Dell Inspiron 1520 and HP dv6500t Comparison

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Dell recently released the Inspiron 1520 notebook, a 15.4&quot; mainstream system with the new Intel Santa Rosa platform. HP beat Dell to the punch by releasing the Pavilion dv6500t Santa Rosa based notebook in mid-May. So does the best come to those who waited for Dell or did HP win in regards to both time to market and a superior product?

Video Overview

Just like the title says, here's a 5-minute video of me rambling on about these two notebooks:

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Design Comparison

HP redesigned their laptop line a year ago for the consumer dv series, the design was received well and is popular with consumers. The glossy finish lid and eye catching imprint finish gives a cool and classy look. HP stuck with essentially the same design for the dv6500t as the proceeding dv6000t, except changed the imprint finish slightly. The dv6500t has what is called a &quot;Radiance&quot; imprint finish. The imprint is part of the plastic casing so you can be sure it will never scratch or wear off like paint sometimes does from laptop lids.

HP dv6500t above the Dell Inspiron 1520 (view large image)

Dell also redesigned their Inspiron 1520 and allow you to customize the lid color. Outside of the lid color change, all Dell really did was remove the &quot;white bumpers&quot; previously seen on such laptops as the Inspiron e1505. We're happy to see those white bumpers go, and the colored lid option is cool, but other than that the Inspiron keeps a pretty basic and some might say boring look.

HP dv6500t on the left, Dell Inspiron 1520 on the right (view large image)

The dv6500t is is thinner and lighter than the Dell 1520, in fact the Inspiron 1520 feels downright beefy for a 15.4&quot; notebook. The 1520 is definitely more of a desktop replacement size notebook, especially with a 9-cell battery in that sticks out and weighs extra. With the 9-cell battery in the 1520 weighs close to seven pounds, with a regular 6-cell battery it's more like 6.5 pounds. The HP dv6500t weighs about 6lbs with the 6-cell battery so there's almost half-a-pound of weight difference seperating the two.

Though the Inspiron 1520 weighs more, it does feel more sturdy. There's simply no flex to the Inspiron 1520 case, it's a beast. The HP dv6500t has a thinner casing and flexes in some parts.

Port Selection

The HP dv6500t and Inspiron 1520 have a very similar selection of ports and features. The major difference being that the dv6500t has three USB ports to the four that the Dell has and the HP dv6500t has an HDMI port while the Inspiron 1520 does not. Here's a quick compare chart of the ports and features each have:

	Dell Inspiron 1520	HP Pavilion dv6500t
# of USB Ports	4	3
Hi-Def Video Out	None	HDMI
S-Video	Yes	Yes
FireWire	Yes	Yes
Monitor Out	Yes	Yes
Media Card Reader	5-in-1	5-in-1
Expansion Port	No	Yes, Expansion Port 3
LAN / Modem	Yes	Yes
Heaphone Ports	Yes, 1	Yes, 2
ExpressCard/54	Yes	Yes
Web Camera	Yes	Yes
Media Buttons	Yes, front location	Yes, top of keyboard
Wireless on/off switch	Yes	Yes
Wi-Fi Catcher/Detection	Yes	No

 

Here's a visual tour around the ports so you can see what's located where and get a better idea of the design comparison between the two:

Front side of the dv6500t on the left and Dell Inspiron 1520 on the right (view large image)

Closeup of front side ports on the Dell Inspiron 1520 on top and HP dv6500t on the bottom (view large image)

Left side ports of Inspiron 1520 on top and HP dv6500t on the bottom (view large image)

Right side ports of Inspiron 1520 on top and HP dv6500t on the bottom (view large image)

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Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard on the Dell Inspiron 1520 is rock solid with no flex, while the Pavilion dv6500t isn't quite as firm and has a bit of sag to it if you push hard on the keys. Overall though both keyboards feel nice and are pleasant to use. The larger touchpad on the dv6500t is slightly easier to use and it has a dedicated touchpad on/off button. The mouse buttons on both notebooks are nice and have a good amount of travel.

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Notice the HP dv6500t has a fingerprint reader for security while the Inspiron 1520 does not.

Multimedia Features

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The HP dv6500t has an HDMI port while the Inspiron 1520 does not, so that's one leg up the dv6500t has in terms of multimedia features. Other than that things are pretty even. Both notebooks have an instant-on mode to access media without booting into Windows, both have dedicated media buttons, both have a remote control that gets stored in the ExpressCard slot and both notebooks have an integrated web camera.

