Dell Rugged 5404/5414?

Windows Laptops
1

I just aquired a used Dell Rugged 5404 or 5414.
I thought it would work in the CNC room, as it is dusty.
Is there a way to tell which one it is?

It has an almost 15" screen
Windows 10 is installed with a Windows 7 rollback option.
It has an I-7 processor

The battery charges, but dis-charges very quickly.
I’m guessing it is shot.
It looks like they made them a bout 8 years ago from what I can gather.

One thing, the screen is very bright and is milky colored when off.
It bothers my eyes for some reason. I’m guessing refresh rate?
Does not seem to matter how I set the brightness.

Photos following:

dell1
dell1525×700 113 KB

dell2
dell2700×525 111 KB

dell3

2

I’m thinking an aggressive approach to reducing glare/specular reflection. Once we figure out what it is, we can find out whether this is an aftermarket screen protector or an integral part of the screen.

1 Like
3

OK Thanks
I’ll post more photos with it on.

4

So here’s some photos.
The milkiness does not show very much as in real life.

Here’s Off

laptop4
laptop4700×525 35.7 KB

Here’s all the way bright, you can not see the whitish film in the photo though, maybe a bit in the lower RH corner:

laptop2
laptop2700×525 62.5 KB

Here’s about 5%, you can see the whiteness here better:

laptop3
laptop3700×525 66.1 KB

Here’s about 35%:

laptop1
laptop1700×525 75.1 KB

We can find no detectable screen protector.
If there is one it is behind the bezel.

Maybe this is normal for this style computer.
I’ll take it outside tomorrow morning and see how it looks in the sunlight, if it is not cloudy.

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5

If you right click the start menu button and than click ‘system’ you can see the processor number, with that you should be able to guess or find the release year (usually its 1 year later for business devices than consumer devices).

Possibly PWM. Notebookcheck reviews list the PWM.

May want to pull the battery out and just plug in the laptop to prevent chance on battery bloating. Perhaps you are able to buy a ‘new’ battery but since they probably have lied on the shelf for a few years the capacity will likely be bad.

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6

What is PWM?

Here is a photo of the dxdiag screen that shows the it is Model 5404, the Processor and Operating System

5404 copy
5404 copy1500×1125 460 KB

Have not found the manufacature date yet, but more info.

Thank you for the tip about the battery. Did not know they would bloat when they were old. Just figured they woulde not hold a charge

1 Like
7

Was able to get rid of some of the milkyness by adjusting the Gamma in the Intel video settings.

We’ve had clouds this week, so have not been able to test it in the sun.
But, it seems to wash out, even at max. brightness.

8

pulse width modulation, here is an explanation (some people are sensitive to it, I believe some manufacturers opt for a screen that have this issue because it is cheaper for them ): PWM Ranking - Notebooks, Smartphones, and Tablets with PWM - NotebookCheck.net Tech . But for the Dell it could also be something different, like maybe it just is not sharp enough or such (/low reso, /difficult to read text).

Chances are relatively small but when it happens it can be dangerous.

9

There’s a whole subreddit dedicated to the phenomenon. :sweat_smile:

https://www.reddit.com/r/spicypillow/