Dell Inspiron E1505 Notebook Review

Dell's Inspiron E1505 thin and light notebook offers some strong performance from its processor and hard drive but it is held back by its memory and graphics.

Weighing in at a relatively hefty 6.8 pounds and measuring 1.4 inches thick, the Dell Inspiron E1505 battery sports a roomy full-sized keyboard that makes prolonged typing comfortable. Air vents flank the left and right sides of the chassis for keeping the machine cool during extended use. The large touchpad with built-in horizontal and vertical scroll areas make navigating Web pages a breeze. Beneath the touchpad, embedded in the bezel, are DVD/CD controls that illuminate when pressed.

 

 

 

The Inspiron E1505 reviewed here was configured as follows:

• Intel Core Duo Processor T2500 at 2.0 GHz per core.
• 15.4" Ultrasharp SXGA+ display with TrueLife
• 512MB DDR2 533MHz RAM in dual channel mode
• Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• 100GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
• 8X DVD +/- dual layer recorder
• 53 watt-hour 6-cell battery

The 15.4-inch UltraSharp widescreen display delivered strong colors when watching DVDs, even from a variety of angles. The speakers, which are located on either side of the playback controls, produced surprisingly good sound, even though the bass was a bit weak. This configuration has an 80GB hard drive for storing your digital music collection, along with gobs of photos and videos.

The Dell 6400 battery core duo processor is some of the newest and best technology. If you are like me, you like to do a hundred different things at once. And that is perfect with this processor.

The core duo makes it very easy to do things at the same time. You can run your anti-virus software and check your email at the same time and not worry about things getting slowed down.

The 1.66GHz processor is very fast with today's programs. However, ff you plan on keeping your laptop for a long time you might want to upgrade to a little bit faster like the 1.83 GHz or the 2GHz.

Storage space starts out at a respectable 60GB hard drive. You can beef the size of the drive up to 120GB for $75 or make it a faster 7,200rpm drive for $175, depending on whether you want more space or higher performance.

The optical drive on this portable computer isn't top of the line, just a basic CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive. This drive will burn audio and data and play DVD movies, but it can't handle any DVD media burns. If you want a DVD writer, Dell offers an upgrade to a Dual Layer DVD burner for a reasonable $30 over baseline. This drive can handle CD and DVD burns as well as burns to high capacity DL media that stores up to 8.5GB on a single disk.

These Inspiron E1505 battery portable computers ship with Windows XP Media Center operating system, so they're well suited for handling multimedia files. There's no TV tuner built in, so if you want to use these laptops for watching and recording television, you'll have to add an external tuner. They do offer Dell's MediaDirect software so you can play music CDs or DVD movies without having to boot up the entire operating system.

Dell Home Systems Inspiron E1505 is a laptop powered with Intel Dual Core processor, DDR2 Dual Channel memory and 15.4-inch Ultrasharp SXGA+ widescreen LCD display with TrueLife. The notebook aims to deliver quality entertainment experience beside unbeatable productivity.

Although this is a mid-range computer, an important benefit that the Dell Inspiron 6400 battery offers is the Intel Core Duo dual processor. While I have never been someone who pushes the limits of what his computer can do, I do utilize some applications that are processor-intensive. For example, which is a part of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence through the University of California at Berkeley. This means that my computer is processing radio-telescope data from the observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence. While this program only uses the unused processor cycles, so it operates seamlessly with whatever else one may be running, a benefit to the Core Duo processor is that the Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop is able to process double the data compared to a computer with just a single processor.

The more RAM your laptop has, the faster programs will run and the greater number of windows you can work in at one time. If your needs are simple and you rarely do more than two things at once on your PC, the relatively modest amount of memory that comes installed in inexpensive laptops will be enough. Today the standard amount of RAM shipped in most PCs is 2GB. If you like to multitask--say, you want to launch a search for a file and start backing up data to a disc while you watch a news video--you need more memory.

