Dell has launched the Dell 15 laptop, a 15-inch consumer machine that starts at $699.99 and runs on Intel’s new Core Series 3 processors. All three configurations are live now on Dell’s online store.
The entry model pairs an Intel Core 3 304 processor with 8 GB of RAM for $699.99. Two step-up configurations use the six-core Intel Core 5 320 instead: one with 8 GB of RAM at $799.99, the other with 16 GB at $999.99. Every version ships with the same 512 GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD, so the extra money buys processor and memory headroom, not storage.
Inside the Dell 15 laptop
This is a productivity machine, not a gaming laptop: the most powerful configuration on offer is still a six-core chip, and Dell is pitching it at students and home users rather than anyone chasing frame rates. The casing is unapologetically plastic, covering the bottom case, keyboard deck, display bezel and top case alike, and Dell says the material mix includes post-consumer recycled plastic and aluminium to cut the laptop’s environmental footprint.
The screen is a 1920 x 1200 non-touch LCD rated at 450 nits brightness and 45% coverage of the NTSC colour space, both Dell-claimed figures rather than independently measured ones. Above it sits a 1080p webcam with IR support for Windows Hello face login, a feature that’s becoming standard even at this price point.
Why the RAM upgrade costs more than the CPU upgrade
By our arithmetic, moving from the base Core 3 304 configuration to the Core 5 320 while keeping the same 8 GB of RAM costs $100. Doubling that RAM to 16 GB on top of it costs a further $200, twice the price of the CPU tier upgrade for what is normally the more commodity component. That lines up with the wider memory market: DDR5 prices have climbed 416% over the past year, ten times their record low, and laptop pricing is clearly not insulated from that.
All three configurations keep the same 512 GB SSD, so anyone choosing between them is really deciding how much processor and memory they need, not how much storage.
