Here is one of the most premium notebooks from the Inspiron family. Not only it can be considered as a premium contender because of its price, but it also features a magnesium alloy body. This brings the weight down, thus making it a lot more portable. Additionally, there is some pretty beefy hardware packed inside – a Core i5-9300H or a Core i7-9750H, as well as a choice from the 3GB version of the GTX 1050, or a 4GB GTX 1650.
Of course, not everything is about performance – Dell is offering the Inspiron 15 7590 with a 1080p IPS panel or with a more pro-oriented UHD IPS display. Sadly, though, there is no WiFi 6 certification, however, users can enjoy Bluetooth 5, a spill-resistant keyboard and many more. Let’s see if this device is worth the premium price tag.
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/dell-inspiron-15-7590/
Contents
Specs Sheet
Dell Inspiron 15 7590 - Specs
All Dell Inspiron 15 7590 configurations
What’s in the box?
Inside the packaging, you will find a 130W power brick with a barrel-style plug. Additionally, there are the mandatory manuals and guides, as well as the laptop, itself.
Design and construction
As we mentioned, this laptop’s body is built out of magnesium alloy. This enables it to top the scale at just 1.59kg (3.52 lbs), while the height goes from 18mm in the thinnest point to 19.9mm at the thickest. In terms of rigidity, the device seems to be on point with a very minimal chassis flex.
It is good to see that opening the lid happens easily with one finger. Furthermore, the weight distribution feels good and when we look at the hinges covers, we can see a fresh redesign. According to Dell’s official web site, the laptop is supposed to breathe fresh air from the middle of the place in between the lid and the base, while hot air is going to be exhausted towards the hinges.
By the way, it is worth noting that when you go past 100-degrees of opening the lid, it starts to act like a lever and lifts the base a couple of millimeters from the ground, thus further enhancing the airflow… or at least it should help.
Then at the base, we see a full-layout keyboard, that features a NumberPad a backlight and an anti-spill resistant layer. While we are happy with the length of the keystrokes, we have to confess that the clicks feel a little mushy. Additionally, the “Page Up” and “Page Down” buttons that are placed above the left and right arrow keys are a little confusing, as you will find yourself jumping through website content when you wanted to just move slightly to the right.
Nevertheless, the touchpad of this unit was good. It tracks well and the gliding is relatively good, given the matte finish, it has on top. Sadly, it lacks dedicated buttons, and the integrated ones tend to flex a little on the bottom edges. Thankfully, it still registers input, even as it bends.
Alongside the dedicated grill for air intake on the back, the laptop has a pretty long grill on the bottom, which should also enhance the breathability of the notebook. In addition to that, you can find the speaker cutouts firing towards the desk.
Ports
In terms of I/O, on the left, there is the power plug, an HDMI connector, followed by two USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen. 1) ports and a Thunderbolt 3 connector. Then, on the right, you can see the headphone jack, another USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen. 1) port and a MicroSD card reader.
Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance
There are 8 Phillips-head screws holding the bottom plate in place. After you unscrew them you only have to pop the panel with a plastic pry tool, or a guitar pick.
As far as the cooling goes, there are two rather thin heat pipes that cool both the CPU and the GPU. A bit conservative, but honestly, all of the laptops that feature this type of hardware have similar solutions.
There are two RAM DIMMs that fit up to 32GB of DDR4 memory with speeds of up to 2666 MHz. More impressively, the laptop is equipped with a duo of M.2 PCIe x4 slots that support RAID 0 configuration. Additionally, one of them can be fitted with a SATA drive, if you fancy.
Last but not least, perhaps the most interesting feature of the device – its 97Wh battery that stands just shy of the 100Wh limit of air travel.
Display quality
Dell Inspiron 15 7590 has an IPS panel, model number AUO B156HAN02.4 (AUO24ED). Its diagonal is 15.6″ (39.62 cm), and the resolution 1920 х 1080 pixels. The screen ratio is 16:9, and we are looking at a pixel density of – 142 ppi, and a pitch of 0.18 х 0.18 mm. The screen turns into Retina when viewed at distance equal to or greater than 60cm (24″) (from this distance one’s eye stops differentiating the separate pixels, and it is normal for looking at a laptop).
It has excellent viewing angles. We offer images at 45° to evaluate image quality.
The measured maximum brightness of 315 nits in the middle of the screen and 306 nits as an average for the whole area, with a maximum deviation of 11%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen is 6390K – slightly warmer than the optimal for the sRGB standard of 6500K. The average color temperature through the grey scale before profiling is 6180K.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. In other words, the leakage of light from the light source.
Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is fine – 1360:1.
To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.
Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people in HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.
Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.
The yellow dotted line shows Dell Inspiron 15 7590’s color gamut coverage.
Its display covers 91% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.
Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.
We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.
Below you can compare the scores of Dell Inspiron 15 7590 with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).
The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.
The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.
Response time (Gaming capabilities)
We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.
We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 31 ms.
PWM (Screen flickering)
Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.
Dell Inspiron 15 7590’s panel doesn’t use PWM to adjust brightness levels. This makes it comfortable for long work periods, without presenting eye strain in this aspect.
Blue light emissions
Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.
Conclusion
Dell Inspiron 15 7590’s display has an IPS panel with a Full HD resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and a good contrast ratio. Moreover, its backlight doesn’t flicker at any level and it covers 91% of sRGB. This really makes the display pop during gaming and video playback.
Buy our profiles
Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Dell Inspiron 15 7590 configurations with 15.6″ FHD IPS AUO B156HAN02.4 (AUO24ED).
*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected]
Read more about the profiles HERE.
In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.
Office Work
Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.
Design and Gaming
This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.
Health-Guard
THealth-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.
Sound
Dell Inspiron 15 7590’s speakers sound really nice, although they are not the loudest out there. Its low, mid and high tones have some deviations in clarity.
Drivers
You can download all of drivers and utilities for the Inspiron 15 7590 from here: https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/inspiron-15-7590-laptop/drivers
Battery
Now, we conduct the battery tests with Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. As we said, the device has a behemoth 97Wh battery pack.
The high expectations given by the huge battery were met, as we were able to achieve around 18 hours of Web browsing and 12 hours and a half of video playback away from the plug.
In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.
For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.
We use F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.
CPU options
This device can be purchased with either the Core i5-9300H or the Core i7-9750H.
Results are from the Cinebench 15 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)
Results are from the Fritz chess benchmark (the higher the score, the better)
Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)
GPU options
In terms of graphics power, you can pick from the GeForce GTX 1050 (3GB of GDDR5 memory), or the GeForce GTX 1650 with 4GB of GDDR5 memory.
Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Results are from the Unigine Heaven 4.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Results are from the Unigine Superposition benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Gaming tests
These tests were performed with NVIDIA 441.66 drivers on board.
| Far Cry 5 | Full HD, Normal (Check settings) | Full HD, High (Check settings) | Full HD, Ultra (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce GTX 1650 | 58 fps | 53 fps | 50 fps |
| Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016) | Full HD, Lowest (Check settings) | Full HD, Medium (Check settings) | Full HD, Very High (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce GTX 1650 | 104 fps | 73 fps | 37 fps |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018) | Full HD, Lowest (Check settings) | Full HD, Medium (Check settings) | Full HD, High (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce GTX 1650 | 56 fps | 32 fps | 28 fps |
| Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands | Full HD, Medium (Check settings) | Full HD, High (Check settings) | Full HD, Very High (Check settings) |
|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce GTX 1650 | 47 fps | 44 fps | 39 fps |
Temperatures and comfort
Max CPU load
In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.
Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.
| Core i7-9750H (45W TDP) | 0:02 – 0:10 sec | 0:15 – 0:30 sec | 10:00 – 15:00 min |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dell Inspiron 15 7590 | 2.91 GHz (B+12%)@ 97°C | 2.52 GHz @ 97°C | 2.41 GHz @ 97°C |
| ASUS VivoBook K571 | 2.76 GHz (B+6%)@ 69°C | 2.59 GHz @ 70°C | 2.31 GHz @ 74°C |
| HP Pavilion Gaming 15 2019 | 3.57 GHz (B+37%)@ 81°C | 2.88 GHz (B+11%)@ 73°C | 2.66 GHz (B+2%)@ 73°C |
| Lenovo Legion Y7000 (2019) | 3.34 GHz (B+28%)@ 72°C | 3.15 GHz (B+21%)@ 82°C | 2.99 GHz (B+15%)@ 79°C |
| Lenovo Legion Y540 | 2.78 GHz (B+7%)@ 74°C | 3.08 GHz (B+18%)@ 90°C | 2.87 GHz (B+10%)@ 79°C |
| ASUS ROG G731 | 3.38 GHz (B+30%)@ 87°C | 3.43 GHz (B+32%)@ 94°C | 2.63 GHz @ 73°C |
| ASUS ROG G531 | 3.41 GHz (B+31%)@ 95°C | 3.23 GHz (B+24%)@ 95°C | 2.72 GHz (B+5%)@ 79°C |
After the weird ASUS VivoBook K571 that had decent cooling but terrible power management, this device seems to be the opposite. While power management is not an issue, we saw the processor never drop of 97C throughout the entire stress test. This means that the CPU throttled well below the 2.60 GHz base frequency.
