How's a Dell Inspiron 11 3185 as a budget laptop?

Zm1TDkSnQkY4KEqskCARSBpk · December 5, 2019

I've been looking for a good sub-$400 laptop. I decided that to save money, I'd reduce the amount of future-proofing and just get what I need now. Also, I noticed that at this price, you can't seem to get a 1080p screen and a battery larger than 30 WHr at the same time, so I went for an 11.6 inch screen because at that size, 1366x768 is acceptable, and a 30 Whr battery might be too.

I found an Inspiron 11 3185 for $276 (https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-Touchscreen-Convertible-A9-9420e/dp/B07C4QD2Y3/ref=sr_1_257?keywords=inspiron+11+3185&qid=1575526071&refinements=p_n_condition-type%3A2224371011&rnid=2224369011&s=electronics&sr=1-257) with 4 GB of RAM and a 500 GB mechanical hard drive. I estimate that if I get an 8 GB stick of RAM and a 256 GB SSD in the same order, it'll be about $330. Maybe I could then resell the old RAM and the hard drive to get some of the money back. I have some questions about this laptop:

How does the A9-9420e compare to my i7-740QM for single and multi thread performance?

Does the A9-9430e support hardware virtualization?

How much RAM can I put in that laptop, and why is it sold with DDR4-2400 if the CPU only supports DDR4-2133?

How long will 32 WHr power that thing?

How good is the keyboard?

How is the GNU/Linux support?

Bombastinator · December 5, 2019

I vaguely recall a recent LTT video where he had an 8th gen intel vs a new AMD cpu in otherwise identical laptops. It might be useful. Or it might not.

Zm1TDkSnQkY4KEqskCARSBpk · December 5, 2019

8 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

I vaguely recall a recent LTT video where he had an 8th gen intel vs a new AMD cpu in otherwise identical laptops. It might be useful. Or it might not.

I believe you're referencing the video where he compares the Flex 14 with a Ryzen 5-3500u and i5-8250u. I'm comparing a 2016 AMD CPU to a 2010 Intel CPU.

Bombastinator · December 5, 2019

2 hours ago, Zm1TDkSnQkY4KEqskCARSBpk said:

I believe you're referencing the video where he compares the Flex 14 with a Ryzen 5-3500u and i5-8250u. I'm comparing a 2016 AMD CPU to a 2010 Intel CPU.

So not then. Hmmm. I honestly don’t know much about either. Sorry. Used matters for batteries though. If it’s a 2010 battery it’s gone or close to gone. 2016 might not be much better of course. Depends on use. As for the other questions those are internet lookups. 2010 laptop still worth $400? Amazing.

Zm1TDkSnQkY4KEqskCARSBpk · December 5, 2019

The 2010 laptop is what I have now, not what I'm considering buying. The battery is at about 70% of it's original capacity if you're curious. The A9 processor was both low end and from before AMD got good, but the laptop with the 2016 CPU is actually a new elcheapo from 2018.

I've done some research and found the answers.

The A9 has slightly better single thread performance than what I have now, but only a little more than half the multi-thread performance. I guess I'll consider it as a secondary option, but one that I really don't want to take if I don't have to. It supports hardware virtualization. 8GB is guaranteed to work but there is no information on more RAM, the CPU only supports single channel, and including more than the CPU supports appears to be marketing. 32 WHr should last about 5 hours, the keyboard is OK, and GNU/Linux support should be good.

I found out that I can get a Lenovo Ideapad S340 with an i3-1005G1 with single and multi thread both higher than what I have now, 4GB soldered + 4 GB SODIMM DDR4-2666 that I can probably upgrade to 36GB later, 256 GB NVMe SSD, a 15.6 in FHD display, and a 52.5 WHr battery that Lenovo says will last 10 hours (but I expect 6-7). As much as I don't like Intel, Lenovo charges $70 *more* for the AMD version that's still on Zen+, and there's no way I'm paying more for an inferior product.