Dell Inspiron 1525 Laptop Review

Dell has been on something of a roll recently. Its new range of XPS notebooks, the M1330 and M1530 were both great machines, while its desktop offerings, like the XPS 420, haven't been half bad either. But let it not be said that Dell has had things all its own way, because there have been a few turkeys lodged in there too - the XPS M1730 springs to mind.

The Inspiron 1525 battery is a Core 2 Duo powered 15.4" screen notebook from Dell. The Inspiron 1525 has Intel X3100 integrated graphics, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a thinner and lighter form factor than the previous Inspiron 1520.

Like most notebooks from Dell, the Inspiron 1525 can be customized to cater to the needs of the customer. The Dell Inspiron 1525 we were testing had an Intel Core 2 Duo T5800, 3GB of DDR2 system memory, 15.4" wide-screen 1280x800 display, Intel GMA X3100 graphics, 250GB SATA hard drive, DVD+/-RW drive, Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g, an integrated 2.0MP web-camera, and a 6-cell battery. The Core 2 Duo T5800 is in Intel's Merom-2M family and is clocked at 2.00GHz, has 2MB of L2 cache, supports Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology, and is built on a 65nm process. For those interested in spending less on a notebook, the Dell Inspiron 1525 battery can be stripped down to shipping with an Intel Celeron CPU, 1GB of memory, and a 120GB hard drive. On the fastest end is an Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 with 3GB of RAM and a 320GB SATA HDD.

People thought that the days were gone when the Dell laptops used to be bulky and unattractive, after the introduction of their slim and light XPS M1330 and XPS M1530. But with the introduction of Inspiron 1520 they were again criticized for its bulkiness. The dell Inspiron 1525 battery is 25% smaller and 30% slimmer and half a pound lighter than the previous but still it cannot be placed in the category of thin and light notebooks.However, the design and build does not seem to be made of cheap materials and feels solid like other Dell laptops. There are also eight color options available and there are four new patterns on them.

The standard system comes with a 6 cell 56 WHr battery which provides excellent battery life. On normal condition expect it to run for 4 hours and on high workload it should run at least 3 hours as we tested it. There is also an option for a 9 cell 85 WHr dell battery inspiron 1525 which should run it for at least six hours in normal power saver mode. But the nine cell battery sticks out from its back which looks awkward. We should advice you to get the six cell batteries which seemed enough to run a movie without the cords plugged in it.

With its $999 price tag, the Dell Inspiron 1525 is one of the most “expensive” budget notebooks we've reviewed. Even so, its sleek design, strong dual-core performance, long battery life, and top-notch multimedia components set it apart from the pack. The Inspiron’s glossy black lid sports a silver Dell logo badge in the middle and a silver racing stripe pattern off to the left, giving it an elegant, yet sporty look called “Street.” (Two other designs are available as well, including “Chill,” a cool blue-and-white swirl pattern, and “Blossom,” a fuchsia floral design).
Dell includes an industry-standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty with the system.

Upgrading to a three-year plan will cost an extra $260, which includes on-site service. Support is accessible through a 24-7 toll-free phone line, and Dell's robust online knowledge base and driver downloads, although XPS M1210 customers get access to a different, better-quality, tech support line. Dell will also send you a free recycling kit for your old laptop on request (basically a prepaid postage label to ship old products back to a recycling facility).