Real-life gaming
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 | GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min) | GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min) |
|---|---|---|
| Dell Inspiron 15 7590 | 1395 MHz @ 80°C | 1395 MHz @ 84°C |
| Acer Aspire 7 (A715-74G) | 1552 MHz @ 70°C | 1532 MHz @ 76°C |
| Dell G3 15 3590 | 1605 MHz @ 67°C | 1566 MHz @ 74°C |
| ASUS ROG G531 | 1461 MHz @ 65°C | 1408 MHz @ 71°C |
| ASUS TUF FX705 | 1566 MHz @ 74°C | 1568 MHz @ 74°C |
| Acer Nitro 7 (AN715-51) | 1633 MHz @ 61°C | 1599 MHz @ 67°C |
Sadly, the story became even worse in the GPU department. The poor cooling made the GTX 1650 work at base clock speeds 1 minute into gaming. Not only that, but the temperatures were atrocious 80C after two minutes of gameplay.
Gaming comfort
The high temperatures on the inside ultimately resulted in high temperatures on the outside.
Verdict
Obviously, the Inspiron 15 7590 is not a gaming notebook. While it certainly has the hardware and thus the performance to provide you with decent gaming experience, we doubt that you would buy the device only with gaming in mind.
Perhaps one of your heavy workloads is video editing? Then this laptop is perfect for you. Not only the possible combination of Core i7-9750H + GTX 1650 will be your best friend, but you also have the opportunity of fitting up to 32GB of DDR4 memory. What is also impressive is that this laptop also supports RAID 0 with its two M.2 PCIe x4 slots.
What else does a content creator need? A good screen. Dell Inspiron 15 7590’s display has an IPS panel (AUO B156HAN02.4 (AUO24ED)) with a Full HD resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and a good contrast ratio. Moreover, its backlight doesn’t flicker at any level and it covers 91% of sRGB. This really makes the display pop during gaming and video playback.
Not only that, but it features Thunderbolt 3 connectivity and has a MicroSD card reader. Probably it is a pity that you have to charge it with a barrel-style plug, especially in 2019/2020, but on the bright side, Dell provides you with an enormous battery. The unit is a 97Wh one and according to our tests it lasts around 18 hours when browsing the Web and 12 hours and a half during video playback (are we not in a “full season of Game of Thrones on a single charge” territory).
On top of that, the magnesium alloy chassis is incredibly light – 1.59 kg. So what are the downsides? Well, if we have to be honest, there are not many of them. If we have to consider it as a creator type of a notebook, surely the not so great color accuracy may be an issue. Additionally, the “Arrow keys” allocation is not the best and perhaps the biggest loss is the lack of RJ-45 connectivity. Of course, if we don’t count the preposterous cooling that is not able to maintain high clock speeds at neither the CPU nor the GPU at full load.
Nevertheless, the Dell Inspiron 15 7590 truly deserves our Editor’s Choice award and we would gladly see more laptops with big, hefty battery packs, lifted backside and neutral, but lightweight chassis hit the market in 2020.
Pros
- Thin and light magnesium alloy body
- Backlit spill-resistant keyboard
- Thunderbolt 3 and RAID 0 support
- MicroSD card reader on board
- Lacks PWM for brightness adjustment (AUO B156HAN02.4 (AUO24ED))
- Covers 91% of sRGB (AUO B156HAN02.4 (AUO24ED))
- Astonishing battery life
- Good at both work and gaming
Cons
- Premium price tag
- No RJ-45 connectivity
- Insufficient cooling resulting in high temperatures on both inside and out
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/dell-inspiron-15-7590/
Is there a 17 inch version?
No (easy to check on Dell page).
Editor’s choice for a laptop with seriously flawed cooling design? You review failed to point out that in addition to “insufficient cooling” (in “Cons”) this design is completely unsuitable for use with closed screen lid and an external monitor and keyboard. Look at Dell product page and animation at 00:25, now think what happens to hot air outlets when the screen is closed. It appears that you never make any comments for any model reviewed when it is used with the screen lid closed – is this really such an unusual and rare way to use a laptop that your… Read more »
Was interested until saw those terrible CPU temp throttling results which confirms Dell went too lightweight with cooling here. I’ll look instead at Lenovo X1 Extreme Gen2/Gen1 and ZBook Studio G5 (or Elitebook 1050 G1 version).
ooo :(, I was going to buy this laptop for video editing from my GoPro. Thanks to your review I must seek for something else. I don’t want to burn my computer during rendering….