Surprisingly, I couldn't find many reviews on the laptop, and decided to make my own mini version of a review. I also didn't like the spec choices given by Dell as they essentially do not have any more customisation options - but unfortunately there wasn't much other choices available for the requirements I wanted.
Vostro 5470
RM1799 (as at 28 Dec 13)
4th Generation Intel® Core™ i3-4010U processor (3M Cache, 1.7 GHz)
Windows 8.1 Single Language (64Bit) English
4GB Single Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (4GBx1)
500GB 5400 rpm SATA Hard Drive
14.0 inch LED Backlit Display with Truelife and HD resolution (1366 x 768)
Intel® HD Graphics 4400
51.2Whr, 3-Cell Battery (integrated)
Review
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| The 'bag' comes in a bigger box than the laptop itself |
Ordering
Dell used to be about customising your laptop to what you want it to be. Today it is a very different company than what it used to be.
It comes preloaded with unwanted bloatware (which you paid for) like McAffee, 5-6 unwanted and useless Dell software, apportion a section of your HDD or SSD for 'recovery', comes with an unwanted bag, and gives zero options for any real customisations for hardware and software alike.
The laptop itself
The laptop itself is sleek, slim, and relatively lightweight at about 1.6KG. It's an amazing piece of hardware that has come a long way, particularly for its price tag.
i3 performance is adequate for work and study purposes. I did not choose the nVidia graphics card as it would just be an additional heat, weight, and battery drain.
SSD
One of my main gripe is that there was no option for SSD. I decided to buy my own SSD and replace the 5400RPM WD Blue SSD with a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD.
The SSD is significantly lighter than the HDD, and I've noticed significantly less heat, improved battery life, and amazing, amazing speeds since.
The performance of the laptop, even with an i3 processor is really snappy and quick.
Overall Verdict
+ Pros
- Great for work, studies
- Slim & light (1.49kg with SSD)
- Decent battery life 6-8 hours with SSD
- No heat issues / No hot palmrest.
- Best laptop in its class and price.
- Cons
- Dell-filled bloatware. Cleansing and repartition required.
- Does not come with SSD
- Battery is integrated - unable to swap batteries on the go.
- Oil marks from fingers on keyboard after several months of use.
- Glossy & reflective screen - unusable in bright environment such as outdoor when the sun is up.
Got a question? Try the comments! :)
6 Months Later..
Oil marks are beginning to be seen on my keyboard - as shown below. Granted, its not visible unless at a certain angle under the light, but it's still there.
6 Months Later..
Oil marks are beginning to be seen on my keyboard - as shown below. Granted, its not visible unless at a certain angle under the light, but it's still there.
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| Can you see the marks??? |
32 comments:
The screen has good viewing angles BUT it is very glossy and reflective.
Using it outdoors on a bright sunny day is practically impossible.
Hope that helps.
Lawrence
That being said, no, there should not be any problems installing windows on a 120GB SSD as windows would only need about 15GB.
Also, did you install the ssd manually or from dell/retail store? What's the price of the ssd? Thanks for reply!
The speakers are surprisingly decent.
You can tell it's not native (e.g. Dell Software installed on top of the default audio to make it sound better).
As part of the battery saving initiative - it turns itself off when it doesn't detect any audio.
As such when you open any file with audio, there's a one second lag before the audio software kicks in. There's still sound - just sound different.
Too much details. In short it's allright. Speakers at the bottom means that if you put it on a bed/blanket it could get muffled but this is not an issue on a hard surface like a table.
SSD - Yes I installed SSD myself because Dell is (honestly) stupid. It's really very simple. On a scale of 1-10 of difficulty I'd put it as 2.
I bought a Samsung EVO 250GB for AUD$175 from Melbourne. All the other brands that you find in Malaysia would be roughly the same price ~RM500 for 250GB. I recommend 250GB and above as 120GB is really little.
To install SSD you need the following tools:
1) Screwdriver (get the right size - available from Daiso)
2) External Hard Disk Enclosure (e.g. external hard disk case) - to copy files from the current HDD to the SSD. You don't need this if you plan to install windows from scratch and if you bought the windows disk while buying the laptop.
Hope that helps!
The gestures are quite good and similar to those you get on the Mac. E.g. on top of the standard two finger swipe up swipe down - you can now have:
- Three finger swipe right -> Forward (used in browser) & vice versa (3 finger swipe left is back)
- One finger swipe from left, right (useless Metro stuff)
- Four fingers swipe left / right (Tab left/right - again used for browsing)
and alot more...
Touchpad is top notch.
I have absolutely no lags whatsoever in opening/using any applications so far - either preinstalled or installed by myself.
There were issues with the default drivers came with the laptop (network drivers, BIOS) - which you would need to update yourself either through Dell or direct (e.g. graphics card Intel HD4400, as well as Intel network drivers)
To use the software u'd need an external case/wire for SSD (standard same as HDD. Ask for 2.5" HDD sata to USB cable from any com shop).
From there its just like plugging in a USB. Install the software, do the transfer, and then just swap the hdd n SSD physically.
Cheers.
Good luck!
Thanks for the review!I am about to purchase the dell vostro 5470 and replace its 500GB hdd with samsung ssd 840 evo 250GB (same as yours).
The guy in the retail shop - though - told me that it might be a problem with the replacement as the os is a OEM windows license in the recovery partition of the hdd and you can't find the serial key!
In addition, he claimed that you can't clone a 500GB to a 250GB ssd due to capacity limitation.
