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Dell Inspiron 15 7000 (2016) review: This $800 laptop can play any PC game

Dell's Inspiron 15 7000 cuts the right corners for penny-pinching gamers.

Sean Hollister Senior Editor / Reviews
When his parents denied him a Super NES, he got mad. When they traded a prize Sega Genesis for a 2400 baud modem, he got even. Years of Internet shareware, eBay'd possessions and video game testing jobs after that, he joined Engadget. He helped found The Verge, and later served as Gizmodo's reviews editor. When he's not madly testing laptops, apps, virtual reality experiences, and whatever new gadget will supposedly change the world, he likes to kick back with some games, a good Nerf blaster, and a bottle of Tejava.
Sean Hollister
2 min read

The first laptop I ever bought with my own money was a Dell Inspiron. It was big, ugly, and exactly what I needed at the time -- a cheap computer with just enough processing power to play the latest Half-Life game.

7.8

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 (2016)

The Good

The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 will play any PC game you want, without having to spend a ton of money to get that performance.

The Bad

It's a thick, heavy, ugly black slab with mediocre battery life. And a fingerprint magnet, too. You'll want to pay extra for a solid-state drive to avoid annoying stutter.

The Bottom Line

That boring black obelisk look notwithstanding, the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 is a great PC for gaming on the cheap.

The new Dell Inspiron 15 7000 is my college laptop on steroids. Starting at just $800 (£749, AU$1,699), it's a cheap 15-inch laptop that can run any game on the market. And, just like my old notebook, it's a clunker with an utterly forgettable design. But that melts away when you realize this inch-thick obelisk can play the most demanding games, including Fallout 4, Grand Theft Auto V and The Witcher 3, albeit with graphical detail settings at low. Slightly older games like Bioshock Infinite ran better, however.

dell-inspiron-15-7000-3184-001.jpg

With this $800 laptop, I was able to play Fallout 4, Grand Theft Auto V and The Witcher 3 at 1080p resolution and low levels of detail. BioShock Infinite and Tomb Raider ran at 1080p and high detail.

Josh Miller/CNET

The secret is Nvidia's GeForce 960M graphics chip, a prime piece of silicon that's only typically found in computers that cost hundreds of dollars more. While some of those computers have sleeker bodies, Dell chose to make an affordable gaming laptop instead. And though Dell may have cut a few corners to get to that magic $800 price, I couldn't find any major deal-breakers when I made it my primary computer for weeks at a time.

Sure, the backlit keyboard is a little shallow, but it's responsive. The touchpad sucks, but most will want to add a mouse for gaming anyhow. The 15.6-inch 1080p screen is a little dull and can bleed a bit around the edges, but games look great on the display -- and the LCD's matte finish means no distracting reflections while I'm aiming.

dell-inspiron-15-7000-3184-001.jpg

With less demanding games, like Superhot, I was able to max out the graphics.

Josh Miller/CNET


The only real issues I've got with the new Inspiron 15 are the hybrid hard drive, which can make for slow game and application load times, and the battery, which only lasts four hours on a charge. (It ran for 6.4 hours in our standard battery drain test, but my real-world use tends to be harsher, and I was lucky to see 30 minutes of gaming away from an outlet.) Savvy gamers can solve the speed issue by opting for a 256GB solid-state drive, which Dell sells for just $50 more. For $850, I doubt you'll find a better gaming laptop.

7.8

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 (2016)

Score Breakdown

Design 6Features 7Performance 8Battery 5Support 0