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Laptops · Dell Precision

Dell Precision 5550

8owners with an opinion
29%of verdicts positive
0/0positive/negative since 2024
0.5 yrslongest happy owner
0happy after 3+ years

Praised for display and reliability; criticized for build quality and noise.

What people wrote

NeutralOwned 0.5 years
I've been running Linux on a 5550 for about six months now, and the hardware is rock solid. Everything works fine. I've experienced no overheating, network is stable, all the USB bits work, it docks and undocks without issue, the web cam works, audio works, it sleeps, hibernates and wakes up fine. Fans aren't very loud and I've only ever heard them spin up when compiling (I would say the full speed fans on the 5550 are about as loud as full speed fans on a 2016 Macbook Pro). The large touchpad works well enough. The 4k screen is OK, and matte, which I consider a bonus. The keyboard is average, certainly not the worst laptop keyboard I've ever used, but far from the best. However, I wouldn't buy one for myself. Simply because of how flexible it is. It is nearly unusable when sat on anything but a hard flat surface. It's like the designers never even tested it as a LAPtop. Tiny, imperceptible flexes, or even just more pressure on one side than the other and the touchpad generates clicks. Also, a USB-A port would have been way more useful than an SD-card slot.
Doesn’t like it
That's not normal for Dell. Believe me. We bought a boat load of very recent Precision series and getting 12-18 months out of them would be considered a miracle. I've got a dead 5550 in the cupboard (thermal failure) and my 7670 is dying now as well. Also I have so many blown up Dell docks I look like a far Eastern recycling slum at the moment. Their monitors are good though!
Doesn’t like it
These old ones still had a proper S3 sleep support. The new Dells are on the "modern standby" crap pushed by Microsoft and deep sleep doesn't work on any OS. Somehow we managed to regress, it's no longer safe to just close your laptop and put it to your backpack. (few times I did that with my Precision 5550, it got so hot I was afraid the battery will explode)
Doesn’t like it
No. I have a 5550 which is I assume what the author is referring to. It’s garbage. Overheats constantly, the touchpad is dire, the screen has bad vignette around the edges, it’s noisy, the thing hard freezes when you plug it into a dock, the webcam only works 50% of the time you power it up and if you pick it up by the base it flexes so badly the touchpad clicks. The keyboard is also soggy as hell and the battery lasts 3 hours if you’re really lucky. It’s the worst laptop I’ve ever had the displeasure of using. I am just glad I didn’t pay for the thing. But a Thinkpad or a MacBook and just give this a hard pass. I’m using a 14” MacBook Pro which was much cheaper and it’s a far more productive machine without all of the above problems!
Likes it
Laptops from the same series are still offered, and (for good or ill) still pretty similar to 2019 - https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/workstations-isv-certif... I have a 2020 model, and would concur with this post - good screen, build, thermals, lots of ram, no having to fight with drivers. Even firmware updates "just work" (apply as snaps). I did find this review more helpful when making the purchase decision - https://www.engineering.com/story/dell-precision-5550-review...