New Inspiron 11 3000 (11.6" Haswell Celeron Touchscreen)

4 days in, so far so good (with one glitch). I upgraded the RAM to 8GB, upgraded to Win 8.1 and then switched out the hard disk to a 250GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD. This puppy now boots really fast, above 6 secs. to the log in screen, and then only a few seconds from there to the Metro Start screen. I'm particularly impressed by how fast the Mail app connects to exchange server. Outlook 2010 on my Latitude 6420 (Win 7) can take a minute or more to make its first connection. The Mail app on this one makes a connection in a fraction of that (but that's likely more a function of Win 8.1 than this computer.)

The only glitch I experienced was with bluetooth after the upgrade to Win 8.1. My bluetooth headphones would pair, but wouldn't connect (or show up in the Sound Devices list.) Turns out it is a known issue with the Dell 1705 wireless/bluetooth card and needs updated drivers. There are no updated drivers listed for the 3137 in "My Dell", but there is a driver package for other Dell computers using this card. That package installed fine. I posted about this (with a link to the driver package) on the Dell support forum at Inspiron 11 3000 (3137) bluetooth issue after Win 8.1 upgrade - Laptop General Hardware Forum - Laptop - Dell Community.

Battery life seems pretty impressive. I was watching videos on Thanksgiving when I was cooking, about 2 hours of video on battery power and the battery meter showed only a 23% drain. Video was smooth and plenty sharp for my taste.

I was curious about processing power. So I used Handbrake to convert a 149MB wmv video file to MP4. On this computer it took 7:22. I did the same exact thing on Latitude 6420 (with an i7 processor), and the conversion took 2:47.

The touchscreen is responsive, and I think the keyboard is fine. I'd agree with other posters, though, about the sub-par touchpad. It's twitchy and, in my opinion, the right and left click button areas at the bottom require a really hard press. Overall, though, I'm very happy with it. It's perfect for exactly what I want it for --- a light carryound and travel laptop to supplement (not replace) my heavier workhorses.

 

How is the screen? Is it typical TN stuff, or just a low res but otherwise decent IPS?

 

Mediocre even for a TN panel, to be honest. Dim, with horrid vertical viewing angles. Sorry.

 

The comments about the screen are what's kept me from getting this machine. I went to Best Buy on Friday and noticed that they have an exclusive Haswell-powered variant of the Lenovo Ideapad Yoga 11S for $749 on sale. It's more than twice the cost of the Inspiron 11 3k, but the Yoga 11S has an IPS display and includes 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD and a much faster Core i5 CPU. I haven't decided if I keep this, but not being able to test out the Inspiron 11 3000 "live" means I'll have to wait until the local Microsoft Store has them in stock next week.

 

I would like to know this aswell, can someone chime in on this? The service manual seems to be soldered on. Can someone confirm or deny this?

 

I'm quite interested in picking up this laptop.. am waiting for them to arrive at the Microsoft Store so I can play with one in person before pulling the trigger.

One thing which is holding me back though is the ease of changing out the HDD for a SSD and cloning it (?), which i see quite a few posters have done. Am not familiar with the process - if someone could kindly post a step by step for this, it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

I can confirm this - the heatsink goes directly down to the CPU die and there is no socket underneath. Looks like BGA1168 all around.

 

Not too hard - 7 screws (3 front, 2 back, 2 in the front) holds the underside in one piece, then it's basically a standard 2.5" HDD, my guess is that it's a 7mm Z-height drive.

Here's the manual:

ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-prod...top/inspiron-11-3137_Owner's Manual_en-us.pdf

 

Thanks. How do I go about cloning it though? I understand that the SSD itself normally comes with the software - i'm currently looking at this one from Samsung:

Amazon.com: Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Notebook Kit Version Internal Solid State Drive MZ-7TE250LW: Computers & Accessories

Is the cloning process relatively self automated i.e. can I just run the software to clone the drive, replace the HDD with the SSD and boot up the laptop as per usual?

