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September 11th, 2018 14:00
Compatible laptop for Dell 5558 ....
I recently had my touch screen fail [I haven't looked at how to fix it yet] and had some difficulties getting back into Win10Pro with my 2TB SSD. So, I got into my Win10Pro laptop but I'm beginning to look for a compatible Dell laptop that I can swap out drives or take out my current 2TB SSD and "simply" place it and my 16GB RAM into the identical Dell 5558 laptop. Here's what I currently see from my system information:
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4210U CPU @ 1.70GHz, 2401 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
What do I look for to have a compatible Dell laptop that will allow me to "simply" place my 2TB SSD without doing an OS re-install and all the nuances relating to that? FYI, I'm fully up to date on all MS Win10 and Office 2016/365 updates.
I've looked some non-5558s but I didn't know if those would accept my SSD and RAM. The SSD is vitally important. As a future, I'll probably get another Dell laptop with the ability to support 2 HDs and more than 16GB RAM so if it's possible to do my first request and then the upgrade request that would be super.
Maybe a quick review on the Dell nomenclature of i5-4210 etc. and options?
TIA!!
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nyc10036
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September 11th, 2018 15:00
I am confused by why you need a compatible laptop.
To obtain data from the hard drive, you simply remove it which may or may not be a major hassle, and attach it to a working PC using a SATA-to-USB adapter.
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totalin007
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September 11th, 2018 16:00
Ok... if I attach my 2TB SSD as an external drive then I need to reinstall all my applications which would take longer than I want at this time. I need a compatible laptop so I can "simply" remove the existing drive in the new laptop and install my SSD in this same laptop. I don't want to reinstall/reconfigure anything! I'm willing to accept 'some' reconfiguration if necessary but an 'identical' or 'compatible' laptop is what I'm looking for here. How can I determine if any Dell laptop is compatible with mine?
TIA
nyc10036
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September 11th, 2018 17:00
Is there some reason you can't buy another 5558 ?
There are used ones for sell on eBay.
totalin007
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September 11th, 2018 18:00
That's exactly the point! ;-) Currently and in the recent past, there have been i5's (5250U, 4201U, 5200U, 8250U, etc), i3's (5005U, 4030U, 4005U, etc), i7s (5550U)....
There are several 5558 'models' and I'm looking for the correct model(s) that will support a transfer of my SSD and RAM. I'm not hardware-aware enough to know what will work or will not work with the x64 bit Microsoft Windows 10 Pro that I have on my SSD.
As a reminder, my system indicates that I have:
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4210U CPU @ 1.70GHz, 2401 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
So, more specifically, will ONLY the i5-4210U CPU with 1.70Ghz dual-core (2 Cores) work or will others work? If others can work, what's an "upgrade" and what's a downgrade relative to my current setup still allowing for the complete transfer of my existing 2TB SSD? I can get different RAM but I'd like my current RAM to work.
[Note: as a bit of history I had a previous Dell system and upgraded to my current Dell 5558. I had an issue with the previous Dell system; bought an identical laptop on eBay and swapped drives and everything worked. This was a couple years ago (3++) when I was on Win 7 Ultimate - just before my Dell 5558 migration.]
I'm attempting to do something similar but have some ability, if possible, to upgrade even beyond my current laptop and just 'move my SSD' up the ladder of CPU speeds and cores with additional RAM.]
Hope this helps!
nyc10036
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September 12th, 2018 05:00
No clue.
And it seems no one from Dell has any clue either or they would have answered this question.
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ejn63
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September 12th, 2018 07:00
This is the equivalent of asking "which new car should I buy that I can move my existing car's seats to". It's not going to be supported in any way shape or form by Dell - or by Microsoft.
The closer the "new" hardware to the existing, the higher the probability of it working. The one must have: if you buy a used system, you'll need to make 100% sure it has an embedded license for the version of Windows you're running - or you'll need to budget for a new license key in the purchase.
totalin007
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September 14th, 2018 05:00
Well... on the contrary!
I have a second Dell laptop that I purchased used that had the identical configuration as an original (new) Dell laptop - not my current 5558. I swapped the RAM from the old laptop (which failed) to the new laptop (both x64 chip and OS with Win7 Ultimate). I also swapped my HDD and everything worked - as-is with no changes - and it's worked for some time as once in a while I swap out the current HDD to my HDD (not my SSD from my 5558) and everything is fine. So, I can easily swap HDD with HDD on the same Dell model.
My original question was 1) making sure HOW I could identify an identical Dell system; 2) how much, if any, flexibility I can have within the same Dell SET of models (5558 and it's various xxxxU listed previously) and 3) what flexibility I can have to just swap out an existing HDD with my SSD for a NEW Dell system without reinstalling 2TB of apps, data and configuring things.
Tx!
ejn63
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September 14th, 2018 05:00
Just bear in mind that if it's windows 7 on your drive, you can go no newer than the sixth generation CPUs -- support for Windows 7 ended with the Skylake platform. And all support for consumer-level Windows 7 ends in January, 2020 (though volume licensees will still be able to buy an update service - paying monthly, once security update publication ceases in 1/2020).