Note; About the pictures. I apologize. My camera sucks, and I’m not the best photographer anyway.
And secondly; Try not to laugh at the way my grandmother decorates, I had nothing to do with it.
Review time!
Just got my hands on my new E1705! I know when I was researching, I was scouring the net for reviews, so I thought I’d write one!
Decisions, decisions!
I spent months researching laptops. My mind changed a million different times. I even considered a desktop-ultra portable combo for a while. In the end though, it came down to this:
Asus W2JB
Dell E1705
Alienware m5500
I liked the design of the Asus, but from my experience, never buy something solely based on looks. I liked pretty much everything about the new m5500, the only problem was the ship date, I couldn’t wait that long!
And as for the Dell, well, it became more and more appealing over time, and I was finally thrown into a final decision by Dell kickass deals.
Ordering process:
Ordering from Dell was quick and simple. The process was informative, and straightforward. I placed my order on July 2nd for the following system:
Inspiron E1705
(Only key features listed)
Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2400 (1.83GHz/667MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS
100GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 (and reinstallation CD at extra cost >.<)
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ HD Software Edition
80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
All this and some extras came to a total of $2,887.00, but thankfully, Dell was offering 35% off. So with tax and shipping, my order came to $2249.17.
Shipping and Delivery:
When I ordered, I was given an estimated ship date of July 10th. But, to my surprise, Dell had it out of Malaysia and on its way to me sooner than that. I actually received my system on the 7th. No complaints there!
Packaging:
There was not a thing wrong with the packaging. But, that’s just it, there wasn’t much that COULD go wrong. Dell, in my opinion, needs to step up in this area. All that I received was a single cardboard box. Plain and boring. Nothing but a blue Dell logo. Inside, things were neat and efficient. A small box that had manuals, reinstallation CD’s, and the power cables. In a bigger box was the laptop, floating in between two pieces of Styrofoam.
I think Dell should invest in creating an exciting experience when it comes to packaging, like Apple, or Alienware. But, it got the job done. No real complaints here either.
First Impressions:
My first impression was that it look TONS better in person than it did on Dell’s sight. Seeing the white trim online made me question my purchase. But when I saw it, I fell in love with the design. It all comes together quite well if I do say so myself.
My second thought was “This thing is friggen huge!” I didn’t really expect it to be this large, but then, I guess that’s what comes with a 17” widescreen display. I’ve gotten used to it since then, though.
It wasn’t too heavy, right at about 8 pounds or so I’d say. So, its still portable to some degree, but, be advised, this will NOT fit in your backpack, and its NOT something you’d enjoy carrying around with you every second of the day.
Its not remarkably thin, but it gets the job done.
On one last note here, I’d like to comment on the build quality. This thing feels extremely sturdy. I’m not sure it could survive a fall from the table, but, it doesn’t make me extremely hesitant about using it. There isn’t much flex in the screen, and I don’t think its made out of plastic. Probably some alloy.
First boot:
After the usual Windows set up process, I was amazed to find how much bloatware Dell had installed. If you don’t have a decent amount of time to spare to uninstall useless programs, I’d recommend a fresh install of Windows. It’d make things go quicker.
Display:
I got the most costly option for the display, and I don’t regret it one bit. Its beautiful. Colors are vibrant, whites are white, and blacks are black. I feared the resolution might be a bit too small, but I actually have come to prefer it! It does take some getting used to however.
When the screen is dark though, there is a bit of light leakage along the bottom of the screen. Not enough to be bothersome to me, but it is noticeable.
(this picture makes it look worse than it is)
Keyboard and touchpad:
First things first, the keyboard feels kind of stiff, and troubled me at first. But, there isn’t any flex, and the keys are full size. I don’t know why manufacturers of 17 inch laptops don’t always include a numerical keypad. They have the room, don’t they? I use it quite frequently when I have one, but I guess I’ll just have to adjust.
As for the touchpad, well, its one of the best I’ve used. Responsive, and decent sized. It has vertical and horizontal scroll bars, which come in handy, and nice, large, quite buttons.
