Remember when 15-inch laptops were the king of the market? While some might think those days are behind us, Dell clearly hasn’t forgotten. The Inspiron 15 remains one of their global best-sellers, and today, we’re taking a closer look at the latest model.
The Dell Inspiron 15 3535 comes equipped with an AMD Ryzen 5 7530U processor, perfect for content creation and snappy multitasking. Paired with a massive 64GB of RAM, a spacious 1TB SSD, and AMD Radeon Graphics, it’s built for speed and efficiency. You’ll also find Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5 onboard. At roughly $700, it’s a budget-friendly workhorse that’s hard to ignore.
Specs of Dell Inspiron 15:
- Screen Size: 15.6 Inches
- Max Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080 Pixels
- CPU Model: AMD Ryzen 5 7530U
- Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon Graphics
- Clock Speed: Up to 4.5 GHz
- Memory: 64 GB DDR4
- Storage: 1 TB SSD
- OS: Windows 11 Home
- USB Ports:
- 1 x USB-C 3.2
- 1 x USB-A 3.2
- 1 x USB-A 2.0
- Model name: Dell Inspiron 15 3535 Laptop
- Laptop Weight: 3.59 pounds
Our ratings:
Dell Inspiron 15 review:
Let’s see if this mid-range laptop can still compete.
Design and build quality:
This laptop isn’t particularly expensive, so don’t expect metal everywhere. This is one of the areas where it falls short compared to premium laptops. In fact, Dell saved money here to provide you with the best specs. So, the use of plastic might be disappointing for those who can afford a high-end machine. However, for those who need a high specs computer on a tight budget, it’s actually a blessing.
The underside is only metal where it’s visible, and the keyboard, wrist-rest, and screen bezel are all matte black plastic.
The ports are distributed on either side: one side houses the DC charging port, an outdated HDMI 1.4 port, a USB-A Super Speed port, and a USB-C port (no Thunderbolt, but it does support DisplayPort and power delivery). The other side has another USB-A Super Speed port, a headphone jack, and a full-sized SD card reader—a welcome inclusion.
On the bottom, the plastic finish is standard. However, the narrow air intake vent raises some concerns about thermal management. There are two bottom-firing speakers, which are subtle but effective.
For a laptop with a 15.6-inch display, the chassis isn’t overly large. It measures 0.75 by 14.11 by 9.25 inches, which is a bit thick but not too heavy at 3.65 pounds—reasonable for its size.
I would rate design and build quality as 7 out of 10.
Display and audiovisual capabilities:
All configurations of the Dell Inspiron 15 (3535) come in Carbon Black and feature the same display: a 15.6-inch, 1080p screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio. The display has an anti-glare finish for better visibility in different lighting conditions, but it’s not particularly impressive, especially with its plain plastic bezels.
One advantage is the 120Hz refresh rate, which makes scrolling and mouse movements smoother. However, it’s not suitable for activities like gaming, where a higher refresh rate enhances gameplay.
And the drawback is that it is not backlit, which most of the users demand to work in low light environments. It would’ve been cool if the Dell Inspiron 15 had that awesome feature.
But for simple use, the display is adequate. The anti-glare finish helps with visibility, and the 120Hz refresh rate makes interactions feel more responsive. However, the display lacks vibrant colors, contrast, and visual impact, making it less ideal for watching TV shows and movies. This cements the laptop’s role primarily as a productivity machine.
The speakers are surprisingly good for this laptop. They are located on the underside near the edges, which might cause them to be covered when the laptop is used on your lap.
The audio can get a bit muddied with complex sounds, and it may sound harsh in the upper mid-range at high volumes. Bass is lacking, but overall, the speakers are fairly loud and clear for down-firing speakers.
Webcam and security:
The included webcam is a standard 720p camera. While it doesn’t offer amazing quality, it works better in low light compared to other laptops. The webcam doesn’t support facial recognition for unlocking, but there’s a fingerprint reader built into the power key at the top-right corner of the keyboard.
Even with its 720p resolution and 920,000 pixels, the front-facing HD camera gives you a great experience, making your video chats with colleagues clear and confident.
Memory (RAM) performance:
RAM is the backbone of your laptop; the more RAM you have, the easier it is for you to multitask.
The Dell Inspiron 15 3535 laptop has a number of RAM slots that can accommodate up to 64GB of RAM. The model I tested had one slot with 64GB of RAM installed, while the other was empty.
Dell has made it simple for users to upgrade their memory. You can just add another 8GB RAM stick in the second slot if you ever need more; this will double your total amount of RAM
The 64 GB of RAM that came with the unit I tested proved to be excellent for multitasking. As a result, I was able to open literally dozens of tabs on Google Chrome and switch between them without experiencing any lag.
