Dell Inspiron 1501 Review

<!-- Generated by XStandard version 1.7.1.0 on 2006-12-05T10:04:25 -->

by Andrew Baxter

The Dell Inspiron 1501 is a 15.4&quot; widescreen notebook now available with the AMD Sempron, Turion or Turion X2 processor. The Inspiron 1501 has a subset of the Intel based Inspiron e1505 features and carries the same basic design and build as that popular laptop. Unfortunately, Dell cut features on the Inspiron 1501 but didn't cut its price a whole lot relative to the e1505. Unless you really want an AMD processor, it's hard to recommend this machine over the only slightly more expensive and better e1505.

Yes, that's an AMD logo on a Dell box that you see

The Inspiron 1501 reviewed here is configured as follows:

• AMD Sempron 3500+ (1.8GHz/512Kb)
• 15.4&quot; Ultrasharp WXGA display
• 512GB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz (1 DIMM)
• ATI Xpress 1150 256MB HyperMemory (Integrated graphics)
• 60GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
• 24x CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
• 6-cell 53 WHr lithium-ion battery
• Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition
• Dell 1390 802.11g Mini Wireless Card

Build and Design

The Inspiron 1501 matches much of the Dell lineup clad in painted silver with white trim on top and a black underside.  The color scheme is simple and there's nothing to rave or rant about honestly, I'm not a huge fan of the white trim &quot;bumpers&quot; though. Also, as time goes by the current Inspiron design is becoming stale, Dell needs to update their consumer laptop look, and soon. The Inspiron 1501 is in fact precisely the same look and build as the Inspiron e1505 -- except several media buttons are missing from the 1501, more on that later.

Size comparison of Inspiron 1501 to 12.1&quot; screen Lenovo X60 Tablet PC(view large image)

The notebook is sturdy enough to feel comfortable lifting it by one corner.  It's not rugged or as well built as many business laptops, such as a ThinkPad or Dell's own Latitude line -- the screen latch is plastic as opposed to metal on a Latitude for instance.  But the Inspiron 1501 is not flimsy by any means, the only real flex I could find on the casing was at the top just above the keyboard.

Dell Inspiron 1501 front view (view large image)

The back of the screen is plastic, but very sturdy and a hard push won't make ripples appear.  The hinges are sturdy and well damped.  As mentioned before, the screen latch is plastic, but I'd rather have a plastic latch than the magnetic opening mechanism that some manufacturers are using -- they're so invariably hard to open.

Top view of Inspiron 1501 (view large image)

One knock against the build is that Dell uses a plastic dummy to fill in the slot for the ExpressCard opening when it's not in use. It looks cheap, feels cheap and awkward not to mention the plastic piece is begging to be lost if you remove it. Unfortunately, many manufacturers use this approach instead of integrated flaps to protect the notebook from dust when the slot isn't in use.

Bottom side view of Inspiron 1501 (view large image)

Screen

The screen on this Inspiron 1501 is the WXGA (1280x800) matte screen.  Overall the screen is fairly sharp with nice saturated colors and high contrast.  Brightness is good, next to my everyday ThinkPad T43 it certainly stands out as being much better.  The lamp for backlighting is at the bottom of the screen, you can feel the bottom of the screen being slightly warm as an indicator of this, but light leakage is minimal so by looking you couldn't really tell where the light is coming from -- in other words the screen is evenly lit.

Inspiron 1501 WXGA screen (view large image)

One very positive thing I find with this screen is that there's no &quot;sparkle&quot; or graininess sometimes complained about with other Dell screens. When you're viewing a white screen it is indeed all white, you can't detect any unwanted artifacts. This is the first matte screen from Dell I've had in some time, usually I go for glossy, which is better for things like DVD viewing but annoying for working long hours with in office environments due to screen reflection.

As forementioned, brightness is good. When on battery you could bump the brightness down (using Fn + Arrow Down) to level three or four out of seven and still have very comfortable viewing.

The vertical viewing angles are quite poor, meaning that if you look at this screen at an angle other than perpendicular (head on) then colors will look odd, usually darker than intended and contrast will be whacky. So long as you're viewing head on this isn't a problem.

Speakers

The speaker performance of the 1501 is fine.  In the world of notebooks, they are quite good even.   Of course there is no bass but they seem to play low enough to make voices sound natural.  They also play loud, for a notebook, without distortion.  They point forward, and project the sound into a room so several people could easily watch a movie.

