New Toy: Dell Latitude D630 (Windows 7 Pro)

2112st

2112st

Tinkerer
Oct 8, 2023
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Northeastern New Jersey, USA
I picked this machine up at the Trenton Computer Festival (New Jersey) for $25. The price was too tempting to ignore. it's in surprisingly good shape. I'm mostly a Mac person, but I have nothing against Windows. I don't care what the system is, as long as it gets the work done. In 2010, I bought an Asus netbook that runs Windows 7 Starter. I'll mostly do writing on it-I installed MS Office 2013 (?) on it. I just need to figure out what some of the ports are-some I know, others I don't. I'm curious about the bottom port...

Saul

Dell Latitude 630.jpg Dell 1.jpg Dell 2.jpeg Dell 3.jpeg Dell 5.jpg Dell 6.jpg
 
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trag

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Oct 25, 2021
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Bottom port is for D series docking stations. The docking stations were great if you needed to move your laptop often between stations with local monitors and keyboards. It can also provide serial and parallel ports, which can be handy if you want to drive an old chip programmer, for example. Or multiple monitor outputs. That last might be on the E series. I sometimes get them confused.

I have four D430s. One of them is still running XP and I use it to drive my old Needham EMP-30 chip programmer, with a parallel port equipped docking station.

The back of your laptop is from left to right, ethernet, modem, 2 X USB, serial port, video out, and power in.

No tiny square port anywhere? My D430s have a micro FireWire Port on the back.

sd.php
 
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2112st

2112st

Tinkerer
Oct 8, 2023
132
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Northeastern New Jersey, USA
trag said:
Bottom port is for D series docking stations. The docking stations were great if you needed to move your laptop often between stations with local monitors and keyboards. It can also provide serial and parallel ports, which can be handy if you want to drive an old chip programmer, for example. Or multiple monitor outputs. That last might be on the E series. I sometimes get them confused.

I have four D430s. One of them is still running XP and I use it to drive my old Needham EMP-30 chip programmer, with a parallel port equipped docking station.

The back of your laptop is from left to right, ethernet, modem, 2 X USB, serial port, video out, and power in.

No tiny square port anywhere? My D430s have a micro FireWire Port on the back.

sd.php
Click to expand...
D’oh! I guess I forgot to take this picture…
IMG_7596.jpeg
 
2112st

2112st

Tinkerer
Oct 8, 2023
132
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Northeastern New Jersey, USA
The maximum is 8 gigs of RAM, aye? Cool. Looks like it's time to expand the RAM, as I know that Windows is a memory hog. Windows 7 Starter on my Asus netbook was rock solid. I assume this 64-bit Pro version will be too. :cool:
 
3lectr1c

3lectr1c

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May 15, 2022
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2112st said:
The maximum is 8 gigs of RAM, aye? Cool. Looks like it's time to expand the RAM, as I know that Windows is a memory hog. Windows 7 Starter on my Asus netbook was rock solid. I assume this 64-bit Pro version will be too. :cool:
Click to expand...
8GB of DDR2 RAM is extremely expensive and W7 doesn't need it by any means to run well - 4GB is PLENTY. This is due to the fact that a 4GB DDR2 module is like $30, while 2x 2GB modules are WAY cheaper. 8GB is pretty much never worth it on a DDR2 system. W7 runs fine even on 2GB of RAM.
 
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2112st

2112st

Tinkerer
Oct 8, 2023
132
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Northeastern New Jersey, USA
3lectr1c said:
8GB of DDR2 RAM is extremely expensive and W7 doesn't need it by any means to run well - 4GB is PLENTY. This is due to the fact that a 4GB DDR2 module is like $30, while 2x 2GB modules are WAY cheaper. 8GB is pretty much never worth it on a DDR2 system. W7 runs fine even on 2GB of RAM.
Click to expand...
I have an earlier version of Photoshop that I MIGHT put on it, though I would use it mostly for viewing pics. The primary function of this machine will be to write fiction and poetry.
 
2112st

2112st

Tinkerer
Oct 8, 2023
132
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Northeastern New Jersey, USA
3lectr1c said:
No specific cause, just a thing that happens sometimes with trackpoints. To be clear: The issue is that the mouse cursor drifts to the right?
Try using the trackpoint stick and see how it behaves.
Click to expand...


Yes, that is exactly the issue. This is the first time I've had a computer with a trackpoint stick. Like I said, this Dell is in surprisingly good shape. Getting it for only $25 seems like a bargain to me! :)
 
2112st

2112st

Tinkerer
Oct 8, 2023
132
48
28
Northeastern New Jersey, USA
3lectr1c said:
No specific cause, just a thing that happens sometimes with trackpoints. To be clear: The issue is that the mouse cursor drifts to the right?
Try using the trackpoint stick and see how it behaves.
Click to expand...
Crap. Using the trackpoint nub didn't help. I was in the middle of editing and the cursor drifts off to the right. Every time I put the cursor back to where I wanted to type, it would fly off to the right. :(

I did look into replacing the keyboard, and it's really easy. Hopefully, I won't have to go that route.

 
Patrick

Patrick

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Oct 26, 2021
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this is taking me back. about a decade ago i used to be helpdesk support for a small office. and this is exactly the laptop and model i would support.

The docks could be a bit funky. i don't think they like being hotswaped.
 
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