Dell Inspiron E1505

Wellp this was my first laptop and I needed it for school so I decided to go with Dell becuase the faimly computer is a Dell and it runs good so I thought why the heck not. I went online to Dell and chose the middle Insprion and customized it so that thed hardware was the next step below top of the line (except for a had drive and memory, I think I chose the top of the line for those). To end I chose a flashy quick snap cover for looks (1 dollar more a month seems mighty low until dell slaps the 20% interest on you) and off the order went. That following Tuesday I was overjoyed to see that the Fedex guy dropped the box off. Opening it I found the cover was already on it and it was ready to go. So, heres my complete review:

First off this thing is wicked fast. It loads windows no problem and the fan is super quiet and rarely comes on. The memory is amazingly huge in thsi machine. I installed a PC game and I have 200 Mp3's stored so far and I'd say I still have like 75% more disk space to fill up. The Wireless internet is great and amazes me (look doood no wires!!!), plus at the college its free so im not complaining. The screen is really pretty too. Theres some glare on it but I'm not complaining one bit. The widescreen is really cool and offers some really panoramic screen views. The speakers are really good. They serve their purpose well and thats all that I care about. There are cons tho. The biggest one I found was that Dell puts too many junk programs on their machines. I dont need AOL oir MSN Messanger!!! I looked and I can't find an uninstall program for MSN (I'm a Yahoo person)..that makes me mad considering its useless disk space. Second, the battery could be longer, but then again I could have bought a better battery, plus the laptop came with a Ac adaptor so I'm not complaining. last, the build quality. It is great, but it could be better. Then again I sort of expected that from Dell.

To sum it all up...I'm wicked happy and recommend this to college kids like me that dont need too many thrills; just a pretty screen, some gizmos here and there, and lots and lots of options for hardware.

<div class="image_block"><img src="http://www.nelsonguirado.com/media/users/nguirado/star45.png" alt="" title="" width="54" height="12" /></div>

The e1505 has some tremendous upsides that justify its relatively low purchase price, but it’s not a perfect laptop.

Advantages:

1.When you purchase from a popular manufacturer like Dell, you can easily find accessories and replacement parts from places like www.ebay.com. It’s also reassuring when 1000 other people have had the same problem as you as people as technical support via websites like www.notebookforums.com is as easy as pushing the search button. These are huge considerations for me as I do most of the maintenance on my computers.

2.The E1505 has a discrete video card. I chose the ATI X1400 which is almost as good as the nvidea 6600 go and the nvidia 7400. A complete list is here. What does this mean to you? First, it means that you can play games. I’ve played Battlefield 2 and Elder Scrolls, Oblivion, two very graphically demanding games, at acceptable frame rates, although the most demanding graphical games like Ghost Recon and Company of heroes may not play well. Second, having a high-end video card will allow you to use the next Microsoft OS, Vista, whose upgraded interface requires 3d acceleration. The bottom line: spend an extra $100.00 and get the better card; you won’t regret it unless you’re sure to only use office application.

3.The e1505 has Bluetooth. Bluetooth is hard to find in retail stores like Best Buy and Circuit City.

4.The E1505 has a higher resolution screen (1680x1050-WSXGA) vs. the usual 1280x800-WXGA. The higher resolution means that you can see 72% more stuff on your screen. Keep in mind that you’ll see more because everything will be smaller. If you have vision problems, get the lower resolution screen. You will never find a WSXGA screen in retail stores and only rarely online from the big manufacturers. I like the higher resolutions screen myself and the fact that the Dell e1505 had one really whittled down the laptops from which I had to choose. One controversial subject is the glossy screen. It looks good in darkness and indoor lighting, but is useless outside. I prefer the matt but, unfortunately, the WSXGA only comes with Truelife glossy.

5.The e1505 has a fast duel-core processor.

6.The e1505 comes with Windows Media Center. This feature is relatively hard to find in a laptop this size. The advantage of this operating system is that you can use it to record television shows and, combined with a remote, provides a wonderful way to listen to music and watch videos. Other software can be bought that provide similar functions, but I like the tightly integrated Media Center and since it’s part of the operating system it should be less conflictive than add-on software. The external multimedia buttons are the ideal arrangement.

7.The speakers are in front of the computer, allowing you to listen to music with the lid closed. I often do this especially before going to sleep as it seems a safer way to keep the computer. The sound is fine. One bit of advice: Despite assurances from two clueless salespeople, the advanced Audigy sound upgrade is a software add-on and NOT a different audio chip.

8.The media center button lets one view a DVD without booting the computer. I never use it, but it could save a little battery life for long trips.

9.The e1505 is featured on my favorite TV show, Stargate.

