Dell Inspiron 15 laptop

eoinf

I have a spare SSD which i was thinking of putting into this.

If i was to install windows from scratch could i use the key that comes with the laptop or what way does that work?

bajer101

eoinf wrote: »

I have a spare SSD which i was thinking of putting into this.

If i was to install windows from scratch could i use the key that comes with the laptop or what way does that work?

Yes, just make sure you use the retail/oem .iso and not a vlk .iso.

http://www.howtogeek.com/186775/how-to-download-windows-7-8-and-8.1-installation-media-legally/

Sappy404

My mother got the insurance money back for a water-damaged laptop today. I go to the site for the €199 Inspiron, and no option to buy. Looks like the new models in the Inspiron 3000-series have been released and are nearly twice the price, ex VAT. Dang.

beauf

Well they have a better Inspiron 14 3000 for €249.

bmm

Pros
Very Efficient (uses 10 watts or less)
4gb ram and a free slot for another .
Light 2.1kg , Well constructed.
Very Quiet, never gets hot.
Great value at 179euro
Fine for browsing & MS Office etc.

Cons
Slow if bloatware (McAffee etc) not removed.
Windows 8 is a pain.
Screen is TN and glossy , colors look faded .
Mousepad is buggy. (hard & accurate tapping required)
Keyboard keys are too far apart, although keys are responsive.

Overall , a great bargain, thanks OP.

bmm

shardylan wrote: »

Can someone advise Me on what you've been taking off these aside from mcafee and what have you been putting on ? I know the basics so no computer talk please 😠.appreciate the help .thanks

There is plenty of memory (4gb) to cope with the other apps. Dell apps do not seem to slow the cpu.

You would need Avast security/ free version for Anti-virus. Firefox is a better browser than Internet Explorer .

shardylan

bmm wrote: »

There is plenty of memory (4gb) to cope with the other apps. Dell apps do not seem to slow the cpu.

You would need Avast security/ free version for Anti-virus. Firefox is a better browser than Internet Explorer .

Thanks .
Can I get a normal desktop ?not liking the side screen

bajer101

shardylan wrote: »

Thanks .
Can I get a normal desktop ?not liking the side screen

Install Classic Shell to give it a Windows 7 style Start Button and Desktop.

stezie

These must be sold out?

Sappy404

stezie wrote: »

These must be sold out?

Likely they are. Although I think someone mentioned a while ago about the offer going and coming back.

Simi

Just a few observations on the performance for those of you who are interested.

General: Uninstall McAfee at the earliest opportunity. Windows defender is grand. Set the power plan to high performance. This can increase performance by up to 20% in some instances. It's a 7.5w processor so it's not going to make a whole lot of difference to battery drain*. Just adjust the sleep and other power saving options in this profile to your liking for best results.

*I haven't tested the battery life yet.

Media: Streaming high bit-rate video over WiFi works very, very well. 1080p playback is absolutely flawless. Unsurprisingly 1440p and 4K are no goes. For optimal performance I recommend Media Player Classic with LAV set to decode using DXVA (native), as this seems to use the least CPU runtime. For speaker playback, the Movies setting in the supplied Dell audio was the loudest so I went with that. Youtube and Netflix work fine.

Gaming: (Yes really!) I don't own minecraft, but i'm sure you'll be able to get it playable with some effort. With the power plan at high performance I benched a few casual games just for the craic.

Blur - 18fps at 1366x768 with everything set to low. Surprisingly playable.
Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing Transformed - 15fps at 1280x720 everything set to low. Barely playable, what a difference 3fps makes!
Mashed - 60fps at 1366x768 everything maxed out. Great party game!
Audiosurf - 55-60fps at 1366x768 normal detail.

There are plenty more old games I plan on trying out over the weekend. I'll post back my results. I also have some 3Dmark results, but the less said about them the better. My Oneplus One destroyed it in the Ice Storm Unlimited benchmark!

Overall Impression: For €180 it's an amazing piece of tech, perfect for casual users. It's not worth much more than that tbh €200-220 tops. I'm very happy with it and it suit my needs perfectly, as a device to turn to when doing something on my phone is just too much hassle.

CJmasgrande

I think this offer has expired

Jilm

The order I made two days ago has just been cancelled; Dell claiming it's no longer in stock.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Sappy404

Jilm wrote: »

The order I made two days ago has just been cancelled; Dell claiming it's no longer in stock.

Has this happened to anyone else?

There was a banner as on the site saying it was avail until Jan 31st or while stocks last. Looks like we got there too late!

Sonya4u

Raging I missed out on this offer!

andythfc2014

Missed out too on the offer although bought one on ebay for 265euro incl postage just because I really wanted one. Dell don't have any other offers close to this price any more because the new version of the Inspiron laptop is out soon.

andythfc2014

Missed out too on the offer although bought one on ebay for 265euro incl postage just because I really wanted one. Dell don't have any other offers close to this price any more because the new version of the Inspiron laptop is out soon. There is two memory slots on this right? I think upgrade it to 8gb ram, replace the windows 8 with windows 7 and also install ubuntu alongside it.