Sound:
I was surprised to find that the E1705 has pretty good sound quality. Loud speakers, and just enough bass to make it an enjoyable listening experience. Great for movies, I’d say! But if you’re a real sound JUNKIE, you might just want to bring along your own speakers or headphones.
Performance:
For normal everyday tasks, this thing flies. I can have a large number of windows open at once, and I don’t get any lag. Thank you Core Duo!
--Gaming Performance:
I have to say, I’m satisfied here. Its just about perfect for my needs. Not that I do an excessive amount of gaming or anything, but when I do, I like it to run flawless. And for what I’ve thrown at it so far, it does. I can run most things (SimCity 4, GMax, and such) at high quality settings, with no lag.
---Benchmarks
3DMark06 - 3460
3DMark05 - 6345
Good? Iunno. I’m pretty new to the world of benchmarks. So, opinions would be helpful here.
Battery Life:
Meh, mediocre at best, but if I needed a huge amount of battery life, I would’ve gotten an ultraportable. I get about 2:45-3 hours.
Heat:
I won’t lie, this thing gets pretty hot. When using it on my lap, my legs were starting to sweat. Its probably because of the fan and vent locations, however. Its not so hot that its unbearable, but it will get uncomfortable after extended amounts of time.
Is there anything I missed? I hope not.
Other features:
On the front of the lappy, there are media control buttons. They light up in a blue color when you press one! Yay blue!
Oh, and the optical drive is pretty loud. But at least it works.
There was something else I was gonna put in this section… Hmm, I’ll have to get back to you on that. =/
Conclusion:
All in all, I’m happy with my purchase. If I could do it again, I probably would’ve chosen the same E1705 and config.
Pros: Flawless performance (so far), great quality display, good sound quality, and an excellent touch pad.
Cons: HEAT! Dimensions, keyboard, and mediocre battery life.
Thanks for reading! I’ll probably be updating this from time to time, so stay tuned! Oh, and any comments or suggestions on how to improve this review are more than welcome. This is my first review, after all.
--Cody
Edit: I added some new, better quality pics.
And secondly; Try not to laugh at the way my grandmother decorates, I had nothing to do with it.
Review time!
Just got my hands on my new E1705! I know when I was researching, I was scouring the net for reviews, so I thought I’d write one!
Decisions, decisions!
I spent months researching laptops. My mind changed a million different times. I even considered a desktop-ultra portable combo for a while. In the end though, it came down to this:
Asus W2JB
Dell E1705
Alienware m5500
I liked the design of the Asus, but from my experience, never buy something solely based on looks. I liked pretty much everything about the new m5500, the only problem was the ship date, I couldn’t wait that long!
And as for the Dell, well, it became more and more appealing over time, and I was finally thrown into a final decision by Dell kickass deals.
Ordering process:
Ordering from Dell was quick and simple. The process was informative, and straightforward. I placed my order on July 2nd for the following system:
Inspiron E1705
(Only key features listed)
Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2400 (1.83GHz/667MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS
100GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 (and reinstallation CD at extra cost >.<)
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ HD Software Edition
80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
All this and some extras came to a total of $2,887.00, but thankfully, Dell was offering 35% off. So with tax and shipping, my order came to $2249.17.
Shipping and Delivery:
When I ordered, I was given an estimated ship date of July 10th. But, to my surprise, Dell had it out of Malaysia and on its way to me sooner than that. I actually received my system on the 7th. No complaints there!
Packaging:
There was not a thing wrong with the packaging. But, that’s just it, there wasn’t much that COULD go wrong. Dell, in my opinion, needs to step up in this area. All that I received was a single cardboard box. Plain and boring. Nothing but a blue Dell logo. Inside, things were neat and efficient. A small box that had manuals, reinstallation CD’s, and the power cables. In a bigger box was the laptop, floating in between two pieces of Styrofoam.
I think Dell should invest in creating an exciting experience when it comes to packaging, like Apple, or Alienware. But, it got the job done. No real complaints here either.
