Dell laptops shipping with 10/100 ethernet adapters -Am I being ripped off?

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Fishfingers

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#210406 26-Mar-2017 11:03

I just bought a new Dell laptop with pretty good specs. Latest i7 CPU with DDR4 RAM, 4Gb DDR5 graphics, but couldn't connect to my business network at Gb speed.

Spent over 2hrs with Dell tech support installing driver updates etc. Dell even contacted the LAN adapter manufacturer (Realtek), and went as far as saying I'd have to do a system image restore. All this despite the laptop being 2 days old.

Finally the tech support guy informs me that the adapter is only 10/100 capable and further comments that "it's like putting a crap engine into a Ferrari".

Am I justified in feeling conned or ripped off? Who still sells laptops with 10/100 ethernet adapters? Pretty strange to have such old tech in a new Win10 Pro laptop.

What are your thoughts?

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#1747919 26-Mar-2017 11:07

You're only ripped off if it was advertised/promoted/specced as having Gig. Plenty of laptops with no ethernet at all being sold (reliant on WiFi), so in the portable market space it's not always a high priority interface, so a good place to save money.

D.W

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#1747920 26-Mar-2017 11:09

Do you have the exact model/specs available? I'd be surprised if it is actually 10/100.

Behodar

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#1747921 26-Mar-2017 11:10

At least one manufacturer is advertising gigabit but then connecting it via USB 2 for a maximum theoretical speed of 480 Mb/s!

Peppery

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#1747945 26-Mar-2017 11:11

What's the model of laptop & NIC model?

I find it hard to believe that any decent machine sold in 2017 would have a 100mb card. Surely it'd be more effort to get a 10/100 adapter in there than a gigabit one.

richms

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#1747951 26-Mar-2017 11:21

Still plenty of low spec ones with 10/100 in them. Just like heaps with 768p panels and lousy slow card readers that dont even do U1 speeds.

Headline spec is the processor type - followed by storage for most people. Anything else costs them and wont help them sell. Up to you to check the specs before buying so no, not ripped off. If gigabit was important to you then should have checked before buying.

Richard rich.ms

Jase2985

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#1747955 26-Mar-2017 11:25

Behodar:

At least one manufacturer is advertising gigabit but then connecting it via USB 2 for a maximum theoretical speed of 480 Mb/s!

its most likely something like this

they have connected it via a lower speed interface on the Motherboard, so why put in a Gigabit one when it will never achieve that.

Fishfingers

13 posts

Geek

#1748039 26-Mar-2017 13:05

Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5567

i7 -7500U, 16Gb 2400MHz DDR4, 256MG SSD, Radeon R7 M445 4Gb DDR5 graphics.

No mention anywhere on the very detailed invoice of the network specs other than Dell wireless 1810 card 802.11AC dual band wifi+ Bluetooth.

I just expected that a new laptop marketed as "5567 Designed for the real world, with high end features" would have a gigabit LAN. I saw the LAN port in the advertising and wrongly assumed that a laptop with Win10 Pro would be designed for connecting to business networks. Every other laptop I've bought (plenty of them from Dell, Acer, HP....) in the past 6 years as had gigabit lan by default. Clearly my fault for not checking, but really?, consumers shouldn't have to check for this on a laptop in 2017. I've subsequently found out that consumers and reviewers have been grizzling about this 10/100 issue with Dell laptops since 2014.

What would be the price difference between a 10/100 and a Gb Lan card? $2.00? It would have to be integrated into the motherboard. Why would they bother? To save the $2?

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darylblake

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#1748043 26-Mar-2017 13:17

WoW. It is only 10/100.

But it is a 7th Gen Intel as well.

Is it capable of having a docking station? If so you might be able to get one with a Gig port on it, Alternatively you could get a USB 3.0 Dock with a gig ethernet adapter.

I rekon you don't really need more than 100mbps anyway. I think you can enjoy a rich internet experience on a full duplex 100meg connection. It will just take a bit longer to download large files unless you use WiFi that goes faster OR a USB 3 doc of some sort.

I have a laptop that was one of the very first centrino duo's which i took to the UK 10 years ago, and it had a 10/100/1000 adapter on its board. (along with its 56k modem). I am surprised that Dell have not got these standard.

EDIT: if it makes you feel any better the Macbook pro I am typing this post on doesn't even have an ethernet port.

D.W

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Ultimate Geek

#1748044 26-Mar-2017 13:19

That is surprising/unfortunate, looks like it is only 10/100.

Might be easiest to get a USB 3.0 gigabit ethernet adapter.

ArcticSilver

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#1748045 26-Mar-2017 13:22

Fishfingers:

Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5567

i7 -7500U, 16Gb 2400MHz DDR4, 256MG SSD, Radeon R7 M445 4Gb DDR5 graphics.

No mention anywhere on the very detailed invoice of the network specs other than Dell wireless 1810 card 802.11AC dual band wifi+ Bluetooth.

I just expected that a new laptop marketed as "5567 Designed for the real world, with high end features" would have a gigabit LAN. I saw the LAN port in the advertising and wrongly assumed that a laptop with Win10 Pro would be designed for connecting to business networks. Every other laptop I've bought (plenty of them from Dell, Acer, HP....) in the past 6 years as had gigabit lan by default. Clearly my fault for not checking, but really?, consumers shouldn't have to check for this on a laptop in 2017. I've subsequently found out that consumers and reviewers have been grizzling about this 10/100 issue with Dell laptops since 2014.

What would be the price difference between a 10/100 and a Gb Lan card? $2.00? It would have to be integrated into the motherboard. Why would they bother? To save the $2?

Unfortunately it clearly states its 10/100 on the Dell website. I am still very surprised by this myself, this is definitely not the normal in my experience, I wouldn't of expected anything with i series processors to not have Gigabit LAN. I could see myself making this mistake. I would eco your comments as to why they would do this?

jamesrt

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#1748051 26-Mar-2017 13:26

Fishfingers: Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5567

Googling that gives this page on the Dell website http://www.dell.com/nz/p/inspiron-15-5567-laptop/pd, and it has full specs; the specs do say 10/100Mb. So you've not been "ripped off" in that you've been given what was stated on their website.

However, I would agree that you have been "ripped off" in terms of "let down" by a badly spec'd component on what should have been a fairly good spec laptop.

Given that your laptop has USB3, I guess you could always try one of these if you really need the Gb speed: https://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/mbeat-usb-3-0-gigabit-lan-adaptor-for-pc-and-mac/26595968

No idea what that performs like; never tried anything like that.

Batman

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#1748057 26-Mar-2017 13:43

Wow you (Dell)'ve got to be kidding me!

RunningMan

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#1748059 26-Mar-2017 13:46

[snip]Fishfingers:

Dell Inspiron 15 5000 5567

i7 -7500U, 16Gb 2400MHz DDR4, 256MG SSD, Radeon R7 M445 4Gb DDR5 graphics.

No mention anywhere on the very detailed invoice of the network specs other than Dell wireless 1810 card 802.11AC dual band wifi+ Bluetooth.

Assuming this is the correct model, then it's pretty clear from the website it's 10/100 under the ports heading

http://www.dell.com/nz/p/inspiron-15-5567-laptop/pd?ref=PD_OC

10/100 RJ-45 Ethernet Network

yitz

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#1748083 26-Mar-2017 14:58

I would expect Gigabit Ethernet NIC to be standard on something like the Latitude range but not the Inspiron consumer range.

mattwnz

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#1748087 26-Mar-2017 15:08

That is correct for this model as I have a similar one and it is around 2 years old, although mine is an i7. Most people use wifi, and I have never connected to to Ethernet myself. This wouldn't be a problem, expect the wifi card on this model sucks as well. So I would recommend buying an external adaptor of some kind to give you better Ethernet or better wifi.

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