Dell Precision 3590 Laptop Review

On my way to purchasing this Dell Precision 3590 laptop I first ordered a Dell Latitude 5540, my third 5540, which was offered at a good price but was back ordered for about a month. After waiting for most of that month, I received a message that the order had been cancelled. No explanation, no apology, no alternative, nothing. Zip.

I complained to Customer Care, suggesting that I should get some benefit or at least an explanation for waiting most of a month. They sent me to Sales, who sent me back to Customer Care, who had summarily closed the complaint. End of story, kiss off Customer. In my view Dell’s treatment was high-handed, uncaring, and dismissive. I won’t be buying anything more from Dell that I can find anywhere else. They keep offering Dell Rewards discounts for more computer hardware. Fat chance!.

But I still wanted the Precision 3590 because, like the 5540, it has hardware features that I could not find elsewhere at near the price. Both computers are upgradable to 64 GB memory and have an internal slot for an auxiliary 2TB SSD drive. I needed those features and, by the way, easily installed the parts myself, saving hundreds of dollars.

The 3590 hardware is mostly OK. More about that in another post. The real problem was the software, including Windows and Dell’s apps.

When the computer arrived here the C Drive SSD contained an ancient version of Windows 11 Pro. It demanded updates upon updates, plus Dell software updates and even an update to the BIOS. Such an incredibly obsolete SSD in my brand new computer!

When all of the updates were completed, the operating system was so bloated that it alone required 148 GB of C-Drive space. Windows Disk Cleanup was unable to remove most of the multi-GB files that should have been removable. UVK couldn’t do anything either. Uninstalling most of the Dell software didn’t help. Installing some of my own apps just made it worse.

Finally I gulped, reformatted the C Drive, and did a "clean install" of a fresh copy of Windows 11 Pro downloaded directly from Microsoft, deleting everything else on the disk. No Dell software or bloatware. While I am not a big fan of Windows (especially 11), the 3590 now works as well as any of my several other Windows 11 computers. It requires 101 GB of C-Drive space including all of my own files and applications. Every night Macrium Reflect reduces this to a zipped and encrypted 49 GB image, saving it to the auxiliary drive. Everything works.

The Precision 3590 is also now dual-booting Windows 11 and Linux Mint Cinnamon. No problems with the software, hardware, or BIOS.

This is an honest review. I wonder if Dell will allow it.

Answer: No, they didn't allow it on their website. Clearly, they are censoring the reviews - they certainly censored mine. Therefore, I don't believe any of the reviews that are actually posted there. Believe them at your peril.

                                       Windows 11 Reverted Back to Windows 10

On October 5, 2021, the computer named Stirling (see previous post) was upgraded (or downgraded) from the latest Windows 10 to Windows 11.

I did not find even one feature of Windows 11 that was better for me than Windows 10. Not one. More to the point, I did find at least one feature that was a lot worse - the loss of toolbars on the taskbar. Those toolbars were my way of configuring Windows for my own particular use, and made Windows much more efficient for me. I can't BELIEVE they took that away. I used those taskbar shortcuts ALL the time. Dozens of them, in hierarchical lists.

Other issues:

• System sounds were very quiet - too quiet. For example, if I plugged in a USB thumb drive, I would expect to hear a sound confirming the connection, but it was inaudible. Perhaps there was a way to fix that - I didn't look very hard.
• Disk drives were apparently set to spin down when not in use, because I had to wait for them to spin up on occasion (Stirling has 7 disk drives). I probably could have fixed that too, as each drive has its own settings.
• Context menus were flaky on my double-monitor system. Right-click menus would pop up and then disappear, often several times, before I could get them to stay put. Buggy.
• Much has been made of the taskbar icons in the middle of the taskbar. But this isn't an improvement - it's just different, and not even very different. However, it was easy to move them back to the left edge where I'm accustomed to finding them.

The amazing news is that everything worked. Every application, even some that were 20+ years old, and every command-line script worked as it had before. Same functionality, same bugs. So Microsoft broke the user interface, but not the inner engine. Note that this is expected, so it isn't an improvement or even a compliment, just a relief. Whew!

Because of the broken interface I reverted the computer back to Windows 10 yesterday. I didn't use Microsoft's method of reverting the operating system - I used my own, because I don't trust Microsoft that far. If they can't make the new operating system work properly, could they really unmake it properly? The procedure makes use of Macrium Reflect twice, though any backup that makes an image would probably work::

• Save the Windows 11 version of the C: drive to a spare drive, using Macrium Reflect, which would allow file-by-file restores if necessary.
• Save email (Thunderbird) to a spare drive. Also save calendar data (Rainlendar).
• Likewise save other files that had been changed in the interval between October 5 to October 10.
• Restore the very last Macrium Reflect image of Windows 10 to C:. An image of C: is made every night, as part of the automatic backup process. I used the image dated October 4, 2021, the night before Windows 11 was released by Microsoft and installed here.
• Update Thunderbird, Rainlendar, and the other files. 

Good to go! Windows 10 is back to normal.

One review suggested that toolbars were removed from the taskbar because of a security issue, but that doesn't make sense because you can still attach an executable to the taskbar. Duh.

I'm afraid that Microsoft has done it again - issued a new operating system in a hurry and therefore with guaranteed bad reviews. They certainly don't pay much attention to their early reviewers, and they don't seem to want to explain their reasons for anything. It will be quite a while before they live this down. But hey - they once again validated my overriding distrust of Microsoft. 

They're not actually evil people, but they are motivated by marketing considerations which have little to do with their installed base. They don't get much revenue from their installed base, so sales of new computers (hence operating systems) has to be their main concern.

There was a Windows 8, and then 8.1 Will there be a Windows 11.1?