 

Thank you Rage!

Now it makes me wonder if the CPU that's included is good enough.... I think it should at least have an i3.....

 

Welp, I've been following this thread since October cause it was the only site even remotely interested in the Inspiron 11 3000. Since you all provided me with a lot of useful information, I figured I'd make an account and return the favor

I got mine 3 days ago (I'm typing this post on it) so while I haven't spent a huge amount of time with this thing, I'm completely blown away by its performance. In my opinion, a stronger processor than this would only be a detriment to it. The Windows rating for this Haswel Celeron is about a 5 (I can't double check the exact rating cause I find the rating tool in 8.1). To compare, the i3 in my 2009 Alienware is a 6.2. That's pretty damn good for a cheap processor with a lower clock speed. I also love how this thing has the battery life of a tablet, I'm sure a better processor would eat more power too. I also agree with Nils1, the screen this thing isn't the best and a more expensive processor would be wasted on it

All in all, I'm surprised by how well this runs. I bought it to try different Linux destros and to see how well I could get a low end device to run before I upgrade any parts. But Windows 8 and 8.1 run so well I don't even need to (but I will because Windows 8 sucks). I think the problem people keep having with the ram is that they're using Chrome which automatically caches webpages in the background which eats ram and is hard to kill

 

I ordered this laptop and the 8gb Crucial RAM, as well as as an SSD to replace the HDD and had the following question.

When I install Windows on the SSD, how do I make sure to install x64? As far as I know, this laptop comes with 32bit windows. Can any of the people who upgraded to 8gb comment on what they did to switch system to 64bit?

Thanks!

 

Should already be 64 bit. Just install the 8GB and it will be recognized.

As for memory, I thought I would post another option. I installed the G.Skill F3-1600C9S-8GRSL. Works like a champ. Got it on BF for the same price as 4GB.

Installing an Intel 530 240GB SSD as I type this. Using the Intel Data Migration Tool makes it nearly idiot proof. Loose some space due to it copying all the rescue partitions but makes for exact match. I'll post more after I get it completely installed.

 

Update...Intel 530 SSD Installed. System is so much more responsive.

Cold boot factory 500GB hd, 8GB, Windows 8.1, ~ 35 seconds

Cold boot 240GB SSD, 8GB, Windows 8.1 ~ 7 seconds

Now the perfect travel companion.

 

How well does the Celeron fare in day-to-day tasks assuming it has enough RAM? Last time i used a Celeron it was 65nm Conroe and it was slow in everything.

 

Surprisingly well. I've used it with about 8 tabs open in Opera 13, a PowerPoint, and an Excel spreadsheet without too much trouble. And that's without upgrading the ram. I plan on downloading Steam to see how well some older, 3D games like Half-Life run. And since Windows 8.1 was somehow more borked than 8, I factory reset it so now I can see the exact Windows rating for the Celeron is a 5.6

 

The brightness setting under the Dell power profile is set to keep the screen pretty dim (to extend the battery time.) I took it off of auto brightness settings and upped the brightness, and it made the screen much, much better.

 

Hi,

I tried to upgrade to 8gb RAM with Amazon.com: Crucial Single 8GB DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) Notebook Module, CT102464BF160B: Computers & Accessories

However, after I installed the new RAM, the laptop will not boot up. There will be a series of 4 beeps until I powered off the system. I replaced the old RAM and the system boots up fine.

I tried two or three times more but it will be the same.

Any advice? Thank you.

 

Can anyone confirm that any 1.35V (DDR3L) module will work?

 

Many have confirmed that the above RAM works. Therefore, I want to ask for advice in case I have to apply some steps before replacing the RAM.

Besides, is it my unit or the fan is not very quiet? Not really loud, but still a tiny bit annoying.

