Dell Inspiron 1520 and HP dv6500t Comparison

Nice review!

At first, I was thinking of getting the 1520, but after seeing your review, I now think otherwise!

The 1520 is too bulky, ugly, and heavy for my likings. Even if it has 8600M GT, I think I like the dv6500t more.


Is the 1720 as bulky, ugly, and heavy as the 1520 is?

Could you do a 1720 vs dv9500t review?

 

I think everyone was hoping it would be a typo and even going out of our way to contact dell reps regarding this matter and returning with mixed answers.

 

No, at $700 its not really a viable option.

The 1520 is waaaaaaaaay big and bulky, similar to the E1505. I don't mind it too much though, because it looks solid and muscular in the same way that the E1505 did, except it now has a much cleaner due to the removal of those horrid white bumpers. As for the colour selections...Meh, they aren't so great. Yellow is simply horrible, the green is too light, white and silver should never mix, brown is just wtf were they thinking, and pink i guess could be good for some girls. imo The Black is the best color of them all, the blue and red are also very nice looking.

Weight is another matter altogether, but the 1520 is not alone in getting heavier. I have noticed that the consumer 15.4" laptops are steadily increasing in weight (with the dv6x00 being a notable exception - and while the business models are moving to under 6lbs). If you look, (all with 6 cell batt) the 1520 is 6.6lbs, the Acer 5920 is 6.6, the Compal IFL90 is 6.6 (7.0 with 9 cell battery), the S96s is 6.8, the G1s is 6.8, the F3Sv is 6.6.....Nothing is of decently portable weight, and since all of those have powerful GPUs, they need to have the extended batteries just to get decent life out of them. Which adds even more weight. Its actually a pretty troubling trend....

 

I think that this is a completely futile comparison. I mean if you wanted a good looking laptop that is portable why not consider something from dell's other lines of laptops?? say from the latitude line or even the xps m1330. Both of those can be configured similarly to the equivalent hp dv6x00 and for a similar price.

As far as im concerned the inspiron 1520 should only be considered for that brilliant 8600gt card. This is what puts it in its own league; the ability to play almost any game at decent frame rates. The competitors to the 1520 then become the asus g1 or the mac book pro. (of course they are sold at exorbitant rates so I guess its safe to say that for many of us the 1520 has no real competitors).

 

IMO the Dell looks better then the HP DV6500T.

 

There's another reason people think it's DDR3: The specifications of the 8600m GT ON DELL'S SITE says it has 22.4GB/s of memory bandwidth. That correlates with memory clocked at 1400MHz (700x2) on a 128bit memory bus. Memory clocked that high has been found to be only DDR3 atm.

The low score could be the result of many things: poorly optimized drivers from Dell, Vista, the huge amount of bloatware?

We'll have to wait for the full review (which is taking a rather long time to appear..?).

 

Looking excellent. Does anyone know whether or not the remote is bundled with all 1520s? I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else but here but it doesn't appear as an option on Dell's UK website so I'm hopeful. The wait is killing me.

 

That Dell is sweet! Is a hefty competitor to the dv6500t or any 15.4" notebook, maybe the Compal IFL90 is leading the competition price/performance at this point but lacks of the style of the Dell or HP IMO.

 

Great review, Thanks! now we need a 1420 review!

btw about the resolutions, 1520 comes with 1680 x 1050, isn't that a big small? can you even read text on normal windows size?

I have an inspiron 5160, 15" with 1400 x 1050 resolution, how does 1680 x 1050 compare to it? anyone have an experience?

 

Nice comparison thank you!

HP looks more attractive, but it's too hot when you put it in your lap, and 1520 is too thick and ugly, like older Dell models.

Dell has better graphics and run cooler.

Finally I'll go for HP with Penryn, and drop the plan to buy Santa Rosa for now, if it's going to run cooler, and with less noise.

 

The quadro FX350M in my M65 is clocked at 2 x 700 for the memory as well and that is definitely DDR2 not GDDR3

 

By my calculations, I have an old Inspiron 4000 with a 14" 1400x1050 screen, and I think that that would appear about the same as 1680*1050 on a 15.4" widescreen. So I guess your resolution compares fairly well to 1440x900 on a 15.4" screen. However, the 1520 is customisable with 1280x800, 1440x900 and 1680x1050 screens so you can take your pick (although increasing it from 1280x800 does push the price up). I was also sceptical about 1680x1050, from a point of view of gaming at native resolution for as long as possible as well as for text size, but wanted more than 1280x800, so I went for 1440x900.

 

the 8600GT in the Dells is DDR3, call Dell whenever you want and they're absolutely positive its DDR3
there's been tons of posts on it

 

LOL they'll tell you anything. You're better off flipping a coin.

If they're so sure it's DDR3, why don't they fix their spec sheet. It would be easier than fielding all these calls, don't you think?

 

Pretty good comparison review! Very informative as to what both the notebooks offer, albeit, I was quite surprised by the thickness of the Dell over the HP.

Keep 'em coming!

