100U includes the Intel HD 520 integrated graphics instead of just basic Intel HD of the Celeron and Pentium. This means smoother game rendering, although the HD 520 (and all other integrated GPUs) aren’t designed for gaming.

In other aspects, the laptops are identical with one exception. The Celeron-powered configs include the slower 802.11N Wi-Fi wireless module, whereas the rest of the pack features support for the newer and faster 802.11AC standard. The notebooks include stereo speakers, a webcam with standard 720p, Bluetooth connection, two USB 2.0 ports, a USB 3.0 port, HDMI video output port, a multi-in-one media card reader, and a combo microphone / headphones connector.

The built-in battery has a decent 43 WHr capacity. There’s no info on battery life, except Dell’s claim that it can last “up to 11 hours”. The battery life vary depending on configuration, with those with more powerful processors consuming more power.