Recommendations for a used Dell Precision 15" (today?)

Hello - As a CAD enginerd, I've been a Dell Precision user for decades, and have two 7740's on hand. I use computers, but ain't no expert!

Today I'm shopping for a Dell Precision Laptop for an " IT" student buddy of mine in Haiti. I'll buy off eBay and ship DHL to Haiti and hope it doesn't get stolen along the way or that he doesn't have to pay huge bribes to get it from the DHL office. It's a hard life in Haiti and the situation is deteriorating there. You can easily get shot dead picking up a box from DHL.


I'm going to stick with Dell Precision 15", W10. My top budget is $900, so that's probably an i7 version. Reliability and durability is most important, so maybe that means age is important? I shop eBay with a hawk-eye out on photos and seller feedback.

Can y'all give me opinions about different Precision models:
5530 / 5540
7510 / 7520 << something attractive is that these have tool-less battery access... batteries there take a beating and I'd send a spare.
Or something else?

I get that the 55 series is smaller and less customizable (he'll never make upgrades), but maybe better trackpad. Battery life will be less and that's a biggie. I'd personally hate the glossy screen.

Thoughts about FHD 1920 x 1080 versus UHD 3840 x 2160... While I'm leaning towards paying a premium with UHD, tho in years past sometimes higher resolution was a pain because some program icons didn't scale... would that issue still exist with Windows 10?

Here's some possibilities... bidding on the first one ends in an hour:

#1 Dell Precision 5530 15.6" 4K, i7 8850H, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD #275014351841
#2 Dell Precision 5540 15.6" FHD i7-9750H 2.6GHz 16GB RAM 500GB SSD T1000 #124994277071
#3 DELL Precision 7510 Intel i7-6920HQ @ 2.90GHZ 64GB RAM 256GB SSD WIN10 Pro #353761698478
#4 Dell Precision 7520 15.6” i7-7700HQ 2.80GHz 256GB SSD 32GB RAM #133924743051

There's lots.... the first one is the UHD screen and is "listed well"... seller states they are the owner and user.

Thanks! - Ralph

 

I would go for #1 / 2 for the sake of W11 upgradability.

UHD vs FHD is personal preference but, the icon scaling isn't really an issue any longer.

If having the ability to tile out more windows is important then go UHD.

 

Thanks. The portability of the 55 series would be better for him. I put my snipe bid in on #1 UHD, and if that doesn't work, #2 FHD might sell cheaper, plus #2 is newer.

I wonder how much more battery drain the UHD causes over FHD??
I might prefer the #2 non-glare myself. The sun is bright in Haiti!

 

I went matte UHD myself as I can't deal with reflectivity. I'm running a 9750H as well until they start releasing gen12 next year. The UHD I went with has a brightness of 500 nits which is flexible for indoor/outdoor use. Most screens these days though fall in the 250 range for brightness. Might be worth a shot replacing the panel to something a bit better for ~$100. Panel swap should only take 15-30 minutes depending on if you have to swap the cable or not. Rerouting the cable adds time due to needing to pull apart the chassis and routing it through the hinge. The other variable is the pinout on the panel side of the cable. Mine was 30 and the panel I went with is 40 so I found the replacement cable for $15.

 

Thank you! I don't want any fuss... not interested in any upgrade or even OS installs on this one.
I was 2nd highest bidder on the #1 glossy 5530 UHD
I've put in my snipe for #2 matte 5540 FHD

 

Now you just have to wait....

 

Follow-up question: where to buy replacement batteries and what brand? I think the Precision 5530 takes a 6GTPY and Dell is both $$$ and on a long backorder. Reviews of aftermarket ones on Amazon have too many negatives. Thanks!

 

Can't really say on that one. I know for m Clevo but, Dell isn't one I put much effort into looking for batteries. It mostly depends on how long they sit on the shelf that determines how well they hold up to a charge / use. There should be some good generic options out there though if you dig deep enough.

 

Though they tend to be higher quality, 4k generally speaking means less battery life. A lot of reliability and durability comes down to chance, though a well built notebook is probably more likely statistically to be stout.