AMD Sempron Processor and Performance / Benchmarks

I've been spoiled of late reviewing a bunch of Intel Core 2 Duo laptops. Boy is the AMD Sempron ever a reality check as I merge into the information technology equivalent of the slow lane.

So why did I choose the Sempron knowing it would be slow? Basically, I wanted to buy this AMD based laptop for cheap, the price I got before taxes was $559. I think the whole selling point for the Inspiron 1501 is that it's kind of on par with the Inspiron e1505 but cheaper -- at least you would think. We'll investigate whether that holds later.

Anyway, I digress.

From a perceived performance standpoint, the Sempron 3500+ laptop with 512MB of RAM &quot;feels&quot; slow. MS Word doesn't open immediately, it takes a couple of seconds. Web page rendering feels sluggish at times. If you get hyperactive moving the cursor around Start menu programs then you'll notice icon graphics taking a while to render. If you go to the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel feature in Windows it takes a long time to populate the program list (you look at &quot;please wait while the list is populated&quot; for at least 15 seconds upon entering that for the first time). And multi-tasking can be a bit of a slog, while ripping a CD and opening thePCMark05 benchmark program I clicked on the &quot;show desktop&quot; icon and nothing registered for quite some time as the system tried to keep up with all the tasks being demanded of it.

However, in all fairness, if you're more a &quot;one thing at a time&quot; person and don't juggle between programs or try and do 10 things at once, the Sempron will get you through what you need. Of course any Office application works fine and surfing the web is quite seamless, although web page rendering can sometimes be noticeably slower on this laptop.

Let's look at some benchmarks to get a feel for how the 1501 configured with a Sempron stacks up.

PCMark05 gives a good rating for overall system performance, as you can see below, the 1501 with a Sempron is quite a bit slower than Core Duo and faster AMD machines.

Comparison table for PCMark05.

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Dell Inspiron 1501 (AMD Sempron 1.8GHz, ATI Xpress 1150)	1,912 PCMarks
Fujitsu LifeBook A6010 (1.66GHz Core 2 Duo, Intel GMA 950)	2,994 PCMarks
Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	3,487 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks
Sony Vaio SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Toshiba Tecra M6 (1.66GHz Intel T2300E, Intel GMA 950)	2,732 PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,646 PCMarks
Sony VAIO FE590 (1.83GHz Core Duo)	3,427 PCMarks

 

 

3DMark05 is a test of pure graphic performance of a system, comparing the Inspiron 1501 to two notebooks with dedicated graphics shows it doesn't stack up terribly well, but isn't too far behind the Pentium M ATI X300 powered ThinkPad T43 (a 2 year old notebook):

3DMark05 Overall CPU Results

Test	Dell Inspiron 1501 AMD Sempron 1.8GHz	Dell e1505 Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz, ATI X1400 256MB	ThinkPad T43 Pentium M 2.0GHz, ATI X300 128MB
Return to Proxycon Graphic Test	2.0 frames per second	9.2 frames per second	4.3 frames per second
Firefly Forest Graphic Test	2.3 frames per second	6.3 frames per second	2.5 frames per second
Canyon Flight Graphic Test	3.0 frames per second	8.3 frames per second	4.4 frames per second
CPU Test 1	1.6 frames per second	3.1 frames per second	1.7 frames per second
CPU Test 2	3.0 frames per second	4.8 frames per second	2.7 frames per second
3D Mark Score	600	1,958	907
CPU Score	3,327	5,753	3,155

Cinebench CPU Results

(view large image)

Cinebench is a good rendering benchmark tool based on the powerful 3D software, CINEMA 4D. Its rendering tasks can stress up to sixteen multiprocessors on the same computer. It is a free benchmarking tool, and can be found here: http://www.cinebench.com.  The basic CPU test provided the following results, you can see the Inspiron 1501 was able outperform the older ThinkPad T43 notebook -- but couldn't compare to a dual core Dell e1505:

Test	Dell 1501 AMD Sempron 1.8GHz	ThinkPad T43 Pentium M 2.0GHz	Dell e1505 Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz
Single Core rendering mode	263 CB-CPU points	222 CB-CPU points	325 CB-CPU points
Dual Core rendering mode	not available	not available	592 CB-CPU points

Super Pi Results

And we won't forget our perennial favorite benchmark, calculating Pi to a few million digits of accuracy.  This is a pure test of processor performance, the AMD Sempron is close to the Pentium M 2.0GHz processor in terms of performance:

