Vostro 3350 Owner's Cafe

[Tsunade_Hime]

Originally Posted by daver160

how would you compare the 3350 to the D series Latitudes? I was about to jump on a Lenovo x220, but discovered the Vostro 3350 and am now on the fence between the two. I used to have a Latitude D620 and it was a soldier right through to the end when the company took it back. never had any real problems with it (save for the lack of RAM).

i'm particularly drawn by the "completeness" of the 3350 for business travel:

• 13-inch
• DVD drive
• not a netbook
• 8-cell

Also, has anybody been able to order the i3 model with the 8-cell? i don't need the i5 and would prefer to go the frugal path and upgrade the components myself with parts I have lying around...

Okay well I've used the 3450 keyboard which I am going to assume is the same as the 3350. I personally don't like chicklet but it is okay. I prefer the D series Latitude keyboards, very similar to the legendary ThinkPad keyboard.

I would go for the x220 as considering you can get an x220i for 600-700, then you opt for the premium panel (IPS) for like 40, go for the 9 cell and slice, you got a 23 hour battery life ultraportable with one of the best screens out there for the money in a nice small package.

[theZoid]

I own 2 Precision Notebooks, but never had a D series latitude.

I'm working out in the field right now with my 3350 running on battery. What put me over the top was that when I get off work, this thing with the ATI card, runs my strat games easily.

Because I use this for work, I have to have onsite maintenance....I guess Lenovo has that, not sure.

EDIT: I just looked at the x220i...That's not bad either....it wouldn't have worked for me because I'm a gamer and it's limted to the Intel 3000 which I also have along with the ATI (SandyBridge)...but, if you're a road warrior and don't game, don't mind a slightly smaller screen (12.5in), that might work for you.

EDIT2: I spec'd the x220i out comparable to my 3350, and it was 200 more in price (mine was 969. with 6gb ram..I haggled with them) and I still didn't have the ATI card. The levono is an i3, I have an i5 in the 3350. Also, the 3350 has USB3.0 but I'm assuming so does the Lenovo.

I have an LED matte 13 inch screen which is decent, so given the above, it's a no brainer for the 3350 (for my purposes).

x220i:
Price	$1,695.00
Sale price	$1,179.00
Savings	$516.00
 
Total	$1,179.00

YMMV

[daver160]

i'm not a fan of chiclet keyboards either, but as long as i can type on it i think i would be fine. i figure if i can type on a lenovo x120 without much difficulty, a 13-inch keyboard will be fine.

thanks for the comparison of the Lenovo. but when i did my research i found that the x220i is almost $200 more than the V3350 if I were to order either through work.

for the X220: ~$720 (EPP discounted)

• i3-2310
• 2GB
• 250GB@5400
• 3-cell
• no IPS (it's a $150 option in Canada, one i do not much care for)

for the V3350: ~$530 (not yet discounted, haven't inquired yet)

• i3-2310
• 4GB
• 320GB@7200
• 4-cell
• DVD-drive

as for games i have my other Dell with the ATI 5730, so i'm not concerned. ideally this laptop would be just for business and travel. the DVD drive isn't a must, but it's much more convenient to have it built in rather than lug around a portable drive which would add about $30. and as for the IPS screen, this computer is mostly going to see text, more text, and even more text. this is mostly for 70% email and document processing, 30% programming. i'm sure that Courier New font would appear much better on the IPS screen in the red, blue and greens of Visual Studio, but meh

[AshK]

Hi guys,

I got my Vostro last week and for the most part I'm loving it, but the battery is concerning me a little. It came with 1% wear on it (according to HWMonitor) and in the week since has climbed to 4%. Has anyone else had this happen?

[Tsunade_Hime]

Originally Posted by AshK

Hi guys,

I got my Vostro last week and for the most part I'm loving it, but the battery is concerning me a little. It came with 1% wear on it (according to HWMonitor) and in the week since has climbed to 4%. Has anyone else had this happen?

Have you tried recalibrating your battery?

[theZoid]

Originally Posted by AshK

Hi guys,

I got my Vostro last week and for the most part I'm loving it, but the battery is concerning me a little. It came with 1% wear on it (according to HWMonitor) and in the week since has climbed to 4%. Has anyone else had this happen?

I haven't even installed HWMonitor yet...I'll check it ....

EDIT: My wear level is showing 5%, and charge level is 104% ? I've had the unit around 3 weeks.

[AshK]

Originally Posted by Tsunade_Hime

Have you tried recalibrating your battery?

I have but it hasn't helped. On the other hand it's held steady at 4% wear for about 3 days now which is a new record for it.

I don't need every last second of battery life from it, I was just discontent with watching a new battery degrading that fast. If it gets worse I'll post here but if it holds like this it should be fine.

[AshK]

Originally Posted by theZoid

I haven't even installed HWMonitor yet...I'll check it ....

EDIT: My wear level is showing 5%, and charge level is 104% ? I've had the unit around 3 weeks.

lol, I wish mine would charge to 104%.

Out of curiosity, did you calibrate your battery when you got it? I didn't do a 'proper' calibration until I started to notice the degradation. I just started using the thing straight out of the box.

[Mihael Keehl]

Hmm...I noticed that the only quad-core model they have is the 3750, is it possible to use the 2630QM/2720QM/2820QM in a Vostro 3550? At the moment, I'm looking at the Dell Latitude E6520 or the Dell Vostro 3550, but if it's not possible, I'd rather stick with my current Inspiron 1520 and wait until a more competent updated model of the Latitude is released (it's cool to offer FHD but w/o a blu-ray drive?).

[Tsunade_Hime]

Originally Posted by Mihael Keehl

Hmm...I noticed that the only quad-core model they have is the 3750, is it possible to use the 2630QM/2720QM/2820QM in a Vostro 3550? At the moment, I'm looking at the Dell Latitude E6520 or the Dell Vostro 3550, but if it's not possible, I'd rather stick with my current Inspiron 1520 and wait until a more competent updated model of the Latitude is released (it's cool to offer FHD but w/o a blu-ray drive?).

It should POST with a quad core but likely the cooling system would have difficulty dealing with the extra heat. And looking at the cooling system from the previous generation, I doubt that is enough to handle a 45/55 watt quad core. E6520 would be a safer bet, but I am not digging the looks. Or go for that Precision M4600.