By Moats Family - (CA)
This review is from: Dell Inspiron 15R i15RM-7537sLV 15.6-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver) (Personal Computers)
We bought this laptop for my wife, a public school teacher who travels between sites. We shopped for a pc that was versitile for the classroom and home use and could keep up with her personally and professionally. So far so good.
Pro's:
Thin and lightweight-My work laptop is 2x the weight and thickness with the same performance. I was skeptical of the sturdiness with these super-thin machines but it feels solid, particularly at the hinge where many fail.
Fast-My wife has 0 patience with technology. She needs it to work the first time every time. Without getting techie, the wireless connection is as fast as our router, and we loaded a couple games for her in under 10 minutes from multiple disks. The CD/DVD drive is a nice addition for those times when you want to actually use a CD or DVD. No jumpy graphics so far on Netflix or Hulu.
Screen/graphics/sound-I went back and forth on the best size for the job. Too big and it adds bulk. Too small and it's little more than a tablet. The screen is plenty big and sharp. We couldn't care less between the 720p and 1080p resolution. It looks great. The sound is a little odd. It's very clear but almost too much so. I'm sure there are ways to "dull" it but I'll have to tinker to figure it out.
Storage-the 1000GB and 1T are virtually the same. We have a baby daughter with movies and pictures galore. The hard drive will replace our desktop pc's and still have room for iTunes. I can't imagine filling it up but we used to say that about the old 256ks back in the 90s. Note, the alternative was an HP that topped out at 500GB. Space was a selling point for this pc.
Price-Under $700 for a trusted brand with a fast trusted processor? Done.
Cons:
Processor speed-This is a 2.0ghz series 7 Intel. There are faster ones out there but I haven't found one for this price. If it needs to be faster, get ready to fork over $1,000+.
Resolution-720p is not full HD. It's got the same resolution as our iPad2. If you plan on playing movies via projector it may be worth the full HD but wasn't for us.
Windows8-Maybe not a real con, but it does take a learning curve vs previous versions. More like a mobile device, you have apps that are highly customizable and are really handy once set up. Getting them to that point for a technologically impaired person can be difficult.
All in all, I'd recommend this for anyone looking for a cost/benefit value. It has enough bells and whistles to not be outdated too soon and is still price consious for those not willing to finance a product longer than its useful life.
By Lily - (CA)
This review is from: Dell Inspiron 15R i15RM-7537sLV 15.6-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver) (Personal Computers)
The technical details list a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080, but after ordering and receiving the laptop, I found out the resolution is actually only 1366 x 768. Upon contacting a Dell representative, they informed me Dell does not sell this model at a FHD resolution, claiming Amazon listed an incorrect resolution.
By Caveat Emptor (USA)
This review is from: Dell Inspiron 15R i15RM-7537sLV 15.6-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver) (Personal Computers)
After searching for over two months for a fast CPU and solid keyboard at a budget price, I stumbled across this Dell 7537 and lost no time placing an order. On arrival, I was a bit surprised to see it was boxed in bare, generic packing with none of the customary Dell literature or warranty card and only a single sheet "Quick Start Guide" enclosed. In fact, about the only identifying information on the entire body was a white Service Tag and a model number "5521" molded on the bottom. I contacted the seller about this and learned that the serial number and the Service Tag number are one in the same, that "plain packaging means BIG savings", and that "Dell has different ways of classifying models...." However, after comparing the features of the 7537 and the 5521, I found no apparent difference between the two.
Performance: the CPU is very fast and I've been pleased to see how responsive the hardware has been to any and all tasks I've thrown at it. The keyboard, however, is quite another matter! Of all the chiclet keyboards I've tried on dozens of laptops of all makes and models, this one rates slightly below average... a huge disappointment! The size and travel of the keys is normal for an island keyboard and the "throw", or the distance from the top of the key to the contact point, is about average. But the tactile feedback or haptic characteristics are hugely disappointing. Compared to most chiclet boards I tested, this keyboard is spongy, mushy, has a flimsy plastic touch and lacks the consistent positive feel needed for error free speed typing. The space bar often fails to function unless it is slapped firmly with the thumb and the only way I've been able to reduce typing error is by slowing down and forcefully hitting each key much like it was done back in the day of the mechanical Smith-Corona typewriters.
The wifi/bluetooth combo functions well and pairing with other devices was simple and straightforward. Using Dell's on board apps, it's easy to make a System Recovery partition on the 1TB hard disk and copying a backup image of all system files. This is one thing I'd recommend doing immediately since there is no recovery disk included in the package.
As the world has already discovered, Windows 8 is geared for touch screens and is maddeningly inappropriate for this particular model. Early on, I installed "Classic Shell" (free app) and settled into a new routine of finger punching an unresponsive keyboard while enjoying the lightening speed of an otherwise excellent laptop computer.
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