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Dell Inspiron 15 3520 review

Dell Inspiron 15 3520

CHOICE Expert Rating

68%
What is the CHOICE Expert Rating?
Good points

Good Points

  • Can upgrade or replace some components (RAM, SSD, Wi-Fi, battery)
  • Very good Wi-Fi speed
  • Very good viewing angles
  • Full-sized HDMI port
  • SD card slot
  • Large touchpad
Bad points

Bad Points

  • Lacks USB-C
  • Keyboard is not backlit
  • Charger is not USB-C
  • Comparatively low formatted storage capacity

Type

Ultraportable
Ultrabook
Tablet mode
Operating system
Windows 11 Home

Recommended products

Recommended
Not recommended
Recommended for tablet use

Test results

CHOICE Expert Rating
68%
Performance score
56%
Tablet use score
N/A
Ease of use score
78%
Battery life score
62%
Display score
76%
Audio score
61%
Wi-Fi score
84%
Storage write-speed (MBps)
1858
Storage read-speed (MBps)
2651
Wi-Fi speed (MBps)
47
Average battery life – heavy usage (hours)
5:05
Charging time to 80% full (h:min)
1:27
Expert tester comments
Dell's Inspiron 3520 is a large laptop that stands out in the field of low-cost models. It has a Full HD, matte screen with wide viewing angles, a 12th gen Core i3 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage space. It's more than adequate for everyday office, browsing, and media consumption tasks, and its level of user comfort is good. It's one of the few low-cost laptops that allows for the RAM to be upgraded (one free DDR4 slot) and you can even add an internal 2.5in SATA SSD. It's a good pick for around $700.

Sustainability

Shop Ethical rating
C
Warranty (years)
1
Replaceable battery
Replace/upgrade RAM
Slots for additional RAM
Replace/upgrade storage
Slot for additional storage
Replace/upgrade Wi-Fi
Country of origin
China

Related products

Availability
Discontinued model

Cost

Price
$697.00

Specifications

Screen size (inches)
15.6
Native screen resolution (pixels)
1920 x 1080
Processor (CPU) type
Intel Core i3-1215U
CPU frequency (GHz)
1.2
RAM (GB)
8
Video graphics type
Intel UHD Graphics
Storage capacity (GB)
256
Available user space (GB)
163
Storage type
SSD
Wi-Fi version
6
Weight of laptop (kg)
1.7
Weight of power supply (kg)
0.34
Size (mm, H x D x W)
22 x 235 x 358

Features

Screen finish
Matte
Touchscreen
USB-C
USB 2.0 ports
1
USB 3.0 ports
2
USB 4 as USB-C port
0
USB-C (USB 3.2 Gen 1 or 2, not Thunderbolt 3 or 4) ports
0
Thunderbolt 3 or 4 (as USB-C) ports
0
SD card slot (full-size)
SD card slot (micro)
HDMI port
Gigabit ethernet port
Rear camera
Backlit keyboard levels of brightness
0

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