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Why don't Dell provide new drivers support for all models?
Hello,
I asked myself, why Dell don't provide new drivers support for all models, who has the same hardware?
For example WIFI: Intel-AX2xx-9560-9260-9462-8265-3165
and Bluetooth: Intel-AX211-AX210-AX200-AX201-9560-9260-9462-8265-3165
- For Latitude 9420 there was supported: 22.130.0.5, A25 for Wi-Fi and 22.130.0.2, A23 for Bluetooth
- For Latitude 9430 there was supported: 22.160.0.3, A27 for Wi-Fi and 22.160.0.3, A25 for Bluetooth
Both models has Intel AX210/211 inside.
That's only an example and there are many other newer drivers (Cardreader, Thunderbolt...) for new Latitude models, which official not suppoerted by older Latitudes, obviously the has the same hardware.
What is the reason for this? Saving costs?
filbert
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October 7th, 2022 06:00
Probably. It would save money and complexity.
This is not unique to Dell. All computer brands do the same thing. Drivers and other updates are issued for a while, but at some point a model is considered too old to be worth providing updates.
There is logic to it. After a few years, it's likely that many or even most owners of a laptop model have moved on to something newer, so the manufacturer decides that it's not worth providing updates to a small pool of owners.
Even if Dell doesn't provide updates, you may be able to obtain updates from component manufacturers. One of my laptops is an 11-year-old XPS. Windows 10 runs well on it (not supported/approved by Dell) and I've found driver updates from Nvidia, Realtek, Jmicron, etc., for various components.
Joli1972
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October 15th, 2022 03:00
Nice attempt at explanation, but the practice unfortunately looks different at Dell.
Example:
Dell Latitude 9410 is one/two Gen. older than 9420/9430 and Dell updated Thunderbolt-Drivers.
For Latitude 9420 there is no support. It has the same Thunderolt-Chipset as 9430 and 9410.
Dell's update policy for me it's like a lottery.