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Dell Vostro 3560 Laptop 3rd Gen i7/1920x1080/8GB RAM/Radeon HD 7670M - $899

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Offer ends March 7

3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3632QM processor (6M Cache, up to 3.2 GHz)
15.6 inch Wide Display FHD (1920x1080) w/anti-glare
8GB DDR3 SO-DIMM AT 1600MHz - 2X4GB
500GB 7200RPM SATA HDD Drive with 32GB mSata
AMD Radeon™ HD 7670M 1GB DDR3
Dell Backlit Keyboard w/ Multi-touch Touchpad
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230 802.11b/g/n + BT4.0
4x USB 3.0 Ports, 1x HDMI Port, 1x VGA Port
37.5cm wide by 25.9cm deep by 2.88-3.25cm thick
Weighs 2.57Kg
Windows® 7 Professional SP1 64bit (English) "EDIT" you can upgrade to WINDOWS 8 (64bit) for free
1 Year Next Business Day Onsite Service

Previous deals with this laptop

http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/78338 - $799 [DIFFERENCES](6GB RAM, i7-3612QM,750GB HD)
&
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/78170 - $899 [DIFFERENCES](4GB RAM, i7-3612QM,500GB HD,Dell Wireless 1704 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0+LE)
&
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/87533 - $779 [DIFFERENCES] (6GB RAM, 750GB HD)

not the best bargain considering the above but still on par with one of those bargains

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closed Comments

  • 899 does not include the antivirus you stated. I dont need it but just a clarification to others

  • Seems pretty good value could play Latest games at low/med graphics

  • No webcam?

    • +1

      There is an HD webcam on the upper screen bezel

      • Ok Thanks for the info :-)

  • +2

    I bought this when on sale for $779 back in Dec, very decent desktop replacement.

    Upgradable to max 16GB ram (not documented on Dell's site or manual).
    CPU is rPGA so potentially upgradable if you are so inclined (my i7-3632QM is more than sufficient for my needs)

    Should have a webcam and dual mics.

    Microsoft Security Essentials (Win7) or Defender (win8) is excellent for antivirus for my needs.

    Love the expresscard slot, I've got an eGPU setup running a GTX 560 with output on the laptop screen for portable gaming.

    • me too. Really like it!

      Just one concern, the screen was made early 2011, as suggested by some software.

      How about yours?

      • same here

      • i dunno? which program are you using to check that?

        well my screen is fine, no dead pixels no weird colour shifting, backlight cranks right up.

    • hows the screen on this? is it nice and vibrant and any issues with viewing?

    • -2

      I see what you did there…

      This is not a desktop replacement, there is a class of laptops that can be classified as desktop replacements they don't have mobile graphics/CPU and the screen would be 19" or higher

    • +3

      just wanted to add, the vostro 3560 comes with a separate 32G mSata SSD.
      Intel RST can be setup so the SSD is cache. I typically get win8 cold boot to desktop in ~8s from this setup.

      the HDD is also easily removable, so I've moved it into a caddy and replaced the DVD-RW drive and added in a separate 120G SSD. My current config is 120G SSD + 32G msata cache + 750G HDD.

    • +1

      I also purchased one of these babies during December, and it is a very decent unit.

      Boots up very quickly with Win8.

      Previous Vostros have been poor quality … but Dell has lifted their game on this one.

      Upgraded it to 16GB RAM.
      I also changed the included HDD for an SSD, and used a DVD->HDD caddy/converter to place the included HDD into, to be a secondary internal HDD. Works great.
      I also purchased a USB to SlimDVD connector, so I can hook the burner up to USB if I ever need to use it, which is rarely.

      • 16Gb wow.
        how many VMs are you running concurrently?!?!

        I would say this vostro model is probably one of the best <$1000 laptops that you can get if you want to try eGPU gaming.

        • I sometimes run quite a few apps and one or two VirtualBox VMs at the same time .. and 8GB runs a bit sluggish. 16GB runs smooth as. Besides, RAM is cheap these days.

