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Dell Precision 3530

 & Eric Grevstad Contributing Editor

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

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65 EXPERTS
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41,500+ REVIEWS

Meet the Dell Precision 3530

Dell's new entry-level mobile workstation offers a choice of Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon power.

A Passable Panel

Skipping the 1,366-by-768-pixel base display, you have a choice of touch or non-touch 1,920-by-1,080-pixel IPS screens. There is no 4K screen option.

A Reasonable Weight

The 3530 starts at 4.48 pounds, though our test unit's six-cell, 92-watt-hour battery made it about half a pound heavier.

A Special OS

Nvidia's 4GB Quadro P600 handles graphics chores, while the four-or-more-cores Windows 10 Pro for Workstations is the operating system.

Extra Pointer Points

Unlike its step-up sibling the Precision 5530, the 3530 provides the middle mouse button used by many ISV apps.

IR Webcam Up Top

Besides capturing above-average images, the webcam offers face recognition for Windows Hello.

A Look at the Left Ports...

A Thunderbolt 3 port, a USB 3.1 port, an SD card slot, and a SmartCard slot adorn this edge.

...and the Ones on the Right

A VGA port and a device-charging USB 3.1 port join an audio jack, a SIM card slot, and a security-lock notch at the right.

A Look Back

If you're looking for Ethernet and HDMI, you'll find them around the back, along with another USB 3.1 Type-A port.

About Our Expert

Eric Grevstad

Eric Grevstad

Contributing Editor

My Experience

I was picked to write PCMag's 40th Anniversary "Most Influential PCs" feature because I'm the geezer who remembers them all—I worked on TRS-80 and Apple II monthlies starting in 1982 and served as editor of Computer Shopper when it was a 700-page monthly rivaled only by Brides as America's fattest magazine. I was later the editor in chief of Home Office Computing, a magazine about using tech to work from home two decades before a pandemic made it standard practice. Even in semi-retirement, I can't stop playing with toys and telling people what gear to buy.

The Technology I Use

I wish I still had my TRS-80 Model 4P, Laser 128 (educational toymaker VTech's Apple IIc clone), Psion Series 5, and ThinkPad 701C with the fold-out "butterfly" keyboard.

My main machine is a Lenovo Yoga 9i all-in-one desktop with a 13th Gen Core i9 and 32-inch 4K display running Windows 11 Home, Microsoft 365 Family, and Norton 360 with LifeLock. My wife and I get 400Mbps Spectrum internet as part of our homeowners' association fee, but I pay a fortune for streaming services.

I also have a Google Pixel 7 Android phone and pay Mint Mobile $15 a month. We share a Volvo XC60 Recharge plug-in hybrid; I'd have a car of my own, but it seems wasteful to buy a Corvette E-Ray to drive 10 miles a week.

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