HP dv6500t web camera (view large image)

Dell Inspiron 1520 web camera (view large image)

Screen

The major limitation with the HP dv6500t is that the highest resolution screen you can get is a WXGA (1280 x 800). The Dell Inspiron 1520 offers up to a WSXGA (1680 x 1050) resolution screen. Dell also allows you the optioin of configuring the screen as a glossy or matte finish -- though only for the WXGA resolution, but with the HP dv6500t the only option is to have a WXGA glossy screen.

Our review unit Dell 1520 has a WSXGA screen that's overall quite nice, though it could be a bit brighter. The HP dv6500t has a nice display that's maybe a tad brigther than the Dell 1520, but it's hard to detect any major difference in brightness between the two notebooks. Both are adequate in the brightness department, but neither seem as nice as some XBrite Sony displays or Fujitsu LifeBook displays I've recently seen.

Performance Options

Below are the specs for the HP dv6500t and Inspiron 1520 we received, you'll see that the Dell machine we have has higher specs:

HP dv6500t

• Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 1.8GHz
• 15.4&quot; WXGA BrightView Display
• Hard Drive: 160GB 5400RPM
• Graphics: NVidia 8400M
• Memory: 1.0GB DDR2 SDRAM
• Wireless: Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN
• Battery: 6-cell (additonal 12-cell optional)
• OS: Windows Vista Home Premium

Dell Inspiron 1520

• Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz
• 15.4&quot; WSXGA Glossy Display
• Hard Drive: 160GB 5400RPM
• Graphics: Nvidia 8600M GT
• Memory: 2.0GB DDR2 SDRAM
• Wireless: Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN
• Battery: 9-cell extended life

Both notebooks of course use the Intel Santa Rosa platform and you can configure those latest set of processors. The Dell does offer a higher end graphics option in the form of the Nvidia 8600M GT though, so if you're looking for a better gaming notebook the Inspiron 1520 might be the one for you. Below are a couple of benchmark comparisons of these two notebooks, keep in mind though the HP is at a major disadvantage due to the slower processor, weaker graphics and baffling 1GB of memory in the review unit we were provided with:

	PCMark05	3DMark05
Dell Inspiron 1520 (Intel T7300 2.0GHz, 2.0GB RAM, Nvidia 8600MGT)	4,648	5,532 3DMarks
HP dv6500t (Intel T7100 1.80GHz, 1.0GB RAM, Nvidia 8400M)	4,049	2,292 3DMarks

 

If the dv6500t had 2.0GB of RAM and a faster processor it would perform just as well as the Inspiron 1520, but you can only get up to an 8400M card with the dv6500t so the Inspiron 1520 will always trump it on the 3DMark05 graphics score if you compare the highest-end dv6500t to the highest end Inspiron 1520.

Heat and Noise

The dv6500t we have came with an Nvidia 8400M graphics card and 1.8GHz processor while the Dell Inspiron 1520 came with a 2.0GHz processor and Nvidia 8600M graphics card. Despite the Dell having more power, it was quieter and ran cooler than the dv6500t. The HP dv6500t fans really kicked in and became loud during benchmarking and when used for long periods of time, but the Inspiron 1520 was almost always quiet. The HP dv6500t also tended to get warm on the bottom, this was not the case with the Inspiron 1520 that remained cool to luke warm all over.

More vents on Inspiron 1520 seen above the dv6500t might be what helps it stay cooler (view large image)

Wireless

Both notebooks offer 802.11n wireless using Intel's new wireless chipset, both have Bluetooth offered and both have consumer level IR to work with the remote control. Dell does beat out HP by offering WWAN via Verizon in the 1520, it even offers the super fast Rev-A EVDO which has been a joy to use. For this extra option of WWAN Dell wins on the wireless front.

So which is better?

Overall these notebooks are close in features yet there are small things that make them different enough that one will probably fit your needs better than another. I prefer the look and lighter weight of the HP dv6500t, the Dell is okay looking but still kind of bland on the inside and it's so darn heavy. But the Inspiron 1520 does a great job of staying cool and you can configure a more powerful graphics card -- those hungry for graphics power will go for the Dell. The greater amount of screen resolution options and integrated WWAN offering on the Dell 1520 also will appeal to some people.

At the end of the day I can endorse both notebooks as being solid options in the mainstream 15.4&quot; category. Neither has a huge weakness, both are nicely configurable and can be powerful notebooks for a good price, and both companies are striving hard to do better with their customer service.

