New Dell Vostro V131

Sometimes Dell won't allow for the option for upgrade even though the machine can accept it. I think when the new Vostro line they only advertised 6 GB RAM, even though the machines will do 8GB+.

 

I plan replacing it with SSD. Will then it be more quiet?

 

7200 rpm doesn't mean it will be loud. I have a Scorpio Black 750 GB, 500 GB, 7200 rpm Seagate, I don't really hear my drives. My Latitude 13 with the original 5400 rpm Toshiba hard drive was replaced with an SSD, and honestly no difference.

 

Thank you for the help

I will order a i5-2410 V131 with backlit keyboard and upgrade it to 8G, the price for two 4G modules here is equal to the upgrade price from 2G to 4G on dell web site..

 

Well I popped in an SSD drive this morning and... Windows 7 is asking for a driver (Probably for the AHCI). I then tried another 2 drives with the same result. I haven't had to supply a driver like this for years.

I grabbed the AHCI driver from Dell, the installation found the driver but... nope. It simply will not see either SSD drive or standard drive.

Please Dell, don't tell me that we can no longer change hard drive! (Unlikely) Can anyone else confirm? (Will try other options later on plus see if one of the DVDs has a driver or maybe even use the re-install dvd if that provides a clean install)


This got me thinking until:


Solution: When installing Windows 7 from a USB source, be it dvd or usb stick, DO NOT USE the usb 3.0 slots as Windows would need a driver to use that type of connection. I changed to a usb 2.0 socket and.... all is fine.

 

How is it with noise when there is no HDD? And which SSD do you use?

 

I'm installing the Crucial C300 128Gb SSD (Would have gone with M4 but that has an issue with super fast bios boots). In the last 4 three hours I've only heard the fan at boot time.

Installing now...

Update:
After the first desktop appeared the first boot from off to desktop happened in 19 seconds with zero tweaks. The machine is currently sitting there running windows update and is 100% silent. (I've also set every option to maximum battery in the Balanced power option and cpu max to 10% - To surf the web you really don't need it to be higher)

I've installed the updated Intel chipset/Wireless driver from the Intel page and that's about it. No synaptics driver installed as yet and all function keys work as intended (apart from the touchpad. Not installed the accelerometer as the SSD doesn't need it)

44 running processes and the entire machine is pretty much working as intended with nearly all options. Onto the tweaking now (Why would anyone want a machine with so many pointless services over and above the standard clean install?)

After tweaking:
23 running processes and I can still do everything a standard user at home can do. Wireless, networking, sharing files... etc. The main objective of my tweaking is to make sure that the CPU sits at 0% when idle. If it isn't then the battery is being used and I'm aiming for better battery life, speed and stability. 526Mb used at idle. Still 19 seconds boot to desktop. The ACer 1820ptz remains the top at 15 seconds.


Next: Battery life tests

 

More information: (Vostro V131 Celeron, 4Gb ram, Crucial C300 SSD)
Room temp: 20c
V131 temp: 29c

It's now running silent and cool. Will post back later as the room heats up.

25 minutes later
Room temp: 21c
V131 temp: 34c


Update:
I've been playing the Battleship HD trailer (1280x720, played from the desktop) for over 3 hours now and the fan hasn't turned on once. Fantastic.

Final Update:
The laptop will play full screen 720p media (lowest brightness and audio via headphones) for (from 100% power to 7%) 6 hours. Not bad but nowhere near 12 hours or even 9. I don' t think that the machine will reach 9 hours even after tweaking, heavy max battery plus wireless off.

 

When you say V131 temp, what are you referring to? (The CPU, bottom of the laptop, etc.)

 

The temp is whats reported by Real Temp so I'd say that it's the CPU only. Mine stays quite cool but nowhere near as cool as the HP 5330m

Real Temp - CPU temperature monitoring

Seeing as the GPU is on the cpu and the hard drives an SSD the only temps possible are from the ram or CPU so I'm okay with the single reading.