Disadvantages:

1.I would prefer a metal casing like my previous laptop, the Compaq X1000.

2.The e1505 is bulkier than other 15.4” laptops; it’s a bit thicker than others.

3.I’ve had two issues with the e1505, one replaced under warranty and the other I’ve just accepted. A buzzing sound began to emanate from the screen accompanied with some dead pixels. It was fixed. The other problem results in a screen that won’t come back on if the laptop goes into sleep mode until you close and open the screen again-sometimes.

So, there you have it. The e1505 is a difficult to find assemblage of features in an homely package for a reasonable $1400.00. I would purchase again.

<a href="http://www.nelsonguirado.com">Asymmetric</a>

E1505 Dual Core
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5600 (1.83GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB), Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 $1,860.00 1 $1,860.00
Inspiron E1505 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5600 (1.83GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB) [222-4672]
LCD Panel 15.4 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen SXGA+ Display with TrueLife™ [320-4652]
Memory 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHZ, 2 DIMM [311-5778]
Video Card 256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory™ [320-4655]
Hard Drive 80GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive [341-3111]
Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 [310-7149]
Network Card and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem [430-0493]
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0 [412-0917]
Combo or DVD+RW Drive 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Sound Options Integrated Audio [313-4217]
Wireless Networking Cards Hi-Speed: Dell Draft N Wireless [430-1912]
Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed) No productivity suite- Includes Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD [412-0915]
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) PC-cillin Internet Security: AntiVirus, Firewall, Spyware removal 24-months [420-5644]
Primary Battery 6-cell Primary Battery and 9-cell additional Lithium Ion Battery [312-0404]
Warranty and Service 2Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service [412-0360]
Internet Access Service 6 Months America Online Internet Access Included [412-0787]
Miscellaneous Award Winning Service, Support [465-1223]
Future Operating Systems Windows Vista™ Capable [465-4663]
Bluetooth Options Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate) [430-1777]
Upgrade to Windows Vista Express Upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium from XP Media Center Edition [310-8571]
[310-8590]
Dell Digital Entertainment No Pre-Installed Software [465-8449]
Processor Branding Intel Core 2 Duo Processor [310-8319]


Upgrade to Genuine Window Media Center Edition 2005 and qualify for an Express Upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium – Go to next component (Upgrade to Windows Vista) to make your selection - $0.00

Dell Wireless 1500 Draft 802.11n Dual-band internal PCI express mini card. Backward compatible to 802.11a/b/g. 270 Mbps peak rate when used with Netgear Draft N router WNR834B or other Draft N router with Intensi-fi technology. - $0.00

SAVE! with 24-months subscription. - $10.00

FREE Upgrade plus $10 shipping & handling payable at time of redemption - $0.00

Dell Home Customers: Save 25% off this Dell Inspiron! - $468.05
Subtotal: $1,381.95
Shipping and Handling: $19.99
Shipping Discount: -$19.99
Tax Total: $102.25
Total: $1,484.20



I was wanting the xps 1210 but the configuration I chose on that was $800.00 more. My old comp was dying so i reluctantly decided that this was the best deal.

I like it.

The screen is amazing absolutely amazing.

It is fast and loads amazing fast. I was able to load in all my programs in under 3 hours. I have no benchmarks but comming from an old Inspiron 5100 P4 768 ram 32 mb vid card this thing sails.

Speakers area what you would expect

Draft N and Bluetooth work well.

I am picking up the express verizon card off Ebay and will have to update that later.

No noticeable fan noise.

Negatives

The bottom is scalding. I cant even hold my hand on the hard drive bottom for more then 2 seconds and I swear it could blister.

The disk drive is a bit loud and vibrates what I would call "a bit too much"

Bunch of extra software that is unnecessary as usual.

But overall the feel is solid the screen is amazing It is very fast and I usually have Outlook, Adobe 7 Pro, AutoCad and a internet window open at the same time. It handles it just fine. Purchasing was easy and they beat the delivery date although I miss the old system that let you watch it get built, now it just says "in progress". I did get upset that when i was building it and through the final page it said that it would ship on the 21st then after the confirmation came in it said it would ship the 27th. Happily it did ship on the 20th.

For the price I got it I am very satisfied. Heat is still an issue.

Size wise since i was looking at a 12.1 this seems huge and i will be using it in my truck and in meetings so I will have to get used to that. It really feels like a 17 Inch.

[For my laptop specs, refer to signature]

Screen:

The 15.4" WSXGA+ LCD is amazing. The pictures are sharp, and there is little evidence of ghosting. My LCD has only a small amount of expected light leakage along the bottom and top edges, but nothing that is intrusive. Even when watching DVDs on a black screen, it is hardly noticeable. No dead pixels to speak of, and I can't notice the 'sparkling' other people talk about. The color saturation is excellent. As for brightness, the screen is pretty bright at the highest setting, though that's not adviseable for battery usage. There is a problem with glare on this glossy coating, which is even noticeable on highest brightness (on a sunny day).

