How to update drivers

[Mikan111]

Hello everybody, I'm using laptop Dell Inspiron 15 3521,
intel core i3 3227U 1.9 GHz
4GB RAM
intel HD 4000 and AMD Radeon HD 8730m, And I have one question for which I can't find answer for anywhere... So, What is the best way to download drivers?

There are drivers on dell's site, but they are all old, like from 2013, but when I search for them separately, for example, for AMD GPU I search on amd site, for intel gpu on intel site, same for chipset drivers I see that there are newer drivers... So is it better to stick with drivers from dell's site, or should I download new drivers separately?

So, I hope that somebody has a good answer, cheers!

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... if your not having any hardware problems... "if it ain't broken... don't try and fix it" ...I have many "OLD" hardware drivers on this computer... software updates for your OS is fine.

 

[weberdarren97]

If driver updates were necessary, Windows would have pulled them through Windows Update. Dell, AMD, Intel and any other company that has hardware in that laptop contributes to Windows Update.

As said above, if it's not broke then don't try to fix it.

 

[Mikan111]

If driver updates were necessary, Windows would have pulled them through Windows Update. Dell, AMD, Intel and any other company that has hardware in that laptop contributes to Windows Update.

As said above, if it's not broke then don't try to fix it.

So having older version of driver isn't much different than having newer?

 

[weberdarren97]

If driver updates were necessary, Windows would have pulled them through Windows Update. Dell, AMD, Intel and any other company that has hardware in that laptop contributes to Windows Update.

As said above, if it's not broke then don't try to fix it.

So having older version of driver isn't much different than having newer?

If you had a newer GPU, I'd say that newer drivers would be better. However, since you have a Radeon HD series mobile GPU, you will be fine with outdated drivers since they were already perfected years ago.

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... a "hardware" driver is for digital communications between all the chips and installed hardware... as stated above... the Chips used, the drivers were already perfected before they installed them on the MB... sometimes an issue comes up after production or OS change... But the Brand Website and the OS hardware driver updates from Microsoft will take care of those. B )

Unless you have some Hardware failure/change or Newer OS hardware requirements... your Computer is good for years like it is.

 

[Mikan111]

Hello... a "hardware" driver is for digital communications between all the chips and installed hardware... as stated above... the Chips used, the drivers were already perfected before they installed them on the MB... sometimes an issue comes up after production or OS change... But the Brand Website and the OS hardware driver updates from Microsoft will take care of those. B )

I got this laptop with Ubuntu, but I wanted to play games, on windows, of course, but when I installed Win 8.1, I went on dell's site and saw that all drivers were from 2013...

So since I changed OS, should I install drivers from 2013, or since I'm downloading drivers, should I download new ones found separately on amd/intel/realtek and other sites?

 

[weberdarren97]

Hello... a "hardware" driver is for digital communications between all the chips and installed hardware... as stated above... the Chips used, the drivers were already perfected before they installed them on the MB... sometimes an issue comes up after production or OS change... But the Brand Website and the OS hardware driver updates from Microsoft will take care of those. B )

I got this laptop with Ubuntu, but I wanted to play games, on windows, of course, but when I installed Win 8.1, I went on dell's site and saw that all drivers were from 2013...

So since I changed OS, should I install drivers from 2013, or since I'm downloading drivers, should I download new ones found separately on amd/intel/realtek and other sites?

Dell is the manufacturer. I would download from Dell.

 

[Mikan111]

Hello... a "hardware" driver is for digital communications between all the chips and installed hardware... as stated above... the Chips used, the drivers were already perfected before they installed them on the MB... sometimes an issue comes up after production or OS change... But the Brand Website and the OS hardware driver updates from Microsoft will take care of those. B )

I got this laptop with Ubuntu, but I wanted to play games, on windows, of course, but when I installed Win 8.1, I went on dell's site and saw that all drivers were from 2013...

So since I changed OS, should I install drivers from 2013, or since I'm downloading drivers, should I download new ones found separately on amd/intel/realtek and other sites?

Dell is the manufacturer. I would download from Dell.

Damn it.. I'm kinda obsessed with having everything up to date, but I think I'll survive this

 

[Wolfshadw]

It doesn't matter how old the drivers are. Only download laptop drivers from the laptop manufacturer. Drivers for items like the chipset and graphics are often tweaked by the laptop manufacturer to restrict the functionality of a component as to stay within power and thermal design limitations.

-Wolf sends

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... The chips are that OLD too... and sometimes they use "non-name brand/generic chips" pay attention to the DELL WEBsite "OS" install list for your proper hardware driver... what OS are you going to put on it?

 

[weberdarren97]

It doesn't matter how old the drivers are. Only download laptop drivers from the laptop manufacturer. Drivers for items like the chipset and graphics are often tweaked by the laptop manufacturer to restrict the functionality of a component as to stay within power and thermal design limitations.

-Wolf sends

This is very true. A lot of times, the chipsets are cooled via an extension of the CPU cooler, with the CPU between them and the heatsink. In cases like these, the laptop manufacturers would have to do some sort of "software magic" in order to keep the chipset from overheating.

@Mikan111, if Dell has not updated the drivers on their website then that means that the old drivers do the job just as well as new drivers would.

 

[Mikan111]

Hello... The chips are that OLD too... and sometimes they use "non-name brand/generic chips" pay attention to the DELL WEBsite "OS" install list for your proper hardware driver... what OS are you going to put on it?

windows 8.1