This is a very solid gaming laptop, despite not being advertised as one. There is no reason to pay hundreds of dollars extra for a "gaming" branded laptop, when you can get something like this with a decent dedicated graphics card. For some reference, I usually play Overwatch at medium settings and get well over 60 fps at 1080p. It may even go higher but I value the consistent fps more than some slight graphics improvements. The actual build is fine; I usually just keep it at home and don't take it out much so I can't comment too much on its durability. The keyboard, trackpad, and screen are all okay. It's not going to win any awards but they do the job. I highly recommend you buy an SSD, as the internal hard drive is honestly unusable and slow at least for gaming. You're going to need an M.2 SSD, not the standard 2.5" kind. You just need to remove the single screw holding the backplate and pop the drive right in. Also, instead of just cloning the OS to the SSD, I recommend that you do a fresh install of Windows. That way you won't have all the Dell bloatware that comes with it, and will have a nice snappy booting experience. Two birds, one stone. Anyway, this laptop has treated me very well. I think some commenters here have legitmate complaints, especially if they received a defective unit, but most people here just come off as very computer illiterate (it's like this for almost every laptop sold on Amazon). If you know what you're doing, give it some upgrades, and treat it right you'll be fine. It's a great machine. Read more
Build: Very sturdy build in my opinion. Although a bit on the heavy side, dell made sure to deliver a flexible laptop that holds a couple of wear over the years. Aesthetics: Pretty unique with backlighting and red accents. Display: Pretty vivid and lively display, very easy to see the details. Power: Very fast and responsive. I had problems while I was downloading a couple of 60 gig files onto the computer but that is rather miniscule. Fans are very quiet, I literally cannot hear them under moderate use. Sound: Pretty spot on. I think the sound coming from the laptop is of good quality. Problems: I agree with others.. the touchpad is rather weak so expect to use a mouse. Also, wifi keeps disconnecting for 5 second bursts and coming back on a couple hours ago. I did a few updates and it stopped but I don't know if those updates fixed it. UPDATE: What I have noticed after 4 days of using it. Have wifi troubles? Uninstall and install the wifi adapter in device manager and it should fix it. Surprisingly my laptop performs poorly off charger and I did hear a rumor that it uses integrated graphics when unplugged to charger.. Minor issue really as this laptop cannot live more than 2 hours under heavy gaming load. Overall a great laptop so far I use it for hours everyday (soon to change due to college). Still giving it 4/5 because I had to do a lot to get it correctly in working order. Read more
TLDR: Bought this for my sister who started college recently. It fits her needs. I bought this for my younger sister. I went into school and bought a netbook and boy, should I have gotten something more powerful. I had some video editing to do, video watching, online seminars, etc, and I have no clue how I graduated with honors. I didn't want my sister to struggle with a computer that would take 10 hours to render a two minute video. Plus I love gaming, and was hoping she would get into it as well. I was on the search for a good laptop that could serve her four, possibly five, years in college. This came out to be the perfect one. Good reviews everywhere. Good graphics, good processor, good screen, etc. So far, she loves it. ALL of her male friends are jealous of it, and tease her for not being a gamer and having a bitchin' PC. As long as she doesn't destroy it by dropping it, spilling stuff on it, etc, it should last her for some time. Honestly, I was envious I bought her this instead of buying it for myself. Read more
This laptop is excellent and perfect for the price if you're into mid-tier gaming. The only problem I have with this laptop is the Dpad. It's not bad for scrolling around in the web, but when I tried to game on it, it just was badly delayed and unplayable,so get a mouse right away. But other than that it is amazing and pretty decent for gaming and other things. Another thing is that I got lucky and this laptop was only $729.99 so my advice is to be patient and look around to see this same model for a cheaper price, because the prices go up and down very quickly. Anyways hope you find the right laptop and good luck searching it took me a while :) Read more
This is a great computer. It can handle games on high settings fine, the fans are also quiet. It doesn't really get hot when I play games with demanding graphics. The touch pad does suck though. It sometimes stop responding for a few seconds before working again, but I mainly use a USB mouse anyway. Registering this computer with Dell will get you a $25 gift card from them to use at their store. The only problem I had with this computer (other than the touchpad) is the blue screen of death I kept getting on the second and third day I had this computer. It happened twice on the third day, but after some research...It turns out that this computer comes with an out of date Nvidia driver that causes the BSOD. I updated the driver to the latest one and I never seen the BSOD again after updating the driver. You can find the drivers on Nvidia's website for a free download. It's a great computer for the price, I haven't had any problems since. The battery life varies with web browsing between 5 to 6 and a half hours. 2 to 3 hours with gaming. That's pretty solid for this laptop. Read more
