Dell Precision 15.6" 3510, Core i7-6820HQ, 16GB, 512GB SSD, Black

The Precision 3510 scores 32.1 out of 100 overall, dragged down by a TN screen in the 10th percentile and ports in the 4th percentile. The i7-6820HQ and 512GB NVMe SSD are the only things keeping it alive. At CAD 475 it's a budget beater, at CAD 850 it's a bad joke.

The i7-6820HQ is a 4-core, 2.7GHz chip from Intel's Skylake generation. It sits at the 50th percentile in our database, which means it's about average compared to everything we've tested. For basic development work, web browsing, and office tasks, it'll get the job done. But don't expect it to keep up with anything modern. The 16GB of DDR4 RAM lands at the 37th percentile, which is mediocre by today's standards. It's enough for light multitasking, but heavy IDEs with multiple Docker containers will make it sweat.

The AMD FirePro with 2GB of VRAM is the real bottleneck. At the 43rd percentile, it's below average, and the gaming score of 10.4 out of 100 tells you everything you need to know. This is a workstation GPU from a decade ago, and it was never meant for gaming. The 512GB NVMe SSD is the one bright spot, hitting the 52nd percentile. It's not blazing fast by modern NVMe standards, but it's a solid upgrade over the spinning drives this laptop originally shipped with.

Stacked against the Apple MacBook Air M4, this thing looks like a fossil. The MacBook Air crushes it in every category that matters, screen, battery, portability, and raw performance. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus GA403UM makes the Precision 3510's gaming score of 10.4 look like a typo. Even the Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 7, a budget business laptop, beats it on screen quality and port selection. The MSI Prestige and Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition are in a completely different league. The only argument for the Precision 3510 is price, and only if you find it at the CAD 475 end of the range. At that point, you're buying a cheap Windows 10 Pro machine with an SSD, not a competitor to anything modern.

CAD pricing on this thing is all over the map. We're seeing listings from CAD 475 to CAD 850 across Newegg, a spread of CAD 375 for what should be the same refurbished machine. At the low end, CAD 475 gets you a functional workstation with an SSD and 16GB of RAM, which isn't terrible if you need a cheap Windows 10 Pro machine for basic tasks. At CAD 850, you're getting fleeced. The 1-year warranty helps, but the reliability score of 33rd percentile means you might actually need it. If you're shopping this model, hunt for the CAD 475 listing and don't pay a cent more.

The Dell Precision 3510 scores a 32.1 out of 100 in our database, which puts it near the bottom of the laptop pile. The CPU and storage are the only things keeping it from a total collapse, both landing right around the 50th percentile. Everything else drags it down hard, especially the screen at the 10th percentile and ports at a brutal 4th percentile. This is a refurbished workstation from 2016, and it feels like it.

For developers, the score barely moves to 32.4 out of 100. The i7-6820HQ with 16GB of DDR4 sounds workable on paper, but the 15.6-inch TN display and AMD FirePro with 2GB of VRAM make this a tough sell for anyone who stares at code all day. The 512GB NVMe SSD is a nice touch for a refurb, but it's the only modern component in the whole machine.

Anyone who cares about their screen should skip this. The TN panel at the 10th percentile is genuinely bad, and the port selection at the 4th percentile means you'll be living the dongle life. Gamers should run far away, the gaming score of 10.4 out of 100 is a non-starter. If you need portability, the compact score of 32.2 out of 100 means this thing is a chunky workstation from another era. And if you're paying anywhere near CAD 850, skip it and put that money toward a modern budget laptop that will beat this in every category.

The Dell Precision 3510 is a refurbished workstation that's past its prime. The 32.1 out of 100 total score says it all. The i7-6820HQ and 512GB NVMe SSD keep it from being completely useless, but the TN display at the 10th percentile and ports at the 4th percentile make it hard to recommend for anything beyond the most basic tasks. If you can grab one for CAD 475 and you need a cheap Windows 10 Pro machine with a warranty, it's a maybe. Anything above that price and you're better off saving for something newer.