Dell Inspiron 1525 Review

by Jerry Jackson

The old days of bulky, overweight Dell notebooks may be coming to a close in 2008. Today Dell announced their latest addition to the Inspiron family of notebooks, the 15.4-inch Inspiron 1525. We are happy to have a pre-production unit to review, and this sleek successor to the Inspiron 1520 might just surprise you.

Our pre-production Inspiron 1525 is equipped with the following specs:

• 15.4-inch WXGA (1280 x 800) CCFL TrueLife (glossy) screen
• 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7250 processor
• 2GB DDR2-667 SDRAM (up to 4GB DDR2 SDRAM available)
• 120GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD
• 8x Dual-layer DVD±RW drive
• Video: Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
• Wireless: Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card
• Mobile Broadband: Dell Wireless integrated mobile broadband mini-cards Sprint and Verizon serice
• Colors: Multiple colors and finishes available
• Media Card: 8-in-1 flash memory reader
• Input and Output Ports: 4 USB 2.0, HDMI, VGA, IEEE 1394a, RJ11, RJ45, 2 headphone, 1 microphone, 1 ExpressCard 54mm slot, 3 mini-card slots, consumer IR, S-Video
• No webcam (optional Integrated 2.0 megapixel webcam available)
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Dimensions: 1.00" - 1.48" (height) x 14.05" (width) x 10.08" (depth)
• Weight: 5.9lbs with 6-cell battery
• Base configuration price: $499
• Price as tested: $1,024 ($874 after instant savings)

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Build and Design

Dell received some much needed attention in 2007 with the introduction of the sleek, high performance XPS M1330 and XPS M1530 notebooks. Although these more expensive notebooks in the Dell lineup were praised for their looks and low weight, the Dell Inspiron 1520 was criticized for being yet another bulky and unattractive laptop. Dell listened closely to this criticism when they designed the new Inspiron 1525. The Inspiron 1525 is in fact 25% smaller, 30% slimmer and almost half a pound lighter than the Inspiron 1520.

In addition to the eight color options available on other Inspiron notebooks, the 1525 offers four new patterns. These designs are inlaid molds so there's no risk of the design coming off.

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Although I wasn't a huge fan of the glossy inlaid "Commotion Pattern" design on our pre-production Inspiron 1525, I must say it looks flawless. I was highly critical of the paint application on the Inspiron 1420, 1520, and 1720 because the paint has questionable durability. The new glossy lid designs might be a magnet for fingerprints, but it certainly looks more durable than the old Inspiron paint jobs.

Screen

Display options for the Inspiron 1525 include a matte finish 15.4" Widescreen XGA (1280 x 800), a 15.4" Widescreen XGA (1280 x 800) with TruleLife (glossy finish), or a 15.4" "high resolution" (1440 x 900) glossy widescreen display. On the surface the lack of higher resolutions is a serious flaw in the design of the 1525. In truth, the overwhelming majority of "average" notebook users will think the WXGA resolution looks stunning.

The screen on our pre-production unit looks flawless from straight on and the horizontal viewing angles are great. Upper vertical viewing angles are good, but colors did begin to invert at lower viewing angles when the screen is tilted back.

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Keyboard, Touchpad and Media Controls

The keyboard on the Inspiron 1525 is fairly similar to the 1520. The keyboard is firm with virtually no flex and the keys have excellent travel and cushion.

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The touchpad surface utilizes the new design that is integrated with the palm rest surface. The only separation between the palm rests and the touchpad is the indented area above the touchpad buttons. The touchpad buttons have excellent travel and cushion, though I did feel like they made a bit too much of a "clicking" sound when pressed. The good news with the touchpad is that it's responsive, has dedicated scroll areas and the textured feel is good.

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A series of touch-sensitive media buttons with blue LED backlights are located above the keyboard similar to the buttons on the XPS notebooks. One nice feature about the media buttons is that the blue LEDs only stay lit for a fraction of a second after being pressed, so they won't distract you by staying lit all the time. Another "interesting" feature of the media buttons is that the blue LEDs "pulse" back and forth for a few seconds during Windows startup not unlike KITT from the old Knight Rider TV series or a cylon from Battlestar Galactica.