Pi Calculation Test	Dell 1501 AMD Sempron 1.8GHz	ThinkPad T43 Pentium M 2.0GHz	Dell e1505 Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz
32K digits	0s	0s	0s
64K digits	1s	1s	1s
256K digits	09s	08s	05s
512K digits	22s	18s	11s
1M digits	50s	45s	25s
2M digits	1m 53s	1m 44s	1m 02s
4M digits	4m 16s	3m 55s	2m 23s

 

HDTune Benchmark Results:

HDTune gives a measure of hard drive performance, the included 60GB 5400RPM Fujitsu drive performs well:

(view large image)

Noise:

The Dell 1501 is commendably quiet.  Even while watching a DVD, the fan remained off.  The hard drive makes a subdued, but noticeable hum. Only under heavier tasks does the fan come on.  It has three speeds and generates more of a low pitched hum than any type of annoying whine that some fans produce.

Heat:

The keyboard and area under the screen generated more heat.  The underside of the notebook was also slightly warm at the front and warmer, but not hot at the rear.  As with all notebooks, heat is more of an issue when used on an insulating/air-restricting lap.  Overall the 1501 can be commended for keeping its cool.

Battery:

With the 6-cell battery I was able to get 3 hours 25 minutes of battery life. This was with screen brightness at half and wi-fi off. During the 3.5 hours I let it idle for about half of the time and then the other half of the time I did things like rip a CD, run some benchmarks and tested various programs. Overall I was pretty impressed to get such battery life. Being a 15.4&quot; screen laptop you probably won't be carting it around a ton and won't want 4+ hours of battery life. However, there is an option to upgrade to a 9-cell battery that should achieve 4+ hours of battery life if you so choose, it's a $49 upgrade.  The 9-cell battery is flushed with the back of the notebook and does not stick out.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

Keyboard and touchpad view (view large image)

The keyboard has good tactile feel and is firm -- there's no mushiness to it.  The touch is light which allows for fast typing -- but contrarily provides easy chance to mistype if you're not accurate.  There is almost no flex, except at the very rear where the whole notebook casing flexes in when pushed hard.

The touchpad is slightly recessed so it's hard to accidentally touch.  There is a vertical and horizontal scroll area.  The two mouse buttons respond well.  I miss having a pointing stick like I do on a ThinkPad, but such an input device is the realm of business notebooks and not consumer.

Most notably on the 1501 we find that the Media Direct button is missing from the top that the Inspiron e1505 has. This is quite obviously because the 1501 does not have the quick boot to Media Direct feature that allows you to access multimedia files without booting to Windows. A shame.

In addition, the media shortcut buttons we get on the front of the e1505 are missing on the 1501. I really miss having dedicated volume control buttons, holding down on Fn + PgUp to increase volume is pretty lame.

Ports:

The Inspiron 1501 has four USB 2.0 ports that are split between the rear and right side of the notebook, which is much better than all in one place.  There is no old parallel printer port or serial ports.  Sadly, the 1501 lacks the DVI port of the bigger Inspiron e1705, although the external VGA connection is capable of driving a big 24&quot; LCD with 1920x1200 resolution. Even more dissapointing is that we're missing S-Video and FireWire on the 1501 that you get on the Inspiron e1505. To further add to the woe of watering down the 1501 from the e1505, we get just a 3-in-1 media card reader instead of the 5-in-1 reader you get with the e1505. The Sony Memory Stick flash card is not supported by the 1501. Maybe Dell is annoyed with the whole Sony exploding battery situation still and striking back at them by not supporting their flash cards now? It makes you wonder.

Dell Inspiron 1501 left side view with optical drive (view large image)

Right side view of 1501: ExpressCard slot, 3-in-1 card reader, microphone jack, headphone jack, 2 USB 2.0 ports (view large image)

 

Dell Inspiron 1501 back side view: Power jack, modem jack, ethernet jack, 2 USB 2.0 ports, VGA monitor out (view large image)

 

Wireless:

The Dell 1501 under review came with an 802.11b/g Dell 1390 wireless card. The card works well in conjunction with my 802.11g Belkin router, all I really ask of wireless on a notebook is that it works without me thinking or worrying about it, and mission accomplished there. Unfortunately, no 802.11n option is available on the 1501 like it is on the Inspiron e series notebooks.

Operating System and Software:

Dell does not include the &quot;Media Direct&quot; software that can be accessed without booting into Windows.  This is a feature of its &quot;e&quot; series laptops. That's too bad for Inspiron 1501 owners.

In terms of operating system, I got the Windows XP Media Center Edition configured with the 1501 -- your choice of operating system is between Windows XP Pro or Windows XP Media Center Edition.

