Which to buy? Inspiron 17R or Latitude E5530?

[zenlunatic]

As far as I'm aware, this machine doesn't have the hybrid graphics. Mine is Sandy Bridge with Intel HD 3000. This and the HD 4000 are very well supported on newer X/kernel. However they aren't as powerful as propreitary drivers. I'm not a gamer but I have tried a couple 3D games like Nexuiz and it ran absolutely perfect.

I'd also like to add: if you choose the 5500 series over the 6500 series, you can use the money you save to purchase a decent laptop bag. That will definitly protect against most build quality issues (not that there are glaring flaws on the 5500 series).

Take a look at dell outlet and bensbargains.net for a coupon code for a killer deal. Mine had one little paint smuge on the case and otherwise is perfect.

[masgeeks]

Hi just some thoughts here about the e5530 since I just bought one. Put precise 64 bit on it, usually have good luck with dell stuff and ubuntu, but this laptop is too new, I guess - pretty funky stuff that I have had to chase around to fix. standard wireless card is bcm4313 and is slow as molasses with n and wpa2 personal (doesn't bother me, I am using ethernet anyway, but still) and with sta driver not much better speed, still tops at 65 mbps. bluetooth has been very fidgety with microsoft mobile keyboard 6000 (yeah, well - i know, m$ keyboard, but its a nice little keyboard) and the dell bluetooth module. half the function keys don't work, most annoying for that is the brightness fn keys, found a grub fix for that, but caused other transient hardware weirdness so had to cease and desist with that fix. it has the sandy bridge mobile graphics. I got so tired trying to make everything play nice that I blew it out and reloaded precise and just did bare minimum everything. I use it for writing books sitting on the couch, it sits on a coffee table and I use a wireless keyboard... have ethernet running over there so like I said don't care that the wireless is slow, i turned off wireless, and bluetooth as well since the keyboard kept disconnecting (i am now using wireless keyboard with usb receiver). was kind of bummed, since i have always had very good luck with dell stuff, but gonna get a lemon every once in a while, lol. I have a nice DELL Latitude L13 laptop I bought a few years ago that just rocks - I love it to death its awesome...!!! such a work horse, but its a little thing, small screen,and its not really good for writing books on it. sorry so long, just wanted to give my experience with the e5530. BTW - it is THE ugliest laptop I've EVER seen, but - got it cheap so didn't care, dell had a blowout sale and so... lol...

[masgeeks]

Oh - and BTW, the display is not bad, the standard one on the e5530. 1366x768 and for general purpose computing, its just fine. clear and easy to read the screen is not exactly a screen if you are looking for real hd quality. i steam amazon video on it and it looks just fine to me, but i'm not really that picky if i want hd i'll watch my hd tv... but for casual viewing looks fine, the e5530 screen. this laptop replaces an old dell precision laptop which had upscale glossy seiko screen but that laptop was one serious power hog and since i had it on all the time it was a big heat generator and here in Arizona I don't need any more heat, lol... the one nice thing i can say about the e5530 is the number pad to the right of the keyboard - that's a nice feature.