Dell Inspiron 15R Special edition (7520)

Anyone know how to update the Intel drivers on this laptop for a clean install ? Does the AMD driver package that is listed on the Dells website have the Intel drivers in it?

Edit: Never mind.

This is the link to the latest intel HD 4000 drivers updated 11/1.

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers...?driverId=5K9FD&osCode=W864&fileId=3082721244

 

Few Qs:

1) This CyberLink Media Suite that came pre-installed...is that any good / worth keeping? Looks to be the only bloatware I have left from DELL aside from their support app.

2) I read somewhere a few pages ago that a BIOS update was released for this computer. a. Do I need to do that - and what does it fix/improve? b. How exactly does one get the correct BIOS and update it?

 

I removed the Cyberlink Media Suite as VLC or media player classic was fine for me.

Which BIOS are you on? I am currently on A06 and it says A07 as latest on the Dell website. Since I heard you cant downgrade, i advise to stick with your current BIOS unless you are having problems.

 

Where did you get teh 12.11 catalyst driver?
I am using the the stock Dell video driver package (the latest W7 version)
My temps during medium level SC2 gaming:
CPU 71C
GPU 62C
This is with temps outside around 60C as I have noticed it is a cooler day temps are lower and have seen when it was 80C that my temps were
CPU 73C
GPU 65C

 

You can get the 12.11 beta drivers on this page towards the bottom.

AMD Catalyst

Those are pretty good temps! What you mean outside temps are 60'C??? Are you talking Celsius or Fahrenheit ?

Well, temps are always gonna be dependent to extent on the ambient temps.

 

I already downloaded VLC as well - one of the first things I got. Just was not sure if Cyberlink was worth anything at all.

I also don't know what BIOS version. Is the only way to find out to restart the computer?

The only problem I"m having right now is with my router. It will not let me connect to the internet if I have my router set up to use a passcode. I'm not sure if this is a driver issue, router issue, McAfee issue or BIOS issue.

I just saw a lot of people here talking about BIOS and I'm not exactly sure what the necessity is to upgrade.

 

I've had no issues with routers. Try turning off McAfee and seeing what happens. And type detailed description of what you are doing and the messages.

You may need Cyberlink to play Blue Ray discs. I haven't checked recently, but in the past VLC and MPC couldn't play blue ray.

BIOS version can be seen if you access the BIOS (yes, by restarting). Or you can (on Win7) click start, search for "dxdiag", enter pop-up about digital sigs, no, then read the first tab that comes up. BIOS version ends with the version, ....A05, or whatever. I will not be updating as I have no issues. Plus I want to see if there are any problems that get reported with the new BIOS. I don't trust Dell anymore with updates.

 

I usually have problems with McAfee, it would not let java run. Not sure if this is the problem but I recommend disable it and see if it lets you connect. I uninstalled McAfee and using Avast.
I thought Bios info is available in System info.

 

My bad meant 60F of course.I can notice a few degrees difference in temps how warm the day is.
For once Dell has done a great job in cooling managment in case of 15R SE. Even with gaming temps are very decent but I guess the bulkiness helps here.

How do you install the driver directly from AMD? When I tried it a few weeks ago it would not let me. Did you install the whole package or just the driver?

 

You can check the BIOS version using the Dell Checkup software.

The new AMD drivers should directly install without giving a problem.

 

Google Chrome Blog: Longer battery life and easier website permissions

The new version of Chrome enables GPU accelerated video decoding.
In tests batteries lasted 25% longer when watching Youtube.

I was wondering if this battery saving can be done by the GPU of the intel HD4000?

 

Dell Inpsiron 7520...been using it for 2 weeks now.

Intel i7
1tb hdd
Fresh install of Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit


Yesterday the hard disk failed after 2 weeks. Today had a visit from Dell technician and the hdd was replaced.

When seen the motherboard I found out that there is no mSATA port on the daughterboard. Called Dell and they agreed to send an engineer with a new daughterboard free of charge.

If u r buying this laptop without ssd or msata drive then don't waste your money, especially with 1tb hdd 5400rpm. Its slow.

- Loading time is slow because of hard drive 5400rpm
- The screen, 1080p is superb quality
- The fan is very quiet
- It doesn't get hot
- Keyboard is comfortable, but sometimes the cursor jumps and you endup typing in the wrong area. This is because the touchpad is big and your hands will come over it when typing. I did try to set as less sensitive but not luck.
- Touchpad is smooth and responsive
- Optical drive is not that good, makes noise and doesn't read some of the dvds if even a small scratch on it.
- Wifi card is good, doesn't drop any packets
- The battery holds charge for 4 hours when browsing the net with outlook open, nearly 3 hours with Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Chrome.
- USB 3.0 is fast
- HDMI port is working well and the quality is good
- Webcam is not that great, could do with a better quality


Ok enjoy your Inspiron 15r Special Edition

 

Good points. They just gave you a daughterboard on asking?

