Inside Dell Vostro 15 3510 – disassembly and upgrade options

You see, the Vostro 15 3510 is not exactly the best laptop you’ll get your hands on. However, it offers a decent amount of upgrade options.

Check out all Dell Vostro 15 3510 prices and configurations in our Specs System or read more in our In-Depth review.


1. Remove the bottom plate

To take this laptop apart, you need to undo 9 Phillips-head screws. The two in the back edges are captive and lift the bottom panel so you can start the prying process from there.


2. Battery

In terms of battery, you get two options. One with 41Wh capacity, and one with 54Wh. We got the smaller unit, and it lasted us for 7 hours of Web browsing, or 6 hours and 30 minutes of video playback. To take it out, you need to unplug the battery connector and undo all three Phillips-head screws, that hold it in place.


3. Memory and storage

As you can see, there are two SODIMM slots for memory upgrades. Storage-wise, you get one M.2 PCIe x4 slot, as well as a 2.5-inch SATA drive bay. However, if your laptop is equipped with the larger battery pack, the HDD bay will be blocked.


4. Cooling system

As for the cooling, you get one heat pipe, shared between the CPU and the GPU, which ends up in a rather small heat sink. The graphics memory and the VRMs are not being cooled.

Check out all Dell Vostro 15 3510 prices and configurations in our Specs System or read more in our In-Depth review.

Dell Vostro 15 3510 (Discrete) in-depth review

When we talk about budget-conscious laptops, Dell's Vostro series is always into consideration. Interestingly, while it is one of the least expensive devices on the market, the Vostro 15 3510 can be equipped with pretty capable hardware.We are talking about a potential combination of the Core i7-1165G7 and the GeForce MX350. Of course, you can keep the price down by picking a slower processor, like the Celeron 6305, or completely omitting the dedicated graphics card. Interestingly, using only integrated graphics will have a weird impact on the I/O - we'll talk more about that later on. [...]

Pros

  • Upgradability is on point
  • Affordable
  • Has an SD card reader
  • Good input devices
  • Has comfortable viewing angles and good contrast ratio (BOE N39X1-NV15N3D)

Cons

  • Covers only 51% of sRGB (BOE N39X1-NV15N3D)
  • Uses aggressive PWM for brightness adjustment (our Health-Guard profile deals with the issue) (BOE N39X1-NV15N3D)
  • Questionable build quality
  • Externals get really warm during heavy load
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Azaz
Azaz
1 year ago

Cpu is soldered, right?