  • +2

    looks like a sweet laptop, ive had my vostro 1720 for almost 4 years now and its excellent.. however I fail to see why this post is getting liked (no offence to the poster!).. if its over $100 more expensive than in dec 2012.. surely an ageing laptop should go down in price, not up.. maybe wait a month to see it go back down? Flames are coming I fear…

    • +2

      It's not that it's more expensive it's that this deal of $400 off isn't as good as the previous deal of 40% off. Who knows when /if a deal as good as that will come again.

  • +1

    Might be related to supply and demand and sometimes prices can fluctuate I guess. Even though it is 100 dollars more expensive, its better than most laptops u can buy under $1000 dollars

  • +15

    A true ozbargainer never purchases if it has previously been cheaper no matter what the lame excuse for the price increase

  • Would this be an upgrade or downgrade (gaming performance wise) from my Asus G73 (has i7 720qm. ATi 5870, 8GB's).

    From the looks of the GPU, it's not a very powerful one (ranked 149 against all cards)

  • +2

    Title says 8gb ram, but text says 4GB6 DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz ==> should be 8GB (2x4GB)…

    Also, it looks like Dell changed the CPU from i7-3612QM to i7-3632QM processor (6M Cache, up to 3.2 GHz),
    and Dell Wireless 1704 to Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230 802.11b/g/n + BT4.0

    • your right, i had copied the specs from the previous ozbargain post. sorry about that. thought they were the same

  • +1

    I had one of these and was using it on a mates boat last weekend, he hit a wave and over it went, now it's just a Dell, rolling in the deep.

    • +1

      Lame joke!

  • last deal the ram was 6 GB , this one is 8 GB .

    • cheers for that, added in description

  • +2

    I bought the Vostro 3500 when it was ozbargain'ed. It has the Nvidia 340M graphics card. The major problem I have is that the laptop overheats quickly so I can't really use it to play games. The computer would shut down before getting through 30mins of a game! I later found out that is a known problem that many users had and that there was no easy or real fix.

    I would highly advise anyone to do some investigation on whether overheating is problem with this model before making the purchase.

    • are you able to use speedfan?

      I have no problems with my vostro 3560, either in gaming (BF3, Crysis 3, far cry 3, etc) or in multithreaded media encoding (handbrake, flac, lame).

      Tj for the i7-3632 is somewhere around 100c, and my Tcore peaks at 80c under full load with 8 threads.

      • I can use speedfan and change thresholds but the hardware forces a automatic shutdown once the laptop becomes hot. I may have had a bad batch but it was too late to report to DELL as my warranty had expired :/

        • have you tried re-seating the cpu-heatsink or replacing the thermal compound?

          what temps are you hitting before the auto shutdown? intel and nvidia chips should be okay up to 90c range.

          if you havn't yet, try updating bios (my vostro 3560 model had issues with fan speed sensing until i updated my bios).

    • -1

      I own one of these. The fan and heatsink is very difficult to access and clean. When it gathers dust, as it invariably will, it will overheat the CPU, and make the plastic brittle. This makes it even harder to disassemble the unit for cleaning.

      My recommendation. Pass it up.

      • Do you clean your laptop (without disassembling) with the vacuum cleaner ?
        Your vacuum cleaner should be able to suck excess of dust through the vents located on the left hand side.
        I am just asking cause I have one since previous ozbargain deal and never had any problems.

        • You should not use Vaccum cleaner I suppose for cleaning vents use non static air pressurised cans from officework.

        • Don't take my word for it. Take a look at how many steps to clean heat sink properly. From their own service manual:

          ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt…

          To spare you the trouble:

          1. Follow the procedures in Before Working Inside Your Computer.
          2. Remove the battery.
          3. Remove the base cover.
          4. Remove the hard drive.
          5. Remove the optical drive.
          6. Remove the wireless local area network (WLAN) card.
          7. Remove the wireless wide area network (WWAN) card.
          8. Remove the keyboard.
          9. Remove the palm rest.
          10. Remove the display assembly.
          11. Remove the ExpressCard cage.
          12. Remove the system board.
          13. Disconnect the fan cable from the system board.