And yes the computer keeps really cool on load and even when stressed. Impressed with how quiet it is also on load.

 

Yes I called them and said that I read everywhere on the internet about mSATA port but mine hasn't got one and that I am very disappointed now. First they said no we can't do anything about it but I kept insisting on mSATA port so they made an exception.

Now I have to find a good and fast mSATA drive, 64gb would be enough.

Yes the fan deserves a 5star

 

Does anybody know if any Third Party Battery Seller sell a Nine cell battery for this laptop that works. Been looking for one for a while now...

 

I just got an error saying "your computer is low on memory - please close programs". All I was doing was surfing the internet.

I have 8 GB RAM. Huh?

 

Check your HDD (or SSD if you had one) space, sometimes when my desktop has low space in the HDD shows that advertisement, mainly when I have Photoshop open. If you would have problems with the ram the most probably thig it would happend is that yor laptop freezes and close some programs.

 

I'm planning to upgrade to Windows 8. Is there any particular order for the driver installation when I install Windows 8? Also, I've been reading online about Usb 3.0, how Windows 8 has generic drivers and Intel is not releasing any at the moment. For people that have upgraded, have you just installed the Intel one anyways or is the Windows 8 driver working well?

 

Quick review following to my request to Dell for a daughter board and msata port which was missing on this model.

Today I got the daughterboard installed with msata drive 64gb....the laptop is now crazy fast.

 

So what are the options for those with the 5400rpm 1tb drive as it is painfully slow?

Is it possible to swap the existing hdd for an ssd even though there is no msata?

Or just get a 7200rpm drive?

Thanks

Jon

 

I have 1tb 5400 and yes it was painfully slow, specially if you are on photoshop or dreameaver.
Loading time is a killing.

Now with msata drive next to it...its crazy fast.

You can either add an msata drive ( if ur laptop has n msata port), replace with n ssd drive(costly
Or get one of those momentus hybrid 750gb 7200rpm drives.

 

Thanks for the help mate.

Just checked out the momentus 750gb hdd's and think I will try one of those.

Is it easy to change the hdd? anyone tried it?

Thanks

Jon

 

Jon
If you have an msata port then you should go for an msata drive.
If you are UK based same as me then unfortunately you won't have an msata port.

Changing the hard drive is simple, see attached.

ok good luck

 

If you have a laptop without a mSATA drive, it is much easier to simply replace your HDD with a SSD as the primary. Get a 512 GB for around $300-400.

 

Yeah, I might wait till payday and get one of these. - http://www.waeplus.co.uk/product/1278903/CRUCIAL-M4-Internal-Solid-State-Drive-(S

I have the core i7 and 16gb of ram and just seems a shame to hold it back with a poor hdd

Anyone else got the highest spec with a ssd?

Just wondering how fast it takes to boot up win 7 - mine takes over a minute which is fairly disappointing for the spec

Thanks

Jon

 

I7, 8gb ram, 1tb hdd, 64gb msata drive

One/off button to chrome online = 19 seconds

Dreamweaver 5 seconds
Photoshop 5 seconds

 

I have the 32GB SSD + 1 GB 5400 RPM HDD, and my laptop boots up in about 20 seconds or less. From sleep to load windows is about 5 seconds. It's crazy fast!

 

Experts help me .In the i5 version CAn i run battlefield 3 with everything ultra xcept (amoient conclusion , anisotropic filter , anti analsing post , anti anlsing deffered ) off. and all otherrs xcept the ones in the bracket at ultra with resolution 1280X800 with this settings and rsolution how much fps can i get

 

I don't know how to describe one issue I'm having but...everything on this computer works great. It seems like sometimes when I press down on my spacebar, from a certain spot, it has this type of tinny or springy sound. Every other key is perfectly quiet. I type all day long so it is kind of noticable, just curious if anyone has experienced this or knows what i'm talking about? Wondering if it is worth the hassle of getting someone toopen this baby up to replace the keyboard. Don't want to make a big deal about something minor.


Also, one other issue I'm having is that one of my TVs works perfectly with the HDMI port while the other gets video and not sound. It's not the HDMI cord (trial/error) and I doubt it's the port (because it works perfect with the other TV), so I have no idea what to do. The TV does not even appear in the Sound panel to choose it as default.

 

Ok
Just finished installing os and everything back on my 15r-se
I now have a 120Gb mushkin msata ssd!
A lot faster than the factory 32gb samsung pm830!
From nothing to windows in less than 20s!!
Cheers!

 

I will say probably. I ran SC2 (less demanding) with most setting at high with 1920x1080 and it was only giving 16fps. I changed to 720p resolution and frame rate went up quite a bit. Right now I run it as medium setting @ 720p and get between 60-70fps.

