Dell Inspiron, a charmingly cheap gaming laptop, kicks off CES 2017
The new Inspiron 15 7000 has updated graphics and new look, but the same modest price.
Laptops , even high-quality ones, have become much less expensive over the past few years. But one exception to that rule is gaming laptops, which still cost $1,500 to $2,000 or more for anything decent.
That's why I'm so impressed with what Dell has managed to fit into the new Inspiron 15 7000. It's a 15-inch laptop from Dell's very, very mainstream Inspiron line, but it incorporates a lot of the hardware and design touches from the more-expensive Alienware family. We liked the 2016 version of this laptop a lot, even though it was more mainstream-looking. Like that older version, the new Inspiron 15 7000 keeps the starting price down to a very reasonable $799 (£645 or AU$1,100 converted). It goes on sale in the US January 5.
For that very reasonable investment, you get a bit of design edge, with big red fan vents in the back and red details on the keyboard and front edge; new seventh-gen Intel Core i-5 and i7 processors; and either a full HD or 4K screen.
But the most important thing is the graphics card. Here it's an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 or 1050Ti -- which is a pretty good mainstream part for playing games at Full HD resolution and medium-to-high settings. It's a bit better than last year's mainstream GeForce 960M card, and while it won't support VR, it's about as much gaming laptop as anyone can reasonably expect for the price.
