University Essentials: My Dell 2-in-1 Laptop!

In September, I remember the stress of having to find a new laptop! My old laptop was struggling a bit (bless her), a purple HP Pavilion who had outlived her life expectancy.

My old laptop was certainly clonky, by the end of its life she would only work plugged into the mains, took about 15 years to get onto the login page, and would only connect to wifi spots she knew, AKA my home.

So my plan was to look for a laptop which was affordable, but a bit plush, because y'know, I was starting uni. I wanted a decent size that would run smoothly with 100 tabs open (because I've got commitment issues with closing tabs), and did not break my bank! My budget was about £500 give or take. 

My family had always had HP computers so initially I looked for that. I found this HP Laptop that I liked . It was a little bit more expensive but there are usually deals on amazon (including student discount!) and I think the investment is worth it. However, my boyfriend had just bought a laptop after his died, after a short life (hence why I do not buy cheap laptops!), and he chose to buy the Dell 2-in-1 Inspiron Laptop. Now please forgive me, I am not a technology expert however I spend an awful lot of time on and offline so it has been well tested! So I let him spend lots of money on it and tried his before buying (wise move), and I was surprised to find I really liked it, and even more than the HP laptop (I am very brand loyal)! Here are my feelings on the Dell laptop, and if you have any more questions after this post, don't hesitate to ask!


Screen and Keyboard
So I have the 13.3 inch laptop which makes screen size smaller than my previous laptop. It was hard to adjust to at first, but I've now realised that I do not need the huge screen size anymore. The screen is really bright, has such clear detail and colours look great on it! The keyboard feels really nice, the keys do not require force when typing which makes typing less strenuous. The keyboard lights up, perfect for dark lecture theatres, with an easy on/off toggle to save power. It has lots of shortcut keys which take initial learning to get used to, then once they become habit make life so much easier. The keyboard is indented into the base so when it is in tablet mode, the keys do not stick out or get caught and damaged.


2-in-1
So the laptop is a folding 2-in-1 laptop, which means that the screen folds all the way back on itself to become a tablet! Before I considered it, I thought it was technology for the sake of technology. However, once I had tried folding the screen back, I was converted. It is so handy to fold the screen back, either into a propped up screen, or into a tablet. I use the propped up screen for reading and the tablet for giving presentations. I also use my laptop/tablet for Scouting admin work, so the choice makes its use more accessible. For my Birthday, my boyfriend bought me a stylus for my laptop, which means I can write notes alongside slides, draw, annotate and, of course, doodle when I'm bored! There are some cool apps for drawing and making 3D images.

Performance and Multitasking
The performance is really good. Loading of applications is quick and you can have so many tabs and apps open at the same time and it does not reduce the performance at all. Currently I've got over 20 tabs open, 2 word docs, a publisher doc, an excel doc and my emails open it is working as efficiently as if I only had 1 tab open.


Battery Life and Storage
Up to 12 hours of battery life is boasted by Dell. Generally I do not run my laptop from full charge to no charge, however it can easily last a full day, or maybe even two, at uni without needing charging or dying. Battery saver mode is useful and effective and automatically switches on when your battery gets below a certain point. It has a decent amount of storage and also comes with options to increase storage and get cloud storage for backing up files. I have saved lots so far and have not seen any decrease in performance due to storage, but it is always wise to run system checks and defrag the system frequently.


Weight and Size
The laptop fits comfortably in my bag, it is slimline and does not weigh too much. It is so much lighter than my old laptop! It does not take up too much room in my bag and I also bought a handy case for it so it does not get damaged or damage other bits in my bag. Dell do other laptops in the range that are bigger or smaller depending on what you want.

I am really glad I bought this laptop. It cost me roughly £500 at the time and I believe now it has reduced in price. There are lots of models in the range that have slight variances in specifications, so you can choose depending on your price range and specification needs. I have done my best to link products that have been mentioned down below! I hope this review helps you make up your mind when investing in a laptop!