 

1440x900 seems to be a good size, thanks for the reply!


btw, Andrew, if you still have the laptop could you please post the width and length of the Dell screen?(without counting in the plastic that surrounds it, just black screen itself)

 

As of now, I'm doubting Rivatuner's ability. I read it somewhere that this guy bought the Acer Gemstone. Acer claims their 8600M comes with DDR2, no arguments here. But when the guy checked it with Rivatuner, it shows DDR3.

 

No, the Quadra FX 350M is clocked at 800Mhz (400x2).

 

What is the different between DDR2 and DDR3?

 

Thanks a bunch dude, you ROCK! You made me buy the HP instead of [$400-more-expensive] dell...

 

Thanks a bunch Andrew, you ROCK! You made me buy the HP instead of [$400-more-expensive] dell...

You are right. Some people really confuse me saying unnecessary things...


PS: 2 Andrew: HP also offers a very cheap upgrade to 2 GB ram and 383 MB GeForce as well as 4MBcache 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo mobo.

PPS: You also forgot to mention (did u?) that dell offers a 7200RPM HDDs while HP doesn't. No big diff tho.

 

You don't know what your talking about,got one have you,I'm typing on one right now and its 2 x 700 or 1400

 

What constitutes saying an "unnecessary thing", Mr. Big Shot?

 

what you just said was unnecessary too... stop flooding a good topic

 

Oh ok, so it's alright for you to comment on other people's comments as being unnecessary....but when someone else does it, you try to be the good forum member.

Everyone has the right to comment on anything they like as long as it pertains to the topic...so I mentioned the keyboard...why not? I like it a lot. The other guy mentioned that Andrew helped him make a decision between the HP and Dell?...obviously is on topic

 

Both are good, but fore the money, normally its hard to top Dell. My problem is do I want the 1420 or 1520. I am probally going to go with the 1420 for slightly smaller, lighter, but most importantly good battery life.

 

Some of the latest nVidia drivers have a bug that displays twice what the RAM is actually clocked at in coolbits (even after DDR is taken into account). My 6800 is apparently clocked at 1400, also, for RAM, which is inaccurate. Take a screenshot from rivatuner.

All specs for the Quadro FX 350M say it's clocked at a maximum of 800Mhz (400x2).

This would mean that yours is actually clocked slower than it should be. Yours is running at 700 (350x2), ek.

 

Just FYI... you can actually screenshot the window using Alt+Prnt Scrn key... then paste it in something like MS Paint.

 

I agree when some people say that HP is better "good-looking" in a mid term. If you compare the black Inspiron you could say that is ugly and a lot bulky but when you see another color options (like midnigh blue, or artic white) the 1520 becomes more stylish and you´ll forget about the size vs Hp.

 

Will i get 90 Watt AC Adaptor with 3FT Power Cord along with dell inspiron 1520 or do i need tick the 90 Watt Spare AC Adaptor with 3FT Power Cord in the configuration to get the adaptor. Im little confused because it says spare adaptor. I have already placed order online but when i got my final configuration i dont see adaptor 90 Watt Spare AC Adaptor with 3FT Power Cord in it. I have not ticked it in configration cause i thought it was the spare one the name suggested.can anybody clear my confusion....thanks

 

No, I'm pretty sure any laptop comes with an adapter. The one you saw is if you need an extra one (e.g. 4 a car)

 

Thanks davron for the response. I placed my final order but when i got my detailed summary of order, adaptor wasnot listed in the configuration though other minor things like modem and other small things were mentioned. Is it normal that adaptor are not listed? anybody with same experience?

 

It will show up on your summary if you ordered the higher power adaptor. My Dell did not list the adaptor (or the keyboard or touchpad) but still came with them.

 

This is a major chick question but is Andrew wearing the same shirt he wore reviewing the m1330? It's technically "on topic" as it it literally "ON" the reviewer.....

On a serious note -Thanks Andrew for another great review/comparison !!!

 

Hello All,

I am looking at the HP dv6500t, but I can't find it anywhere online in the UK.

Stupid HP website has no price! At this rate I'll be buying a Rizeon FL90.

 

Can't you order it directly from HP.COM?

 

Yes,my apologies,you are correct and I don't know what I'm talking about

 

No you can't, which is stupid. You have to call them up, which I am not doing. What is the point of having it on the website, but not having a way of buying it online? Link

 

Great comparison! Thanks for it, looking forward to similar ones in the future.

 

Very nice review, but I'm a little confused over your conclusions. You knocked the HP about a bad keyboard, heat, noise, lack of display and advanced graphics options, body flex, etc., while you knocked the Dell only for being heavy, thick, and not quite so pretty looking as the HP. My reading of your review readied me for the obvious conclusion that the Dell was an overall much better machine, yet you ended with a "you say tomato, I say tomato" conclusion that basically said that little seperates the two models. Don't be afraid to offend; I think that the conclusion is an important part of a review, and a "diplomatic" conclusion detracts from an otherwise impressive review effort!

 

Great review!

 

The reviewer wrongly mentions that the HP dv6500t has HD video out. It does not.