there is dell concept store at the ground floor just beside the main entrace of lowyat.

Just a stupid question.. Well.. There is a some issue on intel wifi card.. Can i just tell the seller to change it to realtek brand before i buy the laptop?

Tested my Vostro 5470, i5 that came preloaded with Ubuntu. So far no LCD screen problem (too early to tell if after more frequent movement of the lid will the connecting ribbon problem surface). WIFI connects ok. Will do a more comprehensive test on the wifi strength later to see. But as it is, I'm happy with the notebook so far.

I getting hate this device after 3days owning it. The first 1 I bought on Wednesday come with Win8.1. But then after 1 hour use the bottom of the device start to have a bump on an area. I feel weird and today go for 1 to 1 replacement. They replace me a new 1 but only come with win8. They told me it is easy to update to win8.1 just go to the store will do. They say the file is too big so I only can do it at home. Now back home, the device suddenly lag and black screen for 10 minutes after I get into desktop. So I hard press the power button for few times and it finally turned off. I restart again, and yes after a few click on the device it only able to power on. Go to the app store to download win8.1, it keep showing that I am not the admin of device so I am not allowed to download. But weird thing is it showing Win8.1 installing at right top of the store screen. I click in, the win8.1 is downloading but it keep stays at 0%. Anyone can teach me what to do. I already go back to Dell store for 3 times already.

You sound like a newbi on Win 8 notebook. Firstly, avoid updating to Win8.1 as the OS is still not stable plus you will encounter lots of driver issues especially with older equipment that the manufacturer have not provided updated drivers. Besides drivers, some Window legacy software will also not run well on Win8.1. MS is suppose to launch a big update to Win8.1 soon to address these issues. Since you are stuck in an improper installation of Win8.1, go for factory reset/installation of Win 8. The factory image of Win8 should be in the hdd.

Yeap as person above me said, dont ever update 8.1 unless u really know what ure doing. 8.1 is not stable many bugs, driver problem, so many steps in order for it to run smoothly + some luck. If u dont know what ure doing just restore back to original state. Trust me, i already update 8.1 3 times but each time i revert back to 8 in just a couple hours, cant stand too many errors. just stay with 8.

i dont get it. why cant swap hdd with sdd? sdd is also hdd but without moving part. almost buy 5470 today but come across this thread. i got samsung 840 evo 256gb ready to swap.

anyone has the dell tech support tel no?

tried calling them at the no on the web site but it is not active. Might be a us no.

Have some problems with windows. Want to reinstall but cant download windows. Can we request a CD or USB for windows installation?

Dell Tech came to my office and formated my laptop and changed the screen. THere was one dead pixel...

Want to upgrade the RAM to 8gb. Anyone knows which model I should get? Thinking of Corsiar but not sure which one. I know it is Low Voltage one. Anyone change before?

Oh well.. It is now 21st March, I have been to a PC shop in One Utama and came across Dell Vostro 5470-20452G(1.54kg) RM2,249

Seems like the price is higher than anywhere else, at least it is more expensive than Tech Hypermart.

I have read the last 10 pages and got to know that there are two types of Vostro 5470, one is laptop the other is Ultrabook. Any chance the ultrabook already available in Malaysia market by now?

I will probably getting this (if no one suggest other better alternative in the same price range) from Tech HyperMart or Dell official website but here are the things I want to change and wonder which one of them can do for me:

1. Change the ram from 4gb to 8gb (I know its single slot)
2. Change the OS to windows 7 as I havent used windows 8 before and dont feel comfortable with it from the look (apparently from Tech Hypermart DOS version is available)
3. Possibly change the wireless card to Realtek =P
4. Change the HDD to a working brand of SSD? (anyone tested out which brand is supported?

Basically these are the issues in Vostro 5470 I collected from this thread.

Or maybe I should buy the 5460 or to find the highest spec of 5470 as suggested by someone?

Unless I'm wrong, the mb doesn't support boot up from normal ssd (replacing hdd). However it does boot up from half size msata ssd.

5460 yes, you can boot from ssd (7mm), 5470 dunno.

Is 5460 worth getting than 5470 in that sence? what other downside of 5460 may I konw please?

wifi problem? not sure 5470 got it or not. other than that all ok so far..

My 5470 doesn't have wifi issue & its on Intel not Realtek card. However, I discovered that it cannot boot from msata despite reading several forums on this subject that it can. It seems Dell uses different MB on the Vostro model for different countries & this has lead to different experience by owners of the same model. I have also tried several bios version (A05 & A06) for 5470 downloaded from Dell Msia & Dell USA to test..no luck.

Another issue is that after installing kingfast half height msata 128GB, the nb hangs for about 80-90sec at POST. This i read could be due to incompatibility to mb. But after the longer boot up time, the bios recognizes the msata & windows could accesses the drive as per normal. There were several occasions after POST, bios could not detect msata & Windows didnt show it either. However after reboot, it gets detected. Digging further from Dell site, there is a special driver for Liteon msata but it can't be installed for other msata ssd. So I'm not sure if the Vostro only recognizes Liteon msata & require msata driver to work properly. Googling, I couldn't find anybody selling Liteon half height msata on the net.

If i have some time will test if it can boot from 7mm ssd...

your boot partition in harddrive or Msata?

Boot sector & OS is now on hdd & msata is only another drive. POST is experiencing the boot up delay.

I tried installing Win8 in msata with & without hdd installed. While I managed to install Win 8 on msata ignoring warnings, it won't boot up from msata.

put the boot sector (100mb EFI system) on your hdd(drive1), and your window on your msata (disk0).

then you will need to remap your boot address of your bootloader to read the win file from msata. recommendation = EasyBCD.

bios set to boot from (drive1). i got it work in win7, not sure about win8.

I dont think that's gonna solve my long POST problem. What msata are u using?

instruction by DELL technical people


You will need the operating system installation media. You may follow the steps below to install the Operating system on the mSATA drive. :

Power on the computer and press F2 button on the Dell logo
Using right arrow key,highlight Advanced option
Using down arrow key, Highlight Intel® Rapid Start Technology and press Enter
Press Enter on iRST Support and Disable it
Press ESC button to go back to previous menu
Highlight the Boot option and take the boot drive(For example CD/DVD) to first priority using the +/- keys on keyboard
Press Enter on Hard Drive and make the mSATA drive first boot priority
Press F10 to save changes and exit
Press F12 on Dell logo and Insert the Operating system media into the optical drive
Highlight the CD/DVD drive and press Enter to boot from the installation media
Follow the onscreen instructions to install the operating system
Ensure that you install the operating system on the mSATA drive at the drive selection screen