The new model weighs 0.4 pound less than its predecessor and contains a raft of upgraded components, including Intel Core Solo or Core Duo processors in speeds up to 2GHz; up to 2GB of swift 533MHz RAM; and a screaming 7,200rpm, 100GB hard drive. In keeping with its multimedia bent, the E1505's 15.4-inch wide-screen display comes in WXGA or WSXGA native resolutions. Like its larger sibling, the E1705, the dell inspiron 1521 battery includes Dell's MediaDirect feature, which plays CDs and DVDs and lets you access photos and other media files stored on your hard drive without booting up Windows first. There's also a full suite of ports and connectors, including FireWire, VGA, S-Video, and four USB 2.0 ports, plus both PC Card and ExpressCard slots.

The Dell E1505 and Dell Inspiron 6400 battery systems are available immediately in the Americas. The $929 starting configuration includes an Intel Core Solo T1300 processor, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, 512 MB DDR2 memory, 40 GB(2) hard drive, six-cell battery, and one-year limited warranty.(7) A similar configuration with a Core Duo T2300 processor starts at $979.

Acer TravelMate 290 Review

The Acer TravelMate 290 series is one of the most handsome, versatile, and long-lasting budget laptops on the market. It comes with Intel Centrino technology and costs as little as AU$2499 for the bare-bones configuration, though we recommend a few upgrades; the price difference to add a DVD burner to the Acer TravelMate 290 battery is pretty good value for a notebook. While the price may say mainstream notebook, many of the features scream thin-and-light laptop. For instance, you can swap media modules in the TravelMate 290 series, which you can't do with most mainstream notebooks. It also achieved extra-long battery life in our Labs' drain tests. Despite a few design letdowns, students and families on tight budgets should give it serious consideration.

Editor's Note: The Acer Travelmate tested here varies ever so slightly from the locally available version; in the US the memory specification drops to 128MB and various hard drive sizes are available.
Although the Acer TravelMate 290 series falls into the mainstream category, the laptop's case measures a trim 3.2cm and weighs 2.8kg (3.2kg with the AC adapter). The chassis is 33.2cm wide by 27.4 inches deep, making room for a 14-inch screen in a purplish-silvery, titanium-alloy lid. The dark-grey, plastic base features a rubber shock absorber directly under the hard drive. The well-designed lid latch opens easily with one hand.

Acer's big keyboard is a letdown. Unlike the mildly U-shaped, hand-friendly keyboards found on other Acer notebooks, the TravelMate 290 battery features a straight one. It operates quietly, but it sags under pressure and gives poor feedback. The important keys are large, as you'd expect for the chassis size, and the touchpad is also spacious and smooth, with two mouse buttons below it. (There's no pointing stick.)

Icons and text appeared nice and big when displayed at the screen's native resolution of 1,024x768, but colours looked a bit washed out, especially reds and yellows. DVD movies surprised us when they made a slightly jerky start, even at two-thirds screen. Speaking of DVD movies, they load easily into the front-loading DVD drive HP Pavilion dv8000 battery. The swappable media bay can also hold a DVD-R/-RW burner, a rare option on a budget notebook. Stereo speakers at the left and right corners of the front edge sound raspy when turned up high, but at a reasonable office volume, they play speech and music clearly.

The TravelMate 290 offers plenty of ports and slots for the average user. It features three USB 2.0 ports, a single Type II PC Card slot, four-pin FireWire, parallel, Ethernet, modem, VGA/video-out, and S-Video-out ports. There's no built-in floppy drive, but you can attach an external floppy via USB.

The notebook ships with either the Windows XP Home or the XP Professional operating system. You also get a healthy mix of additional software, including Norton AntiVirus, Adobe Acrobat Reader, CyberLink PowerDVD XP 4.0, and NTI CD-Maker 6.0.

The Acer TravelMate 290 is the fastest 1.3GHz Pentium M-based system we've tested yet, easily beating its closest competitor. The Intel 82852 GME Extreme Graphics Controller shares system memory, but surprisingly, this architecture did not hurt performance as much as we've seen in the past. Acer configured the TravelMate 290LMi so that its processor would not throttle down too much, giving it a performance edge. When it comes to office and content-creation apps, the dell xps m1730 battery is one of the best mobile performers in its class.

