Often, when looking for a new laptop computer, price is the defining factor. With gaming notebooks this might stand true too, however what can be even a bigger reason to choose particular model over another is the performance. You don’t want a sluggish system for your games, eh? This review concentrates on the Dell Inspiron 5000 Series (i5577-7342BLK-PUS) notebook and its suitability for gamers – enjoy!

So, decent for gaming?

There are a few better gaming notebooks than Dell Inspiron 5000 Series (i5577-7342BLK-PUS), that must be said. The GeForce GTX 1050 card inside can be characterized as a mid-range graphics engine, enough for casual and perhaps some hardcore gamers. The actual difference compared to better cards can, of course, be seen in frame rates. In general, with GTX 1050 you can use high or at least medium settings and 1080p resolution on any game. With this kind of configuration, The Witcher 3 would give ~40FPS and GTA 5 +60FPS.

General performance

Dell Inspiron 5000 Series (i5577-7342BLK-PUS) is commanded by a top level processor, the Intel Core i7-7700HQ. As you can decipher from the unit name, it belongs to the 7th generation family, having the Kaby Lake architecture in its chip. The quad-core configuration ideally means better multitasking support, and 2.8GHz clock speed (with 3.8Ghz turbo) make it generally a fast processor. Indeed, the i7-7700HQ gets ~9000 points from CPU Mark, putting it to the top-tier category of processors.

In the storage drive department you will find only good things. A 512GB M.2 PCI-e solid-state drive lives there. I consider such a drive the best thing there currently is: it’s large enough to accommodate a host of bigger files, but at the same time it won’t compromise on performance. I see no imminent need to upgrade it, but you can surely do so if you want. The M.2 interface accepts both SATA and PCIe/NVMe drives, in addition there’s an unoccupied 2.5″ slot inside!

The memory won’t leave you lagging as the system boasts 16GB DDR4 2400MHz RAM. It is two 8GB sticks that will be found inside, taking the both SODIMM slots of the mainboard. If you want to go to the maximum memory (32GB) you will need to remove the current RAM sticks first. However, I see very little need to upgrade from 16GB RAM.

Ports and interfaces

Dell Inspiron 5000 Series (i5577-7342BLK-PUS) is equipped with basic connectivity to get your peripherals and display hooked up. In essence, there are three USB 3.0 ports (two of them having PowerShare) for your devices. Unfortunately this model does not feature USB Type-C port, which is shame for this price. Additionally, HDMI-output is offered so you can work/play with a dedicated, separate display.

“No Optical Drive” is mentioned in the main specification list. Indeed, many of 2017 laptops don’t have DVD burners. This is due to the age of Internet, you can download everything from there. Of course, nothing is stopping you from buying USB-connecting external drive for your discs. Another useful feature could be the memory card reader which accepts SD and MMC cards.

Get this notebook connected to Internet via the great 802.11ac WiFi adapter. It works with dual band, long range signal so the connection should be stable. Bluetooth 4.2 is supported too. The mainboard also has a Gigabit Ethernet controller integrated, with RJ-45 port on the laptop side.

Miscellaneous things

The laptop battery (6-cell 74Whr) should last a few hours under non-gaming use. My guess is 4-5 hours considering the cell amount and watt per hours. That being said, the duration will drastically drop when you go on the gaming mode. Expect the battery last 1.5 – 2 hours then (which is the standard in gaming laptops anyway).

A 15.6 inches Full HD anti-glare display is what you will be looking at. I’ve heard it’s a TN panel (as opposed to more prestige IPS panel). I’ve also heard this screen has poor image quality, something that would put off a few shoppers. If that is you, find a notebook with better screen. On the other hand, the laptop is rather affordable for a gaming rig so compromises are understandable.

The keyboard comes with a red backlight, the color can not be adjusted.

Advantages in nutshell

Dell Inspiron 5000 Series (i5577-7342BLK-PUS) is far from pricey model. It’s not exactly the cheapest, but many other gaming notebooks cost more than this. If you want decent frame rates and snappy performance, you don’t need to pay more if you decide to go with the Dell.

Indeed, the core components rock in this computer. The Kaby Lake processor with 16GB system memory are a great thing for those seeking extra performance. Not only a single program will run flawlessly, also multitasking on these specs should be smooth.

The 512GB solid-state drive gives you the best of the both worlds: pretty good storage size, and extremely fast response times from the system.

Disadvantages in nutshell

If you want the best screen quality I would advice proceeding with caution. I have read from some sources the display here might not be the best one available. However, for casual gamers I’m sure the screen is fine.

Summary

It is easy to call Dell Inspiron 5000 Series (i5577-7342BLK-PUS) a decent gaming laptop, mostly because of its graphics card. This notebook will run games, be them from 2017 or before, without hitches. The only caveat in this regards is, you might need to reduce settings sometimes to reach the smooth frame rates. Most other aspects of this laptop are in check too – think about a heavyweight processor and solid-state drive. If you can overlook the possibly lower quality display, I have nothing to complain about!