L502x construction, anyone open it up?

What is the bottom of laptop made out of? Metal? Plastic?
If you open up the bottom to access the drives, memory, etc., what is the chassis that everything is attached to made out of? Metal?, plastic?

Thx in advance

 

refer to this thread, should be the same design though
http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/538665-xps-15-repaste-step-step-temps-1.html

page one

 

All plastic.

 

That upsets me. Dell (in a chat) told me it was aluminum. I think I am gonna cancel my order.....

 

My L501x was plastic that was spray painted a metallic color.
Maybe they changed it in L502x? Maybe a 502x owner who has actually taken it apart can comment.

Dell chat is going to tell you whatever you want to hear to make the sale, there can be a lot of discrepancy in what they tell different people.

 

It's plastic, other than the top of the lid. The palmrest / keyboard surround is plastic and held on with clip tabs but there may be a veneer of aluminium on top (or it may just be the shiny band round the outside). Bottom is definitely plastic.

It's not an MBP, ultimately. Doesn't feel like one, look like one or cost as much as one. Not to say that it feels cheap - no creaks or bends or anything like that, so far, and feels like a solid lump of stuff.

 

question answered

 

The L502x is the same. Painted some gold metallic color, but all plastic.

It's not a MBP, it's better. This feels just as solid and sturdy as the MBP. I even returned the new MBP I had becuase the price is not worth what you get in them.

 

Well, I am concerned about longevity. I don't upgrade my laptops often, my last one was from 2005.

 

It felt sturdy enough to me. Not a business laptop with magnesium innards, but there was 0 flex in it. No creaking, hinges were solid.

 

What are you concerned about? Parts failing? You're getting the same devices from Apple that you are with Dell. Only main difference is OS and body (looks). If you want to pay extra for a magnetic power adaptor, go right ahead. You can't guarantee any single laptop to last for any single duration of time. They all break down eventually. What matters to me, is when crap starts failing (which will happen on all of them), how much is it gonna cost to fix this? This I can guarantee that the dell will be cheaper, and easier to fix.

Homework: Check on the time and cost of replacing the battery on these two.

 

The fact that is all plastic may be related to what people are experiencing with regards to temps. The XPS 15 is cooler to the touch than the SXPS but warmer inside which kind of makes sense. The SXPS chassis acts as a heatsink and transfers heat to the outside keeping the innards cooler but the user's lap warmer. Plastic is a much worse conductor of heat than aluminum/magnesium so the XPS stays cool on the outside but the insides get hotter. What do you guys think?

 

Read notebookcheck reviews about new Macbook Pro 15 with i7 2635QM it throttling and throttling Macbook pro 17 with i7 2720QM too.
They have aluminum case and double fan cooler.

Review Apple MacBook Pro 15 Early 2011 (2.0 GHz Quad-Core, Matte Screen) - Notebookcheck.net Reviews
Test Apple MacBook Pro 17 Early 2011 (2.2 GHz Quad-Core, glare) - Notebookcheck.com Tests (sorry this is still in German)

 

The logic works, but testing shows otherwise. These new processors will get hot inside no matter what chassis you have. The only difference between them is how hot it feels on the outside. The XPS does a better job of keeping exterior surface temps lower due to the plastic, as a metal would absorb that heat and radiate it to other areas for an extended period of time vs. the plastic. Take a look at the MBP, it's exterior isn't that hot, but the inside gets as hot as the XPS, and it was the first to be seen throttling at 100C on the cores. All three notebooks are different in regards to outside temps/chassis material/ cooling design, but the one thing they all have in commom: it gets hot inside and there is nothing we can do about it.

 

Confirmed, i have it in my possesion, had to open to put in an SSD. it's all plastic....

 

Didn't believe us the first time?

 

Awww, I see why you have been asking about the plastic vs. metal. Its pretty much all plastic like everyone has said but its also well built. This notebook could easily withstand being taken apart many times (twice so far lol) and unless you plan to drop your laptop fairly often, you wont have any problems.

 

Can you point me in the direction of a good place to buy a ssd?

 

Actually no, i didn't think Dell would lie and people do make mistakes. BTW, I hate how you need to take the top off to get to the drive. The 1645 was a piece of cake to work on.