In battery tests, the Acer TravelMate 290LMi lasted more than five hours, placing second to the IBM Thinkpad R40, but still in a very healthy spot. The system owes its great battery life to its power-efficient Pentium M processor and 14.8V, 4,300mAh (64WHr) battery. The IBM ThinkPad R40 came in first place using the same 1.3GHz Pentium M processor as the battery for TravelMate 290 and a less powerful 14.4V, 4,000mAh (58WHr) battery. Acer has once again achieved the elusive balance of great performance and long battery life when running office and content-creation apps.

Dell Inspiron 1520 Battery Won't Charge

My Dell Inspiron 1520 battery will not charge. My AC Adapter is fine and powering the laptop, but the battery, that IS connected (I have taken it out and put it back in) has remained at 0% for the last few days. I recently posted this complaint in another thread, but after reading so many similar complaints, I realized I should make my own. I now understand the warranty for a battery is 1 year, but I have a few very frustrating issues with this:

First, I purchased the 3 year extended warranty assuming all parts would be included- this is, to me, common sense regardless of whether the battery is considered a consumable product or not.

Second, I have had this laptop for only 13 and half months! This feels terrible- a product which I have had a 1 year warranty for (which I assumed was 3 years) has died a month and a half after it would have been freely replaced. I am a poor college student, and this laptop was expensive enough when I bought it!

And last, I have rarely used this Inspiron 1520 battery! I have taken it on only 4-5 car trips, and I can not even recall the last time (minus right now) the battery went to 0%, as I ALWAYS have it plugged in; in fact, I would surmise that if I were to use my battery as much as the average user (certainly more than me) then this battery probably would have died long ago when it was actually under its separate and special warranty! Should I be penalized for rarely using what appears to be a bad product? After all, minus the aforementioned car rides, the only time I've really used the battery is when the charger has accidentally been unplugged! As I responded in the other thread, if a product is going to be considered consumable, perhaps it should do its job more than a handful of times before malfunctioning!

I do hope this is a different problem altogether and not my hp compaq business notebook nc6120 battery, and if so, I apologize, but, after reading many similar situations, the only problem here seems to be with the battery, and this is very frustrating!

Dell XPS M1330 Laptop PC Review

The M1330's distinctive wedge shape looks sharp, as did our test unit's blue-and-silver color scheme (black, white, or crimson are also available). Flip the lid and you'll find a full-size keyboard that's second—just barely—to the dell xps m1330 battery in comfort and feel. The touchpad is on the small side, but we appreciate the dedicated horizontal and vertical scroll areas.

You'll also find a row of capacitive-touch multimedia buttons above the Function keys, including a Media Direct button for accessing your content without booting into Windows and an eject button for the slot-loading DVD burner. We wish there were a Blu-ray drive option, given the M1330's HDMI port. Dell also bundles noise-isolating earbuds and a remote control that slips into the ExpressCard slot.

The Dell XPS M1330 is a 13.3" screen ultraportable from Dell that uses the new Intel Santa Rosa platform, has a dedicated NVidia 8400GM video card, built-in web camera, slot loading DVD drive. Check out Coupon codes available for the Inspiron 1525 battery on our Dell Coupon page.

While a worthwhile vendor of mass-market mainstream laptops and desktops, Dell has never been known as an innovator in consumer product design. In fact, the company's stodgy, boxy products have been blamed for a loss of market share to the bolder design strokes of competitors such as HP and Gateway. That's what makes the new 13-inch XPS M1330 battery such a pleasant surprise. From our first behind-closed-doors peek at it last month, we've been impressed with the emphasis on the user experience in this superthin, high-end laptop, from the slot-loading DVD drive to the touch-sensitive media buttons and HDMI-output jack. At $2,000 and up, it's definitely a premium product, but worth it if head-turning design is as important to you as specs and performance.

