Re: RFC Debian and Xfce daily desktop on Dell Latitude 54XX
On 2019-12-04 00:48, Victor wrote:
Le 03 Dec 2019, David Christensen a écrit :
Is anyone running Debian and Xfce as a daily desktop on a Dell
Latitude 54XX laptop? If so, please comment.
Thanks for the reply. :-)
I’ve been using xfce for the last 3 or 4 years on a latitude E5440
(bought seconhand). - Worked seamingless right after installing
Dein. I don’t remember having made any software customizations
related to the hardware except for the fancontrol.
My Inspiron similarly works well OOTB with Debian, except for the Wi-Fi
adapter -- I need to add a contrib firmware package. I swapped the
Broadcom adapter for an Intel adapter hoping to avoid the extra step,
but the issue remains.
- The fan went on too often and too hard to my taste. The
temperature was kept around 35°C. Safe, for sure, but also a bit
noisy and draining on the battery. I used i8kmon (from the repos)
to tame it. It is specific for the Dell laptops.
Thanks for the tip.
- I changed the mechanical HD for an SSD one. This increased
significantly speed and battery life.
Same here -- huge improvement.
- I changed the 4 cell battery for a bigger one (9cell I think -> the
ones that stick slightly outside the mainboard). I now get roughly 9
hours of real working time between charges.
Nice.
- I changed the screen once (because I broke mine accidentally). It
was an easy operation and the replacement screen was affordable on
the internet.
I changed the CPU, CPU fan, memory, disk drive, Wi-Fi adapter, CD/DVD
drive, and perhaps more. One of the primary reasons I like Dell
products is that I can download a service manual that tells me how to
disassembly and re-assemble their products.
If you have the choice, I’d recommend a matte screen (not a glossy
one as it is significantly more difficult to read under bright
conditions).
It's a hard call. The display on my MacBook Pro with Retina Display is
gorgeous to behold, but you are right about glare. Positioning is
critical. I plan to get a touch display. Dell has offered touch
displays in both matte and glossy in different models over the years.
I'll probably make a purchasing decision based on other factors, and
hope that I can deal with whatever display type the machine comes with.
David
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