 

Mine came with a defective spacebar. I couldn't press it down in certain spots. I called Dell, and they had a technician come and replace my keyboard. Now everything is perfect.

 

My spacebar works but when you press down in certain spots it sounds weird. And when just touching it without pressing it, it makes a creaky sound when it flexes.

If I call them to have someone come replace the keyboard, do they have to tear open the computer or is it something that is easily replaced? I remember having to have the keyboard on my M1530 replaced and the guy had to take off like four or five pieces to do it and when he was done it was lumpy.

 

so, which is the backlit keyboard that is compatible with this model - vostro 3550 ??

just want to know before i drop money on it.

 

wow, I'm jealous.. which country are you in ?
I live in France, and mSata was a priority for me.. but the sell representative assured me I had the mSata port on my laptop even if the mSata option wasn't available.. which of course was a lie (or a big lack of knowledge/information on his part).. so I'm looking everywhere for a daughter card replacement.. there should be no issues country-wise I guess..(no power voltage difference or other stuff) but I can't find a place to buy it (I mean the only were ebay but without the mSata port and a romanian site - CONTROLLER CARD - N7JHH - which seems closed for the moment).

Do you know the part number/model ? Is it "N7JHH" ?
If anyone knows a place to buy the part I would be very happy

 

SUPER easy. Took the guy 5 seconds to replace. SO glad I did it.

 

Just added 16GB(2x8) RAM. No issues but also not much differernce I can note.
Same 1600Mhz PC3-12800 RAM with CAS of 10.

It shows as 16GB in config page as well when I check the resource monitor but when I go in the BIOS at startup it only shows 8GB.

Anyone knows if the system is really able to utlize all 16GB? Do I need to do any tweaks to take full advantage? Any recommendation on pagefile size etc. I checked and it changed to ~16GB now.
Used to e around 6 or 8GB before,

 

which display do you have? you can get the name with the program aida64. I have a samsung st184 oder something like that (dont remember exactly name). I ask because in a test, the guy had a display from AU eletrconics.

and can I play battlefield 3 with lowest settings in full hd or 1366x768 with arround 60fps?

and is the amd 7730m really faster then the nvidia 640m? some guy here wrote that he got with benchmark now more points then nvidia 640m.

and is it possible to overclock the amd 7730m? and how (with which programm?) does it makes sense to overclock? or do you get instantly a error when you raise the clock speed/.... ?

 

does anyone know if the built-in memory card reader is USB 3.0 or 2.0? How can I find out?

 

Is the top lid switchable in 7520? if yes tell me some websites that sell top lids?

 

I'm pretty sure a card reader will never be classified as a USB device. You can google SD card classes and speeds and compare. In real life practice I have been using Class 10 SDHC cards and the transfer rates are considerably slower than the USB 3.0 ports to/from a USB 3.0 external hard drive. I have tried using a USB adapter sometimes to transfer to my SD cards, but I honestly don't remember the speed.

 

Hey guys,

I just want to know whether it is possible to upgrade the AMD Video Card of this computer to NVidia Geforce GTX 660m.
I'm a newbie at this computer stuff so please pardon my ignorance.

Thanks!

 

I may be mistaken, but I thought I read that the CPU and GPUs are welded to the main board on this computer. I think it is the same for the XPS 15. Seems to be a trend in Dell laptops nowadays. Personally, I wouldn't mess with it. Dell has been having a lot of driver and chipset problems with some of its models lately. Radical customization may just open up a can of worms right now. The Inspriron 15R SE has been pretty good, but the XPS 15 with the 660m has had, and continues to have, a multitude of problems. If you absolutely need better graphics capability I would look to Alienware, or another brand.

 

Short answer is NO.
Keep in mind GPUs are typically part of the motherboard and even if not I do not think an nVidia GPU will just drop in place of an AMD GPU, two competing companies.
To top it off there maybe some driver or software issues, so again NO.
If you really want GT660 try to get the Y580, I think it comes on the latest models offered right now.
Yes on performance GT660m is perhaps one of the best GPU out there right now.

Laptops are different than Desktop, not really possible to swap GPUs.

 

Just ordered one of these on the Dell Black Friday UK Deal. i7 3612QM, 6GB RAM, 720p screen (only downside) and 750GB 7200RPM for £474. Doesn't have backlit keyboard though.

I read it was possible to upgrade the daughterboard for a mSATA SSD, is there a part code I could say order when it arrives? Also, is it possible to fit a backlit keyboard? Be nice if it was a straight swap!

 

I read somewhere the motherboards that don't have the mSATA drive don't have the ports to connect a daughter board. Or maybe it did and you would have to buy the right daughter board. Now that I think about it, the daughter board has two of of the USB ports on it I think, so there should be some kind of daughter board in there. As far as the backlit keyboard, you will need the appropriate port on the motherboard for that too. Switching the keypad out is easy though.