First Impressions:
My first impression was that it look TONS better in person than it did on Dell’s sight. Seeing the white trim online made me question my purchase. But when I saw it, I fell in love with the design. It all comes together quite well if I do say so myself.
My second thought was “This thing is friggen huge!” I didn’t really expect it to be this large, but then, I guess that’s what comes with a 17” widescreen display. I’ve gotten used to it since then, though.
It wasn’t too heavy, right at about 8 pounds or so I’d say. So, its still portable to some degree, but, be advised, this will NOT fit in your backpack, and its NOT something you’d enjoy carrying around with you every second of the day.
Its not remarkably thin, but it gets the job done.
On one last note here, I’d like to comment on the build quality. This thing feels extremely sturdy. I’m not sure it could survive a fall from the table, but, it doesn’t make me extremely hesitant about using it. There isn’t much flex in the screen, and I don’t think its made out of plastic. Probably some alloy.
First boot:
After the usual Windows set up process, I was amazed to find how much bloatware Dell had installed. If you don’t have a decent amount of time to spare to uninstall useless programs, I’d recommend a fresh install of Windows. It’d make things go quicker.
Display:
I got the most costly option for the display, and I don’t regret it one bit. Its beautiful. Colors are vibrant, whites are white, and blacks are black. I feared the resolution might be a bit too small, but I actually have come to prefer it! It does take some getting used to however.
When the screen is dark though, there is a bit of light leakage along the bottom of the screen. Not enough to be bothersome to me, but it is noticeable.
(this picture makes it look worse than it is)
Keyboard and touchpad:
First things first, the keyboard feels kind of stiff, and troubled me at first. But, there isn’t any flex, and the keys are full size. I don’t know why manufacturers of 17 inch laptops don’t always include a numerical keypad. They have the room, don’t they? I use it quite frequently when I have one, but I guess I’ll just have to adjust.
As for the touchpad, well, its one of the best I’ve used. Responsive, and decent sized. It has vertical and horizontal scroll bars, which come in handy, and nice, large, quite buttons.
Sound:
I was surprised to find that the E1705 has pretty good sound quality. Loud speakers, and just enough bass to make it an enjoyable listening experience. Great for movies, I’d say! But if you’re a real sound JUNKIE, you might just want to bring along your own speakers or headphones.
Performance:
For normal everyday tasks, this thing flies. I can have a large number of windows open at once, and I don’t get any lag. Thank you Core Duo!
--Gaming Performance:
I have to say, I’m satisfied here. Its just about perfect for my needs. Not that I do an excessive amount of gaming or anything, but when I do, I like it to run flawless. And for what I’ve thrown at it so far, it does. I can run most things (SimCity 4, GMax, and such) at high quality settings, with no lag.
---Benchmarks
3DMark06 - 3460
3DMark05 - 6345
Good? Iunno. I’m pretty new to the world of benchmarks. So, opinions would be helpful here.
Battery Life:
Meh, mediocre at best, but if I needed a huge amount of battery life, I would’ve gotten an ultraportable. I get about 2:45-3 hours.
Heat:
I won’t lie, this thing gets pretty hot. When using it on my lap, my legs were starting to sweat. Its probably because of the fan and vent locations, however. Its not so hot that its unbearable, but it will get uncomfortable after extended amounts of time.
Is there anything I missed? I hope not.
Other features:
On the front of the lappy, there are media control buttons. They light up in a blue color when you press one! Yay blue!
Oh, and the optical drive is pretty loud. But at least it works.
There was something else I was gonna put in this section… Hmm, I’ll have to get back to you on that. =/
Conclusion:
All in all, I’m happy with my purchase. If I could do it again, I probably would’ve chosen the same E1705 and config.
Pros: Flawless performance (so far), great quality display, good sound quality, and an excellent touch pad.
Cons: HEAT! Dimensions, keyboard, and mediocre battery life.
Thanks for reading! I’ll probably be updating this from time to time, so stay tuned! Oh, and any comments or suggestions on how to improve this review are more than welcome. This is my first review, after all.
--Cody
Edit: I added some new, better quality pics.
Good review though. 