On the desktop and system tray there is a fair amount of bloatware -- junk that many people won't use.  You will be harassed to purchase several programs. I particularly dislike the fact all image files are associated to open in some Corel trial program that will remind you in 60-days your trial will expire unless you purchase the software. Some trial games from Wild Tangent are unappreciated. McAfee Virus and Spam Control will drive you buggy, the best part is that it reports when the bloatware already installed is trying to do stuff behind your back:

The ever present McAfee pops up to warn you some included Bloatware from Dell is attempting to access the internet without you knowing, ahh the irony (view large image)

Dell did install Google Desktop, which can be useful.  It finds files on your computer far faster than a Windows search does, and includes other useful features.  One day, Google will rule the world.  The Office 2003 trial software is in my opinion better than no Office at all, even if is just a feature limited edition. Overall though, I'd prefer to do without 90% of the preinstalled stuff.  Oh well, it indirectly keeps costs down for Dell to include this software so we can't have our cheap laptop and eat cake too I guess.

Inspiron 1501 Versus Inspiron e1505 / Inspiron 6400

Here's a rundown of what you don't get in the Inspiron 1501 that comes standard with any Inspiron e1505:

• No dedicated media buttons on the front
• No Dell Media Direct software feature
• No FireWire port
• No S-Video port
• 3-in-1 card reader instead of 5-in-1
• No internal Bluetooth option
• Fewer screen options
• No dedicated graphics card options

Not everybody needs or wants all of these options, so maybe they'll be willing to pay less to get a subset of the Inspiron e1505 features. But further investigation shows that pricing difference between the e1505 and 1501 isn't that great. I configured an Inspiron 1501 and e1505 with all of the same hardware features, except of course for the processor. For the e1505 I selected a 1.60GHz Intel Core Duo and for the Inspiron 1505 I selected the AMD Sempron 3500+. The cost difference -- $30. Are you kidding me? I know Dell has a reputation for changing their pricing with the weather, but pricing has of late been pretty steady on both of these models. Below are links to PDF files for the configurations I made:

• Dell Inspiron e1505 (Core Duo 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 80GB HD, 24x CD Burner combo, 1390 Wireless) $699
• Dell Inspiron 1501 (AMD Sempron 1.8GHz, 1GB RAM, 80GB HD, 24x CD Burner combo, 1390 Wireless) $669

Anyone that opts for the 1501 in this above scenario is rather silly, to say the least.

The dual core Intel Core Duo is a far superior processor to the AMD Sempron, and then you get all of the extra features on the e1505 missing in the 1501. Why would any shopper that spends 10-minutes doing their research opt for the 1501 in this situation? The pricing is pretty whacky here, if I'm buying an AMD machine because I think it's going to be cheaper, then I'm wrong. Dell just isn't pricing things correctly it seems.

Even if you want the 1501 because you prefer the high performance AMD Turion X2 TL-56 over the competing Intel Core 2 Duo, you can't get a dedicated graphics card and are short on a bunch of features from the e1505. One important thing to note, the e1505 is available with an ATI X1400 graphics card, and it's only about a $99 upgrade. A dedicated graphics card offers much better graphics performance than integrated -- the only option the 1501 has.

Taking a more positive view, you can get an Inspiron 1501 with the AMD Turion X2 TL-56 for $699 with all other specs at their lowest (i.e. 60GB HD, 512MB RAM, 24x CD Burner, Integrated Graphics). That's a good price for a dual core 64-bit capable notebook. But who wants to buy a great processor with a configuration that features a bunch of other performance bottle-neck components?

In the end, the 1501 is sort of like a neutered e1505. It's a shame, if you're an AMD fan it kind of makes it hard to go with the AMD Dell option here. If pricing were significantly lower for the 1501 than the e1505 I could see the selling point, but when you configure things spec-for-spec similarly between the machines outside of the processor, pricing isn't as different as it should be.

(Important Note: the Inspiron 6400 sold via Dell Business is exactly the same as the Inspiron e1505)

Conclusion:

The Inspiron 1501 is a fine basic mainstream notebook: the build is good, the screen is nice, and the price is pretty decent. But it's hardly an exciting notebook, looks or feature wise. It's a shame Dell took the e1505 offering, watered it down feature wise, and then offered the AMD processor selection for it. Without dedicated graphics, a lack of media buttons, no FireWire and no S-Video Dell has done it's job to seperate this from the &quot;e&quot; (for entertainment) series. It's clearly not their premium offering. But strangely, the price of the 1501 isn't much cheaper than the e1505 Intel powered notebook. I can only say anyone considering the Inspiron 1501 should make sure to check out the Inspiron e1505 as well, it's probably going to give you more bang for the buck and be only slightly more expensive.