The_Conductor

Wait until the end of March- there are always good sales at the end of each quarter.........

daithi55

havent received a cancellation email yet
but can swear my account has been reimbursed

Blackie Grey

I got 2 of them a spare for my spare-this price is unreal.

This offer will come up again don't worry.

Diego Murphy

Blackie Grey wrote: »

I got 2 of them a spare for my spare-this price is unreal.

This offer will come up again don't worry.

Mine arrived during the week. great deal for the price. build quality is excellent. Took McAfee off and it runs well. I intend spending a lot more money in a laptop at some stage, but didn't want to right now so it's ideal for me.

daithi55

mine arrived yesterday good value for money

Matt Bianco

How does the Inspiron 14 3000 compare (ie worth the €50 extra) as debating pulling the trigger now on this or hanging on the hope that Inspiron linked in OP reappears

http://www.dell.com/ie/p/inspiron-14-3451-laptop/pd?oc=cn35104

Mods feel free to move if better suited elsewhere

polydactyl

Dell tried to see me that one too instead but it only has 2G not 4G and is not available till March either.

The_Conductor

polydactyl wrote: »

it only has 2G not 4G

fletch

The_Conductor wrote: »

Presume (s)he was referring to RAM and not mobile networks

Sappy404

polydactyl wrote: »

Dell tried to see me that one too instead but it only has 2G not 4G and is not available till March either.

It's been brought forward to Feb. Been keeping an eye on it.

WRT the original offer, it's unlikely to come back, as it was only valid until the end of Jan anyway (or until stocks last) according to the promo for the deal. The fact that a boardsie had his order cancelled also suggests it's not coming back.

That said, there may be an equivalent deal next month.

eoinf

so i noticed it has a cut out and peice of what looks like removable plastic casing where the disk drive would normally be.

Has anyone opened it up or investigated further to see if a disk drive could be popped in. have a few old laptops lieing around with disk drives.

beauf

Matt Bianco wrote: »

How does the Inspiron 14 3000 compare (ie worth the €50 extra) as debating pulling the trigger now on this or hanging on the hope that Inspiron linked in OP reappears

http://www.dell.com/ie/p/inspiron-14-3451-laptop/pd?oc=cn35104

Mods feel free to move if better suited elsewhere

CPU same, (tiny, tiny bit better)
Less RAM (easily added but not so much a bargain)
14" screen (more mobile, better battery, smaller screen) - I'd prefer this.
Has two USB2 ports and 1 USB3 ports. - I'd prefer this.
WiFi 802.11ac (dunno if the other verision had this)
Not sure if Bluetooth is optional.
The non atom/celeron version (Inspiron 14 3458) has a ethernet port. Dunno if Gigabit Ethernet. - Probably much more expensive those versions.

While I prefer the 14" version I'd wait till it drops in price. By a lot. otherwise it probably makes more sense to buy a full pentium/i3 version, as theres not enough in the price difference. For me anyway.

http://www.dell.com/support/home/ie/en/iedhs1/product-support/product/inspiron-14-3451-laptop/manuals

polydactyl

The_Conductor wrote: »

Apologies I forgot my "B's" 2GB not 4GB

Sappy404

A few of these have shown up on the Dell UK Outlet shop in the last day or so and would be available using Parcel Motel. I bought a scratched one for £105 ex. VAT with free delivery last night. There have been some others without any flaws that have also gone up for about £10 more.

They only ship to UK, and the credit card's registered address needs to be in the UK as well, but if you put the first line of your card's address in the first line of the billing address on the site and use the Parcel Motel address for the rest it should go thru.

There's none ATM but keep checking here:

http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?brandId=7&c=uk&cs=ukdfh1

Sappy404

Looks like there's 3 available now...

danger_mouse_tm

Thanks, just ordered one ex UK via PM. It's my new media PC. Now roll on windows 10

Simi

I've replaced the hdd in mine with an ssd & installed Windows 10, as the Windows 8.1 install was too difficult to clone. Windows 10 actually seems more stable than 8.1, the touchpad kept freezing on 8.1 and the overall experience is smoother. A lot of that could be down to the ssd, but the touchpad issue definitely wasn't.

I had to install all the drivers manually from the dell site as Windows 10 couldn't manage more than basic generic drivers for most components & none at all for some. Incidentally this is the first time I've installed Windows 10 and it's failed to find drivers.

The improvement gained from installing an ssd is somewhat disappointing. Freezes are reduced & boot time decreased.But general performance didn't change much. Firefox still takes 15sec to load. Launching programs is not instantaneous like on more powerful pc's, taking several seconds. The interface also appears to be SATA 2 limiting everything to roughly half speed. If anyone was thinking of installing one I wouldn't bother with anything more than a cheap 128gb drive tbh.

Dymo

Simi wrote: »

The improvement gained from installing an ssd is somewhat disappointing. Freezes are reduced & boot time decreased.But general performance didn't change much. Firefox still takes 15sec to load. Launching programs is not instantaneous like on more powerful pc's, taking several seconds. The interface also appears to be SATA 2 limiting everything to roughly half speed. If anyone was thinking of installing one I wouldn't bother with anything more than a cheap 128gb drive tbh.

