• Tag Archives Dell

  • Digital Archaeology: Dell Inspiron 530s

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Physically, the Dell Inspiron 530s is identical to the 531s which I have looked at previously. Both are slimline systems. The difference is entirely with the internals. While the 531s is AMD based, the 530s is Intel based. The 531s I have has a Athlon X2 5000+ while this 530s has a Pentium Dual Core E2200.

    Hardware in this machine includes:

    • CPU: Pentium Dual Core E4600 @ 2.2 GHz
    • Memory: 3 GB DDR2-666 MHz (PC2-5300)
    • Video: Intel 82G33/G31 Express Integrated Graphics

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

    The E2200 is a low-end CPU. For some reason, Intel decided to co-opt what was once their flagship CPU name and relegate its usage to bargain CPU choices. Core 2 Duo era Pentiums were basically Core 2 Duos with less cache (1 MB of L2 instead of 2 MB in this case). It is significantly slower than the Athlon X2 I have, on the other hand, it can be upgraded to a significantly faster CPU. The Intel based 530s has far more of an upgrade path than the AMD based 531s.


    The integrated graphics of the Intel based 530s is not as good as the AMD based 531s but they are both so low end it doesn’t really make much of a difference. Like the 531s, the 530s has a slot for a video card so it is upgradeable but the limited power supply limits your choices. The best you can probably put in this is something like a GT 1030 which is actually pretty good for the CPUs this supports. A significantly faster card would be bottlenecked by the CPU. However, if you do want to push it a little further you can upgrade the power supply. While the TFX form factor is somewhat more obscure than ATX, it’s still a standard and you can still find them. I’ve seen ones up to 500 watts. Then you are limited only by what will fit and that you can reasonably cool in the small case.


    There are four slots for memory which is pretty good for a slimline system. I might have expected only two. You can upgrade this machine to 8 GB (up to 2GB in each slot) which is better than some Core 2 Duo based systems.

    The motherboard is a fairly standard Micro ATX board. However, the 530s does not have a removeable backplate making an upgrade a bit more of a challenge. The case is actually fairly nice and uncluttered for a small case. However, if you really want to reuse it with another motherboard, be prepared to do some surgery.

    At the end of the day, sticking a Core 2 Duo E8600, an SSD, and 8 GB of RAM is probably the best that is reasonable to do. That would actually make it useable in Windows 10 or Linux. I’m using Linux Mint now with an SSD and only 3 GB and it performs ok though I wouldn’t try to open 100 tabs or do anything else terribly intensive.

    Like all the machines I use, this one has BOINC installed and connected to various projects including Einstein@home, Asteroids@home, Universe@home, MilkyWay@home, Rosetta@home, and World Community Grid. You can see how it is doing at FreeDC.


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana 📎and tagged

  • Digital Archaeology: Dell Inspiron 1545

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The Dell Inspiron 1545 was Dell’s mainstream laptop circa 2009. There were a variety of CPU options including Celeron, Pentium Dual-Core and Core 2 Duo models. Memory configurations included anywhere from 1 GB to 4 GB with 4 GB being the maximum amount officially supported. Likewise there were various hard drives available ranging in size from 160 GB wo 500 GB (all 5400 rpm models). There were two screen resolutions available including 1366 x 768 and 1600 x 900 though the higher resolution screen was not very common. One option not available though was a discrete GPU. All models used Intel’s GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics.

    My particular model currently includes:

    • CPU: Pentium Dual Core T4500 at 2.4 GHz
    • RAM: 4 GB DDR2-800 (PC2-5600)
    • Hard Drive: 320 GB
    • Screen: 1366 x 768

    Mine is also black though it came in a variety of other colors including blue, red, pink, and purple. Check out the report from HardInfo for more details.

    Depending on your configuration, this model made for a decent general use laptop though the lack of a discrete GPU option meant that it wasn’t useful for gaming. Also, if you wanted a higher resolution screen, then there were better options. A lot of people seem to like the keyboard on this model. It isn’t anything as fancy as a mechanical keyboard but it does have a more tactile feel and is less mushy than most laptop keyboards.


    There are several possible upgrades depending on you specific configuration. The two most important are probably to upgrade the RAM and replace the hard drive with an SSD. While 4 GB is the max officially supported, this laptop will actually support up to 8 GB. You can also upgrade the CPU though whether or not it is worth it depends on what you are starting from. the fastest CPU supported is the Intel Core 2 Duo T9900.