Did you experience any problems?In the review you stated that you used the software provided by samsung to make the clone.Could you provide me with some details concerning the whole procedure?
thank you in advance,
jethro
As the HDD to SSD is a perfect clone - there was no need to install windows whatsoever. The OS's product key can be found with any decent software. For example I just found out my CD key via Glary Utilities. In no circumstances is your CD key in another partition. The recovery partition is there in the event you need to reset windows should any major issue corrupts your windows.
I can use my CD key / product key / serial key to reinstall my windows at any time with a windows image officially from windows in a pen drive but I have not found a need to so far.
You can clone 500gb to 250gb as long as the the current hdd capacity does not exceed 250gb. As a new computer - your (brand new) hdd used would probably be.. 10GB? There would be no issue with capacity.
Lastly, I encountered no issues and was actually surprise on how easy n quick the whole process is. There is a software in the SSD itself called Samsung Data Migration Software included. It was 'next', 'next', 'next' and done. Not much configuration involved as it just copied and cloned 100%. Note that you need a external cable/connecter in order to read from the SSD (just like a HDD) as it does not come in the Samsung SSD box.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
Lawrence.
P.S. - Find a new retail guy.
First and foremost, thanx so much for this review. Have a question, and it may sound "crazy". Is it possible to somehow, uninstall the "default" Windows 8 OS, and substitute it with Windows 7?
Thanx...
-ray
Yes, but first you would need a windows 7 installation. As the laptop does not have a CD drive - you have to use the DVD/USB tool (http://goo.gl/O8RcB6) to load it into a USB drive.
Then you need to perform the installation by booting from USB drive from start up, reformatting the entire HDD, and installing the new windows.
Keep in mind that all data will be lost as this is a reformat.
So yes, it is possible, but not as straightforward.
By the way, try to put up with windows 8 for a while. I had the same initial reaction with windows 8 and have slowly learn to live with it. Yes, the metro sucks, but the windows itself is better in my opinion.
Cheers.
I have the i5 version and I believe this laptop is a class in its own with light weight, fast processing, excellent battery and rich looks!
Keep up the good work mate!!
Thanks!
Nah, I dont have issues with my WiFi - then again I'm usually pretty near to my router or broadband dongle. My experience with public wifi was quite problem-free as well.
That being said, there was a really annoying bug that came with the network card firmware - it wouldn't auto connect to my wifi. I had to download the latest firmware from Intel directly to fix it - but never had any other problem since.
PS - Dell should pay me =.="
Cheers!
Lawrence
You'd just flip the laptop over, get a right sized screwdriver and start unscrewing. Unfortunately you'd need to unscrew ALL the screws to remove the back cover to get to the hard disk.
Make sure you used the right sized screw driver and don't lose the tiny screws.
The hard disk is located at the left palm rest area. Pretty much just gently nudge it out, and replace with SSD. No wires or whatsoever, just make sure it fits snuggly with the existing connector.
Hope that clarifies. Lemme know if you have any ques.
-Lawrence
Luckily I found a youtube video that shows you exactly how to do that. It has different video to show you how to remove certain laptop components.
For those changing the hdd, there's 5 steps to it
NOTE: If you don't want to reinstall a fresh copy of windows, please clone your existing HDD first! U can use the Samsung software like lawyerz mentioned in his blog. Easy breezy
1) Remove laptop base cover. I used a screwdriver to prop the base cover open. If you have a plastic tool will be better as metal may damage the laptop aesthetic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2gdjgtzGkE&index=1&list=PLBqz1n2LBsCWutP6VFtv10oHLdNM7YGJ7
2) "Un-snap" the battery.
Note: I only unsnap the battery. I didn't remove the connecting cable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_OG2itubfU&list=PLBqz1n2LBsCWutP6VFtv10oHLdNM7YGJ7&index=2
3) Swap the existing HDD for your SSD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NqL4Zwciws&list=PLBqz1n2LBsCWutP6VFtv10oHLdNM7YGJ7&index=4
After swapping, put SSD back the way you took it out.
4) Snapping back the battery into place. For this one, refer to this video at 3:41
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hjXNJVYO-Y
5) Put back the laptop base cover. Same video as in step 4, but fast forward to 3:48
Finally put back all the screws and you're done!
Hope this helps. My laptop is much faster now and my Microsoft Office works very much faster!
I just bought this notebook few days ago, with your exactly same configs, except for the SSD.
I found it awesome, it's a very fast and light notebook. However, there's something that is making me umconfortable. The right side of the touchpad, aka as right palmrest, is getting kind of warm with normal internet browsing and text typing. It's not something that would burn my wrist; it's just something that you can realize, since the right side is hotter than the left.
I made some researchs and I found that the right palmrest is where the HDD is positioned. The temperature on this area is around 36~41ยบ in normal usage. However, I can fell this heat, since the right side gets warmer than the left.
Do you have this same feeling? I live in a kind of hot country (brazil).
Do you think that switching the HDD for a SSD would solve the problem? I'm not too confident of buying a SSD, because I don't know if it would really decrease the temperature and, for consequence, make this area colder.
I don't have this issue, probably because I did swap out the HDD for a SSD immediately after purchase. I, too, live in a super hot country (Malaysia).
I can say for certainty that yes, getting a SSD WILL definitely resolve the heat issue from a HDD as there is zero heat from an SSD, not to mention it's considerably lighter.
It's just somewhat expensive compared to a HDD but I'd definitely recommend it.
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