 

I ordered the eBay 5530 for my Haitian friend, it'll arrive to me mid-week, and I have a new related question: can the laptop be charged using USB-C into the Thunderbolt port, even if very slowly? There is hardly any grid power right now in Haiti but there's always sun, so I'm curious if it could trickle-charge using portable solar panels ( link)(or need a power station also?) or smaller solar battery bank ( link) even if it took all day.

 

I've played around with USB-PD on my laptop that uses a normal DC connection not USB. It will work with either. The problem I run into is when I activate the GPU it flaps the power to not charge or power the laptop as it exceeds 100W at that point. Since the Dell you ordered probably uses a C charger anyway it's simpler. I noticed in a powered / use state the battery on mine takes a ~14W charge. Full use w/o GPU averaged ~45W ? I picked up both a powerbank that outputs up to 100W over C and a graphene 100W charger and it will run off either with a C > DC PD cable.

The best idea for testing this solar charger option though is to get a USB power meter and check what kind of power you're able to draw while it's powered off and on the charger. This should give you a target of the power draw needed from solar to make it work. If the running power draw is also within range the solar can provide a charge while using it as well. You might have to get creative depending on the loads on/off but, it's possible.


http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/usb-c-pd-power-non-pd-laptop-yes.834778/

 

Thanks Junky!

Interesting, I hadn't considered combining using the laptop while it's USB-C charging, but only slow charging while it's turned off? Does that work? The internal 6GTPY Dell battery is 11.4VDC, so the laptop will need a DC-DC voltage converter to boost from the USB 5V... will have to try that when the laptop arrives later this week to see if the incoming 5V-USB charges even with the laptop off.

Another thought is what is a privileged dude like me living in a house with electricity doing trying to guess this out? Those living on the margins by necessity come up with way more imaginative solutions!

I was interested in the $89 100W power bank you linked to on Amazon... but the link is dead. Two items that interested me are:
Winlove 30000mAh Solar Power Bank with 4 Solar Panels (for charging cell phones)
Apowking 60W Folding Solar Panels (there's a returned one in stock for $82)
Only he won't can't just leave his laptop lying around for hours while waiting for the solar charging. And I should probably just send him money to better buy non-folding panels in Haiti.

I also haven't heard from him (WhatsApp) for about five days... gangs there have intercepted powerplant fuel oil so there's no charging a cell phone... or he's shot dead like a couple of his peeps earlier this month. Makes it hard to go to IT school! His name is Soulouque, and he definitely has soul and always nuanced things to say about life, politics and love relationships.

 

Yeah, slow when off, ~15W when on + ~30W for running.

DC <> DC is handled by the charger / USB-PD protocol negotiation.

The power bank / USB-PD 120V options I'm using both supply full power and are overkill since they can't exceed 100W to hit the full 120W it wants when the GPU is in use. Runs fine though for normal stuff and keeps things topped off.

The power bank is somewhat generic under different names. Here's the same one but under a different name. Well, similar at least @ $79 / 20K WH

The reason I opted for this type is because I can use GAN charging for fasterre charging of the bank and it has dual 100W/60W C ports on it for options of charging the laptop. Use 1 you get full power but, both IIRC it drops to 45W per port. Then you have the A ports @ ~18W/ea. It all scales up / down depending on how many ports are in use. When hooking it to the laptop I can get a couple of hours out of the bank and remain 100% on battery for additional time if needed.

The GAN chargers are nice because they're high W and low temp. They're quick too for a variety of devices. I tried some w/ more than a single port but they weren't all that stable for current. I switched to the single port and plug it into the PB and use it as a pass-through charger for devices like Phone / laptop / etc. So, everything gets charged and the PB is basically a UPS if power drops for some reason.

I would probably go with the 60W panels for quicker charging of the PB and enough juice if using it in a pass-through like I mentioned. There's tons of options for this sort of "bush" power option. Depends on different factors for setting things up though. 30K mah though seems to be the sweet spot for these battery packs. At least for this sort of use case. It offers tons of flexibility on where you can use devices which is nice if you're not tethered to a single location or want to be able to travel with them w/o looking for AC power all of the time.