Just got my Dell1505 Dual Core -- MY REVIEW!

[jigsaw11]

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.

[Shepoch]

Originally Posted by jigsaw11

...3. The DVD/CDrom drive is extremely noisy and makes the computer vibrate. I would assume this is standard in a notebook, however...

Not in any of the notebooks I've had or seen. You should probably get this checked out. Then again, it could be that particular model.

It is an amazing deal, those are great specs and it will serve you well.

[jigsaw11]

Thanks Shep. I'll compare it with my Dad's Sony VIAO when he gets home Note that I was installing a game, not sure if that makes a difference. We'll see if any other E1505 users say anything... thanks for pointing tha tout

[flipcody]

I'm glad you like it. That is a great notebook for that price. COD2 is a beast to run on a desktop let alone on a Notebook. I think you will find that other games will play smoother and with higher settings on it. It will be a great notebook for college.

[jigsaw11]

Hey flipcody,

I owe it all to you! You're the one who gave me that unbelievable discount coupon... I feel embarassed for not thanking you! THANK YOU !!

[bond92]

dude get ur cd rom checked out because it should not be making that much noise.
and also the 9 cell battery is just a tiny bit heavier, like .5 pounds or so, so it is not that much.
also reformat the thing, because of the bloatware

[Chaka Kahn]

hey congrats jigsaw!
that sure was fast. as for your noisy drive, check in the bios as i know for my thinkpad i can change the noise via settings like:

max performance
normal
low (quiet)

you should consider uninstalling all of the dell stuff, possibly IMO reformatting the machine. this should help the load times. defrag it too.

overall, enjoy your new laptop!

[jigsaw11]

Thanks guys.

Will reformatting the entire computer make that big of a difference in performance?

I noticed dell put on quite a bit of crap but I unistalled the stuff I didn't want. There are some decent features that I like. The dell quickset, for example. Is it possible to reformat and keep some of the stuff I want?

[Chaka Kahn]

if it came with a recovery cd, you can get the programs off of there. you might be able to download all the applications and drivers that came with it off their website, but i'm not familiar with that website.

it should make a difference. it gets rid of useless spam junk they put on there and hampers performance. a clean slate of XP uses only 70-80MB of memory at bootup. maybe less, it's been awhile. then just load the drivers and the "quickset" program.

[robbie d.]

Dell doesn't put all that crap (free AOL trial, musicmatch jukebox, etc) on their Latitude series, do they?

[boomheadshot45]

they do that on all of their computers sadly

[rob06]

yea it is quite a laptop, I got myself one for college also and I love it, it is a great computer. It games way better than I expected it to. So far the only problems I've had are the wireless card, I got the Intel 3945 one, and I had dell send me a new one, but other than that I love the laptop.

[jigsaw11]

hey Rob, do you notice the difference of the 9-cell battery vs the 6-cell. I got the 6-cell and i'm kind of regretting my decision. I wonder if it's worth going through the hassle of taking the cpu back and ordering a new one w/ a 9-cell. Arghh....

OR I could just purchase two 6-cells, which should theoretically last longer than 1 9-cell. Kind of a pain in the ass, but whatever...

[Anemone]

congrats

[TJM623]

about that cd-rom drive, i just got a 1505 for college too (i have a feeling everyone on every campus is gonna have one of these lol), anyway the cd-rom drive...mine's loud doesn't vibrate, but it's loud you can defiently tell there's a cd in there, but doesn't really bother me. I have the 6 cell too i kinda wish i got the 9 but o well maybe when this one starts to go i'll upgrade.