Dell Inspiron 15 LCD Quality

We ran our standard series of tests on the Dell Inspiron 15's 15.6" LCD screen using ColorEyes Display Pro. While viewing angles are likely to continue to be problematic for laptop screens, the Inspiron 15's is particularly troubling. Most laptop screens have a sweet spot you can tilt them to in order to minimize discoloration at the top or bottom of the screen, but the Inspiron 15 can't ever quite make it there. Likewise, color contrast is particularly poor.

Laptop LCD Quality - Contrast

Laptop LCD Quality - White

Laptop LCD Quality - Black

Laptop LCD Quality - Color Accuracy

Laptop LCD Quality - Color Gamut



Like so many other laptops, the LCD quality on the Inspiron 15 is unimpressive. It will get the job done, but graphics artists are going to be disappointed. The color gamut is higher than most competing offerings at 61%, color accuracy of 2.0 Delta E is par for the course, and the 235:1 contrast ratio is right down with the rest of the inexpensive laptops we've looked at. We have a business oriented Dell laptop with a matte LCD, and it truly impresses with its high gamut LCD and anti-glare (matte) coating. It would be great to see a reasonable consumer notebook come with better display options that don't break the bank, but right now no one seems to be bothering.

Dell Inspiron 15 Battery Life Inspiron 1564: Conclusion
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  • T2k - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link

    1. Well, I have seen both (current) displays and I found Acer's somewhat better + webcams were always great in the few Acers I've come across recently (in 2-3 years) whereas Dell's track record is rather spotty there...

    2. There's an i5-520M version of it, for $850 but I don't think it worth $100 at all - IMO you would be better off rather spending it on a small SSD for the system and moving the 500GB to an external case instead...

    3. Acer is fully-featured, unlike this one which, as the writer said it, feels stripped down.

    4. The new DX11 mobile ATI chip gives you full 8-channel audio over HDMI which is a big plus for HTPC use, even if occasional.

    5. Of course, this new mobile chip will drive 13x76 resolution just fine even in new games.
  • KaarlisK - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link

    Why should that be an external case? Just replace the DVD drive with a caddy holding the SSD/HDD and move the DVD drive to the external case.
  • kmmatney - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link

    I'm not a big fan of the 16:9 laptop screen. Seems like things have gone backwards when you have fewer vertical pixels that the old 1024 x 768 screens many years ago.
  • JarredWalton - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link

    What I've heard is that it's all about maximizing the number of LCD panels you can get from the glass substrate... if you use 16:10 each panel is 10% larger, and the source substrate size has been optimized lately for 16:9 production.
  • strikeback03 - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link

    Might be true, but it still sucks. Kinda like just about everything relating to laptop LCDs these days.
  • shobazee - Thursday, July 22, 2010 - link

    Dell Inspiron 17 inch with corei5 is the best laptop .. Dell's designers seem to understand the importance of user experience extending beyond simple metrics like system performance... I THINK IT IS A GREAT DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • anisurrups - Monday, June 15, 2020 - link

    Your article is very important for every dell user

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