Dell Inspiron E1505 Laptop Review

Dell's notebooks are always stunning to say the least, but now there are two notebooks which stand above the rest, the Dell Inspiron E1505 battery and Inspiron 6400 notebooks. Dell Inc., today announced these two notebook computers offering performance and multimedia features to help keep mainstream users productive by day and entertained at night. The two notebooks are absolutely a slim package notebooks weighing just about 6 pounds, now! thats a lot less for a dual-core processor notebook.

Movies and applications alike looked great on the bright, wide-aspect screen. The optional TrueLife coating ($29), included in the price we were quoted for this laptop, adds 10 percent more contrast than a standard antiglare coating. Graphics editors and spreadsheet jockeys may want to opt for the higher-pixel-density WSXGA 1680-by-1050-pixel screen ($80 more).

The Inspiron E1505 battery is well designed overall. The tricolor E line’s cheerful white trim makes it stand out in a sea of black-and-silver notebooks. Despite its slightly hard keystroke, I found typing a pleasure, in no small part due to the big touchpad and the mouse buttons, which depress deeply into the case.

After review, NotebookReview said “The Dell Inspiron e1505 is a fairly run-of-the mill notebook for a bargain price, but it offers a few surprises. The 2 GHz Core Duo CPU is rockin’ fast. Even with this performance, battery life was impressive, and 5+ hours should be possible with the optional 9-cell dell inspiron 6400 battery. My only real gripe is with the screen. The slight shimmer, light leakage, and brightness that seems like it’s turned down half a notch make it fall behind other notebooks. Still, the screen is better than most bargain notebooks, and better than anything from a few years ago. It’s also very sharp and high resolution. This, along with the nice keyboard, makes for a positive ergonomic experience.”

The E1505s start out at $629 while being nicely equipped. The default CPU is the 1.73GHz Intel Core Duo T2250 which would work well for the average user. If you want more power, you can upgrade to Intel's latest processor family, the Core 2 Duo. The baseline 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo T5500 is $100 over the starting price and faster Core 2 Duos go up from there.

Dell inspiron 1521 battery includes a serviceable 512 MB of RAM at baseline, with 1 GB available at just $65 more. Going with just the Core Duo processor and this amount of RAM, the E1505 will be a stalwart portable computer for everything from basic office tasks to more intensive operations such as handling large graphics and video.



Specifications:

• Type: General Purpose, Media, Value
• Operating System: MS Windows XP Media Center
• Processor Name: Intel Core Duo T2300
• Processor Speed: 1.67 GHz
• RAM: 1 GB
• Weight: 6.6 lb
• Screen Size: 15.4 inches
• Screen Size Type: widescreen
• Graphics Card: ATI Mobility Radeon X1300
• Storage Capacity: 80 GB
• Networking Options: 802.11a/g
• Primary Optical Drive: Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW

The first thing to notice from this Dell Inspiron e1505 review is the screen size. The e1505 is the mid-sized version in this series of Dell laptops. This means that it offers a 15.4-inch widescreen display.
 
This size screen is perfect for those that are looking for a screen that isn't too big but still is very portable. Another big advantage to the 15.4-inch screen is its price.

The Dell Inspiron e1505 is the cheapest of the the dell inspiron 6400 battery, e1505, e1705 series. This is probably the biggest reason for choosing this laptop. It is also our choice for the best college student laptop. You get a quality laptop at a very affordable price.

Preinstalled software includes Corel Photo Center and Windows Digital Media Enhancements, which includes Windows Party Mode, a full-screen skin that transforms your computer into a jukebox. Dell MediaDirect allows users to access movies, music, photos, and video without needing to boot into Windows. If you want a TV tuner to complete the multimedia experience, you'll need to fork over an additional $130, which also gets you a remote control.

Connectivity options abound: four USB ports, S-Video, FireWire, a 5-in-1 media card reader, and a VGA connection are available for attaching peripherals. The dell inspiron 1501 battery also features optional Bluetooth ($49) for syncing with certain phones and for pairing a wireless headset with the notebook for making Skype calls.

Dell's Inspiron E1505 recently got an upgrade to its processor offering the newer Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 dual core processor. This lets the system support the upcoming 64-bit version of Windows Vista and also helps with the battery life somewhat over the older Core Duo. The problem is Dell chose to use slower PC2-4200 DDR memory instead of the better suited PC2-5300 DDR. This holds back the system from what it could be.

Expandability is somewhat limited. The dell 6400 battery is user upgradable, with both the hard drive and memory chips in accessible bottom compartments. However, docking is nothing fancy, with only a couple of options--the better one being a screen stand port replicator, a $103 extra. (You must provide the wireless keyboard and mouse.)

All in all, Dell has another winner in the souped-up E1505. Though not for gamers, the E1505 is a strong contender for your consumer dollar.