I’ve had this Dell Inspiron 15 7510 for a couple of years now. It has an Intel Core i7-11800H (8C/16T) and an RTX 3050 Mobile (4gb) and 16GB of RAM with a 512GB NVME SSD. It’s served me well but it’s been really niggling me as of late:
- The i7 runs HOT for whatever reason and the fans will go loud because of this, while doing light work (it’s doing it right now and I’ve only got FF open).
- The plastic that holds the hinge in place finally snapped so I need to replace the entire top lid.
- The battery will only last for 2Hrs (and that’s as long as it has ever lasted)
- F*ck NVIDIA on Linux
Whatever I decide to do I’m going to need to replace that lid.
Is it worth trying to sell it (after repairing it) and using that to offset a Framework laptop (which might be cheaper in the long run)? Or should I just keep using it for the next couple of years to get full value from it?
I don’t need a really powerful laptop anymore since I’ve bought a Dell (I know right) T7910 second hand which I’ve upgraded to 64GB of RAM and an RX Vega 56 which is more than enough for any of my gaming and high performance computing needs (I study Computational Science and Physics at university). The main thing that matters is Linux compatibility
If you do decide to replace it there are some smaller companies like those listed in this thread that specifically design their laptops to run Linux. Framework seem to have been targeting Linux users quite heavily more recently so maybe their support is also improving. I have two older Thinkpads (W530 and X1 Carbon Gen 6) that both run Ubuntu without issue (at least for my general usage) so I’m not too familiar with how support varies between a Thinkpad/Framework and a more niche “Linux-only” laptop.
Those niche linux ones are all Clevo laptops like Metabox but if I go for a framework I’ll probably go AMD for the better battery life and thermals. I’ve opted to order the replacement part for this laptop anyway so I can at least offset the cost of a new one if I want to go that way.