Pros:

• Very respectable battery life
• Quiet under normal use
• Cool running
• Good keyboard
• Overall very good build, sturdy in its feel

Cons:

• Not much of a looker in terms of design
• Price compared to higher end e1505 doesn't make sense -- this should be cheaper
• Lots of annoying pre-installed software (AOL, NetZero, MusicMatch etc.)
• No DVI port, no S-Video, no FireWire -- a serious lack of media ports in other words
• No media shortcut buttons at all

Related Articles:

• Dell Inspiron e1505 Review

 

Thanks for the review, abaxter!

Did you buy that to keep, or just for reviewing, then returning afterwards?

 

I agree: it is a shame that Dell isn't providing a better price point for these notebooks. Some might even argue you are worse off with those missing features.

Usually Dell is able to hit a pretty good price point, but this time it seems like they shot about $150 too high for this notebook.

 

Hard to argue with the conclusion. Makes you wonder why Dell spent so many years in agony trying to decide whether or not to adopt AMD processors only to put them in what is essentially a castrated design.

 

I bought it to review and play around with, Dell didn't want to send out review samples for this notebook. I'll probably sell it on eBay as I have no use for another laptop

They'll be releasing a 17-inch AMD notebook at the beginning of January, maybe they'll offer something more enticing with that. We shall see, I sure hope so.

 

Yeah I just don't understand why they don't price them better, what else is funny is that the dell latitude 131L which looks like the twin to the 1501 has the option of a turion x2 TL 50 and it costs 270 extra or 300 extra for the TL-56 I think this is rediculous Hp only charges 200 dollars extra for the TL-60 for their laptops I think dell is purposely trying to cripple the AMDs either that or make a big wad of cash on them.

 

Well, at least Dell's dipping a toe in. You used to be limited to HP if you wanted a mainstream brand with AMD options.

 

how can the stripped down el-cheapo sempron value notebook cost the same as a dual core? how can the stripped down notebook have a heavier spec weight too if it missing all those buttons, ports, and features?

is the review comparison skewed or is dell not competive?

 

Thank you for the review, I’ve been searching for a review of the 1501 ever since it was launched. When I first heard of Dell’s AMD laptop plans I was quite excited, and after scouring for technical data I lost enthusiasm and agree with the conclusions. I thought I would add a few minor points to help the 1501 on the price point comparison. I’m not saying that these make up the price disparity, as I’m still disappointed.

From my research this Sempron is a 64-bit processor, so it has some additional future longevity. This doesn’t mean much for today, the near future or even the causal user, but the comparable e1505 doesn’t have this option.

Again from my limited research, the e1505 equipped with a GMA950 will barely run Vista’s Aero graphics. The 1501 is equipped with a better (much better from my reading) integrated solution (xpress1150), providing a more comfortable buffer for Vista’s Aero graphics.

 

Any potential speed advantage from the xpress1150 is more than negated by the slow performance of the Sempron processor. Regardless of the operating system the 1505 is a better choice than the 1501.

 

Hmm no. Look up the comparison between GMA950 or X3000 which happens to be worse for that matter vs the Xpress1150 and the 1150 wins by a landslide. If you dont want basic gaming go for the e1505. If you want to play some games the e1501 is a much better option even with a slower cpu (Sempron is by no means bad to begin with).

Here is a chart i found in terms of graphical performance (3dmark05):

Xpress1150 is 270

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900
60

ATI Radeon Xpress 200M
140

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
170

ATI Mobility Radeon X300
200

ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
280

ATI Mobility Radeon X600
280

ATI Mobility Radeon X1300
560

NVIDIA GeForce Go 7200
674

NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300
700

NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400
800

ATI Mobility FireGl V5200
900

ATI Mobility Radeon X1400
900

ATI Mobility Radeon X700
900

NVIDIA GeForce Go 6600
1150

ATI Mobility Radeon X800
1300

ATI Mobility Radeon X1600
1800

NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600
1900

NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800
2200

ATI Mobility Radeon X1700
2330

NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 Ultra
2500

NVIDIA GeForce Go 7700
2700

NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 GT
2800

ATI Mobility Radeon X1800
3000

NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS
3800

NVIDIA Quadro FX 1500M
3900

NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX
4000

NVIDIA Quadro FX 2500M
4690

NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GTX
4700

NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX SLI
5000

NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GTX
5214

 

Great review. It's evident that the e1501 is a Dell ploy to sell "cheaper" notebooks that sacrifice a lot of features.