    My laptop had a single 2 GB SO-DIMM. Whether it was configured like that originally or was cannibalized I don’t know. The only upgrade I’ve really done is to expand it to 4 GB and install Xubuntu. It runs pretty well with this configuration. Even web browsing is ok if a little sluggish. Like all the hardware I use, I installed BOINC on this laptop and attached to several projects. It is currently crunching tasks for Einstein@home, Milkyway@home, Asteroids@home, and World Community Grid. You can check out how it is doing overall at FreeDC.

    Even though there isn’t anything particularly interesting or special about this laptop, I’ll probably hang on to it. It’s in nearly mint condition which for a laptop this old is pretty special in itself. I don’t upgrade the CPU in laptops very often but this one may be a good candidate. The CPU is easy to access on this laptop and there is a fairly significant upgrade path.


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana 📎and tagged

  • Digital Archaeology: Dell XPS M1210

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The Dell XPS M1210 is an ultraportable laptop that was released in 2006. It used the i945GM chipset and supported a wide range of CPUs including Pentium M, Core Duo and Core 2 Duo models. There were also at least two motherboard variants, one supporting just the built-in Intel graphics of the i945GM chipset and the other supporting a GeForce Go 7600.

    This particular model has a Core Duo CPU and the Intel graphics. Some highlights include:

    • CPU: Core Duo T2400 @ 1.86 GHz
    • Graphics: Intel i945GM
    • RAM: 3 GB DDR2
    • Screen: 12.1″ @ 1280 x 800

    For more complete specs, check out the reports generated by HWiNFO and CPU-Z.

    Having the lower-end Intel graphics may sound like a disadvantage but the fact of the matter is that if it had the GeForce graphics option it probably wouldn’t be working now. This laptop was made in that era when solder was transitioning away from lead and apparently they hadn’t quite got it right yet. The GeForce chip ran hot and the expanding and contracting due to the heating and cooling of the chip would inevitably crack the solder joints leading to a non-functional system. This happened with numerous laptop models at the time. One common temporary fix was to remove the motherboard and place it in the oven to re-melt the solder joints. However, if that trick worked at all, it was usually only a temporary fix.

    This is definitely small laptop so if you are looking for something ultra portable and easy to carry around then this would have been a pretty good choice. Personally, I tend to like my laptops to be closer to the desktop replacement end of the sccale. However, for its time, the XPS M1210 didn’t really skimp on much other than size. In terms of size, it reminds be a bit of the ~12-inch Power PC based PowerBooks that were around a few years before this laptop would have been though this one is probably a bit thicker. The keyboard even has the same sort of chrome finish.

    The Core Duo T2400 is kind of limiting in that it is a 32-bit CPU. I’m currently running Windows XP which is what it would have shipped with though the sticker says “Vista Capable”. It should also run a 32-bit version of Linux reasonably well too. If you really wanted to, you can upgrade the CPU pretty significantly, all the way up to a Core 2 Duo T7600. That’s a pretty huge upgrade not only because of the significant increase in clock speed ( 2.33 GHz vs. 1.86 GHz) but because you are actually upgrading from a 32-bit CPU to a 64-bit CPU. However, because of chipset limitations, you still can’t go past 4 GB of memory.

    When I think of the XPS line I usually think of reasonably capable gaming systems. This laptop is definitely not one of those. The lack of a dedicated GPU make it pretty useless for popular games of the time. You could of course play older (generally much older) games. In the case, the XPS designation is really more of a style thing.

    32-bit have lost most software support. There is no longer a 32-bit version of Windows that is still maintained (at lest at the consumer level). There are still 32-bit Linux distributions but only a couple. This is a relatively high-end 32-bit system so it is probably an ideal candidate for Linux. As I mentioned above, I am currently running Windows XP but I plan to install a 32-bit version of Debian (or maybe Mint) in a dual boot configuration.

    However, my favorite app to run on any hardware is BOINC and at least for now, Windows XP can still run a usable version of BOINC an participate in a few projects. So far, this laptop has processed work for Einstein@home, Asteroids@home, and World Community Grid. You can see how it is doing overall at FreeDC.


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana 📎and tagged