Dell Inspiron 15R Special edition (7520)

Hello all
I've been looking for a laptop for a while and had my eyes on this, it looks good but I got a few questions D:
1)Are the problems of crashing when gaming I read about here on previous pages fixed yet?
2)Is the GPU on it good enough for high-end games? Not necessarily ultra settings.
3)Is the build quality good? How are the speakers?
4)How much is the battery life during light work and during heavy load?
5)How much is its temperature during gaming? Does it overheat as much as to shutdown?

 

I just ordered my 15R SE as I got a great deal on labor day sale.
I have been reading this thread will try to answer what I gathered but you may need input from actual users

1. Do not know, I think it had to do with not able to switch to discrete GPU. It seems BIOS A04 fixes the BSOD.
2. GPU is pretty good for a laptop but there are better GPUs like 650 and 660. The 7730 is rated slightly lower than GT640 which is a very good GPU. Will play most demanding games at medium settings.
3. I read a semi-pro review where speakers were reviewed as quite good. Build quality was good but not as a good as XPS.
4. Battery life is this laptops weakest point. I read you can get well over 3 hours if you have i5. For i7 it is around 2.5 hours with light/medium use.
5. Not sure although some reviews have seen said it gets warm after playing games for over an hour but nothing close to be alarming. The people who had issue they did not had it configured properly to switch to the 7730 GPU.

 

So, I'll have to do a bios update to the laptop so that I prevent BSOD?

 

it's not mandatory, unless you get the problem in the first place (I didn't) but it's a very quick and easy process. You just need to dowload the bios update and run it under windows, it'll take care of the rest

 

So, gaming on the laptop is ok with you?
Also, I thought that bios updates are dangerous in windows and very commonly fail and brick the motherboard.

 

I gamed without any problems for around 10 hours. As the saying goes: if it isn't broken, don't fix it. Apply the updae only after a bsod occurs

 

10 straight hours? what games?
How were the temps of GPU and CPU?

 

come on, not 10 hours straight! about 10 hours total, two hours per session

cpu temp peaked around 75-80 degrees, but that was during the hottest day of summer

 

With " gaming ", you mean like real gaming with heavy games, like crysis, cod mw3, bf3 and similar?

 

Hello Jason, great to know you can do all this on this PC.. maybe all is not lost for me..
But until SSDs get cheaper.. I would love to see some pictures of the mSata daughter card.. since there was none in mine I would like to know how it looks.
Could you benchmark your mSata ? Does it seem to be a SATA 6G port speed ?

Thanks
Dom - France

 

I'm replaying Darksiders atm, it's not the most intensive game ever but runs well in FHD. I've also played 8-10 hours of league of legends, but it's so lightweight I usually play in power-saving mode (hd 4000 and turbo boost disabled) so the laptop's less noisy (useful for nigt sessions)

 

ok was interested to find how long straight.
You know of GPU temps as CPU is not the one that cannot handle intensive game it is the GPU. Btw what CPU do you have on your 15R SE?
I chose i5 to limit heat as I do not see a real need for i7.

 

I have the i7. For some tasks I need a lot of power, and for idle browsing I can use power saving. Runs downclocked without problems.
as for the gpu temps, I don't know. Enduro makes it so I can only "watch" the graphic card sensor when it's in use, and even then it's very confusing (for example, I just found out that hwMonitor shows the ati temperture under the hd4000 name). I'll play a little more tonight and then I'll let you know

UPDATE: ok, I played 2.5 hours at Darksiders 2, and the gpu peaked @66 C°. The cpu reached 70-74 C°. I still don't know if those readings are accurate, as hwmonitor is apparently incapable of reading the gpu name correctly

 

thx!
I have read issues with AMD switchable GPUs. They do not seem to give right temp readings or name in various temp monitor programs. I will have to figure it out once I get the laptop. I think many of the issues with BSOD were with GPU switching.
What GPU driver are you using? Have you used the one from AMD's website? I think they now force you to use a program to find the right driver for the GPU on the machine.

Btw, if 66 C was the temp you had under gaming for the GPU than it is pretty good. Usually the GPU can go as high as 90 C at least that was on my ATI 4570 before it died.

 

Hi guys,
I'm an italian user going to buy a Vostro 3550/3450/V131 Backlit keyboard to use with this notebook.
Notebookcheck says is the same on vostro V131...so it should be ok to substitute it with the Vostro 3550 keyboard right?

