• Tag Archives Vostro

  • Digital Archaeology: Dell Vostro 3550

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The Dell Vostro 3550 is one of the newer laptops I’ve looked at. A Sandy Bridge era processor and 6 GB of RAM make it quite usable today even if it is getting kind of old. It’s basic stats include:

    • CPU: Core i7-2640M @ 2.8 GHz
    • RAM: 6 GB DDR3-10600
    • Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 6650M
    • Screen: 1366×768

    For more details, check out the output of HardInfo, HWiNFO, and/or CPU-Z.

    This laptop originally shipped with Windows 7 so to me it certainly isn’t “vintage” and it’s a stretch to call it “retro”. However, Windows 7 was introduced more than 15 years ago and mainstream support ended around 10 years ago. It was only around a few years before the unpopular Windows 8 was released. It’s a shame that Windows 7 had such a short life (well, compared to Windows XP anyway). It was probably Microsoft’s best OS next to XP. The Vostro 3550 itself was released well over a decade ago in 2011 so it fits into that sort of arbitrary age of at least 10 years that I chose as being the minimum for calling something “retro”.

    The Vostro line always seemed a bit superfluous to me. I guess Dell ultimately decided the same as they discontinued it in 2013. Dell had (and still has) the XPS and Alienware lines for gaming/multimedia/entertainment, Latitude for business, Precision for workstations and Inspiron for their mainstream consumer line. The Vostro line was supposed to be a low cost business line, sort of an Inspiron dressed up as a business machine.

    Like most laptop models, the Vostro 3550 came in several configurations with different CPU, RAM, and GPU options (among others). This particular one was the top of the line configuration. However, it still wouldn’t be classified as high end. The CPU, though an i7, was a dual core, quad thread model. The ATI Radeon HD 6650M would probably be classified as a mid-range card for a laptop. It was a dedicated GPU with its own RAM and performance was good enough for most games of the time though often not at the highest detail.

    For modern usage, the worst feature is probably the low res screen. I’ve been spoiled by 1080p and above screens and it is hard to go back. 1366×768 just isn’t enough.

    To me, the Vostro line fit better as an alternate to the Inspiron line for those that wanted a bit of a more understated design. I’m pretty sure that the internal hardware was probably the same or mostly the same as Inspiron models from the same time period. I guess it made sense for businesses trying to by hardware as cheap as possible but if you were really buying for a business it just seems like you were better off spending a little more and buying something from the Latitude line. I think they came with better support and warranty options anyway.

    My particular laptop recently developed an issue where it would go to sleep or shutdown almost immediately after starting up. I was able to circumvent the problem by switching to Linux. However, I believe the issue is with the battery. It does not charge at all but it behaves a little oddly even in Linux. I frequently get a pop-up that says “Your Battery is charging”. Simply removing the battery would likely solve the problem I was having in Windows (and get rid of the pop-up I’m seeing in Linux).

    Like all the hardware I power up, this laptop is running various BOINC projects. Having a 64-bit CPU and sufficient RAM means it can do work for all of the projects I normally participate in including Einstein@home, Rosetta@home, Asteroids@home, MilkyWay@home, Universe@home and World Community Grid. You can check out how it is doing overall at FreeDC.


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  • Digital Archaeology: Dell Vostro 1500

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The Vostro line fit into a kind of weird marketing segment within Dell. They already had the Inspiron line for home users, the Latitude line for business, the Precision line for workstation class machines and XPS for gaming. So where does Vostro fit in? I think it was supposed to be a sort of budget business line. I’ve heard the claim that Vostros are basically just Inspirons with different aesthetics.

    This particular model is the Vostro 1500. It’s main features are a Core 2 Duo T7250 CPU @ 2 GHz, 2 GB RAM and GeForce 8400M GS video controller. Other specs include:

    • CPU: Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.00 GHz
    • RAM: 2 GB DDR2-667/PC2-5300
    • Video: GeForce 8400M GS
    • Screen: 1280×800

    For more detailed hardware info, check out the output of HardInfo here.

    The CPU, while not the very fastest Core 2 Duo available, was on the higher end of the scale, at least among Merom processors. There were a LOT of Core 2 Duo models with subtle and not so subtle differences over the years.

    The spec sheet above must refer to a slightly older configuration as it has a slower processor. There were also versions wit slightly faster CPUs.

    The GPU, while low end, is at least a dedicated solution. It even had its own dedicated memory though Linux reports three different amounts in HardInfo. I THINK it is 128MB. The max this GPU model could have was 256MB though it isn’t something you can expand. You are stuck with whatever it came with. It was probably capable of playing most games available at the time of its release though you would often have to reduce resolution and/or details to get reasonable frame rates.

    This laptop currently has 2GB of RAM installed and supposedly it is expandable to 4GB. Some Core 2 Duo laptops can go up to 8GB but those might be slightly later models. 4GB is generally what I consider to be the low end limit of what is useable in a modern environment. You CAN get by with less. For instance, I’m typing this on the very same Vostro 1500 running a recent version of Xubuntu and it only has 2GB. It’s also running BOINC with two tasks running in the background, HardInfo is up in the background and I have several terminal sessions open and am having no issues with slow down or swapping. However, most people want to browse the web and modern web browsers, particularly since the advent of tabbed browsing, are real memory hogs. I could open a web browser with a tab or two and get by but much more than that would be really painful.

    This laptop shipped with Windows XP. I always hated the idea of running a 32-bit OS on a 64-bit machine and also hate it when 64-bit machines support 4GB or less of memory since one of the biggest advantages of 64-bit CPUs was support for more RAM. Running Windows 10 with only 2GB is technically possible but not practical. Even 4GB is too little in my opinion though you can get by with 4GB and an SSD. Windows 7 is probably the best fit for this machine as far as a Microsoft OS but that’s not necessarily going to be useful in a modern environment. Linux is a better choice for that. On the other hand, if you want to run XP era games, then this laptop would probably work pretty well for that.

    The only real physical resemblance this Vostro has to the Inspiron line is the row of blue backlit buttons on the front used for media (DVD) control. Otherwise, the Vostro has a much nicer (in my opinion) understated, all black design. Internally, it’s probably using much the same hardware as the Inspiron models it was contemporary with.

    Like all the hardware I run, this one is crunching away at various BOINC tasks. As old as this laptop is, it can still run most (non-GPU) projects. You can see how it is doing on my favorite projects like Einstein@home, MilkyWay@home, Universe@home, Rosetta@home, World Community Grid and Asteroids@home or see how it is doing overall at FreeDC.


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