 

I just got this machine yesterday. I have to say, for $299 I'm very impressed with how it feels in terms of quality. My intention was to install Ubuntu, preferably as a dual boot, but I'm not sure how to go about it since Windows 8 is very different to me in terms of dual boot installations. For those that have done it, have you done a dual boot or a complete installation, wiping out Windows 8. I find that I am able to run Ubuntu off the USB stick but when I go to install it it doesn't recognize Windows as an existing partition automatically. I can do it manually but am not sure about the partitions. I have been able to load the USB stick while still being in Secure Boot. I turned off Secure Boot, same result. I could wipe out Windows, but am not sure how to re-install Windows if I want to go back since there are no installation discs. I'd really like to get Ubuntu running and would appreciate the help. I've read about the UEFI bit on the Ubuntu Forums, but am not completely clear on it.

 

Hi guys,

Just to update: Turn out the problem was with the memory stick that I bought. It was a faulty unit. I asked for a replacement and have successfully installed it.

Now running with SSD and 8gb RAM. Everything is now really really smooth. Boot takes about 5s. I have been using it for about 4 hours and the battery is still at 51%.

My only complaint now would be the Touchpad (it is really really bad), though I am more of a keyboard guy and don't use the Touchpad much (and the Touch screen helps too).

 

Touchpad is indeed jumpy.--Does it have anything to do with the laptop being level? For example, it seems more jumpy on my lap.

Especially when I use the touchscreen, the mouse cursor will completely vanish. Don't know if others get this after upgrading the RAM.

Any way to improve the above problems with software upgrade, setting tweaks, etc??

 

To those of you having trackpad issues, I concur. It can be pretty spotty and unreliable. When it works, I think it's fine for normal use (and even gestures work fine). I received this laptop and put in an ssd with 8 gigs of ram like many of you have done about a week ago. The day to day performance is great, but about a day after installing the new hardware, the trackpad randomly became unusable. Like it wasn't recognizing my touches and barely showing any signs of functionality - totally useless. I at first assumed it was a driver problem with the upgrade to 8.1 (though I still doubted that because I had been running 8.1 for about a half a day before the issue occurred). No amount of driver reinstalling and troubleshooting made any difference.

HOWEVER, I think I have the solution to many of the issues with it. When I opened the laptop back up to check for hardware malfunctions, the first thing I noticed was that the trackpad cable was directly under the battery (which I had to remove as part of the upgrade). It appeared to be in position, but it was horribly kinked and pressed into 90 degree bends because of the way it was forced to sit under the battery. After wiggling the connectors on it, as well as trying to un-kink the cable, my trackpad seems to be a lot better. It's usable now, but still kinda inconsistent - like once in a while the two finger scroll and click will sporadically decide to not work. I'm still not sure if this is software or not, because it's most apparent in browsing the internet. When this happens, it only affects one part of the OS or even just a certain browser tab. I still worry about that trackpad cable in the long term - I have no idea if it will hold up or be easily replaced.

On that note, does anyone know of a source for this type of cable to replace this one if it decides to wear out?

 

Inspiron 11 owners,

I bought this notebook two days ago and it's en route to my house today. Everyone here seems to agree that 2GB of memory isn't enough to power Windows 8 so I'm going to pick more ram at Fry's today. Since this is my budget purchase, i want to make sure the upgrade is also cost efficient. Do you think 4GB of memory is enough to do websurfing, emailing and a little photoshop? Or i should just bit the bullet and shell out $40 more for 8GB? Is 8GB overkill for this notebook?

 

I think 4GB is probably fine. I put in an 8GB stick, but I tend to overkill on upgrades and put in the most possible, and not what is necessarily the right choice (most balanced, most cost effective, most that a system can effectively use.) It would be interesting if someone on here had both a 4GB and an 8GB stick, and did some becnhmark comparisons. I think with this processor, the performance bump from an 8GB stick might be pretty small. After all, this isn't a computer you're going to use to process video files. While I did an 8GB RAM upgrade and an 256GB SSD upgrade, the 'sweet spot' on this little puppy might be 4GB RAM and a hybrid drive (8GB SSD coupled with a 500GB conventional spin drive). Those two upgrades would come to about $125, and added to the $299 for the computer, would make a sweet fast booting portable for less than $450.

