7/23 Inspiron 1520 Impressions

I just received mine, and it's checking Windows performance right now. I'll update impressions throughout the thread.

First off, I know the main thing people are waiting to hear about is the screen: I do, in fact, see graininess on mine. However, it does not seem to be a huge issue so far; from about 2 feet away you can't notice it. That said, I am a digital artist, so I'll have to see how much this affects me in a bit.

The notebook itself is very sturdy, and I don't feel it is too heavy at all. Very nice look, and I'm quite happy with my Ruby Red.

That's all for now (it just got out of the box ) so I'll update more in a bit.

 

look forward to reading about it =)

 

could you post pics of the ruby red lid... ??? is it very dark? cause my blue one was

 

Pics in a sec...
The red isn't really dark, but not too bright either.

 

I've just tried the earphones, and there is indeed noise coming from the laptop. However, my usb headset works without any problems whatsoever, so I think buying a good usb sound card might do the trick.

 

what do u mean by "there is indeed noise coming from the laptop"...??

 

Great! let us hear from you soon!

 

yay pics!!

 

the static thing that everyone's been talking about. haven't tried it with music yet, but the sound was there even with nothing playing.

 

was your order shipped on sat? delivered on mon by who?

 

give us teh pics, i'm starving.

mine is supposed to ship not until august 1st

 

The impression i got from my ruby red was, perfect.
It is just the right shade to be called Scarlet

Edit: i hear that the headphone static goes away when something is playing.

 

They need to make them in maroon, dammit.

 

Lol, i bet burnt orange would sell too .

I just tried the earbuds again with music, it sounds great. It is there when the volume is low or nothing is playing. I also tried my $20 radio shack headphone/mic headset and there was no interference at all.

 

That color makes me puke.

 

I wonder if bluetooth headphones make the noise

 

I would seriously doubt it. Not all the headphones through the headphone port make the noise, mine don't, even though the dell earbuds do

 

I bought a wired logitech gaming headset. I hope I don't get any problems.

I guess if I do, I'll get the Creative X-Fi for Christmas or something.

 

Apparently the Asus G1S laptops have this "silk screen effect" as well (you guys call it grainy). A lot of high res LCDs have it and there's not much you can do about it.

I got ruby red as well, so some pics would be nice. I wanna get a taste of what mine is going to look like.

 

Just a small update (no pics yet)

I've been busy installing programs for most of the day. So far everything seems great, just that the install times seem to take a while sometimes.

Also, the defragmenter has been going for the last 2 1/2 hours, but that may be expected due to how much stuff I just put on the hard drive.

 

You know your killing these guys not posting pics right?

 

geez man, where are the pics!?

 

Guess he's gone too far enjoying his 1520 lol

come back and let us see some pics mate!

 

Hey guys,
I have pics taken, but havent installed any image editing software yet, so they're a bit big but I promise I'll have them up sometime tomorrow!

In the meantime, before I head off to bed, the final update for the day:

Battlefield 2: All settings on high, 1440x900, 4x AA, and quite smooth (havent Frapped it yet) - pretty happy with this

Command and Conquer 3: All settings on medium, and it stayed at 30 fps (game's max) throughout. AA seems to slow it down a lil, but honestly, I cannot tell the difference between CnC 3 maxed out versus medium unless I zoom in, and AA doesn't seem to do much. Pretty happy

Screen verdict: While the graininess is there, it really hasn't bothered me throughout the day's use (in fact sometimes I have to "look" for it to notice it). The screen's beautiful in motion. I plan to test out Photoshop tomorrow to see how it handles colors, gradients etc. The light leakage is not noticeable in regular use, but if you're in a dark room and have the screen set to completely black, or are watching a dvd, you may notice it a bit - not a big deal, imo.

Overall: I'm quite satisfied. This notebook is something I'll be taking to college for the next 3+ years, and it feels like it's up to the job. The headphone problem is minor to me; the speakers are actually very good and the sound through headphones can be fixed with a 30 dollar usb soundcard (I think); at the very least, usb headphones work without a hitch. I don't have any other weird noises coming from my lappy, so that's good. There are some minor scratches on one of my keys and on the dell logo on the cover; while purely cosmetic (and almost unnoticeable) I'm still going to give Dell a call about this.

That's all for now. Once again, sorry about the lack of pics jak2 is right, I've been having too much fun. I know a lot of you are thinking about cancelling. My advice is, unless that ~$100 in tax that you're not gonna get back is something you can't afford, give the 1520 a try first. The next closest competitor is the compal and asus g1s, and both have their own share of problems as well (plus the g1s is quite a bit more expensive). The 1520 seems to be a good, solid notebook.

 

Nice. Can't wait to see the pics.

 

I'm heading off to UCSD this fall... so I guess we're on the same boat!

I'm glad to hear that you are having positive experience with your inspiron

1520 because I know I will!

 

could you do us a favour posting some pics of that alleged "graininess". i think i'm not the only one unable to imagine what "a grainy screen" might look like

 

Guys, could anyone inform me what the "grainy" screen is? Maybe pics or something? I heard if you order the screen without True Life it solves the grainy screen problem, but if it's nothing too bad then i wouldn't do anything..