In the end it may have been cheaper just to buy a sale model with the mSATA and backlit keyboard.

 

Mine came with daughterboard with no msata port on it, I have contacted Dell's sales team and they have agreed to replace the daughterboard with one with msata port on it.
free of charge.
After installing the msata drive I love working on this laptop every second, its crazy fast.

btw, I am UK based and I think I am one of the few with an msata port.

 

e6bwhiz and anyone else. How do you like the inspiron? I am still having many issues with the 521 and have been informed I could switch to an inspiron 15r SE . But the only downside is the gpu difference, help on deciding would be great : Id be using it for video editing, office documents, lots of file converting(mpg3,mp4,avchd.mts etc) outputting to external displays via hdmi/widi some display port for about 6-10hours a day. And occasionally some gaming, diablo 3 etc. also how do you find the size difference? also, does the 15r se have a separate slot for Bluetooth so I could place a 6250 wifi card and a dell 370 Bluetooth card?

Id request an alienware m14x but I cant stand the 1600 x 900 resolution when ive had 1920x 1080 ++ for over 8 years

 

I haven't done a ton of stuff with it yet. I am using Win7, but many on have have Win8. As you know the specs are basically the same as the 521 except for the GPU. I have had no problems with this laptop so far. Wi-Fi works as I would expect from a laptop. Battery, I guess around 3-4 hours. I did disassemble this model to upgrade the mSATA drive. I'm running Win7 completely on the 256GB mSATA drive and have the internal HDD as extra storage. Also reinstalled Intel RST with no problems. The procedure is quite involved. You basically have to remove everything from the case and get to the daughter board, which is underneath the motherboard. I'm 99% sure the bluetooth is integrated on the wirless card. I really don't use bluetooth for more than headphones or mouse, so I don't know what functionality you will be loosing. It works fine for me. You may need to seek an external bluetooth device for what you need.

As far as the GPU goes, I've had no issues with video playback, or things of that nature. I haven't really tested it with any games yet. I did play games on my older L501x and I would expect this model to perform about the same. From what I've read you will be able to play games, but maybe on medium settings. And I've done a lot of video editing and compression in the past. GPU shouldn't affect performance too much for than anyway. I guess maybe, depending on the program/nature of your editing operations. Still have the 3rd gen i7 CPU.

It does have some things the 521 doesn't. This has 4 USB 3.0 ports. It has the GPU boost, but every time you use a new program it pops up a window so you can choose whether or not it utilizes the AMD chip. For most things I choose not to use it, in order to save battery power. For video playback and games you can specify that the AMD always be used. And it includes an AMD software utility that is like a little desktop widget. It is a graphic representation of the GPU performance. You can see if it being used at power savings or full AMD boost modes in real time.

The sound isn't nearly as good as the L501x, but is probably a bit better than the L521x. It is more sturdy than the L521x. One of the issues I had with the 521 was when I would pick it up, the case started to flex and something would make contact inside and short out the power supply. No issues like that here. This thing even accidently got dropped onto hard tile floor from about 2 feet and just kept on going.

The touchpad is considerably better than the L521x. I almost never get any accidental palm mouse movements. Not quite as good as the L501x touchpad, but only as far as texture goes. The touchpad is recessed a bit, and I'm sure that helps. I rarely notice the fan being on high. Much more quit than the L521x when it was on high.

The only other thing I don't enjoy is the matte screen. Personal choice, but I always loved the XPS gloss screen. Yes, it was more reflective, but these matte screens make the things look more grainy, IMO. I was pleasantly surprised to see the rubber-like gasket around the screen, so it will help keep dust away from the keyboard when shut. And you have more of the plasticy-feel of Inspirons, but it isn't that different from the L501x. Hopefully someone else can comment on long-term HDMI or game useage. For me, I am really glad I ditched the L521x.

On another note, I have since read some older articles on the huge problems Dell had with laptops around 200-2004. They sold tens of thousands with bad resisters on the motherboards and basically did nothing. Their sales staff was told to try to persuade customers that there was nothing wrong. I'm generalizing, but you can find and read them for yourself. It just doesn't build confidence on their operations now that we see another lemon model and they refuse to truly fix it. I saw the pattern and gave up on the L521x early on. All I can say is that the 15R SE is basically the best Dell option right now.

 

Yeah but I got it on the Dell Black Friday sale. There was another version of the SE on sale for £700 with 32GB mSATA and backlit keyboard (and 1080p) but I don't think its worth paying £230 over what I got mine for, when hardware wise its almost top model.

Ah nice, how did you persuade them to send one? How long ago was it? I might try to do the same: D