Vostro 3350 Owner's Cafe

my understanding was that Dell Downloads just linked to software from the Dell driver's webpages... i tried this method already, and it installed the same fingerprint "software" that is on the Dell website.

 

I was told that it had other software that came with your computer, not just what was on the drivers and downloads. Like Roxio and all that useless crap. I have no idea what's on My Dell Downloads, but anyway. I call, they sent me the CD, so it really doesn't matter anyway.

 

you were completely right about the My Dell Downloads website. I forgot that they had that service.

After logging in, I had to run the autodetect plug-in they had, and then I was able to download the DigitalPersona Fingerprint software. The initial install botched up because I was running on the Windows driver. After installing the DigitalPersona driver from Dell Support, the software installer went through like a breeze. I was able to enroll my fingerprints.

Logging in is now a breeze, no more typing in my 20+ char password every time I need to unlock my computer. Now I wish my other Dell XPS had a biometric reader!

 

Hi guys. I'm now part of the club. Received an immaculate 3550 i5-2410M, 4GB ram, 500GB 7200rpm HDD and 6630M GFX from ebay a couple of days ago. It was a private sale with about only 6 hours use on it before he restored it to factory settings. 6 discs included. Not a mark on the laptop.

I like it, particularly the backlit keyboard which is invaluable for me. However, I have two issues, first of which is not such a big deal. The boot up time from cold is about 53 seconds, but from reboot it's between 70 and 75 seconds. It was 92 seconds before I disabled a bunch of things in msconfig selective startup. How fast should it reboot? It's very quick from shutting down to getting to the starting windows screen, but from the blue welcome screen, that's where it takes longer. Most of the stuff in startup now is microsoft and intel, I don't think there's much in the way of bloatware. Maybe I should do something in the services tab?


The bigger issue is the switching graphics application. Surely others here must have come across this problem? IdeaStorm | Update Vostro 3550 AMD 6630/Intel HD 3000 Switchable Drivers

I've installed 3 or 4 games, all dx9. All but one work. None of them seem to be using the dedicated card, even though graphically the games look as good and are as smooth as on my desktop 5850, so I'm guessing the integrated intel HD is quite good. Even when I manually switch each game to high performance, the AMD is not kicking in or being recognised. The gamer that isn't working does show text and a few things, but the rest of the screen is blank. This is a game the vostro can more than handle if the AMD card would be recognised. In fact, Dirt2 is more graphics hungry than that game and it worked perfect on the integrated. There's meant to be a fix, a bios fix, coming. Don't know when though. So meanwhile, the AMD card is reduntant


edit: oops! I misread the title, this is for 3350 owners. Doh! Well, does the 3350 have switching graphics cards? I think it does doesn't it?

 

Your boot time seems about right with what i had. My 3350 booted in around 90 seconds before i replaced it with an SSD.

Yes, the 3350 has graphics switching as well and we have the same problems. The AMD card is not wholly redundant, some games recognise and utilise it without problem, others however...

 

Hello everyone,

I wanna replace the DVD burner with a Blu-ray reader/writer in my Vostro 3350. Just because the 3350 has an ultraslim slot which is 9,5mm thick, I couldn't find any Bluray drives that would fit in apart from panasonic UJ-242 which is extremely pricy for my taste... Do you have any other ideas?

Best

 

I installed Dirt 2 demo and set the switching application to high performance, ie, for the AMD card. It ran perfectly, very smooth, looked just like it does with my 5850 on my desktop. The Dirt 2 benchmark test result was 49fps and the settings had defaulted to a mix of low and medium. The hardware settings info xml mentions only about the Intel HD. So I'm wondering, is the Intel HD 3000 powerful enough to have run Dirt 2 and given me that benchmark result, or would it have been using the HD 6630M?

 

I don't have the demo or i'd test myself. The obvious way to check is to do the same test again except designating the Intel HD.

I've found the 6630 to be roughly 50% more powerful than the Intel, so you should see a noticeable fps difference if it can in fact use the 6630 card.

 

It's $150 on ebay, but I don't think you're gonna find a blu-ray player for much cheaper than that.

 

Cheers AshK, I'll try that.