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February 4th, 2023 15:00
Paint and materials
Long shot post: I picked up an old Inspiron 300m that was in basic functional condition (an awesome compact system for it's time IMHO).
I'm semi restoring it as it was clearly hauled around a lot. Silver paint on top worn off the edges. I'm not sure about the blue top - appears to be plastic - not paint.
So the question, is there any documentation on paint and materials used for various laptop models?
I almost posted this question when considering an old Inspiron 1720 for restoration - the paint on the top cover in bad shape (seems common for the 1520, 1720 series that got the color paint). Some say it was rubberized.
So just seeking to know if Dell keeps a library on this information.
Best regards,
Ron
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ejn63
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February 4th, 2023 16:00
The answer would be no -- since Dell doesn't manufacture notebooks. Contract ODMs do.
It's probably cheaper and simpler to look through a thrift store or on EBay for a system in decent cosmetic shape -- the systems are worth about $20-30 at most, complete. You'd pay more than that just for the paint.
ExponentV
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July 6th, 2025 19:45
@ejn63 Dell did manufacture laptops in the 2000s, when the Inspiron line with the 1520 etc. was available. They had plants in Texas. Outsourcing did not happen until later.
ExponentV
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July 6th, 2025 19:57
The Inspiron line has the soft-touch coating on top of the paint layer. It is sometimes referred to as rubberized, but doesn’t actually feel like rubber. By now, almost 20 years later, that coating is often a deteriorated, sticky mess that makes covers look filthy. The coating can be removed, usually leaving a pristine paint layer, and can be coated again with something similar.
That said, it will take a lot of phone calls and/or emails to Dell to figure out where these Inspiron units got their paint job — and chances are that the exact paint and color were not documented for posterity.
I am restoring a Ruby Red and a Flamingo Pink 1520. The Ruby Red has immaculate paint under the messy coating. The Flamingo Pink cover was abused. Someone took a rag with solvent to it, likely to wipe the coating off, which only partially succeeded and took some of the paint off, too. The base paint has a satin sheen to it that gets slightly amplified by the coating.
My next step is to take the cover to an automotive paint shop to see if they can do a match on the paint color. Then I need to figure out what the best replacement would be for the coating, so that it remains matte with a slight pearly sheen.