What are you going to do in April when the Windows 10 developer edition expires? If its like the windows 8 trial it will just expire.

mad m

any other Dell deals going like this or even near it. it can be a mine field looking through it all.

beauf

Simi wrote: »

...The improvement gained from installing an ssd is somewhat disappointing.....The interface also appears to be SATA 2 limiting everything to roughly half speed. If anyone was thinking of installing one I wouldn't bother with anything more than a cheap 128gb drive tbh.

I would check to see if there's something else going on. SATA2 should be plenty fast enough for a SSD for normal use. Freezes etc should not happen.

Sappy404

mad m wrote: »

any other Dell deals going like this or even near it. it can be a mine field looking through it all.

There's 4 of these Inspirons on the Outlet right now. See posts above for link and tricks needed to order.

Also, on the Irish site, there's a 14" Inspiron 3000 for €249. Sign up for the VIP account for 10% off, too.

unkel

Dymo wrote: »

What are you going to do in April when the Windows 10 developer edition expires? If its like the windows 8 trial it will just expire.

If you installed the 9926 upgrade, you'll find expiry now is October. Nobody knows, but I kinda expect the final version to be available as an upgrade, so nothing will expire.

dozy doctor

Sappy404 wrote: »

There's 4 of these Inspirons on the Outlet right now. See posts above for link and tricks needed to order.

Also, on the Irish site, there's a 14" Inspiron 3000 for €249. Sign up for the VIP account for 10% off, too.

Cheers for that....

Would you recommend getting the refurbished Laptop over the newer one for €249 with 10% off...
Also the new on eon the Irish site is not available until after 25th February...

Sappy404

dozy doctor wrote: »

Cheers for that....

Would you recommend getting the refurbished Laptop over the newer one for €249 with 10% off...
Also the new on eon the Irish site is not available until after 25th February...

The 14" has a slightly, slightly better processor. Factor in parcel motel costs to the outlet one too.

The 15.6" outlet one obviously has a bigger screen but the downside is shorter battery life.

Simi

Sappy404 wrote: »

The 14" has a slightly, slightly better processor. Factor in parcel motel costs to the outlet one too.

The 15.6" outlet one obviously has a bigger screen but the downside is shorter battery life.

I'm finding the battery life very good. Lasting at least 4hrs at 40% brightness in high performance mode.

beauf

You didn't read back far did you?

beauf wrote: »

CPU same, (tiny, tiny bit better)
Less RAM (easily added but not so much a bargain)
14" screen (more mobile, better battery, smaller screen) - I'd prefer this.
Has two USB2 ports and 1 USB3 ports. - I'd prefer this.
WiFi 802.11ac (dunno if the other verision had this)
Not sure if Bluetooth is optional.
The non atom/celeron version (Inspiron 14 3458) has a ethernet port. Dunno if Gigabit Ethernet. - Probably much more expensive those versions.

While I prefer the 14" version I'd wait till it drops in price. By a lot. otherwise it probably makes more sense to buy a full pentium/i3 version, as theres not enough in the price difference. For me anyway.

http://www.dell.com/support/home/ie/en/iedhs1/product-support/product/inspiron-14-3451-laptop/manuals

dozy doctor

beauf wrote: »

You didn't read back far did you?

I don't think that this is the comparison on the refurb model and the new inspiron, ad the original link was for a different laptop which is no longer available 😝

beauf

As far as I know it is. The original and the refurb are the 15" No DVD inspiron with Wifi and 2x USB2.0 ports only. Powered by a Atom/Celeron N2380. The one I quoted its the new 14", with the Atom/Celeron N2840. It hard to compare them because the Dell site is terrible. So they don't give the full specs very clearly. Theres also a new 15" with the Atom/Celeron N2840 but its seems a lot more expensive (other than the screen the spec seems the same as the 14") but the 14" is the closest in price to the original offer.

Kinet1c

Anybody seen any similar laptop deals about?

daithi55

no but mine is working a treat best electronics bargain ive ever got

bmm

Anyone getting allot of eyestrain with the screen on this laptop. i cannot figure it out as my last laptop was an ancient latitude x300 with a much smaller TN screen. i like the laptop otherwise, wud upgrading the screen to an IPS non-glossy screen be an option i wonder??

bmm

bmm wrote: »

Anyone getting allot of eyestrain with the screen on this laptop. i cannot figure it out as my last laptop was an ancient latitude x300 with a much smaller TN screen. i like the laptop otherwise, wud upgrading the screen to an IPS non-glossy screen be an option i wonder??

To answer my own query, i think the issue is a led backlight with a low refresh rate.

Background here: http://www.flatpanelshd.com/focus.php?subaction=showfull&id=1362457985

bmm

Forgot to mention if ur having trouble with the touchpad, especially the tap and double tap, try disabling the "Palm Rejection" feature in the touchpad properties.