Originally Posted by
chgoeditor
I have the L501X, so I suspect it's the first one. It has the i5-m480 processor,
Either the model number or the processor both show it's the first. That's a pretty long-in-the-tooth model; if it's fast enough today, you should have a LOT of choices which will feel
8 GB of RAM, which was pretty good, I seem to recall, when I bought it.
With a processor in that class (dual core rather than quad) it's pretty good even today.
But I know my battery is dying (extended battery, which I insist on)
The down side to that is weight, of course.
and replacing that it $150, which seems sort of silly for a 3 year old computer.
You could try aftermarket, which would be a lot cheaper, but which is unlikely to work as well as an original. I've had very bad luck with them.
Other than that the hardware seems to be holding up, but I'm sure the keyboard may give out sometime soon...they always seem to!
I've never gotten into the guts of one of those, but most Dells make a keyboard replacement pretty easy, and they're one of the cheaper parts.
I'm glad you mentioned ultrabooks--I knew the lighterweight laptops were no longer called "netbooks" but couldn't remember what they were called. A friend has a work Dell that I think is an ultrabook and I absolutely hate it. Definitely need to spends some time with them before buying one.
Hate which part? Keyboard and ergonomics?
There are plenty of systems out there with full-size (if generally rather skinny) chassis but ultrabook CPUs (with the long battery life relative to the size of battery, and rather slow by some standards, although compared to an i5-480m it probably won't be going back wards by much.)
Keyboards in general are getting worse with the move to thinner and thinner laptops