"The ever present McAfee pops up to warn you some included Bloatware from Dell is attempting to access the internet without you knowing, ahh the irony"

Hilarious! It just goes to show how bad bloatware has become over the years.

 

Um, sorry but the AMD Sempron/Turion has nothing on the Core 2 except for price so there is no additional "longevity". Core 2 is 64-bit also, dual core as well, but faster. The AMD options are cheaper though, which matters to many.

 

The models compared were the Sempron and the Core Duo not the the Core 2 Duo. So the statement that the Sempron is 64 bit and the Core Duo is not is still accurate. It would have been more interesting to me if this had been a review of the 1501 with the Turion X2 processor.

 

Unless your limited research includes actually trying it, you should stop spreading baseless nonsense. The GMA950 runs Aero Glass well at 2560x1024.

 

also remember its only a 50 dollar option to get the x1300 for the E1505 seems like a better value to me then the x1150

 

Didn't notice that, thanks. But, since a Core 2 processor should still be the same price as a Core processor at the same clock speed...

I'm sure it runs fine, however once you have a ton of windows open it might be another story.

And cheap enough to get a Core 2 model, furthering the value of the e1505 over the 1501.

 

in all fairness, the information used to make the comparison is skewed because dell's amd notebook products are brand new and dell typically does not offer incentives in on new product lines. the intel notebook benefited from an additional $100 discount.

comparing base platforms without the discount provides a vastly different conclusion. i configured a similar notebook, but with a turion x2 and a 9 cell battery for the same price as the core duo sans the incentive. similar cpu performance, 64 bit upgradeability, and extra battery life for the same money.

 

It's pretty much been said. When I read the spec list for the 1501, I expected a price of $399 - 449. Especially considering all the stuff they removed. This move makes no sense for Dell. It's a sign that they are not confident in their lower end 1505 offerings (or that they're tiptoeing around Intel). If they are going to go for value, why not separate the lines entirely? Have the AMD offerings cover the 400 - 800 cheapo/student range, then the e series and latitudes cover $800 up to the top end of multimedia and business respectively.

 

Great review Andrew.

If there is one thing that I give Dell kudos for, it is their keyboards. I like the placement of the Home/PgUp/PgDn/End/Delete/Insert keys, I use them a lot. I also like the light and solid feel of the keys.

Other than that, this notebook is a letdown. It's been stripped down to B-series functionality and there really is no reason to get this over the e1505. If you want a "fair" AMD OR Intel notebook, go for an HP.

Of course, Dell only adopted AMD recently and perhaps they will come out with a more unique style of notebook for them.

 

On Dell's Home and Home Office website, upgrading from the Core Duo 1.6 Ghz to the Core 2 Duo 1.66 Ghz costs $67 (minus any coupons you may have).

This looks to be approximately correct, the cost of upgrading a 1501 to an X1300 roughly equals that of upgrading a 1505 to a Core 2 Duo. Of course at that point you have a Core 2 Duo with a GMA950 against a Sempron with an X1300. Some people (e.g. people who are on a budget but want to do some gaming) would surely prefer the latter.

 

I just "built" an E1505 and a 1501 at the Dell site (not using any coupons mind you) and they were built to very similar specifications and the main differences being that the E1505 has the Core 2 Duo T7200 and the X1400 GPU while the 1501 has the Turion X2 TL-56 with the only GPU option being the ATI Radeon Xpress 1150. The E1505 came out to $1,325 and the 1501 came out to $1,054. So you are looking at an approximately $275 difference for the AMD version spec'd out very similar for the higher end of things for each one. Anyway, I just thought it would be interesting to compare these two.

 

Looks like they had a price drop. The 1501 that was 669 is now $609, you could also get a 1501 with these componets for $635 or $585 with(AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile Technology MK-36)

AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TL-50
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
Express Upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium from XP Media Center Edition
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display with TrueLife™
1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
80GB Hard Drive
8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
ATI RADEON® Xpress1150 256MB HyperMemory™ (Integrated)
My Accessories
53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card (54Mbps)

 

I was wondering who would buy these kind of laptops. Not that cheap, and it is a cheap "dell" quality. And I just heard from a friend of mine, that he bought the 1501 for around $500 with low end no upgrades. He had no idea what a sempron or turion was, and not clear about intel celerons or core duos. I think dell home series (inspiron) sucks. It's a "Dell" Cheap build, low quality, built to not last so long.

