SSD for a 10-Year Old Dell Inspiron 15R 5520 Laptop

djoz on 28/03/2023 - 17:10
Last edited 28/03/2023 - 17:13

Hello all,
TL;DR version – I have a 10-year old Dell laptop, in perfect working condition. Should I invest in buying a new SSD for this laptop?

Long version –
Back in 2013, on my trip to Kuala Lumpur, I was advised that electronics were extremely cheap to buy. Plaza Low Yat, the popular haven for Electronics in the KL City was the place to go. I did not have a laptop with me until then. I went in and got, what I'd say an extremely great deal for a new laptop. Putting down the Specifications of my Dell Inspiron 15R 5520 Laptop here.

Price AUD 550.00 all-incl.
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3337U CPU @ 1.80GHz
Installed RAM 8.00 GB DDR3 RAM
HDD 1.00 TB HDD
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
OS Windows 10 Home, Version 22H2 (Nov 2022)
GPU AMD Radeon with 2.00 GB DDR3 RAM
Display 15.6" WLED Full HD Display
Battery 65 wH

Fast forward to Year 2020, the 1TB HDD conked off. I contemplated if I should go for a SSD but was kind of worried if the laptop / motherboard / screen would just give way and so didn't want to invest much. I got a new 320GB HDD for $20 in one of the crazy deals going on that time, and I installed the HDD myself by viewing YouTube videos (and taking tiny screw-drivers from a friend).

Fast forward to Year 2023, the laptop is 10 years old. The HDD is working all fine, it's been 3 years. I'm contemplating if I should buy a SSD, now that they are fairly priced, compared to about 5-years ago. But the question in my mind is still the same, is it worth investing on a SSD for a 10-year old laptop? With our increasing use of mobile phones, and transferring of most activities on the phone, I don't think I'd need a new Personal Laptop, I wont use it much. Hence, I want to just extend the life of the one I've got.

Nevertheless, I think I got a great deal back then, and have used the entire value what I paid for. Any thoughts or suggestions?

P.S..: Laptop says it is not compatible for Windows 11. And I've heard Windows 11 won't work well on a HDD anyway.

Poll Options expired

  • 42
    Yes, buy a SSD, upgrade your laptop.
  • 6
    Are you kidding me? Stay happy with whatever you have now.
Computing Computer Component SSD

Comments

  • rumblytangara on 28/03/2023 - 17:29
    +6

    Yes, get an SSD. Single biggest upgrade to old laptops around (unless the laptop has 4G RAM or less)

  • smashman42 on 28/03/2023 - 17:35
    +2

    Well I mean, what SSD are you getting? A $50-80 small 250-500GB MX500 or similar yeah sure why not? 4TB massive SATA drive that costs a few hundred? Probs not

    So consider your budget to replace the laptop as well I guess, and any factors against replacing it.

    eg: I put a 250GB SSD and an 8GB stick of RAM (to make 12GB total, it only had 4GB) in my father's 4th gen laptop a year or two back, but he's in his 60s and scared of new things so keeping the ancient laptop going for $150ish was worth it in that scenario.

  • n3ck3ntry8bort0rgasm on 28/03/2023 - 17:37
    +1

    Either of these should be good enough for such an old laptop.

    1TB https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/759317

    2TB https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/765149

  • payless69 on 28/03/2023 - 17:39

    Windows 11 works perfect on a HDD!

    • rumblytangara on 28/03/2023 - 18:02
      +1

      And it will run like shit, compared to a similar system with even a budget SSD.

      • payless69 on 29/03/2023 - 04:44

        My main pc is an Acer i5 laptop with a 1.8TB cheapest mechanical drive on W11 and 2 32" ext monitors. No noticeable lag.
        Magically I got 2 i7's on SSD's on W10 and both appear slower.
        All my i3's do crawl on HDD's so they are going to be binned soon.
        Worst performer is the M1 Air, only produces a crap pix on the only monitor it can drive.

        • rumblytangara on 29/03/2023 - 08:31
          +3

          Look at this thread. If literally everyone else besides you is saying that SSD is hugely faster, then perhaps there is something wrong with your setup.

          Win10 and Win11 run the same kernals.

          If you're not getting 'lag' on bootup, then we have different ideas if what lag is.

          At least some of us are in tech professionally, so we understand the impact of memory, secondary storage, and caching.

          In practically all normal use cases, a user should run an SSD for at least the OS drive.

          • payless69 on 29/03/2023 - 08:40

            @rumblytangara: Absolutely agree on new technology!
            I went to Europe and brought back 5 LCD screens 2 1/2 years before HN announced them as new.
            Been investing in lots of new stuff, once swapped a 1TB HDD for a 128MB SSD and yes it made the most difference.
            Now I run on a $120 s/h machine but there are worse bottlenecks to put up with.
            Tried to go Apple but some drawbacks are a no no!

          • ThithLord on 29/03/2023 - 09:51
            +2

            @rumblytangara: Have you never come across Payless' comments on OzB before?

            I'm surprised they didn't mention the WEF, the Great Reset or Bill Gates

            • rumblytangara on 29/03/2023 - 11:00
              +2

              @ThithLord: I'm new here.

              And yeah, after a quick comments scan, you are completely right. I will henceforth stop wasting my time.

    • FireRunner on 28/03/2023 - 18:15
      +5

      Windows 11 works on a HDD. I think we have very different ideas on what working perfectly means though

  • brendanm on 28/03/2023 - 18:02

    Damn, you should pitch this as a screenplay.