          You practically have to disassemble the whole laptop just to get to the dust.

          Also read this: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/…

  • The only crappy thing about this is the pitiful 500GB storage…very seriously considering though…haven't been able to find many sub-$1000 laptops with more than 4GB RAM and i3 processor.

    I'm not too techy guys - is it easy to substitute the provided memory with a new hard drive, considering transferring of data files OS etc etc?

    • It is very easy to do but
      1. you need to know how to clone and restore disk images (e.g. with Norton Ghost).
      2. It takes time. Normally I am watching a movie while it is in progress, rather than sitting and bluntly looking at the screen with a progress bar.

  • Anyone knows if the vostro 3560 can run dual external monitor? There is an on board hdmi port and if I buy an expresscard with dvi, can I connect one monitor using hdmi and another monitor via dvi?

    • I'd imagine this depends more on the OS' capabilities or the driver software that comes with the graphics cards .. rather than the notebook hardware itself.
      I can't see any reason why what you want to do wouldn't work.

    • Any reason why you haven't considered the builtin VGA port for the 2nd external monitor? A lot of monitors support VGA, and it should be able to handle up to 1920×1080 resolution.

      • Well I have tried the same monitor using VGA and using hdmi/dvi and I find that hdmi and dvi almost always give a sharper and crispier image on the screen….not sure why though

        • It's difficult to drive 1080p from VGA.
          Your fuzzy image is most likely due to poor/too long VGA cables.

          With a short (~1m) and thick (ample shielding) VGA cable I can get crystal clear display, but with an el-cheapo thin cable I get halo fringing.

    • I have this vostro 3560 bought back in Dec.

      I can definitely drive two external 1080p displays via HDMI + VGA out. This is with Win8 and stock intel HD4000 drivers.

      Not sure if it can do triple display (laptop + 2 external) as I have sold my monitors before being able to try.

  • Sorry double post

  • There are a few similar Dell laptops that are slightly cheaper and/or have better specs, except with worse resolution.

    eg. http://www.dell.com/au/p/inspiron-15r-5520/fs (1366 x 768)

    http://www.dell.com/au/p/inspiron-17r-5721/fs (1600 x 900)

    Will the lower resolution make much of a difference on a 15 or 17 inch screen? I want to buy one for my wife who will be doing autocad stuff.

    • the 17" specs are great for price, the size is the worrying factor though for me

  • If only it had Blu-ray and came out two months ago. I just bought a PC pretty much the same specs with a less reputable brand but it was $490 more expensive (and didn't have backlit). So good deal.

  • Just ordered one of these a few minutes ago but noticed my cart contents had the keyboard listed as a normal chicklet style one so i did the online chat thing:

    03/05/2013 03:21:49AM Agent (Srikanth_Garikapati): "Hi Jason, how may I assist you"
    03/05/2013 03:22:40AM Jason: "just wanted to know how i could get the Vostro 3560 with a backlit keyboard"
    03/05/2013 03:23:06AM Agent (Srikanth_Garikapati): "may I have the evalue code of the laptop you are looking to purchase now"
    03/05/2013 03:24:43AM Jason: "just trying to find the evalue code"
    03/05/2013 03:25:18AM Agent (Srikanth_Garikapati): "this option is not available online, but however, I will assist you in placing order with backlit keyboard for additional $16"

    I'd have been heartbroken if I'd switched in on for the first time and my keyboard didn't light up.

  • Tossing up between this an a touch enabled Inspiron - $849, but i5, half the RAM, lower res, etc.

    How important is a touch screen with Windows 8?

  • Has anyone tried getting a further 8% off with Qwibble?
    http://www.qwibble.com.au/computers-electronics/dell-consume…

    • +1

      I used Qwibble last year (when it was called Buckscoop). The discount is off the ex-GST price and you have to wait 3-4 months for the cashback.

      I recommend Qwibble but an alternative is StartHere (up to 5.25% cashback on Dell, depending on membership).

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