Dell Inspiron e1505 Review (pics, specs) Discussion

[fsacj]

The Inspiron e1505 is Dells 15.4" widescreen notebook featuring the impressive new Intel Core Duo CPU. A virtually identical Inspiron 6400 is available through their business site. Outside it looks just like the Inspiron 6000 it replaces, but the new hardware inside makes for impressive performance. In traditional Dell style, the E1505 is well rounded, quite customizable and available at a competitive price, but doesn't offer anything radical.

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[Jason]

Great review! Very well done!

[jetstar]

Excellent review! Nice pictures! Was there a discrete graphics card option while configuring?

[Gargantua]

Very good review, thank you.

I am very dissapointed with the screen according to the review, and since I owned 9300 before I know what it means in practice to have sparkles etc.
I can only imagine how bad XGA is.

I was about to buy E1505, but now...not sure..

[willigriam]

Andrew, nice review ! Thank you.

Have you seen the WXGA and WSXGA+ matte finish lcd panels (such as on the 6000)? I was hoping you could give us a subjective comparison to the panel in your review.

I'm one of those folks who can't seem to get used to the "sparkles" and I was wondering if the non-glossy WXGA+ on the 6000 might not suffer from the same malady.

Also, how glossy was the screen? such as compared to an HP or Toshiba - which are very reflective to me.

[Brian]

No, they still don't have a dedicated GPU for this unit.

[fsacj]

Unfortunately, I haven't seen the matte 15.4" screen for comparison. A friend has a B130 but I haven't looked at it yet. I'll try to soon, and come back with a comparison.

The screen is "very" reflective, just like all the others I've seen. It is not a terrible screen, just has more than one minor problem that add up to make it stand out slightly. It's probably why Dell can have such low prices, although I would like to see beter options. I suppose it would hurt them to have a $100 option for better build quality, and a $50 option for "screen that doesn't sparkle".

My personal Dell 9300 is non-glossy. You might say it has 25% of the "sparkles" the glossy screen has. But so does my HP 23" flat panel at work, and also the cheap samsung 17" panel. I only notice when I try.

[fsacj]

No, they still don't have a dedicated GPU for this unit.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure they will offer a dedicated GPU. There's only one air vent and fan. It would require some internal reworking to accomidate a separate heat-generating GPU. Perhaps an updated XPS line will be the only option for Dell Core Duo with hot graphics.

[iDrinkSteveJobsKoolAid]

Nice review, not to mention the nice photos. I've only had bad experiences with Dells, but their price points are shockingly low. They can offer a Core-Duo laptop for almost half of what Apple charges. If one doesn't care about looks, build quality, or customer service Dell is the way to go.

[fsacj]

If one doesn't care about looks, build quality, or customer service. . .

Sadly, this category seems to include most people. Personally, I'm most concerned about build quality. I'm forceful and resourceful enough to get good/fast customer service, and looks aren't so important to me.