Review on 11.6" Notebook DELL INSPIRON 3162 (1366x768, Intel Celeron 1.6 GHz, RAM 2 GB, HDD 500 GB, Linux) by Adam Woods ᠌

Name: 11.6" Notebook DELL INSPIRON 3162 (1366x768, Intel Celeron 1.6 GHz, RAM 2 GB, HDD 500 GB, Linux)
Item: 11.6" Notebook DELL INSPIRON 3162 (1366x768, Intel Celeron 1.6 GHz, RAM 2 GB, HDD 500 GB, Linux)
Rating: 5

July 04, 2023

Good quality product, I rate this purchase excellent.

Very happy with the purchase. The laptop was taken as a travel laptop and met all expectations. Just in case, I'll clarify the characteristics: model 3162-5761, Pentium N3710 (1.6GHz, in fact the frequency adjusts automatically in the range from 480MHz to 2.5GHz), 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, white case, Ubuntu pre-installed).

Now about why there was a disclaimer. First of all, I demolished Ubuntu and installed Debian Stretch. I saw laptops with similar characteristics under Windows 10 from friends - they slow down. Mercilessly. As with Ubuntu, I don't know. I installed the kernel + a minimal set of utilities, and added everything else, including DE (sneakers), by hand.

Tips for those who will install Linux on it:
- with the stock BIOS, the X's only started up when installing from EFI, because in Legacy Boot it was not possible to select the necessary flags
- if you install Debian, iwlwifi is not included in the official image (this will not create problems if you have another computer from which you can throw this package on a USB flash drive)
- auto-enabled when the system boots, bluetooth is treated with settings in /etc/bluetooth/main. Conf
- fix triggered only once fn+arrows is on the Archlinux forum (fn+key "KeyRelease" event not triggered).

In general, the hardware is worth the money, and if you have time to customize the software for yourself, then the laptop will be very pleasant to use.

Pros

Disclaimer: Pay attention to the comments, 1 and 6 may be OS dependent. 1. Battery life (about 6-7 hours with typing and minimal network usage). You can take it with you for a day and not think about where to look for an outlet. 2. Weight. In a backpack, it feels like a notebook or a thin book, it is convenient to read while holding the laptop on its weight. 3. Build quality. Nothing backlash and does not creak. It can be seen that the model is not from the premium segment, but this does not affect the quality. 4. The case is not easily soiled, there are no scratches in two months of use, although I cannot be called a very careful user. 5. Silent (until you start typing) thanks to passive cooling and an SSD. 6. Nimble. I use it for the web, typing, sometimes for programming. There are no brakes. 7. Price (took for ~ 18.5k).

Cons

1. Indication. There are not enough LEDs to display charging status, fn-lock and the like. 2. For a long time I could not get used to the power button. 3. The keyboard is a little smaller than we would like. However, something larger simply will not fit into the case. 4. Due to passive cooling, you may not notice overheating. I cured it by monitoring the temperature in the panel, I did not see any heating above 52 degrees. Typically, the temperature ranges from 27 to 46 degrees.