Dell Inspiron 13 7370 (i5-8250U) Laptop Review

[Redaktion]

Four cores for the office. For the first time, Dell is equipping its line of compact office laptops with the brand new ULV-Hyperthreading Quad-core i5-8250U. What performance benefits does a four cour setup offer, and how well does the device do in terms of its thermals, noise emissions and power usage? The case and the input devices are convincing, but there could be up to two things that may make potential buyers trip.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-Inspiron-13-7370-i5-8250U-Laptop-Review.264124.0.html

[igor sampaio]

Hello! Can I update it with an NVMe drive or it does not accept it?

[Julie]

Ordinateur portable Dell latitude 7370, batterie XCNR3. envoie un message à moi

[MarinaL]

Yes, you can. Considering the top model comes with PCIe, and ssds are not soldered.

[Sloth]

1. Does it have an empty RAM slot?
2. Is the RAM soldered?

[Paul M]

Although this is now an obsolete model, I thought I would add a comment in case anyone was considering buying one second-hand. My workplace issued me one a year ago and it was a lightly used year old one back then. I tend to use it docked to a screen and keyboard.

The screen is good, the keyboard and touchpad fine. Audio from the speakers is OK for radio/speech, and the audio from the headphone jack is clear and decent and free of interference.

The laptop has stood up well to commuting daily to the office, wrapped in a thin sleeve, this has tested the HDMI, usb-c, headphone and power jack with over 400 insertions and removals and still working fine. So I would be happy to recommend one as a second hand buy if it's been taken care of. Mine has survived a few drops of about a metre onto a carpeted or wooden floor and there's barely any cosmetic indication of it.

It's possible to use a USB-C combo hub to get HDMI, network and USB ports, the right hub with USB PD means you can charge the laptop too. This works well with a 4K monitor. The USB-C isn't thunderbolt. I am using both the HDMI and the USB-C to HDMI hub to give me twin screen 1440p displays.

I'd say the biggest downside is the thermals. Mine has the i7-8550U processor, and the fan runs at a clearly audible volume once you sustain 15% CPU usage or higher! When running windows, this means the fan runs all the time, with linux it's a little more subdued. In fact, when I got it, I though something was wrong and part dismantled it to check the fan ducts weren't blocked, because it seemed thermally throttled!

I run linux on it (Fedora) and it runs well, but, suspend doesn't work. I found thermal throttling was a problem, so I disabled hyper-threading since there was no performance gain at all, it can't even use four cores sustained at full speed!

So if you're offered one in good condition at a good price, with i5 processor (true quad core or better), nvme drive and at least 8GB of RAM,  you should get a decent work horse which will last a decent length of time.

[Michelle T]

I purchased a Dell Inspiron 13 7370 2 years ago.  I checked the specs carefully and purchased and returned 2 other laptops before settling on this one.  Previously I had a MacBook Pro and it ran very cool. This Dell runs hot and the fan is on frequently.  I was surprised that a laptop could get this hot and not be malfunctioning. Now after two years, the battery is on the brink of failure and I have to purchase a new one.  I didn't link the heat with the battery life (I'm not that techy) but someone who a computer science student informed me that battery failure is a common Dell laptop problem, due to the heat.  MicroCenter will charge me the cost of the battery plus $60 for labor! Ouch! I see that Dell has a video for battery replacement.  Is it as simple as unscrewing the panel, removing the battery and putting the new one in? Is there anything to connect?  Can I successfully change the battery myself? It calls for a small Phillips (I have that).  Thank you.