Dell Inspiron 15: NVIDIA GPU Brings The Game

One of the most interesting comparisons in this review is the Dell XPS 13 vs. the Dell Inspiron 15 7537. Both systems have the Intel Core i7-4500, but the XPS relies on the processor’s integrated Intel HD Graphics 4400 technology, whereas the 7537 is sporting the Nvidia GeForce GT 750M. Differences in other hardware mean that it’s not a true apples-to-apples comparison, but it’s interesting, nonetheless, particularly if you’re wondering whether discrete graphics is worth the price bump.

SiSoft SANDRA Synthetic Benchmarks

SiSoft SANDRA has a variety of tests that stress specific components or simulate certain tasks. We put the Aspire S7 through the CPU Arithmetic, Multimedia, Memory Bandwidth, and Physical Disks tests. SANDRA receives frequent updates, so if you use the benchmark, check to make sure you have the latest version.


The 7537's graphics power isn't on display in these tests as much as it will be in the 3D benchmarks. Also, keep in mind that while the hybrid drive is not as fast as SSDs, it offers more capacity for a lower price.

Cinebench R11.5 64-bit

Based on Maxon Cinema 4D software, this test uses a 3D scene and polygon and texture manipulation to assess GPU and CPU performance. The Main Processor Performance (CPU) test builds a still scene containing about 2,000 objects for a total polygon count above 300,000. The Graphics Card Performance (OpenGL) scene uses nearly 1 million polygons and various lighting and environment scenarios to measure graphics performance. Cinebench displays results for the CPU test in points and the OpenGL (GPU) test in frames per second.


We expected the 7537 to score well in the OpenGL test, and it did, putting Dell’s laptop well ahead of the pack. But Intel’s Core i7-4500U held its own, too, with the best results in the CPU test. We're also including the system's scores in the latest version of Cinebench.