It was all instantaneous and a truly incredible experience.
Then, we ran SAP2000, and AutoCAD all at once, and the laptop handled everything smoothly.
So, I’d give the Dell Inspiron 15 a 10 out of 10 for memory performance (on the 64 GB version I tested) in this budget range. Since it might not last long, it’s not a great investment.
Now let us go over storage options. In addition, the Dell Inspiron 15 features a SATA3 slot for HDDs as well as a PCIe NVMe slot for SSDs, which enable multiple combinations for storage.
You can choose a laptop with storage drives ranging from 500GB to 2 TB. Additionally, you can opt for solid-state drives ranging from 128GB to 1 TB.
Performance:
At the heart of the Dell Inspiron 15 3535 is the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U, a six-core, twelve-thread processor built for efficiency and multitasking. With a base clock of 2.0 GHz and a boost clock of up to 4.5 GHz, it delivers strong mid-range performance that easily handles everyday workloads and more demanding applications.
In Cinebench R23, the Ryzen 5 7530U scored around 1,361 points in single-core and 8,479 points in multi-core performance. This puts it ahead of older Intel i5 11th-gen processors and on par with many newer mid-tier CPUs, making it an excellent choice for productivity-focused users.
The Integrated AMD Radeon Graphics, while not a dedicated GPU, performs surprisingly well for casual gaming and multimedia workloads. This integrated solution shares system memory, so performance benefits significantly from higher RAM capacity and faster speeds, which is why the 64GB RAM in the test unit provided a slight edge in GPU-bound tasks.
In day-to-day use, the Radeon Graphics handled 4K video playback, light photo editing, and graphic design work in Canva and Photoshop without stutter. It also supports hardware-accelerated decoding for formats like H.264 and HEVC, ensuring smooth streaming on platforms like Netflix, YouTube, and Twitch.
When it comes to gaming, here are the real-world average FPS results tested at 1080p resolution:
Valorant – 105 FPS (Low settings)
CS:GO – 120 FPS (Low settings)
GTA V – 52 FPS (Normal settings)
Fortnite – 48 FPS (Performance Mode)
Minecraft – 120 FPS (Default settings)
Shadow of the Tomb Raider – 35 FPS (Low settings)
While this is clearly not a laptop built for modern AAA gaming at high settings, it does deliver respectable frame rates for older or esports-focused titles when settings are tuned appropriately. For casual gamers, students, and office users who like to relax with a few games, the integrated Radeon solution strikes a good balance between performance and power efficiency.
The main advantage here is that the GPU runs cool and consumes very little power compared to dedicated graphics cards, which in turn helps maintain longer battery life, something important for work-and-play laptops in this budget range.
Overall, for light gaming, multimedia, and creative tasks, the integrated AMD Radeon Graphics are more than capable, and in combination with the Ryzen 5 7530U, they provide a smooth, well-rounded experience.
It might struggle with more demanding games that need a dedicated GPU, but it handles less intense games and older titles just fine.
I would rate CPU performance at 9 out of 10 for this budget range.
Battery Life:
The Dell Inspiron 15 laptop comes with a 3-cell 42Wh battery, which isn’t very powerful for a 15.6-inch laptop.
To test the battery performance, I set the screen brightness to 120 nits and turned off all other programs except the browser, which was surfing over 70 websites.
It stands up to the others in terms of battery life but lags behind when it comes to display quality. Well, good news first. Our tests show that the Inspiron can run on its 42Wh battery for just over nine hours, which is not bad. However, many other laptops also lasted beyond nine hours.
IdeaPad goes on for over ten hours; the HP Laptop 17 lasts over eleven hours.
Given these facts, I would rate Dell Inspiron battery performance at 7 out of 10.
Buy the 2025 Dell Inspiron 15 if:
- You want high specs at a mid-range price.
- You need heavy multitasking power (64GB RAM is unbeatable here).
- You work in content creation, CAD, or software development.
- You want a big-screen laptop for both work and entertainment.
- You value upgradeability.
Avoid it if:
- You want future-proof gaming performance.
- You prefer a premium metal design.
- You need a backlit keyboard or higher display quality.
Our final verdict:
This laptop is a great mid-range laptop. It comes with a nice design, good ports, a huge amount of RAM, and storage space. You can’t get these specs on a mid-range laptop, so overall, it’s a great deal.
However, there are some setbacks to this product, which include poor thermal design, excessive use of plastic, and a slightly dull display.
In totality, the productivity-oriented Dell Inspiron 15 does not really do well in other areas like gaming. Well, if you stumble upon it on offer, then that would be fair enough.
