I have a Dell XPS8700 which came with Windows8 that I quickly switched to Ubuntu.
Here is the current BIOS on the system
Version: A09
BIOS Revision: 4.6
Release Date: 11/22/2014
…
Version: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz
Is there any compelling reason to upgrade to anything more recent?
What is a decent way to update the BIOS on this system to a more recent one?
Best Answer
I wouldn't say there are compelling reasons, however performing an upgrade might be wise. I had a Dell laptop some years ago and I upgraded its firmware because they improved the power management and it showed.
Therefore, you should check out the Dell website for the changelog and then decide for yourself. Upgrading firmware and other "low-level" software is usually a good idea, but the final decision is yours.
The Ubuntu community help contains a good explanation of the process. In particular, the Dell Bios page explains how to perform the upgrade using FreeDOS. Here are the relevant steps:
Regarding the last step, executing the
.exe
file is similar to what you would do in the terminal. Assuming the file is calledupgrade.exe
, you will run this at the FreeDOS prompt: