After a long wait, I finally start using better machine for work. I had a nice first impression of Dell Inspiron 15 5510 with its silver finish. It looks nice and professional. The build quality feels strong and sturdy. The performance seems quite decent, thanks to 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11370H @ 3.30 GHz, 16GB RAM and Intel iRIS Xe graphics.

All my previous laptops had either 13″ or 14″ screen. The first time of using 15.6″ screen is quite an interesting experience. For starter, it does feel a lot more comfortable for long hours of work. The only downside is that obviously 15.6″ laptop would be heavier than 14″ laptop. In this case, Dell Inspiron 15 5510 weighs 1.656 kg. Note that models with different specs might have slightly different weight.

Size-wise, Inspiron 15 5510 still fits in my work bag, thanks to its good screen to body ratio. Laptop size is 35.5 x 22.9 x 1.6 cm and the screen size is 34.1 x 19.2 cm. The keyboard is full-sized and quite comfortable for typing. Having dedicated numeric pad is a nice bonus. There is a fingerprint scanner integrated into power button. There is a dedicated button to start calculator app on top of numeric pad. This is a small gimmick that was proven to save a bit of my time in normal everyday use.

Most of the time, I have no issue with the laptop’s temperature. I did notice that during some Teams video call, the fan would kick in and I can hear audible noise, along with raised temperature. It does not happen every time, and it was also never to the point of causing worry, so I left it at that.

Display is 1080p FHD, which is a standard for most laptops nowadays. It is comfortable to work with and the glare/reflection is quite minimal.

I generally dislike having to use multiple dongles for my work machine. It helps that Dell Inspiron 15 5510 has 2 USB 3.0 ports, 1 USB-C (Thunderbolt) port and 1 HDMI port. There are also memory card reader, 3.55mm audio jack and charging port for Dell’s 4.5mm barrel charger. Connection to external monitor is easy and stable (tested with 4K monitor). Charging the laptop using UCB-C charger works just fine.

If anything, one thing I feel annoyed with is that this laptop would randomly goes to BSOD, then auto recover when I step away from my work desk. Still could not find out what caused it. By the time I returned, it has usually recovered, I would need to login again and had to reopen the apps I worked with. Somehow it always happen when I was away, never when I was actively using the computer. This happens 1-2 times a week. Not super frequent, but regular enough to cause annoyance. Could not really tell if this is something to do with the hardware or Windows 10 issue.

Overall, this is a decent machine and can get most work done. It is clearly heavier than my Acer Swift 5, but would definitely choose this machine for long hours or work thanks to its larger screen.