 

How could a core2duo be compared with turion x2? Even core duo was better than the turion x2. I'm hoping AMD launches a much better CPU that can compete with core2duo.

 

My reasoning for comparing the Core 2 Duo to the Turion X2 is not because I think the X2 is as good as the Core 2 Duo but rather because they are the only ones that are both dual core and 64 bit. Comparing the Core Duo to the X2 is comparing 32 bit to 64 bit which I don't think is a fair comparison, especially with Windows Vista coming out soon.

 

thanks to all here who have commented on this machine series.

but I just gotta' say it. to some folks a few hundred dollars is pretty meaningful. students (almost always living in poverty) and small business entrepeneurs (always skating at the edge of the ice) come to mind and for these po' folks the 1501 AMD TL-56 64 bit dualie w/2G ram and 120G Sata and of course Bill's software is just about all the money they can stretch to come up with.

not everyone buys a computer for games and/or bragging rights and as far as I can see the 1501 is a decent enough machine for most.

and that's all I have to say. thanks for letting me say it.

ben

 

As a college student (and a poor one at that! ), I can say that even though it was a bit more expensive, I just purchased the E1505 vs. the E1501 for a few main reasons:

1. Front-Mounted A/V Controls: If you listen to music with the lid closed, or even watch DVD's/various video, I find the ability to control playback via the externally mounted "mechanical" buttons to be a very nice feature indeed (much better than having to use the mouse to utilize the respective media players controls).

2. X1400 vs. Xpress 1150: Not even a comparison between these two...You'll find that a lot of college students want to run graphically intense applications & make an awful mistake of assuming that the new laptop they are buying will actually run X or Y program/game/HD content because, well...it's new (the sales pitch layed upon unsuspecting customers at the brick-and-mortar, big-box stores would lead you to believe all sorts of foolish things!).

Did I want to shell out more money? No...not at all. But with a T2250 and X1400, I have a much faster, more capable system...

 

No, it's not another story. Will you stop spreading nonsense about a product you've never used in this manner?

I've ran Aero Glass with a ton of windows without any problems.

 

I understood that the Core 2 Duo would beat a Turion X2 (or even an Athlon X2) at the same clock, and even at the same price. So what did you mean by

???

 

you can't beat it with $479 (for holiday only)
is this following the same with the one in preview?

Mobile AMD Sempron™ 3500+ (1.8GHz/512KB)
OPERATING SYSTEM(s) Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
LCD panel 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display
MEMORY 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
VIDEO CARD ATI RADEON® Xpress1150 256MB HyperMemory™ (Integrated)
HARD DRIVES 80GB Hard Drive
Network Card and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.08
Combo/DVD+RW Drives 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Sound Card Integrated Audio
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1490 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
Office Software (not included in Windows XP) No productivity suite- Includes Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) No Security Subscription
Primary Battery 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Warranty and Service 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service
Dell On Call Dell On Call, 30day, Getting started Assistance, unlimited incidents
Internet Access Service 6 Months EarthLink Internet Access Included
Miscellaneous Inspiron E1501
Future Operating Systems Windows Vista™ Capable
Upgrade to Windows Vista Express Upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium from XP Media Center Edition

 

to abaxter: did you get 3 hours and half with the1501?( battery life)

this review is the first and only one review that have the sempron 3500( i mean sempron series with socket S1) . how did it compare with the pentium M in T43?

 

What do you guys think of the new coupons that just came out? You can get the inspiron 1501 for 688 with the procesor upgraded all the way and 1 gb. I think for the price its alot better? Any other opinion's?

 

I know how much u guys prefer the 1505 VS the 1501. And I dont blame u. But considering the fact that I was given a budget of not going over $1k (exclusive of tax and shipping), I had no choice but to obtain the 1501. I however was able to customize it the best i could without going over the aforementioned price. Here's the specs of the notebook i customized and ordered:

Inspiron 1501 AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TL-50
LCD panel 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display with TrueLife™
MEMORY 2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHZ, 2 DIMM
ATI RADEON® Xpress1150 256MB HyperMemory™ (Integrated)
120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.08
24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
Integrated Audio
Dell Wireless 1490 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Express Upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium from XP Media Center Edition

I got this all for $999.00. I tried customizing my own e1505 series as i did here. I ended up with about $1200++ in costs excluding shipping and tax. That's why i chose the 1501 instead.

