Latitude 15 3000 - Gaming system for $780? Too good to be true?

This laptop should come with 8 out of the box. If it doesn't I have used clonezilla but I can't speak for drivers and compatibility on this laptop.

 

Thank atom ant for this guidance I just followed along!

 

You are welcome guys :thumbsup:!

 

Btw looking at the specs sheet I see that the models in Brazil get an i7 how much is the board for that I wonder?

 

Hi Guys!

I´ve read the whole thread today as Im leaning to buy this laptop and you all are really convincing me! Also Im not really a gamer, but I have interest on the specs of this machine in order to use is as a everyday system, occasional gaming and deff programming and CAD user for my masters. Also, skype, netflix and HD series will be also on my sight

But there is a bunch of customization available just from the Dell webpage. (Im living in Germany and prices start, for a core-i5 in 480€). I would like to ask you some things:

1- You guys think it is better to order it with the 8 GB5 DDR3L - 1600 MHz? Ive read and some of you have upgraded it from the 4GB RAM with higher freq, so I was thinking if maybe it was better to save on the machine that come from the box and then upgrade it myself.

2- On the online store I only get the OS selection when I go for the system with 8GB RAM and 1TB HDD. For the 4GB RAM it comes with a 500GB (not a biggy as the upgrading, as for some of you already did, includes a SSD, und have plenty of cloud storage available) but for SO comes only with Windows 7 Professional (64 Bit, Windows 8.1 licence media). For developing I may be using a linux distro, but I have way more experience in win 7 than in 8 or 8.1. Some of you say that can get more of the machines using some WIN8 drivers. Basically the question is: Is the OS a dealbreaker? I can also try changing it by phone if there is a better suggestion on this part.

3- Also the 4GB RAM option does not come with the FHD screen on the online shop, comes with Hybrid disk 500GB and has an UMA graphic card (instead of the AMD Venus Pro 2GB GDDR5). So it is deff lower on specs (with the exception of the disk, i think, as hybrid may be better as the normal SATA. Please correct me if im wrong). The counterpart... The FHD screen and the AMD Venus Pro come with a Laptop that costs 700€...

I really want to here your opinions! I want to make a good decision here and get a machine that responds well on my everyday needs but also on budget. Which were the specs, before self upgrading, that you chose at the time you got the machine?

 

Hello Primer!

I will do my best to try and answer...

1. If Dell offers 1866mhz memory then yes please go for it. I paid $80 upgrading the laptop myself to 8 GB of 1866 RAM so if Dell can sell it to you for a lower price then please go for it.

2. The hard drive is very easy to swap out, I had a 128 GB SSD lay around from a previous build so I threw it in. If you are going with Windows 7 it is not a deal breaker for me if you are not gaming. I personally upgrade to 8.1 so that I could get better performance out of this PC.

3. I am not sure about this because I purchased this laptop refurbished. To me it was important to have the 1080P screen for gaming and the overall higher resolution helps with working. Most websites and applications today are going that way so that having the 1080P screen to me is important. Also the GPU is the only reason why I purchased this laptop and that it was a business class laptop so it did not have any of the gamer branding and added costs that you would normally see with a gaming laptop.

I wanted to ask you though how much are you looking to spend on this PC? I bought mine refurbished for about $530 off ebay and it came with a 1 year in-home warranty that I will comment on in a later post once all of this is resolved. [Yes I had issues with Dell support and service but I will comment on that later.]

 

Hey Yayo! Thanks for answering!

I was looking to spend around 500€ in a Laptop that wouldn´t let me down in my everyday chores. I chose that price not because I would be sure that all my demands would be supplied with that, but more because budget issues But then I found the latitude line (both 3440 and 3540) and those specs are really surprising even for the price. So I afterwards said to myself that I would look after models around 600€-700€ and see if they are worth the plus investment.

I was also looking at the lenovo thinkpad E540, but researching about its performance I stumbled with a forum where a power issue was being discussed by a considerable amount of people, without any heads up from lenovo... That discouraged me. Also, the specs that are found on the latitude 3540, even if Im not using them right now (cause my current laptop stinks in gaming but good with processing - reason why I was gaming in another system and still will), are without a doubt useful and seem to be a good deal.

I followed this thread and read about how you repasted the laptop and how you got some parts replaced and stuff...Im not saying that a brand new laptop would come without any problem, but would you say that some of your issues were because of the refurbishment? Personally Im kind of a fan of buying new electronics.

 

Also, last time I checked, the RAM come just with 1600Mhz from the box f the 3540

 

there is only one model here in the uk with the amd gpu. it ships with a 6 cell battery. can i ask if others here that got the 3540 + amd gpu also got the 6 cell battery? and does it 'stick out' as suggested by the ad here Latitude 15 3000 Series — 15” Business Laptop | Dell UK

 

I just bought this laptop and when it got here I noticed that it has no hdmi port so I bought a vga to hdmi converter dongle from Amazon that is usb powered and carry's sound for 29.99 so I got that problem out of the way, Now I'm wondering is there anyway to get the gpu @725mhz while on battery? or at least above 400mhz?