Dell has a new Max-Q version of its already impressive Inspiron Gaming Laptop which can be equipped with a 4K screen.
The refreshed Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming laptop sticks with Intel’s Kaby Lake quad-core processors (up to a Core i7-7700HQ with a boost to 3.8GHz), but ups the ante on the GPU front with a fully-fledged GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB of video memory. That's more graphical power than the previous model, which you could only configure up to a GTX 1050 Ti.
System memory can be loaded up to 32GB, and for storage you can go with a 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD, or a dual drive configuration consisting of (up to) a 256GB M.2 SSD plus 1TB hard disk.
The machine can be bought with a Full HD resolution IPS screen – or a touchscreen variant – or you can push the boat out and get the aforementioned 4K display.
Even with the top-end configuration featuring the fastest processor and GPU, along with the 4K screen, Dell claims a battery life of up to seven hours under Mobile Mark 2014. Although if you’re gaming, of course, you won’t get near that battery longevity. However, as we found in our review of the previous Inspiron 15 Gaming, this notebook does better than most of the competition out there.
Charging ahead
What’s also neat is that this refreshed model offers a new battery trick with a quick-charge mode whereby it can be juiced up to 80% capacity in an hour.
Connectivity now includes a USB Type-C port (alongside three USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A connectors), and 2x2 WLAN 802.11ac Wi-Fi. There is a serious cooling system on board driven by dual-fans, and regarding audio the notebook has a pair of front-firing speakers benefiting from Waves MaxxAudio Pro technology.
Other notable goodies include a spill-resistant keyboard (which is optionally backlit), and a fingerprint reader which is built into the power button for secure logins (via Windows Hello) with a minimum of fuss.
The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming laptop will arrive on September 12 in the US with Full HD configurations starting at US$999 (about £770) and 4K models going for US$1,449 (about £1,120).
In Australia, the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming will be available from mid-October with prices starting at AU$1,999.
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