 

trust me, I know something about high temps on GPUs

just to be sure, I confronted the values shown by HwMonitor whith the realtime graph from furmark, and the temps coincided. Darksiders II it's heavier than the predecessor, but that's mainly because of bad porting. Probably it doesn't utilize the gpu power to the fulllest.
If you need I could run furmark until the system peaks, but I'd rather not. I'm not a huge fan of stressing hw components, especially in a laptop. the result would be meaningless anyway

@Wing_Zero: I'm not sure about that. even if the keybord looks identical, It could use a different mounting system. Why don't you try contacting dell and asking them directly. It's a far shot, but there could be a backlit keyboard already in the works for this model.

 

Okay thank you for all the feedback and the help .
so, more two questions :
1) How many USB ports on right side of laptop, and how many on left side?
2) Would you recommend that I get this for gaming, like Crysis, BF3 and COD Mw3 and even heavier?

 

1) 2 on the upper-right and 2 on the lower left side.

2)it all depends on your definition of gaming. I've been a pc gamer for the past 8 years (mainly on cheap assembled desktop), and I enjoy games regardless of graphic quality. That doesn't mean I'm not a sucker for high resolution textures and the likes, but I can easily come down to compromises with the graphic in order to play a game I enjoy. So, if you want to play modern games in glorious FHD and with details maxed out, get a Desktop. It's the best possible gaming machine, bar none. If you want to play in mobility AND you have a load of money to spend on a computer, get a gaming laptop. Alienware, Oigin, Qosmio, ROG... pick your flavour. You'll basically get a slightly more portable desktop (;p), with all the pros and cons. If you want to play in mobility AND you can compromise with the graphic engine of your choice, then the inspiron 15r se is certainly a palatable choice. You won't get amazing framerates, but you'll be able to play most game without problems.
and btw, you'll be able to play COD without problems regardless of your choice. That engine is so old it runs on coal [:sarcasm:]

 

Well, I don't have a lot of cash for a laptop and a PC is not an option right now, so I think this will be a good option. Oh and ultra graphics are not an absolute necessity, sure they're nice, but I normally downgrade quality to get most playable FPS.

 

haha see my signature, my last 2 lappys died becaue of GPU failure so I am very sensitive to it. Never had issue with CPU temps and don't expect having the i5.

No need to stress anything was just wondering. Also is there a thread where owners have posted their Win 7 experience scores for 15R SE? just to baseline it. Btw, I expect it to change once I do a fresh install of Win 7

 

I don't think there is such a thread, nor do I see any utility for it. The index is simple and pretty much fixed.

I have:

cpu - 7.5
ram - 7.8
graphic - 5.6
dedicated graphic - 6.6
hdd - 7.9 (samsung 830) it should be 5-6 with the mechanical hdd

 

Thx!
CPU will be lower because of i5
My RAM is 6GB so score should be lower
HDD will have to see it is the 7200rpm one

Do you know what brand is your 108p screen?

Mine said
PGTN Module,LCD,15.6FHD,WLED,AG,SEC,A5

so seems like a Samsung.

 

Are the bluescreen issues and (any)heating issues with the 15R SE severe enough to make it a NO BUY ?, or do the GPU bluescreens get resolved by the updates?


DELL doesnt have a return policy in India and is refusing to give 3 years complete cover, or any sort of discounts with the 17R SE so am thinking of getting the 15R with a FHD screen, i5 and 7730m

Buying it primarily for gaming, probably CS:GO, NFS newer editions as they come out,a fewer older racing games,etc

 

On the subject of backlit keyboard, I was speaking to a Dell rep today and apparently on the 15r SE in the UK the backlit keyboard is standard but an option on the 17r SE, its confusing as it doesn't actually say the keyboard is backlit on the customisation screen, it just states 'QWERTY UK Irish keyboard' but he did assure me it is standard

 

I'm in the UK and got a 15r SE a couple of weeks ago and it didn't come with the backlit keyboard. It was a fast delivery one so not sure if that made a difference, but I certainly didn't have the option to select it either.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

Ahh right, thats a bit worrying then - i did say to he rep that it is a potential deal breaker for me not to have a backlit keyboard because of the environment i will be using it in (for Djing mainly so dark environment) so if it arrives and doesn't have a backlit keyboard I will either have to send it back or just demand them to come out and fit one !!
It seems like half of Dell support advisors don't really know much about some of their systems at all which is poor really !!

 

So guys, I'm about to get this for Crysis and some other heavy demanding games, shall I continue on the purchase or shall I back off? Does this have serious overheating issues with such games??

 

Announcement:

My final post on NBR as a Dell representative.

 

going anywhere nice

 

Downtown Austin, TX, if all goes according to Hoyle.

 

Well Good luck Bill and thanks for all your help

you'll be missed on here:thumbsup:

 

I have three questions:

1. Is it possible to change the duration of the backlit keyboard? Mine keeps turning off if I don't do anything for 30 seconds or so. [EDIT: I figured this one out. Go to Windows Mobility Center and click on the icon next to Keyboard Brightness. A window will open with settings for keyboard brightness and duration.]