 

Can anyone recommend a good sleeve? The Dell-branded sleeve is a generic one for 13" laptops.

 

I received this notebook yesterday. The performance is great and I am impressed with this $300 machine so far. I spent less than a day with this notebook but I've already done a few things to it to make it better.

- Update to 4gb of memory. I considered getting 8gb but I would be overkill for my use (web browsing, youtube, fantasy football).
- Uninstalled McAfee Antivirus. Read it is the cause of the Wifi reception issue. My wifi has no issues right now.
- Upgrade to Windows 8.1.
This will keep your brightness consistent without any auto-dimming to save battery:
--Disable Adaptive Brightness in Advance Power Settings.
--Disable Display Power Saving Technology and Extend Battery Life for Gaming in Intel HD Graphic Control Panel.
--Disable Dell Intelligence Display option in Dell Extend Battery Life option (Right click on battery life icon in Windows next to time and date)

 

If anyone was hoping do some light gaming on this, I just downloaded Steam onto my Inspiron 11 and installed and Half-Life 1. So far I've been able to play at the laptop's full resolution (1366x768) flawlessly. And I still haven't upgraded the 2 gb of ram yet and the notebook isn't even plugged in. In fact, I was able to alt+tab out of the game to type this post. I'm looking forward to playing some System Shock 2 on this

 

I managed to run Terraria and Torchlight 2 on it quite nicely (though the laptop got hot really quick).
And I have a bunch of games from GOG waiting to be tried when I have time.

It's a little bit sad that I can't run Civ 5 on this though, for Civ 5 with Touch support is really really nice. Though I did not buy the laptop for gaming so no complaint.

But the Touch pad... it's the only thing that keeps me from loving this. It's so bad I still can't get used to it after almost a week.
(I know I mention it before, but I can't help =.=, it's so bad I can't double click properly at times).

 

Heh. GoG was the first place I went when I found out I could game on this. Good timing too cause they put the original fallout game up for free. Now I've got a decent wish list and games in my que. I would like to see more apps and games with decent touch support, but I guess nobody cares about that on Windows. I can always download Android for x86 I suppose

As for the touch pad, it was acting up on me for the first time yesterday and I couldn't even use it. I normally use a bluetooth mouse but its nice when the touch pad is right there. Since I've turned it on today, I haven't had any problems. You should try sirlamesauce's fix. I'm guessing some were put together in a way the cord was pinched. Though I'm also still running Windows 8 so maybe that has something to do with it

 

I've discovered a bit more about the trackpad today. Here's the quick rundown: it was working fine for several hours while I surfed and even played a few simple games. I have noticed that it really does not like moisture at all - even sweaty fingers/hands getting moisture on the pad can cause it to freak out and act erratically. Another, more serious issue I came across today was that the trackpad became erratic and unusable as soon as I plugged in a usb mouse. The usb mouse worked fine, but the trackpad continued to exhibit its erratic behavior even after unplugging the mouse. Even after a reboot, it still was a little wonky. I shut it down to make dinner, intending to open it up afterward to have another look at the cable. Just for kicks, I turned it on again before surgery and, lo and behold, it was working fine. So I have no idea if this is new or related to the cable inside. Could others try to reproduce this behavior? If you can reliably cause the issue, does it clear up on its own after a few hours of being shut down completely?

 

I can confirm that the mousepad goes crazy when moisture is on it. I picked up a icy drink and then used the mousepad when my fingers were still moist. The mousepad became unusable. The cursor basically refused to move. I might return the laptop simply for this reason.