The Dell XPS M1330 is an ultraportable performance laptop that's part of the XPS line of notebooks which focus on power and features. The 13.3" screen is LED backlit based which allows for a slimmer profile hp compaq business notebook 6715b battery. Similar to other laptops in this price range, the M1330 is built on Intel's Santa Rosa platform which includes the Core 2 Duo processor, integrated B/G/N wireless, and Bluetooth. A separate video card, the nVidia GeForce 8400M GS, is available as a configuration option as an upgrade over the standard integrated graphics.

So there's my story. All in all, it went relatively smooth. To top things off, I went ahead and bought a new Logitech G7 Wireless mouse. I'm partial to Logitech because the fit is perfect for my right hand. I replaced my previous Logitech with this one. Very nice! Carbon fiber look, comes with a battery charger that runs on USB. Additionally, I bought a Logitech USB port extender dell inspiron 1501 battery. The Dell XPS M1330 comes with two USB ports. One on each side. Since I work in a recliner, I needed them both on the right side, where my end table is. So, with the port extender, I can plug it in on the right side, then plug in my external USB hard drive, the G7 USB connector and a few other toys.

What could be better? The Dell XPS M1330 is incredibly faster than my old 2.6 P4 Inspiron 1150. The display is bright, very nice, and I'm really liking the move from XP to Vista. Plenty of ram to keep photoshop, dreamweaver, ftp, half a dozen browsers, Eudora (email), and other apps open, without even a hint of system drag. Worth every penny

The M1330 retains a dedicated graphics processor, but Dell claims that at just 25mm its machine is the thinnest 13.3in laptop in the world. Well, until the MacBook Air goes on sale - the Apple's machine's thickest part is thinner than the Dell's thinnest...

But these are not directly comparable machines. The first thing that sprang to mind when we clapped eyes on the M1330 was just how similar it is to sony np-f970 battery. With a 13.3in display, wedge-shaped chassis heavily tapered at the front and brushed aluminium palm rests, it could be the Sony's long-lost brother.

In fact, Sony must be pretty miffed, as not only does the XPS share the SZ's good points, it also adds a dash of style and colour. If black doesn't do it for you, Dell also sells the XPS in Crimson Red - however, the additional colours available on other Dell products are strangely absent.

It turns out that, surprise surprise, you pay a premium for a tiny form factor. The MacBook Air is seriously expensive for the guts you get inside, but Apple isn't the only company guilty of charging insane amounts for smaller computers. Just look at the Sony Vaio TZ150N, for example. $2,100 for a 1.06 GHz processor? Are you kidding me? I don't care how small, it's still a rip-off.

The best deal—if you don't mind an extra pound of weight and half-inch of thickness—is the Dell XPS M1330. It bests the MacBook Air in nearly every single category, delivering about 30% more processing power, 50% more memory, over 300% more hard drive space, plus a dedicated graphics card. All of this, for $300 less. But also, two hours less of battery life, thanks to the new smaller and more efficient Core 2 Duo processor in the MacBook Air.

But it's really no surprise that a form factor as striking as the MacBook Air's warrants a premium price. Super-slim and light laptops as a category have yet to come down from the stratosphere, dollar-wise. It's a form factor that SSD just makes loads of sense for, lightening them up and cutting down on dell xps m1530 battery life, but that drives the price up even further for the time being. Chips are still getting smaller and screen technology keeps improving. In a couple of years, these form factors will be reasonably priced with great specs, but until then, prepare to pay a huge chunk more for a bit less power, just so you can brag about having the thinnest computer on the block.

How to Revive a Dead Laptop Battery

1. Put the dead laptop battery in a sealed plastic bag.
2. Put the bagged hp mini 1000 battery in the freezer for about 12 hours.
3. Take the bag out of the freezer, and let the battery warm up to room temperature, drying it occasionally with a towel if it appears damp.
4. Put the battery back into your laptop.
5. Charge the battery as much as possible, then leave the laptop on in order discharge it completely. Repeat this step 3-4 times.
6. Your formerly-dead nikon d80 battery should now be much more usable, if not totally restored.