2. I'm having problems with the touchpad scrolling in an application called Mathematica. No matter what the settings are, the scrolling is extremely fast, to the point that it is almost unusable. Is there anything I can do? Are there Synaptics drivers that work on this system?

3. I know how to toggle the fn key behavior for the multimedia keys. However, I would like F11 and F12 to change the volume (within the fn key), while the other multimedia keys still require the fn key. Unfortunately I have not found a way to do this. Alternatively, I wouldn't mind using AutoHotkey (great program if you've never used it) to change the volume, but I'd like Dell's on-screen volume display to show up when I do that.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Guys,
Just got my 15R SE. Trying to figure out what I have.
Monitor ID says SEC5448 when I looked under the device manager.
Some posts suggest that it is RGBLED screen but it shows as on my system configuration @ DELL as
PGTN41 MODULE..., LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY..., 15.6FHD, WLED, AG, SECONDARY..., A5

Any other way to figure out what mfr the display is and what type?

 

Hi all,
I browsed a bit on this thread and know it has been tested, but I couldn't find the exact post on it. Can the 7520 run 16GiB (2 x 8Gib) of RAM? I'm looking into buying a kit from Corsair, which seems to me a good cost x benefit ratio, but I'd like to know if I'll be able to run it properly!
Thanks in advance!

 

What is the best softwre to monitor temps?
I can only find CPUID's HWMonitor that gives temps for CPU and GPU. In case 7730 is off like browsing it says 0 deg but once you start a game you can see temps. After 1 hours of SC II max GPU temp I saw was 67C. Not sure if it is good or bad. CPU maxed out @ 77C which I think is on the high side for my liking.

Combination of Medium and high settings:
With Intel 4000 my frame rate was between 40-70
With 7730 my frame rate was between 65-130

Has anyone used Windows Media Player? If yes can you select GPU to run it? I did force it to use 7730 but I do not think it switches as I cannot see the GPU temps when using Windows Media Player. Anyone has experience with this?

 

Hello, everyone. I currently own a L521x, but the WiFi it's problems are very serious and annoying for me (GPU throttling and WiFi signal/connection both extremely poor). I'm thinking on returning it to get an Inspiron. Does it have issues like that? I've been reading and seen some overclocking on the GPU, but I don't know if they want to do that just for the fun or because it throttles. Thanks in advance for any answers =)

 

Hello, Ludwig,

I replaced the supplied RAM with 16GB of Corsair Vengeance, CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10 DDR3. Worked perfectly out of the box for me, running Linux. As I reported earlier, BIOS only seems to detect 8GB of RAM, but the full 16GB is definitely addressable in Linux. I have Windows installed as well... I should look to see if it's recognized there, as well!

Good luck!

---Jason

 

Bonjour, Mssr!

I have a picture here, let me find it...

This is the daughtercard that holds the mSATA port. The greed card is the original 32GB mSATA card.

View attachment 84305

This next picture shows how the mSATA card is removed from the port. After removing the screw, the card pops up and then you pull it out (gently).



Finally, this is the new mSATA - as you can tell, a new Mushkin 120GB. It uses a SandForce controller, BTW (SF-2281VB1, whatever that is).



I regret I don't have any pictures giving you a sense of the scale. It's about the size of a matchbox.

As for benchmarks, I haven't taken any. What benchmarks would you prefer? I'd be glad to install them and throw some numbers out.

---Jason

 

There have been issue with the GPU switching not working properly but I think A04 BIOS fixed that. I have used mine for about 5 days and GPU is working well. Not heard about GPU throttle.

I think GPU is pretty good and I do not see why would you OC it unless you want to play the most demanding games at high or ultra.

 

Hi All

I am a new member to these forums. Just bought a refurbished Dell Inspiron 15r special edition - the model with i7, mSATA cache drive and blu-ray to be exact. I have a few questions that I hope someone here can clear for me.

1. I wish to repartition my 1 TB HDD, reinstall Windows, and dual-boot with Linux. I know that there have been issues related to SRT and AHCI with this model when it comes to reinstalling Windows. So can anyone who has reinstalled Windows without any issues help me out by giving me instructions as to what I ought to do? Or point me to some resources that might be helpful?

2. Since I bought a refurbished model, all I got from Dell was the Windows 7 home premium reinstallation DVD. I did not get the drivers DVD/CD with the package. When I look on the Dell website for this model I see many confusing options. Can anyone here give me a list of all the drivers that I would need to get this laptop working again after a Windows reinstall?

Thanks for all the help.

 

I had previously ummed and aggghed over the 15r SE for a good few weeks and finally took the plunge this week after getting a 10% code.

