Dell Inspiron e1505 Review (pics, specs) Discussion

[fsacj]

Hi ,

I got my e1505 today.

I went for 1 gb ram and a 60gb hard disk option.

On my first day it showed me memory dump and windows crashed ..
Is something wrong with memory...?


Also with 60 gb hard disk I see only 49 gb for total space on my harddisk

I m realy worried thinking of returning the box back..

-M

If the memory dump happens again, you might worry and chat with dell. Those should be uncommon on new computers. It's never happened for me. There could be something wrong.

A 60 GB hard drive actually has about 55GB of space, because of the difference of counting on a scale of 1024 vs 1000. The other missing 6 gigs is probably a recovery partition. This is very common with many brands, unfortunately (depending on how you look at it.)

[Projekt]

Based on this excellent article www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2830 , I had persuaded myself to hold off and wait to buy a machine that would be certain to handle Vista, and handle it well, …. even though I needed a new machine now. But then Microsoft delayed Vista YET again and also Dell offered at least a mediocre gpu with the 1505. So even though I am not a gamer, I had read enough that I thought having a dedicated GPU should make a difference running Vista (for the 3D features). Hope I am not wrong on this gamble as it cost me $180, but to my way of thinking this upgrade would give me a good chance of getting more out of the 32 bit version of Vista.

Those things and the $750 off coupon persuaded me to buy the 1505 on 3/22/06, but b/c of the ATI x1400, my ship date isn’t until 4/14/06. OUCH! Things are really hopping in this category and who knows what could change between now and then. If the new AMD 64 bit, dual core chip turns out to be decent in early May, surely the pricing on the Intel chips lacking 64 bit will have go come down in response. And the pricing may come down earlier than that on the rumors. Based on today’s news, I am content to sit tight, but does anybody know what event triggers my inability to cancel the current order?

Why is everyone so eager to upgrade to Vista? Every program that comes out for atleast 2 years (likely more) after vista comes out will still run on XP. I find that sticking with the older OS's actually keeps you safer (at least IMO, most spyware and stuff like that is targeted to XP.).

Hell, I still run Windows 98se!

[Leykis1o1]

ok ive played with this for 2 weeks..actually cancelling my order with dell 2 times well actually 3..im sure they love that..anyways

the best deal on the E1505 is the Ram..dont uprade the ram when you order it as of 3/25/06 if you order your e1505 with the standard 512 ram..then go and order 2 sticks on 1GB 667Mhz ram from the dell parts area under E1505 ram section..the ram is actually cheaper and faster than there 533mhz ram for a fraction of the cost that they offer when your place the laptop order..i got 667mhx 2gb ram for a extra $260 after a $35 rebate, and $20 off stackable coupons...also the E1505 has a optional Graphics card now heres my system i thought i got a good deal

dell this time does not even offer 7200 rpm hard drives for the e1505 this week..that makes me wonder why?? are they having problems with the 7200??!!? i placed my order before they discontinued that on 3/21/06 same day they offered the Ati graphics card upgrade

heres my order

FULL ORDER DETAILS

E1505 Dual Core
Intel(r) CoreTM Duo processor T2500 (2MB Cache/2GHz/667MHz FSB), Genuine Windows(r) XP Media Center Edition 2005
Qty: 1
Unit Price: $2,371.00 before coupons and stuff
Inspiron E1505
Intel(r) CoreTM Duo processor T2500 (2MB Cache/2GHz/667MHz FSB)
KD2HN

LCD Panel
15.4 inch UltraSharpTM Wide Screen SXGA+ Display with TrueLifeTM
15SXGAS

Memory
512MB Shared Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM 533MHZ, 1 DIMM
512M1D (ill be discarding this!!)

Video Card
256MB ATI MOBILITYTM RADEON(r) X1400 HyperMemoryTM
256ATI

Hard Drive
80GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
80GB72

Operating System (Office software not included)
Genuine Windows(r) XP Media Center Edition 2005
WMCE

Network Card and Modem
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
INTNIC

Adobe Software
Adobe(r) Acrobat(r) Reader 6.0
ADOBER

Combo/DVD+RW Drives
FREE 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
8XDVDRP

Wireless Networking Cards
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card (54Mbps)
TM1390

Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed)
Microsoft Office Basic - Includes Word, Excel, and Outlook email
IBASICC

Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed)
No Security Subscription
NSNOR

Primary Battery
53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
6BAT

Hardware Warranty
2Yr Ltd Warranty, 2Yr At-Home Service, and 2Yr HW Warranty Support
S2OS

Dial-Up Internet Access
6 Months America Online Internet Access Included
AOLDHS] (does anyone know if i can transfer this subscription to my current?)

Port Replicator
Notebook Expansion Dock
APREP

Miscellaneous
Award Winning Service, Support
E1505S2 (2 years support included)

Mobile Broadband
No Broadband Expresscard technology is available in the market now
NOBB (does anyone know if i can add one in the future?)

Operating System Re-Installation CD
Genuine Windows(r) XP Media Center 2005 Edition re-installation CD
MCEMED

Media Center Enhancements
TV Tuner w/ Remote Control
TVT2

Dell Digital Entertainment
Starter Entertainment Pack - Basic digital Music, Photo and Game experience
SEP

Dell Home Customers: Select Inspiron affiliate offer save $750 off $1999 or more (before tax and shipping)! (affiliate only online offer)
Expires on 2006-03-23 11:59:00
- $750.00


ADDITIONAL DISCOUNTS AND COUPONS
Dell Home Customers: Free Ground Shipping on Dell Inspiron System orders !
Expires on 2006-03-23 12:59:59
- $49.00

Get free ground (3-5 day) shipping on peripheral items over $49!
Expires on 2006-03-23 11:59:59
- $8.00

all for $1700 bucks
plus $260 for ther 667mhz 2Gb DDRam

[Kilrathi]

Just got my E1505 today and so far so good... I took advantage of the $750 off coupon last week, so I got a gig of memory, 100 gb hard drive and a bunch of other extras for $1300. I suppose I could have waited for the price to drop but I'm traveling a lot in the next few months and it'll be nice to have a computer of my own to use...