 

Well, that didn't last long. It did feel like a quality unit, but after less than a week of very light use, the Windows Start button came off. This on top of the fact that Windows 8 seems too much to handle the way it is shipped. I can accept some problems, but Dell's customer service is horrible, never had a good experience with any company with customer service in India. One person even told me that I needed to buy a new keyboard and replace it myself (missed the part of it being new and being a laptop). It seems this race to the bottom has resulted in hardware that can take away from the user experience. Interestingly, Dell just announced they are jumping into the Chromebook market.

 

It's really not. I was about to post a performance tip but since you posted, you have to uninstall McAfee. It was the first thing I did but after I factory reset my laptop and forgot about it, wow. It uses up so much resources that I can hardly believe it. I was good 90% of the time but then I caught "Windows maintaince" draining my performance. The tip I was going to mention was turning off the auto update. It seems to have solved any other slowdowns I was getting. Windows updates other than Windows defender are just bloat anyway.

As for the "race to bottom", like all things I'd blame Microsoft. Think about the price of this notebook and the price of a copy if Windows. It's ridiculous that the OS is about a 3rd of the cost. It's why there are decent android tablets that are $100 less than this. Though I agree with you, the keyboard shouldn't be falling apart after a week of use. As for customer service, I find communicating via email to be much smoother

 

Overall, I understand trying to make computers affordable, but there is the potential that low-end hardware can really take away from the user experience. A lot of the complaints about Windows 8 may not be about the OS, but actually the hardware it's on. That may be the reason why Apple is so tight on that.

Dell offered to replace the unit and extend the warranty for another year, but the thought of potentially dealing with their customer service made me just return the unit outright. The other thing which I really did not like was the screen. It was far too washed out and with a very limited viewing angle. The keyboard may have just been bad luck for me.

 

I just received two of these. I have to say my initial impression is that they are very solid and compact. I also purchased two samung 840 evo 120GB SSD's and two 4 GB memory sticks (cas 9-9-9-28 instead of the included 11-11-11-28). After installing the SSD's and memory I am extremely pleased with these machines. The are intended as xmas presents for my younger kids to use for school work, but should suffice for general use as well.

Fingers crossed that the keyboards will withstand the abuse of two early teens...........

 

I bought this computer because I was using my HTC One with 2 gb of ram and a 1.7 ghz quad core and decided that was plenty of processing power for a notebook to run on. With a little knowledge, a low end computer can run just as efficient as a high end computer so I'm glad Dell makes machines like this. And Windows 8 uses less resources than Windows 7 so any complaints about Windows 8 were caused by Windows 8. Anyone who doesn't understand that a their $300 Windows 8 computer/tablet might need a little more tweaking than their $600 Windows 7 computer and then blame Windows 8 would have to be a complete idiot. The only reason Apple is tight on their hardware is because they want complete control over their "ecosystem". Its not like they release sub $1000 pc's; their software runs so well because all their computers have i7 processors and solid state hard drives.

I considered the same. I was having a hard time getting a decent amount of contrast so I spent a while playing with the brightness, gamma, and contrast. But then I realized I was just viewing it at way too steep an angle. Its still not perfect, but I won't find a small notebook with a screen to match my HTC One without buying an expensive Ultrabook so I just forced myself to get used to it. I plan on using 3rd party Windows 8 themes to make up the difference cause dark grays and blacks look fine

 

I bought this laptop on Black Friday and have been following this thread for a while. Anyway, just wanted to say that I love this little guy!

I upgraded the 500GB 5400PRM stock hard drive to a Samsung 250GB 840 EVO and the RAM to 4GB's of Crucial RAM (Plus I got a free 16GB Flash Drive when I ordered because of some promotion, woot, woot!) and so far it's been awesome!

Just a heads up though, if you're having touchpad issues, use Dell's online chat to talk with tech support and get them to send out a tech to your house so they can replace the palm rest assembly. I had the touchpad issue (Didn't work, worked erradicly, hard to click, and space bar felt as if I spilt soda on it (but didn't!)) and when I contacted Dell through the online chat support they sent out a tech literally the next day to fix it!

