X
Rating
9

It may be small but it acts big, with a high-quality 2560 X 1600 display and enough guts for most creative apps.

The size, or course, but also its ability to jump from a work situation into the gaming realm.

A touch screen would be a good addition here.

Take a stroll through any consumer electronics retailer and you’ll see the notebook market has become cluttered, with several brands delivering small footprint notebooks. Let’s face it, “compact” has become the new buzzword.

So, when Dell sent us their new Inspiron i5 13″ 5310 notebook , I was a little sceptical about performance, until I actually booted this machine up.

The first thing you notice is the high-quality 2560 X 1600 display. It’s bright and crisp, and both text and images jump off the page.

I normally wear glasses when working with a small screen notebook, but I found I didn’t need them with this 13″ notebook that weighs just 1.3kg.Dell Inspiron 13 1 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook

And once you’ve got past the Microsoft blurb and their constant plugs to sign up for Office 365, Game Pass or the downloading of their Microsoft Edge browser, and the automatic update of Windows 11 home, you quickly realise this device has a lot of power, due to the combination of an Intel Core i5-11300 processor and an Nvidia GeForce MX450 graphics card.

The notebook is housed in a sleek aluminium case that is very rigid due, I suspect, to a solid chassis housing the main board.

Powered by the 35 W Core i5-11320H CPU, which is midway between the typical 10 W to 25 W Core U options and the higher-performance 45 W Core H options found on the XPS 15 series and many gaming laptops, this is ample power for most creative applications or when using Adobe Creative Suite of tools.

On board is 8GB of RAM.Dell Inspiron 13 3 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook

Another notable feature is the model’s 16:10 aspect ratio compared to only 16:9 on most other notebooks.

The review model came with Windows 11 Home, and I for one would be prepared to pay extra for the Pro version of Windows 11 because this machine when hooked up to a high-quality monitor is an ideal machine for gaming, creative editing of videos and graphic design projects.

I was able to easily pull up and edit a 100page plus version of SmartHouse Digital Magazine, while also accessing a suite of video editing tools.

On sale at JB Hi-Fi for $1,699, this machine has a lot going for it apart from looks.

If you’re after a bucket load of performance from a notebook you can’t go past this little powerhouse.Dell Inspiron 13 features 2 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook

And, as many people know, Dell owns Alienware, one of the world’s leading gaming brands.

When I opened up my Microsoft Game Pass account, I was able to play games, and the audio via my attached Bluetooth headphones was as good as a larger gaming machine. So was the gaming experience.

While the response time was not as good as a top end gaming machine, the performance was excellent for a 13” notebook.

In testing I got more than 10 hours of battery life, which is surprising considering the brightness of the powerful sRGB colour display.Dell Inspiron 13 features Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook

Also on board is a HDMI port and USB-C port, making it ideal to connect to a monitor or a TV when doing PowerPoint presentations.

I am not a big fan of Geek tests. What I do is throw a product like this smack bang into a normal production day for me, authoring stories and reviews, accessing production apps such as Photoshop and InDesign and Office 365, and constantly being on Teams and conference calls.

And if I have time, a bit of gaming at the end of a busy day.

And if this is a good benchmark for the testing of a performance notebook this little beast passed with flying colours.

Missing is a pen or touch screen, which is something I would like to see in this sized machine in the future. But despite the absence of these features, this notebook is well worth the $1,600 investment.

LINK TO BUY: JB HI-FI

LINK TO BUY: THE GOOD GUYS

Dell Inspiron 13 specs Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook

FA 979 HN MDF SG14 14gen 728x90 1 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
GOTHAM 728px x 90px Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
Flick of a switch 728x90 1 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
241211 SAV Ruark CNewsJan Leader Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
BEL2535 BPB024 4SQ Banners 728x90 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
728X90 1 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
728x90 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
Arlo EOFY25 728x90 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
Skullcandy 728x90 1 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
ELX DIG Crosscat Promo 728x90 Mar25 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
BlueAnt 4SQM PumpAirUltra 728x90px Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
JBL TourPro3 728x90 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
AU X8 Banner 728x90 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
728 x 90 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
728x90 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
728x90 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
Marshall 728x90 1 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
channel news banner 728x90 Hitachi Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
Westan 728x90px Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
HAIER Series 600 FLW HPD Pairs 728x90 1 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
MaxRanger4K Leaderboard 728x90 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
Px7 S3 728x90 1 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
ChannelNews AZ100 728x90 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
Uniden Channelnews SoloX July 2024 728x90 1 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook
Hisense KV BannerAd 728 90 Review: Dell Inspiron i5 13 5310 Notebook


YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Rating
9

It may be small but it acts big, with a high-quality 2560 X 1600 display and enough guts for most creative apps.

The size, or course, but also its ability to jump from a work situation into the gaming realm.

A touch screen would be a good addition here.