The thing that held me back was that only 1 model allowed configuration for a backlit keyboard and that was £100 more than the (currently) £629 model.

However, if you list all laptops and search by i5 processor, you got an extra option with 2gb less ram and only 500gb HD (mines being replaced anwyay) for £50 less AND you can add the backlit keyboard. EVALUE CODE is n0015s15.
Hope this helps some of you make a decision.

 

The only problem I had with installing Windows was installing from a usb. I would guess installing from a cd/dvd would go smoother. I recommend turning off 'Intel Rapid Storage' & 'Intel Rapid Start' before you reinstall Windows and definitely before you install Linux. The IRS software can screw up the installation of GRUB. You can just turn IRS back on when you are done with installation.

As for drivers, I downloaded most of the ones from the Dell site. Just read the description of the driver and decided if you need it. If you find out later a program or device needs one then just install it.

Cheers

 

Hi I am the guy from SD who pointed to check on the issue with Win 7 install.
Can't help with the install issue but for drivers If you do not want the hassle to download if you call Dell they will send you the driver and camera software DVD. They did for me when i asked.

 

Guys, a bit of warning on the 15 inch model. The radeon 7730m sucks . It cant do better than 20 FPS on high settings at 1080p on bad company 2. Also with everything set to low at 1080p i only got 40 or so FPS. Sont even get me started about battlefield 3. I hate AMD so much... Nvidia for life. returning it and getting 17r special edition with glorious 650m.

 

Hi there...

So we meet again..! Not to worry. I did not run into any problems when trying to do the clean install. Just popped in my retail version Ultimate disk and HDD was recognized and now I have had it running smoothly with Intel SRT and caching all set up for about a day now.

Maybe Dell fixed most of those issues they seem to have had about 3 months ago. I must say that when I tried to run the installation from the Windows OEM version that Dell provided that I had copied to an USB key, the install would fail saying that drivers for CD/DVD could not be found - even though the USB was the install media. But with the retail version DVD I had, no problems, like I said above.

Downloaded all drivers from the Dell website. But was able to use most devices without need for additional drivers. Will see what else needs to be installed as I go along.

Already loving this laptop. Can't wait to run Arch Linux on it. That is a project for a month from now when I finally get done with my school tests and all...!

Thanks for the help.

 

Hi. Like I said in my post above, my experience mirrored your own in almost every way. Thanks a lot for the advice. I will post later about how it goes with the Linux install.

 

wow that does not look too good. I have to guess it is the driver or maybe you are on HD4000 and do no realize it.

When I did the research on this I found it to be one of the better GPU's available for a 15" laptop.

Only GT650 and 660 are clearly better.
Per specs this one should be close in performnance to a GT640 which is a very good GPU.

 

Yes, maybe in synthetic benchmarks it is the same as a 640m. But still the slow GDDR3 memory hurt my performance badly at 1080p. I know I wasnt on the intel chip as I monitored to the AMD GPU with Afterburner and HWinfo64 WHILE playing bad company 2. also, Enduro is utter trash and cant hold a candle to Optimus. I have an M17x R4 is use at home wit ha 7970m and enduro hurts your performance when enabled by about 25%. The only way to run the laptop and get full performance was to force it onto the dedicated 7970m and reboot and leave it. this also wasted huge amounts of battery. The inspirion wont let your force use the AMD card so it might as well be a victim of enduro. I never had a problem with optimus on my M14x with 555m. Anyway, the 7730m simply cannot provide sufficient memory bandwith for use at 1080p. Thank God dell let me return the 15R and still gave me 20% off on a 17r from dell outlet. The 17r with same specs(i7,mSATA,1 TB, Blu-Ray,1080P) actually cost 25 dollars less with 20% off than the 15r did a week ago. all said and done the 17r cost me $746.

tldr; AMD's enduro is garbage and inspiron 15 wont let you force use only the AMD card.

 

I just bought the new 15R SE (8Gb, 1Tb HDD + 32Gb mSATA SSD) from Dell Italy!

I have one question about it:

it will be possibile to replace the mSATA 32Gb with a bigger SSD disk to be used as primary disk to load the OS and other programs? I read lot of discussion about replace the HDD with SSD, but not how to replace the mSATA SSD (I read all the discussions here, but maybe I missed this info). Are there any issues about perfromances? I have understood that the mSATA 32 GB provided by Dell is SATA3, but the connectors/MB are only SATA2 ...

Many thanks

 

So, has anyone tried to install more than 8GB of RAM in the 15R or 17R laptops yet? This is the only concern that is preventing me from getting it over the MSI GE70. I would like some confirmation on this please because if you can in fact use 16GB of RAM then I can save a couple hundred bucks by going with the 17R and haggling with the Dell sales people.