Dell Inspiron 11 3000: A 2-in-1 For The Masses

The Inspiron 11 3000’s claim to fame is its versatility. This sort of laptop is often referred to as a 2-in-1 or a convertible because you can flip the lid and use it as a tablet. There are plenty of people who find this sort of flexibility to be handy, though students and business travelers are probably at the top of the list.


The hinges can hold the screen firmly in place wherever you stop folding it, which means you can flip the screen back a bit and put the device on a table, keyboard-down, with the screen facing you. It’s a great way to position the device on an airplane, where the limited space can make it very hard to get an ordinary laptop’s screen back far enough to be comfortably visible.

The keyboard is serviceable, though it’s not the sort of keyboard we’d consider for long editorial marathons. Despite visible space between the keys, the keyboard felt a little cramped to us, and the Delete key was out of easy reach. The Backspace key is plenty big and easy to reach though, and for many users, that’s much more important than the location of the Delete key. The keys are reasonably responsive, but don’t seem to have the crisp feel that we like in higher-end Dell laptops. On top of that, the keyboard flexed a bit as we typed.  That said, after a bit of learning curve, it does get the job done. 


The trackpad, on the other hand, felt as responsive and solid as the others we’ve used on heavy-duty Dell laptops. It’s plenty big for typical swipes, and though it sits very close the keyboard, we didn’t have any trouble with accidentally triggering the touchpad with our palms when typing.


Dell put a speaker on either side of this machine, close to the front. The front itself is bare, except for a tiny, but very bright status light. The Inspiron 11 3000’s left side (by your right hand) has a USB port and the card reader, as well as volume and power buttons. (The volume button is a nice touch.) The right side of the laptop has the other two USB ports, one of which is a powered port for charging your phone. The HDMI port, power port, and headphone jack are also on that side. The back of the system has only a vent, which makes sense: anything plugged in back there would get in the way of the display when you flipped it.


The Dell Inspiron 11 3000 measures 11.81 inches wide by 7.93 inches deep, and is only 0.83 inches thick. It weighs 3.07 pounds, which is much more than a typical tablet – the 10.8-inch Dell Venue 11 Pro tablet weighs only 1.57 pounds – but it’s very light for a laptop. This is an easy system to tuck into your bag and go.