Heat:

The laptop will get warm, just like every other laptop. Specially on the underneath side towards the back. The palm rests will warm up insignificantly. Overall, the system has good heat dissipation, and will hover around 40-45 C for normal operations. The system never gets too hot, and it can always be placed on the lap without any discomfort.

Noise:

The CD/DVD drive is NOISY. It also tends to cause vibrations throughout the keypad area. The harddrive has a gentle hum thats very tolerable. The fan comes in 3 stages. The lowest stage is hardly noticeable, and very quiet. The 2nd stage is a bit louder, but also nothing too bad. The 3rd stage is a bit noisy, but not so much that it interferes with operations. And to note, the 3rd stage will only kick on for a few seconds, and is not prolonged.

Construction:

Mediocre at best. Perhaps one of the few faults I can find with this E1505 is the poor build materials. The plastic along the back of the LCD panel is easily scratchable, and the white bumpers along the edge has a distinct cheap plastic feel. Too bad the chasis isn't made of carbon fiber or magnesium alloy... Its just cheap cheap plastic. Areas along the vent and undercariage are depresseable with a semi-strong push. Although the laptop does not feel like it will break without a significant reason, the feel of the quality is still pretty miserable.
The LCD panel opens and closes without squeeking, and it feels pretty tight and well matted so thats good. The clasp along the top is plastic, and works as intended.

Sound:

The sound system on the laptop is remarkeably good. Sure, it won't replace any high end stereo equipment, but for integrated speakers, they're good. They have good bass, and a moderately crisp sound. However, there's always headphone jacks if you rather use a pair of headphones.

Price:

I got my laptop through Dell EPP program and with a $-750 as well as a free 1 GB Ram upgrade. Therefore, the price was roughly slashed by 40%. Making my laptop a very very good value. Dell runs promotions throughout the year, so keep hunting for a price, and Dell won't let you down. However, the E1505 is priced competitively at its regular sale price. (My laptop with its settings was bought at $1259.45 after tax and s/h)

Speed:

The advertising for the Core Duo DOES NOT LIE. The overall system is INCREDIBLY fast. My T2500 was able to compute 1 million digits of Pi (albeit, on Mathematica 5.2 which supports Core Duo Processors) in roughly 15 seconds [Remarkeable]. Then, just to push the limits a bit, I decided to run a virus scan (mccafee), spyware scan (spybot), and System Mechanic Pro 5 all simulteneously. (All the while also chatting via AIM). Lo and behold, the system usage hovered around 90%. Which is incredible since I was running so many programs simulteneously. The responsiveness of the system is much quicker compared with a single core system. However, is the extra $70~ worth it for the T2300 upgrade to T2500 (around +0.17GHz)? Probably not... But I like my T2500 =)

Video:

Fortunately, the E1505 has something besides the dreaded integrated video: a dedicated video chip. Unforunately, the options arn't the best (but not the worst either). The high end chip for the E1505/6400 is the ATI Mobility X1400. Clocked at 432 MHz, and with 128 MB Dedicated onboard memory (256 Max), the X1400 will not compete with the Nvidia 7800s or 6800s. But it will get the job done. Video editing, DVD watching, and some games, the X1400 will handle it without breaking a sweat.
I personally use my laptop for only "lower-end" games like Warcraft III, and less graphics demanding games like Civilization IV. However, I was able to run Doom III on High settings and a decent resolution (1024x768) at a steady 40 FPS without any overclocking (Omega Drivers). I would not dare to try FEAR or Oblivion on these kind of settings though.... The X1400 will satisfy most casual to low-High end gamers.

Keyboard/TouchPad:

The keyboard and touchpads are decent. The keyboard has a nice size, and good keystroke depth. The touchpad is very responsive, and the side scroll lengths are useful. Although, the two click buttons feel quite cheap... (fortunately, I've replaced this with my wireless optical Logitech V500 Mouse $20)

Wifi:

Meh, its a standard Intel A/B/G adapter. It gets the job done, I get a 4 bar reception strength (and excellent signal quality) here in my room 2 floors above my router ($40 Netgear G wireless router WGR614-v6)

Ports:

Nice array of ports. 4-USB 2.0, Firewire, PC Express Card, 5-in-1 media slot, video out, and s-video out port (at least I think that's what it is...).

Media Direct:

Nice row of multimedia buttons with a cool blue backlight along the front end for easy access to sound, and play options. Dell's Media Direct is useful for playing multimedia without booting into Windows.