As for the slowness that some of you guys are experiencing, you should uninstall McAfee and install either Panda Cloud or just stay with the default Windows 8 antivirus (not recommended!) plus if you installed an SSD, I find it helps to install the software that came with it such as Samsung Magician because there you can check for firmware updates and optimize your system for the best performance with the SSD!

Anyway, here's a quick review of it from my perspective:

Pros:
Quick once you upgrade
Cheap
Well built, especially for the price! (Albeit a little creaky)
Touchscreen
Haswell processor
Great battery life

Cons:
Somewhat creaky casing on the right side of the palm rest
Not too configurable on Dell.com
Slow factory install
Touchpad issues at first

I really like the Dell Inspiron 11 3137, and while it does have some quirks, it's a great college or kids laptop!

Firstly, let me start out by saying that I bought his laptop on Black Friday when it was 299.99 with just accidental damage as the only other option on the system. I received it literally 3 days later via FedEx Home Delivery. The second I took it out of the box, I fell in love! The packaging was minimal (Yay! Eco friendliness!) and everything was well packaged. When I did a first boot, I noticed right away that it was really slow though, which made me a little concerned that I bought a bad laptop, but when I noticed all the bloatware that was loaded on, I ousted that idea and just uninstalled a ton of things (Mainly McAfee, Dell Downloads, and a few other things I didn't think were necessary.) After I did that, everything was working really well and I quickly started to use the laptop more than I intended to! (I intended to use it as a throw around/ test laptop) Anyway, after a few hours of using the laptop, I noticed a few things happening, the screen was dimming a lot and it looked bad when I did so, so I snooped around and found that I should turn off some of the Dell battery saving features (They work well, but the screen dimming and washed out colors looked awful when it did so) and I did. After I did that, the thing was working like a champ, until you know, I updated the RAM and replaced the HDD with an SSD, in which case it worked even better, but at the same time, I started having the touchpad and spacebar issues. My guess is that since this system is sandwitched together (Battery on top of touchpad/keyboard/etc.) it became loose when I removed the battery and got pinched when I replaced it. I didn't really know what to do at that point because I didn't want to take anything out of it or move it, yet at the same time I didn't want to return it, so grudgingly, I called Dell. They were no help at all, to which case I remembered that Dell has an online chat option, which after trying numerous times in the past, always was the best option! I chatted with Dell (waiting for about 4-5 mins) and asked them what they would do, and they said that they'll send out a tech which was a welcome surprise over "send it to us, we'll look at it, and send it back." So anyway, they came and fixed the problem by replacing the while top keyboard/palm rest assembly and everything was working as it should! Dell even called me a few hours later to confirm that everything's working, which was also a nice surprise! Anyway, everything is working flawlessly at this point! If you need any more info from me on my lengthy and I'm guessing boring review, just reply to this!

 

May I ask an owner to measure the entire glare part of the screen ?
Wonder if standard 11.6" anti-glare covers will fit it.
Also does the exhaust grill is exposed when lid closed and open ?
On Asus X201E it's covered by the lid when closed so cant really use it this way (with external screen, controls) cos it overheats.

Thanks in advance

 

Thanks for calling me an idiot Anyways, as it turned out, I did buy another Dell. Managed to pick up the XPS 12 for $699 from Microsoft. For me it works better since I won't have to upgrade the memory and hard drive and only costs slightly more in the end. While tweaking a computer will improve the performance, it's not something for everybody (although I was looking forward to it). It's just easier if something can work well out of the box.

 

Two tips:
- Upgrade RAM and SSD. Before doing so, my system kept freezing for several seconds as Windows was paging to the slow hard drive.
- The touchpad connector cable winds down underneath the battery. Straightening out the connector cable and sitting it above the battery seems to help touchpad issues. However, I still notice my browser inadvertently zooming when I touch the touchpad right side.

Question: Is dual-channel RAM supported, considering this is standard across modern laptops?

 

This one is single-channel only since it only has one RAM slot and there's no on-board memory.

 

Hello, guys.. Another new Inspiron 11 owner here
Just bought it last week since I managed to catch it on a sale and it seemed like a good laptop for the price. Shame that it seems like this is the only place that is remotely interested in this laptop. I wonder why's that... Anyway. I wanted to post some impressions and some doubts about it.

First, build quality is good. You get what you're paying for in terms of build, and even if the case is all plastic, the texture gives it a premium feeling.
Second, touchpad sucks. Sometimes it even stops working for a few seconds (mostly when under heavy load and it's not happening as much as when I first got it); I seriously think that having a touchscreen on this laptop is a saving grace.
Third, great battery life! Gives me more than 5-6 hours on average doing my own stuff, which might not be mindblowing for some, but for me it does. Though I'm worried about the reduced 300 charge/discharge cycles. Anything I can do to make it last longer, like activating some of the Dell options in power configuration? Do you recommend using those?
Fourth, uh... what's up with the vents being blocked by the screen? Hope this doesn't lead to any troubles in the future.
Fifth, it seems like the power button is somewhat hard to use, at least in mine. If I don't press it properly, it won't detect the pressing.
And sixth and last, this is something for more power users but, what's your opinion on using the laptop with heavy applications? I'm talking about games and stuff. I managed to get Tomb Raider (2013) to play on it, and it's actually playable, averaging 20+ fps @ 800x600 with normal visual quality, but obviously, the fans go crazy when playing (even if the temperature stays at 50~ °C under heavy load, thanks to that) Do you think this will bring consequences mid, or even short-term in terms of cooling or damaging the cooling parts like the fan? Most of my laptops have had several problems with heat as time goes by, and I would like to avoid that if possible.

Whew, that was a lot longer than I thought it would be. Anyway, see you guys around, and keep enjoying your Inspirons

 

Hi. New guy here. I bought this laptop a week ago. Some issues. I noticed the trackpad worked fine UNTIL I upgraded to Windows 8.1. This seems to be a known problem with 8.1; some laptops trackpads messing up. I use a bluetooth mouse so I'm not too concerned. I also noticed the fan gets kinda loud.

My big issue which is driving me nuts is the auto screen dimming. I'm not talking about the dimming after a subsecuent time of no activity but rather the dimming that happens when a dark image appears.

I have tried everything. The Intel settings; the power management settings & the windows settings. Nothing helps. Any ideas??

 

The auto dimming is easy to fix up. Right click on battery icon > Dell battery options > Untick the Dell Smart Screen option.

Hope that helps

 

This isn't working for me Marche90. Are these the options you're referring to??



That's the only option I have. It automatically re-engages every time. I am certain I have all Intel options disabled as well. Any ideas??




EDIT. Got it to stick on reboot.

 

I just received this laptop. I upgraded to win 8.1 and now the touchpad does not work properly. Gestures, scrolling, zooming, even getting the pointer to work properly are not working now.
I've spent over 20 hours now trying to get this to work. Have even contacted Dell and walked through all the resetting and reinstall of drivers. I even tried installing the drivers directly from Synaptics web site. This seemed to fix this issue; gestures, scrolling, zooming were working correctly on the touchpad. Then, 4 hours later they just stopped working again. There are times when the touchpad doesn't even register my finger movement.
The other thing I notice is that the touch pad is little higher on the left side than the right side. The bottom left side sticks up just a bit that I can catch it with my finger nail when moving it from right to left. On the other sides of the touch pad (top, right, bottom), the touch pad sits down in the laptop body.
Could it be that it is not seated properly in the laptop? Can you tell on yours if this is how it looks?
Would like to hear your experience.

 

Hi. My touchpad was no good after the Win 8.1 update, but then I installed these drivers(had the older ones from Dell website)& it fixed all issues.
Driver Details | Dell US

 

Thanks for the link to the driver for the 3138 inspiron. I installed it. The gestures and scrolling are still not working. Are they working for you? Overall, though, the touchpad is at least finally responding to my finger.