I just really like Dell laptops
Over the years, I've had quite a few Dell computers and laptops.
This is mostly due to the fact they were easy to get a hold of for very cheap or even for free.
During my time using those laptops and computers, I had opportunities to upgrade them and I sometimes had to repair them.
Dell, today, is one of my favorite brand when it comes to entreprise hardware for their ease of service and overall solid laptops and monitors.
I must say, though, that the premium you have to pay for their machines is sometimes quite a lot and they do have a tendency to use proprietary hardware in their prebuilt desktops which is a big no-no for me.
Below, you'll find in more details what kind of laptop I currently have that I have worked on along with a quick list of the work done to them.
Dell Latitude D630
The workhorse of my fleet! This laptop was given to me by a teacher at my school. It was already pretty old by then.
This laptop saved me during my last exam at the CPNV. When I came back to school to take the exam, they forgot to enable my account so I didn't have a workstation to use.
Today, after 16 years of services, I have had to retire this machine due to a failure with the CPU cooler. The fan wouldn't spin anymore causing the CPU to overheat.
I tried replacing the fan with a known good one from a D620 but to no avail.
Anyway, here's a list of all the upgrades and repairs I did to this wonderful machine :
- CPU - From Core 2 Duo T7100 to Core 2 Duo T7500 (didn't have a 7800 on hand)
- WiFi - Changed wifi board for one from a later model laptop with 3 antennas
- Bluetooth - Added a bluetooth card from an older Dell Latitude
- Storage - Changed the old 80GB 2.5" HDD for a SATA SSD
- Optical drive - Changed the CD/DVD-R drive for a CD/DVD-RW from a Dell Precision
- Ram - Replaced the 1GB stick with 2x2GB DDR2 667MHz
- OS - Windows XP wouldn't cut it so I ran ArchLinux along with the XFCE4 desktop environement
The machine still came short for virtual machines or heavier processes.
Along with the upgrades I already did, I was also looking into upgrading the LCD pannel to one of the same size but higher resolution.
Unfortunately, this idea died pretty quickly as the internal connector and GPU aren't well documented. I couldn't find a single source telling me if the internal connector could support WUXGA resolution.
Furthermore, higher resolution 14.1" screens compatible with this laptop weren't available on the market.
Dell Precision M4300
If only I could throw out this awful GPU...
This laptop came to replace the D630 once the CPU fan died. It came not really as an upgrade but more as a downgrade, really...
It already came out of the factory in August 2008 with a Core 2 Duo T7500 and 2GB of ram so it only really needed an SSD and two more GB of ram.
This laptop also being larger than the 14.1" of the D630 (15.6"), it came with a much better screen with a resolution of 1650x1050 (16:10).
The only thing really holding it back is it's GPU. While everything in the machine aged decently, the poor Quadro FX 360M aged like fine milk.
Having this dedicated GPU means that the memory size is fixed to a maximum of 256MB which is not enough to support modern desktop environement. Barely enough for lightweight ones.
Furthermore, as you can probably guess, I run Linux on these old laptops. Linux and Nvidia aren't good friends so it made the task a bit more difficult.
On ArchLinux, this card had no intentions of working nicely with Nouveau drivers and is completely incompatible with the newer proprietary drivers. So I had to trust a package from the AUR to use.
These drivers (nvidia-340xx) work fine for the most part. The only real problem I've encountered with them is that everytime I updated X, I had to recompile and reinstall them. A simple reinstall wouldn't work.
This issue lead to me leaving this laptop to the side. It's now only used to watch movies using VLC (not powerful enough to decode Netlix).
Anyway, here's a list of the modifications and repairs done to this machine :
- Storage - Replace the 120GB HDD for a SATA SSD
- Ram - Replaced the 2x1GB sticks for 2x2GB DDR2 667MHz
- Battery - Replaced the dead battery with a known good one I had spare
- OS - Windows XP wouldn't cut it so I ran Gentoo along with DWM at first, then switched to ArchLinux with XFCE4
Dell Inspiron 6400
The useless one.
If, like me, you like to tinker with machines, you probably have one of those somewhere.
A machine with absolutely no use due to it's age and the fact that you have one better right beside it.
This machine didn't get the luxury of upgrades or repairs because I truely have no use for it.
It's 32bit only, it's got an old and tired Pentium Dual Core, 2GB of DDR2 and a dead battery.
The keyboard is also smashed in.
I could always install Windows XP or Debian i386 on it and use it for old software or old games but I have no need for it as I have a...
Dell Inspiron 9400
Now this is the ultimate Windows XP laptop!
This machine is also 32bit only but came out with a Core 2 Duo and an Nvidia Geforce Go 7900 gs!
The battery is still fine, as well! All this laptop needed was a repaste and more ram!
I use it today to play classic games from the Windows 98 - XP era. I still have the boxes for the origial Sims games with all the extensions.
For the upgrades and repairs, added Ram and that's it! I love this machine.
(Fun fact : You can still enable Windows XP today!)