So,What do u guys think??

 

How is the Turion processor when compared to the Sempron?

 

Let's equate it this way.... A Sempron is equal to that of an Intel Celeron
while a Turion 64 X2 is much much better (not to mention that its the true dual core) processor than Intel's Core 2 Duo Processor.

 

For doubts... see these links...
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_13909_13911,00.html
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_13909_14326,00.html
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ComputingSolutions/0,,30_288_13239_13253,00.html

 

Awfully quiet here lately

 

I know people hate on this, but I needed a cheapo notebook for web/word and occasional travel with a gig of ram + best bang for the buck (don't care about s-video out/media controls, just wanted the basic vga output to use with an old sony lcd monitor) and got the setup above w/matte screen for $549 through the small business section a week ago. Comparing some basic features with a non-celeron/sempron solo processor, this was by far the best deal I've found. I wouldn't pay more than $600 for this setup though, the same setup is now going for $899!?!?!?! through the home office section.

 

wow... Dell has raised the price of the notebook up to 599 at starting price WITH the sempron processor...

 

also.. how come on the links at the review it has the computer for 499 and if I click it and configure it like that i can get it cheaper than if I go to dell.com and configure it?

 

That's what i did. U cannot just customize ur laptop at dell.com. You have to customize it from what they already offer. Like what I did, I customized my pc from their mid level offer under the 1501 series. In the end, I even surpassed tha capability and features of what dell offers as their high end product under the 1501 series.

 

what all would you use the s video ports for?

 

I have no use for an S video or fire wire.

I've been playing around with this and performance is good, I had to use the OEM disk to perform a clean install to get rid of the insane bloatware.

The battery was ever so slightly loose -noticable/annoying when i sat it on my lap (but i'm neurotic about stuff like that). Managed to fix it with a folded up post it note. When closed one side of the lid is ever so slightly higher = minor jiggle. But for the price ($550 U.S.) I don't expect the Inspiron line build quality to be perfect. In general, I'm really happy with the laptop.

I'm hoping for it to last at least 2 years...
My 5 1/2 year old HP desktop is still chugging (after replacing 1 hard drive and 1 power supply).

 

what do you think about the dell 1501 with Turion 64 X2, 1gb of ram and ATI RADEON Xpress1150 256MB?

How does it perform with photoshop and other image editing software?

I am on a very tight budget and was hopping not to spend more than $700 and for $629 I think that it could be a good deal.

 

If you are going to spend that much money you can get a better laptop. This laptop is pretty basic, I use it and I love it but I dont do much with it, just light gaming, web surfing, listening to music and stuff. Its a great laptop.

I payed 549 for this one back in november. The price has gone up a good bit ive noticed, I have 512 ram, 60gb harddrive. But I have a 40 gb external dragon drive that I store all my music on. If you just need a basic laptop then this is good for the money, use one of the links in the review and get it cheaper than just going to dell.com

 

Jherber,

I came to this thread by Googling reviews for Dell 1501 (I have a need for a laptop for my college kid) and immediately notice the bias overtone of this review by comparing apple and orange which you have recognized in your post. I don't like Dell laptop (my first laptop is a Dell Lattitude CJ-500 or something like that and it's a total crap with keyboard issue) and my subsequent laptops (10 plus in total for home and for my company) are none of Dell (all HPs and 1 Toshiba). That being said, so you know I don't like Dell laptop that much but I don't like intellectual dishonesty even much more . I am sure you know the Turion Duo Core was launched in May 2006 and this article is in Nov-2006. Kudo to you to recognize the bias overtone of this review hence rendering 0% validity of the reviewer's opinion.

 

It's funny how the sempron at a lower clock speed ate up the 2.0GHz Pentium M.

So it's not that slow afterall, just lacking the second core and more system memory.

 

What would think of 1501 with 1gb DDR, 120 gb and a Turion TL52? I think, it's a pretty good machine for it's price....

Anyway, how about the LCD perfomance? Viewing angles?
And how about the build quality?

 

I just got mine with a Turion X2 TL-50, 1GB RAM, DVD-Burner, Vista Basic, and 80GB HDD a month and a half ago for $599 with free shipping. A similarly configured Core Duo was at least $200 more. I think it was a good value and I'm generally happy with it.

My only complaint is the crummy battery life. I only get 1 hour and 45 min at best with the 4-cell battery. I would be happy with 2 1/2 hours.

I believe the laptop is even cheaper now.....$550 last time I checked.