 

 

 

Excellently done! I'm looking forward to a detailed 1520 review soon!

And can you please do everyone a favor and tell the clock speeds of the 8600m GT?

 

Very good review. Nicely written. This article should help those who are confused about which model to purchase.

I am slightly surprised by the thickness of the 1520 compared with the dv6500t.

 

Great comparison! I've yet to see a Dell 1520 or any of the new Dells as a matter of fact in person so I can't judge it, but it is an excellent value for the money as far as price/performance is concerned.

I've always been a fan of the dv6000/dv6500t design.

 

I'm not, there were a ton of pictures of before it was released showing the thickness. That's one reason why I'm confused and annoyed at people who keep trying to say the inspiron looks just like a mac book pro. The look of the keyboard and the thickness are the only things I don't like.


LOL, DANG THAT'S THICK.

Other than that, the price is very nice and the graphics card is nice. We won't know much about the quality until people start using it for a while, but the inspiron 6400 seemed durable and long lasting. HP's notebook would have been perfect if it carried the 8600gt as a customizable feature and had the same quality design as the 6000t.

 

It's like less than half an inch thicker? Don't freak out or anything.

 

Thanks for the great comparison...

Sucks that HP.ca does not allow customization. Maybe then i would consider it a true alternative to the 1520, in canada...

 

Nice overall comparison review Andrew!

 

Well I'm really happy now that I've seen a picture of the matte black, I don't like it very much, looks like I made the right decision to go with red.

Yeah, the Dell looks a lot thicker in the stacked photo, but when they are side by side and viewed from the front I think that the difference in thickness is minimal.

Great comparison though.

 

Great comparison! I think Dell took us a little too 'literal' when we said 'remove the white bumpers.' Now it looks a little like a Mac, or UFO, or a frisbee...

But the redesign is nice, and it definitely looks like Dell has stepped up on the quality of the notebook. Between the tougher engineering and the 8600GT, I'd say we have a pretty decent winner.

 

Finally....pics of the laptop we bought.

I really like the black and how the keyboard and everything looks.

 

This 2 combined together creates the best beauty and the beast situation.

 

LOL, you got that right. I am more of a beast guy myself

 

Nice review Andrew!


Please do more videos in your reviews!

 

Very nice review Andrew. I'm glad I got to see pictures of the Jet Black I bought .

Also, I'm very happy with the keyboard, and also how its usually pretty cool on the bottom.

How did you guys get the 1520 so fast?

 

Great stuff, Andrew!

The new video review style is great.

 

Dell actually sent it to us as a review model, so it's actually pre-production technically.

 

I knew it! The new inspirons are monsters! Hehe... that's a bit of an exaggeration, but yeah it does seem a lot bulkier than the dv6500t... a bit too much so for my liking.

So the dv6500t has:
-HDMI
-thinner and lighter
-expansion port

And the 1520 has:
-1 more usb port
-8600m GT
-1680x1050 resolution

I guess Andrew is right, they both good, it just depends on the user's needs/wants.

I'd say the 1520 was the winner if it weren't so much more bulky.
Or i'd say the dv6500t was the winner had it the 8600m GT option.

 

Dont really mind the 1520's thickness as long as it stays cool... just wondering how thick my 1720 is going to be

 

It would've been nice to get a little more information about the 1520. Seems like this was an exterior review with a benchmark thrown in, nothing else.

 

what resolution was used in 3DM05 on the 1520 for achieving the points?

1280xwhatever? or 1024x768?

 

Do you have any superPi results?

 

Nicely done , if only one could have the HP form/style and the Dells spec/contents .

 

Heh... yeah I'd like to have the Dell's more solid build, better keyboard and matte finish, but with the HP's thinner and lighter package and HDMI port.

I guess that's a Latitude or a Thinkpad (but still no HDMI port).

 

Seriously, though....the keyboard of the 1520 is so nice.

 

I don't think the benchmarks are quite fair as the dv6500t's specs are a fairly low configuration with a 1.8GHz CPU and only 1GB of RAM. Where as the Dell 1520 has a 2GHz CPU and 2GB or RAM, but you have to do the best with what you have I suppose.

It's a shame that the max GPU for the dv6500t is still a lower end card though, thats where the benchmarks really differ. 8600 GT vs 8400 GS

Nice video Andrew!

 

Have you used it before? I don't think it looks like anything special. Andrew said that the keyboard is good so I don't know if you honestly think it looks good or you're going off what he said...