Asthetics:

The laptop looks cool, no lie. Although the white bumpers look kinda cheap, the silver finish along the inside and ouside mixed with the black undercarriage looks pretty neat.

Preinstalled Software:

Oh jeez, another hitch Dell has: the incredibly USELESS and abundant amounts of bloatware they install. So annoying to get rid of... Recommend complete reformat and clean install or otherwise face 1-2 hours of housekeeping...

Battery:

Respecteable battery life. Approximately 6 hours on a full charge using headphones on low sound, medium brightness, and wifi off. 5 hours on full charge with wifi on. But keep in mind, I am using the upgraded 9 Cell rather than a 6 cell. (Although I did get 2 batteries, which is a wise thing to do for those buying a laptop) The batteries charge fairly quickly, approximately 2.5 hours to charge a 30% battery to 100%.

Overall:

A good laptop for a large host of users looking for a balance of power and value. The speed and hardware on this laptop is excellent. Although it could use a better construction and less bloatware that came with...


Recommendation:

yes, buy the E1505 if you are looking for an affordable laptop that delivers a punch. However, if you're a hardcore gamer (rather play FEAR/Oblivion on high settings), it would be best to get a desktop replacement laptop (E1705, XPS, etc etc) Or better yet, why not just get a desktop . The E1505 can handle everything from word processing, email, surfing the net to video editing, and low-High end gaming (WoW, Doom III).

So many of you know i've been stressing about getting a laptop lately and i finally decided to go with the Dell 1505. Well I got it today, and I'm STOKED!

I purchased this laptop for college because I'd like something portable that I can take home on the weekends as well. My Desktop just crashed as well, so I had to replace that. So I needed something as powerful as a desktop but light enough to carry around (home/school/library/class). PLUS I needed something cheap!

I got the Dell1505 w/ 1.83GHz Duo, Ati X1400 256MB, 60GB@7200rpm for about $1,030.

Today the UPS man delivered the Dell package to my door and I anxiously ripped it apart to find my baby: Dell E1505.

Appearance
The laptop is very pretty, something I wasn't really expecting. It has a nice white border to hinder the inner silver from getting scratched. The colors flow smoothly and make the laptop look very classy.

Performance
The 1.83GHz duo is very powerful. You really don't notice how much multi-tasking you do on the computer until you pay attention to it. I played music and surfed the web while installing the game Call of Duty 2 and I felt like I was using 2 separate computers at the same time. It was very fast! Seems fast enough for me, and faster than my old desktop!

Games
I played Call of Duty 2 and at first had some issues with the loading. This is a fairly new game that's pretty harsh on computer resources. Seeeevverraaaal of my friends never got it to work on their cpu, so I was a bit nervous! At first the maps of the game wouldn't load but I figured out that I just have to let it "sit there" w/ a blank screen until the maps loaded. Thank god! I initially thought it wasn't going to play the game. It's very difficult to play the game with DirectX9 rendering, but there is an option on COD2 that you can play with DirectX7. The game works marvelous with this setting (much better than my old desktop, in fact). The graphics were excellent, although not AMAZING. I only need this laptop for medium-gaming so I wasn't looking for something spectacular -- just something that works!

Misc
1. The palm-rest gets warm but nothing compared to my Dad's Sony VIAO.
2. The notebook seems very sturdy. I can't believe people said these things are going to break. What are you doing with them guys? Throwing them?
3. The DVD/CDrom drive is extremely noisy and makes the computer vibrate. I would assume this is standard in a notebook, however.
4. Dell puts on a bunch of crappy software that I don't want
5. Plug it into a desktop, mouse and keyboard and you have your desktop PC! (I'm looking for a fan to go under the cpu though so it won't over-heat, you can also disable the LCD screen on the laptop to save battery. Lastly, leave the screen 1/2 open at least to vent)


-------->RECAP
PROS:
1. Affordable, powerful and quality computer (~$1,000 shipped)
2. Sturdy build, light (~5.5-6lbs) and clean aesthetics
3. Screen is very crisp
4. Can play games!

CONS:
1. Palm rest gets a little warm (right side more than left, which is kinda annoying)
2. Keyboard is a little weird (harder to press) -- not sure if this is standard, but it's something I will get used to
3. Games aren't spectacular.
4. Dell doesn't give any type of booklet to explain the CPU (Fn keys, driver update, etc)

"Shit I should have got this"
1. I probably should have got to the 9-cell battery, although I didn't want the heavy laptop.
2. Maybe a DVD burner, kinda pricey though.


FINAL WORDS:
If you're looking for a portable computer with decent desktop performance, I recommend this computer. It's sturdy, light-weight, powerful, can play recent games at medium settings, and is overall a very good deal.