Choice of 2 old Dell laptops

[spdfreak]

I rarely need to use a laptop but occasionally I need to take one somewhere. I have a Vostro 1000 with an Athlon 64 X2 1.7 and a Inspiron 6400 with a T2300 Intel. Trying to decide which is going to be the better system. The Vostro has win10 64bit installed and aero even works. The Inspiron has win 7 32 installed since 64 bit isn't supported. Either system can use 4GB ram but the Inspiron will only use up to 3. I think the T2300 processor is faster just anecdotally but I think the graphics on the Athlon 64 is better. Opening web pages on something like Bloomberg with lots of flash embedded is painful on either system. Is there any point in picking one over the other. Whichever one I keep, the other one will be given away.

 

[msi1337]

The Inspiron 6400 should have a Radeon X1300 in it, which is slightly better than the 1150 in the Vostro. I feel like the overall build quality of the two laptops is similar, with maybe a slight edge to the inspiron. I personally wouldn't use a dell with an AMD processor in it, since I have had nothing but problems with them (battery life, overheating). Both of these laptops should have a max memory size of 2gb, not 4gb. I would spend $45 on a 120GB SSD, put it in and reload Windows 7 Pro 32bit on it and call it a day. I really like the performance of SSD in older laptops, makes them much more usable.

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-120GB-SDSSDA-120G-G26-Newest-Version/dp/B01F9G414U/

 

[spdfreak]

The Inspiron 6400 should have a Radeon X1300 in it, which is slightly better than the 1150 in the Vostro. I feel like the overall build quality of the two laptops is similar, with maybe a slight edge to the inspiron. I personally wouldn't use a dell with an AMD processor in it, since I have had nothing but problems with them (battery life, overheating). Both of these laptops should have a max memory size of 2gb, not 4gb. I would spend $45 on a 120GB SSD, put it in and reload Windows 7 Pro 32bit on it and call it a day. I really like the performance of SSD in older laptops, makes them much more usable.

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-120GB-SDSSDA-120G-G26-Newest-Version/dp/B01F9G414U/

Thanks, I went around and around on the memory thing- The Vostro is running on 4GB right now and a 120GB SSD. Works great so far but the 6400 just feels faster. The 6400 will only run on 4 (3 really) if you have the older bios installed but it does and I tested it. This 6400 shows the video as Intel Mobile 945 chipset. Maybe the X1300 was an option and I can get one off ebay cheap. I'll check. I did do a clean install of win7 on the old HD but I can swap the SSD into it if needed.
You are right about how hot the Vostro runs and battery life is bad even with a pretty new battery. It's really only good to use plugged in.
The 6400 may have a better screen- it is shiny, which I don't like but may have better resolution.

 

[msi1337]

uhhh, the shiny screen would kill it for me.. I hated when they did that.

 

[Blue_Max]

I was Intel all the way until it came down to shiny vs. matte screen. Ugh... Glossy screens are the devil.

Either machine have the same 4GB RAM limit, the reason you're seeing "3GB" is because of 32-bit windows memory limit of around 3.2

The Intel platform is generally better & runs cooler... but can you live with the screen?

Swap parts around depending on what you keep. Keep the SSD for yourself.

Something else to consider is that the AMD machine will only run in dual-channel memory mode with 2x2gb sticks, even if you use 32-bit windows and limit yourself to only 3.2 of that - the faster RAM will be worth it.
The Intel machine will be fine with 2+1GB sticks and run in a hybrid mode almost as good as full dual channel. Intel handles mismatched memory far better than AMD even today. If you give away the Intel machine with 3GB you won't be hobbling someone like you would on the AMD machine.

If you want the battery life and cool running, you'll have to just live with the glossy screen... just watch your laptop's positioning so you don't get the sun/lights in your eyes! (Gad I hated that!)

 

[Blue_Max]

Actually... this Intel chipset may have been JUuUuuuuuust before the hybrid memory mode was introduced. I would experiment to be sure... BIOS screen will tell you if you're in DUAL, SINGLE, or ASYNCH (or similar.)

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-Vostro-1000-Notebook.6545.0.html (Vostro 1000 details)
http://www.notebookreview.com/notebookreview/dell-inspiron-6400-review-pics-specs/ (Inspiron 6400 details)

Having read both, I'd lean towards the Vostro for myself... the business line is usually built better than the consumer-level Inspiron. It doesn't appear to run any hotter/louder than the Inspiron, and has the matte screen.

Your call, of course.