  • Austaurean on 28/03/2023 - 18:03
    +1

    I bought a Samsung 870 ssd, 1tb sata. Its fantastic, such a huge speed increase. Its turned my Toshiba Satellite P50-c into an actual fast working laptop rather than a grindingly slow pos..

  • maxiboyfm3a on 28/03/2023 - 18:08
    +1

    I put an SSD in a 10 year old T420 ThinkPad with 8gb of ram and a earlier gen i5 than yours and it runs great.

    If you take care of your stuff and don't want to buy a new laptop, upgrading to an SSD can make it run better than it did new.

  • FireRunner on 28/03/2023 - 18:19
    +2

    Should’ve upgraded to an SSD years ago. A cheap 500GB SSD and a fresh Windows10 install will get the laptop up and running better than when the HDD was installed.

  • ihfree on 28/03/2023 - 19:11

    Definite yes.

    I've put SSDs into laptops with various CPUs Core2Duo, 1st - 4th gen i5.

    It's a huge improvement in all cases.

  • dcep on 28/03/2023 - 19:13
    +5

    I contemplated if I should go for a SSD but was kind of worried if the laptop / motherboard / screen would just give way and so didn't want to invest much. But the question in my mind is still the same, is it worth investing on a SSD for a 10-year old laptop?

    If the laptop conked itself , then you can remove the SSD for your next build or just put it in a USB 2.5" casing as external portable storage drive.

    No waste.

  • dcep on 28/03/2023 - 19:23
    +1

    Price AUD 550.00 all-incl.
    Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3337U CPU @ 1.80GHz
    Installed RAM 8.00 GB DDR3 RAM
    HDD 1.00 TB HDD
    System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
    OS Windows 10 Home, Version 22H2 (Nov 2022)
    GPU AMD Radeon with 2.00 GB DDR3 RAM
    Display 15.6" WLED Full HD Display
    Battery 65 wH

    $500 in 2023 , gets you some crappy AMD 3020e or Intel N4000 … 4GB ram …. 32GB eMMC …. 720P display…

    • FireRunner on 29/03/2023 - 00:38
      +1

      $550 in 2013 is about $700 in 2023.
      Also you can do better than that even on $500 budget. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/762088

      • dcep on 29/03/2023 - 01:16

        That's 1 of the very few or the only decent one here with 8gb ram + FHD at $500 new.

        Definitely not a norm but rather an outlier.

        • FireRunner on 29/03/2023 - 01:37
          +1

          It sounds like OP scored a good deal at the time too. It’s always the case to look around for a good deal. If you just buy whatever Harvey Norman has for $500, you’re going to get instant ewaste

          • djoz on 29/03/2023 - 11:46
            +1

            @FireRunner: Yes, back in 2013, this was worth nothing less than $1,200 for the specifications that I got. The 8GB RAM was a free upgrade (from 4GB) that they were offering, and I also got a neat Dell Laptop Backpack, which I didnt use initially, but is now my bag that I take to work.

  • Unbounded4673 on 29/03/2023 - 01:45
    +2

    I own the same model (purchased in 2012), slightly different specs though. Been through your thought process and went ahead with upgrade anyway back in 2020.

    Here's a web link for the different upgrade options possibilities - https://linustechtips.com/topic/928476-inspiron-15r-5520-cpu…

    I'm still rocking on mine with 16GB ram DDR3 & Samsung SSD. I also did a CPU upgrade to 3632QM ( 4 cores, 8 threads makes a noticeable difference in User Experience) which made it snappy enough for light use - Office (Word, excel), web browsing and mail.

    I'm still on Windows 10 Home edition. But lately, I've been thinking of switching to custom builds like Windows Tiny 10 or Windows 10 Ghost Spectre for smaller windows foot print and enhanced windows performance (no bloatware, no telemetry, no crap) and questionable security as it is not an official windows build.
    YouTube their reviews if it interests you. disclaimer - I haven't tried them myself yet.

    Editing to add more info:
    From a user experience view, things that change are -
    Pre upgrade -
    System boot time was 45- 50 seconds
    programs take noticeable time to load

    Post upgrade -
    System boot time is like 4-5 seconds (no kidding)
    Programs load in a snap ( firefox, word, excel, pdf)
    shut down is fast (5-6 seconds roughly)

  • Minheim on 29/03/2023 - 09:41

    Installing an ssd will be a marked improvement on boot time and usability. I had 2 old 2014 era laptops lying around and installed an ssd in each. Transformed them into capable devices for light work. If it is your only pc then most definitely do it. As posted abover the SSD can be reused in another role if the laptop dies.
    edit for typos

  • kmwa on 29/03/2023 - 12:59

    Run Task Manager, and see if the hard drive is actually the bottleneck in your system and is running at 100% for extended periods.
    I'll give you a clue - it probably is!
    Changing to a SSD will give you a remarkable increase in speed and responsiveness, and that 100% hard drive in Task Manager will disappear.

    • djoz on 29/03/2023 - 13:51

      Thanks, it's no bottleneck. It is working fine so far. The speed is quite good, I haven't observed any specific slowness in the use of my laptop. However, since I keep comparing it to other laptops that run on SSD, I can see the difference.

      The disk doesn't run at 100% for extended periods. I have enough free RAM as well when I use the laptop. The CPU too is available enough during usual use. Just that overall comparing this with SSD, seems slow :)

      In my post, I mentioned the laptop to be in "perfect working condition", I am just thinking of an upgrade to SSD, due to the HDD being 3 years old now, and of course for better speed.

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