this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2026
12 points (92.9% liked)

Ask Lemmy

36689 readers
1257 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/41746502

I recently bought a Dell Latitude 7430 with an i7-1265u, 10 cores, 1.8Ghz, 16gb of (I think) DDR4 RAM, and a 256GB SSD for 250$. I still have time to return the machine. I was wondering whether I got a good deal here or not.

My purpose is mostly for general school stuff. Spreadsheets, docs, Zoom meetings, and the like. I might be getting into the world of CS, but I'm not at a point yet where I would need much power.

Still, the 256GB of storage worry me. And unfortunately it can't be upgraded. Still, if I'm not doing much besides all of the basic tasks expected of a work laptop, do I really need more?

Should I consider returning it and try to get another deal? Keep it? Or something else altogether?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Bahnd@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Perfectly fine, if your worried about the storage get a bigger one and reinstall what ever OS you want on it before you get comfortable (queue linux enthusiests here).

16gb of ram is the functional minimum for windows 11 and I would not push for an upgrade at the current time. Just be aware of your memory useage, Windows 11, Chrome and Office 365 services are memory hogs.

For the CS stuff, dont worry, your machine needs to run a terminal. You WILL be connecting to more powerful machines to do the heavy lifting. Leasing AWS time or using machines on your schools network is likely how all that will go.

Furthermore, its a Dell, so you can throw the service tag into their support site and get the exact parts list and specs (if the bottom is scratched off, its in the BIOS too).

If you need tech support, just let us know (nerds are always here to help).

[–] paper_moon@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Just a note on this the ram isn't upgradeable (soldered on), just so OP is aware. Its 'fine' for most tasks, but not upgradable.

[–] Bahnd@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Boooo, companies need to fuckin stop that...

[–] klymilark@herbicide.fallcounty.omg.lol 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Honestly, for what they're using it for I'd say just get an external hard drive. Move completed assignments to the external as needed, that way they're not risking grades if you can't find it for a night or two. Unless they get some storage-heavy applications later, that should work fine.