 

having read some of the other threads on the screen issue i'm beginning to belive that the "grainy screen" is a feature rather than a problem

 

lol you know what, that's actually a really good way of thinking about it!


It really is an annoyance after the amount of money the system costs. In my experience with the 1520, on white backgrounds it was downright horrible, like someone smeared other colours not so bad. I found movies/games to be very sharp.

My experience was amplified due to the WSXGA+ screen. I stated previously on the forum that a 1680 x 1050 resolution is already pushing the limits of a 15.4" screen and therefore must be really crisp and this was not the case for me anyway. I don't want to be straining my eyes and dealing with the graininess. It's just not good for eye health

 

THANKS for the great review bizekiel, makes waiting a little more tolerable. Here is something to look at till bizekiel Pic's scroll down for the 1520's
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=145489

 

thx a lot

anyone happen to know where dell europe (respectively germany) is producing the new 1520s and what might be the problem with my 1520 ordered july 13th not being in production stage yet? :angry: =P

 

Man, I got my Inspiron delivered to me yesterday by DHL (I have actually never heard of or seen them until Dell and the funny thing was I kept on running in to them on the road when I was running errands so I quess it was Dell delivery day in my area). Now getting back on track, I baisically have the same setup as bizekeil and my experience with my lappy was almost identical too except I hear the noise even withought the headphones. I can post some pics when u guys tell how to do it. Copy and paste or what not.

 

Small update
I too hear the noise now. It's barely audible, but last night before I went to bed I noticed it. Rmclock helps, but using the option "disable c4 mode" always makes the computer freeze.

Weird =/

 

I have a feeling that it's just the Dell earbuds being poor quality headphones that is causing the noise and interference.

 

I have some pretty high quality sensenheisers that pick up the high pitched noise from the processor.

 

It isn't the earbuds, I get the noise with a pair of Alessandro MS1's and they're not cheap earbuds. I do not get the noise with my AKG K240 monitor headphones however, which leads me to think this is an impedance issue. Probably poor grounding or shieding somewhere on the board.. bleh.

I noticed the noise with the volume max, muted and everywhere between, which makes me think this isn't a software issue.

I'll try the RMclock thing myself tonight. If not, I'll have to weigh up wether or not to return it, or get an X-fi card (yeah i know it's not a REAL x-fi)

 

Alright I have the pics. Beat ya to it bizekeil.
The last 2 pics show the screen and the "grainy" effect. The second to last has a bunch of dust so keep in mind. They both show the pixalated boxes and dots which you can actually see if you concentate, otherwise it doesn't really bother me

No man, it there are many ppl on the forums saying that it's either the processor or the sound card. If its the processor than I bet Dell will release some drivers which optimize it and remove the noise.

One last thing: when I ran HL2 it actually looked less apealing and less realistic than on my desktop with intergrated Nvidea 6100!!!

 

Thanks dburache for the pics! which screen did you get?

 

yours looks much more grainy than mine does. I don't know why that is.

 

I got the 1400x900 glossy (maybe I should add that into mi sig) and so far I'm enjoying it. Been using ever since I got it (the keyboard is awsome by the way).
So far its been great. All that is left to do is get the 100 dollar credit for the gfx card and extend my warranty 2 more years.

 

Nice, I ordered the same screen, when did you place your order? The wait is killing me.

 

Wow- that's really something- the first true capture of the graininess I've seen. Not sure if the shot you posted exaggerates the effect or not, but if not, this is absolutely something Dell needs to make good on. The 1st grainy pic may look that way because of the way a camera captures an image as it is refreshed on the screen (like if you've ever watched a movie of someone filming a TV which clearly exaggerates the refresh rate). The last image, though, seems to be the real deal and the 'boxed effect' and distortion of the letters are surprisingly pronounced.

Whereas my original thoughts were this issue was rooted in the glossy screen coating being sloppily applied (yep- they are coated as are anti-glare), your screen shot indicates the problem may instead have much more to do with the way the PC is rendering the image. Possibly a GPU issue or a problem where it's set at something other than native resolution- may want to check that.

At any rate, I do hope Dell helps you out pronto on that if it's something you choose to pursue.

 

Wow. Even the keyboard , manual, and wall behind the laptop are grainy. That is unacceptable. I dont want Dell causing my desk or walls to become grainy too.

 

I will eventually get some pics up of my laptop, I have been doing a lot of running around today

 

Sorry guys, I just got Photoshop running the way I want (had problems with Vista and my tablet drivers that I was fixing)

Here are a few shots:

 

some pics I have seen of the red I really like some I don't yours seems to fall between, can't quite decide. Either way I am quite happy with my yellow laptop Glad to see your happy with your laptop.

 

Hehe, the colors not an exact match due to sunlight and flash though. The actual red is a tad darker, plus the texture makes it look nice.

Can't wait to see some of your pics

 

good review and pics bizekiel.

Thanks for answering our questions.

 

i have yet to see a yellow one