Dell Inspiron 15 5505 review

Dell Inspiron 15 5505 (2020): the AMD budget pick with a graphics heart

The Dell Inspiron 15 5505 is the AMD half of the $339 budget pair: a Ryzen 5 4500U with Radeon Vega 6 graphics and 64GB of memory. Where its Intel sibling leans on memory and CPU-class positioning, this machine leans on its integrated graphics: a best GPU score of 43.85, 61 percent above the class median, driving a photo design index of 82 — high-tier, and the strongest creative reading in the batch's under-$400 wing.

Where it holds up

The Vega 6 does admirable work: photo at 82 and value at 70.5 are both high-tier, gaming at 44 and modeling at 42 are mid-tier, and overall performance at 60.44 is the strongest of the $339 club alongside the 5502's 59.16. Office at 77.47 is high-band, the 64GB of memory doubles the class median, and engineering CAD at 43 reaches mid-tier. For a six-year-old budget machine, the sheet is remarkably even.

Where it falls short

The named weakness matches its sibling's: a 40Wh battery, 17 percent below the class median. Portability at 45.1 is mid-tier, and no measured game receipt exists for this configuration — the gaming axis reads mid-tier on inference from the platform rather than a direct Far Cry 5 measurement. The 10.39 percent depreciation pace is standard; the value case is real but rests on a 2020 platform whose years are numbered for modern software.

Price and depreciation

No baseline price exists in the ledger, so the projection runs rate-only at a modeled 10.39 percent per year. On $339 that implies roughly $35 of expected first-year loss — the batch's absolute floor. As with all the 2020 budget machines, the depreciation conversation is nearly over; the capability conversation is the one that matters.

Alternatives to consider

The Inspiron 15 5502 (2020) at the same $339 is the Intel sibling: a slightly stronger CPU-class reading and the measured 27-frame Far Cry 5 receipt, versus this machine's stronger graphics and photo numbers — a coin flip decided by workload. The Inspiron 14 5415 (2021) at $399 carries the same 5300U-generation AMD formula into a lighter chassis with value at 70.55. If photo work at minimum cost is the brief, this machine and nothing else in the under-$400 wing comes close.

Bottom line

Fairly priced for the class. The 5505 is the budget creative pick: high-tier photo and value, mid-tier gaming, and 64GB of memory at $339, with a sub-median battery as the standing invoice. Of the two 550x siblings, this is the one for anything visual.