 

I think it looks good? Is there a problem with that? Hmm?

 

nah i don't have a problem. I just don't get why some people think the keyboard looks nice compared to a ton of other notebook keyboards. There are better looking components on the notebook compared to the keyboard.

 

Of course we need to wait for the full reviews to determine which notebook is better but in the meantime its pretty noticeable that the dv6500 looks much better than the 1520 but the latter packs more power.

It comes down to the users needs in the end.

 

then that would make the compal ifl-90 almost a perfect mix of both =]

 

Why do people wear different clothes? Why do people like different music? Why do people drive different cars? Why do some people get Jet Black while some get Midnight Blue?

 

A small question:

The Inspiron 1520's Nvidia 8600 GT generates 5,532 3DMarks05.
The Asus G1S's Nvidia 8600 GT generates 7,704 3DMarks05.
The Apple MacBook Pro's Nvidia 8600 GT generates over 9,000 3DMarks05!
The only slight difference between the three notebooks are the CPU (The Dell has a 2 GHz, the Asus has a 2.2 GHz, and the Apple has a 2.4 GHz), but that shouldn't matter too much... Is there an explanation for this?

Leon

 

We'll have a more full review in the future, this is really just an exterior comparison as you say. But exterior is important still!

Right, we can't tell HP or Dell exactly what to send us so we can't do an apple's to apple's comparison with specs. I think I mentioned in the review the comparison isn't really fair for benchmarks and that each were configurable to varying degrees

 

Can you give us a time frame? I'm very anxious!

 

plz link it....

over 9k on the macbook is clearly unbelievable (would be like 7900GTX SLI). even 7.7k on the g1 is unbelievable.....
usually the 8600M GT performs between 5k and 6k depending on the vram...

the usual mb pro with a 8600M GT 256mb GDDR3 scores about 3.7k under bootcamp and 3dmark06 whereas the asus g1 with the same gfx chip scores about 4.3k. so i wonder where your stats are coming from as they seem to be kinda .... not really .... the truth Oo

 

Would HP even be able to fit the 8600GT in their current form factor without serious heat issues?

I can't think of any other reason why they only offer nvidia's lower end cards.

 

as far as i know hp compaq is using HD 2600 chips in their expensive businessmachines like the 8510p and will offer nvidia and ati professionel chips in their 17" ones....

they do not really target the semi-gaming sector!

 

they should have made some type of modification. Compal was able to make a notebook that's not too thick.

 

I noticed that HP notebooks have the capacity too but it might be because they aren't gaming notebooks.

 

Perhaps the comparison should also mention the available Blu-Ray drive on the 1520.

 

Is it possible to open up the 1520 and check out what kind of RAM the 8600M GT is using, either a DDR2 or DDR3. Different sales rep from Dell are giving different answers you know,

 

how about the graphi card of the dell 1520?
ddr2 or ddr3?
For the 3dmark05 above,which type do you use?

 

You don't need to open up the laptop to find out if it's DDR2 or DDR3, you can use rivatuner to find the Memory type as well as the clock speeds. And yes, Andrew, could you find out for us? Pretty please?

 

Great review, very glad to see it.

The review did say the HP tends to run hotter and run the fans more, so I'm guessing the 8600M was pushing it just a little too far for them to put it in. If they weren't concerned with heat, I don't see why it wouldn't be an option.

 

WHOA! Been away a couple months and am looking for a Santa Rosa notebook now and that thing looks absolutely perfect.

 

dell is clearly the winner here...

 

Isn't the dell heavier because the case is alloy reinforced? A big plus.

 

Looking comparatively at the G1s and MBP benchmarks,you would have to figure that the memory is DDR2 and not GDDR3,and this would stand to reason given the cheap price of the notebook and the fact Dell isn't marketing it as a gaming machine like the G1s.
She sure is a fatty though,and very ugly viewed side on,luckily I don't look at the side of my notebooks very often

I am still wondering if there is going to be a 15.4 XPS at a later stage when the 17" is released [if released]or whether the 13.3 is going to be the only XPS and for bigger gaming laptops people will be directed to the sister company...I still can't help but think that sooner or later Dell and Alienware will end up one.

 

Another reason you would have to figure that the memory is DDR2 is that Dell says it's DDR2.

Intel Graphics Options
Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
NVIDIA® GeForceTM Go 8400M GS with 128MB DDR2 dedicated graphic memory
NVIDIA® GeForceTM Go 8600M GT with 256MB DDR2 dedicated graphic memory ​