A couple questions:
- are everyone else's touchpad buttons soft/mushy? I'm used to other laptops with a much crisper feel to the buttons (less give, so you don't have to push them as far, and it feels like they snap back quicker). It's sort of a minor detail, and I like the feel of the keyboard, but it's a bit annoying. Is that just how Dell does it, or is it my machine in particular? My thumb hurts from pushing these buttons!

- There's no way to use the laptop with a non-USB keyboard/mouse is there? I can't figure out how, so I'm assuming that the world has moved on and left my old style mouse/keyboard behind. I'd like to hook up a mouse/keyboard to the E1505, so it looks like it may be time to spring for a new keyboard...

- Does anyone have a list of all the junk they've put on the preinstalled software list? I've cleared off the obvious stuff (took forever to clean it off, update everything else, etc.) but there's still a lot of stuff I'm wondering about (from Dell Quickset, which looks like it might be useful, to a bunch of other processes that show up in the task manager... why is it showing 512mb already being used?). Anything that I might have missed that I can uninstall?

Thanks!
K

[joey6358]

I recieved mine last week. I am shipping it back for a replacement after several things happened -- these still happen even when I use the restore partition to 'out of the box' configurations:

1. Closing and opening the lid of the laptop will cause the system to totally freeze. Sometimes the monitor will be on, sometimes off; but if you open and close the lib several times, 1 out of 10 times the computer will lock-up.

2. The Dell Wireless Configuration Panel (That overrides the windows wireless config), will sometimes yield the following error after opening and closing the lid: "Internal configuration is incosistant. Please restart to resolve this problem". Wireless still works, but you cannot change any settings (say more to another wireless network) without restarting.

3. When the system does not lock-up from opening the lid, the screen will flash (sometimes 4-5 times), before the display turns back on.

I am hoping that I just have a lemon. Amazingly, I had a fairly good experience with Dell (probably because I have had the system for less than 21 days). They are shipping me another system and are paying the return shipping for my old one.

Has anyone else had any similar experiences? Talking with Tech support was not helpful at all -- they had me run diagnostics, restore my harddrive, and said "Well, you can get a refund, or we can send you a new one". Since I like the system otherwise(any any other Duo system would run me several $100 more), I took the replacement.

fsacj -- does anything remotely happen like what I described above occur with yours when you close and open the lib several times?

[kamerek]

hi !

Has anybody compared the Dell's 15,4 WSXGA+ Truelife with the Fujitsu -siemens amilo A/ M WXGA CrystalView ????
Please do not compare resolution, but viewing angles , contrast ratio and brightness.
I have heard that FS's have great lcd even with wxga resolution
see specs: (note pc)
http://www.cptt.com.tw/english/03_pr...ogy.asp?pid=25

The above mentioned LCD issues with Dell makes my choice harder, as I was going to buy 1505, but LCD quality is important for me

[thalos]

Just got my e1505 in the mail today. Was testing what joey was mentioning... but mine seems to be behaving quite nicely when i flop the screen about, and only going into hibernation as i'm guessing was intended. I wouldnt worry about the screen, if that is your concern, as its not really noticable unless you're even aware of what you're trying to see, and its nicer than one of my older desktop LCDs. I figured I'd give the thing a little run as far as benchmarking is concerned... since mine came came equipped with the X1400... (kudos to dell for getting it to me two weeks ahead of schedule). I'll try and post those in a bit.

[kamerek]

Hmm, but what about watching movies - is this annoying when looking from the angle?

And another thing - there is Expresscard instead of PCMCIA, nad soundcard integrated is only ac'97 - so there is no way to plug in SB audigy 2 zs notebook (pcmcia)

[TakMusashi]

I just got my E1505 with the upgraded LCD screen. The 15.4 inch UltraSharpTM Wide Screen SXGA+ Display with TrueLifeTM.

I must say that there is a noticeable texture on the screen. It appears that there are diagonal lines going from the upper left toward the lower right of the screen. I called Dell this morning and a replacement is on the way, but from what it sounds like, this may be "normal". Also, in the lower right and lower left corners of the screen there are noticeable dark spots. If anyone thinks they may even be slightly bothered by either of these two things I would be weary of this screen.

EDIT: Joey6358, I can't get my E1505 to crash/lock up by opening and closing it. I tried about 8-10 times keeping it closed for various lengths of time in attempts to reproduce the issue.

[Rellik]

I just got my E1505 with the upgraded LCD screen. The 15.4 inch UltraSharpTM Wide Screen SXGA+ Display with TrueLifeTM.

I must say that there is a noticeable texture on the screen. It appears that there are diagonal lines going from the upper left toward the lower right of the screen. I called Dell this morning and a replacement is on the way, but from what it sounds like, this may be "normal". Also, in the lower right and lower left corners of the screen there are noticeable dark spots. If anyone thinks they may even be slightly bothered by either of these two things I would be weary of this screen.

EDIT: Joey6358, I can't get my E1505 to crash/lock up by opening and closing it. I tried about 8-10 times keeping it closed for various lengths of time in attempts to reproduce the issue.

My screen has the same exact texture and dark spots you're describing -

Honestly doesn't really bother me. Great screen, otherwise

By the way, what procedure did you follow to get Dell to try sending a replacement? My E1505 is making a high-pitched "chirpy" sound all the time, and I don't know if that's standard, so I might try the same approach as you to Dell support