Computer Collection: Atlas
About
Atlas is a Dell Latitude 14 7480 which was purchased on eBay. I intend it to replace Deimos for my daily laptop, as the latter is too unwieldy. Plus macOS on Intel is on its way out and Linux cannot sleep properly with it due to firmware issues.
Therefore... meet Atlas. Its boring, black exterior means it wouldn't stand out to most people, but that's because it's a business machine. Despite its seemingly lackluster specs that wouldn't meet requirements in the business world today, it works for me. And it even gets 45 FPS average in Minecraft, too.
The keyboard is actually a really nice typing experience to me, and I dare say it beats Deimos' keyboard. It's backlit, too - perfect. There's a Dell-ified TrackPoint nub in the centre which kinda sucks because I hate them and I can't seemingly disable it in Linux - I'll have to check the BIOS. The trackpad on the other hand is pretty good. It still has physical separate buttons, but they're decent buttons. Not crap buttons.
Its display... I got the better option. It's a 1920x1080 IPS panel, but Dell offered it with a 1366x768 TN panel too. No thanks.
Its SSD and RAM that are installed are all HP OEM, so they must've been pulled from another system. I'm actually using the included SSD because it's shockingly in pretty good shape with low read / write counts and only 1600 power-on hours.
Specs
- Model: Dell Latitude 14 7480
- CPU: Intel Core i5-6300U (2C/4T, 2.4GHz/3GHz, 15W reg. TDP)
- RAM: 16GB DDR4 2133MHz
- GPU: Intel HD Graphics 520
- Display: 14" 1920x1080 IPS
- SSD: Samsung PM981 512GB M.2 NVMe
- OS: Fedora 39 Workstation
- PSU: Dell 05GT3K, 19.5V 4.62A Barrel (90W)
Trivia
- It's named after Atlas, a moon of Saturn, which is technically classified as an inner satellite.
- The TrackPoint nub in the middle of the keyboard cannot be disabled in the BIOS, and I have to add a udev rule to make Linux pretend it does not exist. During testing I accidentally disabled the keyboard and touchpad too. If you're looking for the guide I followed, the link is below this trivia section.
- It can play Minecraft okay, actually.
- It can't play Portal at max settings, sadly.
- The display is oddly hi-DPI for its size.