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Ports and Features

The port selection of the 1525 is resonably good for a notebook of this size. Here's a quick rundown of what you get:

Front profile view: LED status lights, dual headphone out, microphone in, and memory card reader. (view large image)

Left side: Kensington lock slot, DC power jack, two USB ports, Ethernet, modem, HDMI out, and FireWire. (view large image)

Right side: ExpressCard slot, WiFi on/off/WiFi catcher, optical drive, S-Video out, and two USB ports. (view large image)

Back profile view: no ports here.(view large image)

The built-in HDMI is a very nice thing to have for those that want digital video output, S-Video and VGA are also there for the more old-fashioned approach to video output. The fact that the 1525 supports HDMI with integrated graphics is impressive ... though we didn't have the opportunity the test the limits of the HDMI output from the integrated X3100 graphics.

With the addition of FireWire, four USB ports, a media card reader, two headphone jacks, microphone jack, ExpressCard slot and Ethernet port you're well equipped ports wise.

I was pleasantly surprised to find four USB ports on the 1525. I was a bit let down by the fact the similarly sized XPS M1530 only includes three USB ports. The fact that the 1525 packs four USB ports into a reasonably thin and light 15.4" notebook is worth praise.

Speakers

The speaker quality was "acceptable" for a notebook without a built-in subwoofer. The speakers for the 1525 are located at the top of the keyboard area above the media buttons.

There's not much to write home about the speakers, they get loud enough with minimal distortion, but the sound is slightly tinny as is the case with nearly all laptop speakers. Just imagine listening to music from small speakers mounted inside a tin can and you'll have an idea about the built-in sound quality. On the brighter side, both audio out ports delivered crystal clear audio to my earbuds during the test period.

Performance and Benchmarks

One thing to notice is that the dedicated graphics card option available on the Inspiron 1520 is missing from the Inspiron 1525. The reasoning behind this is that Dell is pushing the XPS M1530 as the 15.4" notebook for those demanding higher-end graphics performance. The Inspiron 1525 is meant for a more mainstream buyer looking for good multimedia and productivity features from a notebook, and not cutting edge 3D performance.

Regardless, I would have liked for Dell to offer at least an entry-level nVidia 8400 GS 128MB dedicated graphics card option on the 1525. Sure, it might compete with a base configuration XPS M1530, but consumers like to have choices.

That being said, the Inspiron 1525 performed quite well during testing and this machine will meet or exceed the performance needs of most average (non-gaming) users.

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, thereby giving more accurate benchmarking measurements than Super Pi.

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	43.569s
Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.485s
Portable One SXS37 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	41.908s
Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz)	58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	38.343s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	40.965s
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76.240s
Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	42.385s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
Alienware M5750 (Core 2 Duo T7600 @ 2.33GHz)	38.327s
Hewlett Packard DV6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	38.720s
Samsung Q70 (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz)	42.218s
Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi (Core Duo T2500 @ 2.0GHz)	42.947s
Samsung X60plus (Core 2 Duo T7200 @ 2.0GHz)	44.922s
Zepto Znote 6224W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz)	45.788s
Samsung Q35 (Core 2 Duo T5600 @ 1.83GHz)	46.274s
Samsung R20 (Core Duo T2250 @ 1.73GHz)	47.563s

3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance:

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	545 3DMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	504 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	4,332 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	2,905 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,408 3DMarks
Samsung Q70 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and nVidia 8400M G GPU)	1,069 3DMarks
Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB)	2,344 3DMarks
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB	2,183 3DMarks
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66GHz Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB)	2,144 3DMarks
Samsung X60plus (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7200, ATI X1700 256MB)	1,831 3DMarks
Asus A6J (1.83GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB)	1,819 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks

PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance:

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	4,149 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	5,412 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	4,616 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,591 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,987 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 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
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,646 PCMarks

HDTune results:

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Heat and Noise

The Inspiron 1525 does a reasonable job keeping heat under control. The system fan and heatsinks in the 1525 do a great job managing heat when the system is under load ... as we discovered when we ran multiple benchmarks back to back. Below are images with temperature readings listed in degrees Fahrenheit:

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Unfortunately, noise was something of an issue with the fan on the 1525. The fan moved a significant amount of hot air but the noise was reasonably higher than what we hear on most current notebooks. When the fan is on low it isn't noticeable over background noise most of the time. However, when the fan was at the highest setting we did record the volume of the noise breaking the 60dB mark from about two inches away from the fan exhaust. Again, this was a pre-production review unit, so your mileage (or decibels) may vary.

Battery Life

The 6-cell 56WHr Li-Ion battery provides excellent battery life for the 1525. With Vista's power management running in "high performance" mode, screen brightness set to maximum and wireless on, the 6-cell battery delivered 2 hours and 53 minutes of battery life. We're certain that the 6-cell could deliver three and a half hours of life with the notebook set to "balanced" or "power saver" mode and the screen brightness turned down.

There is also an available 9-cell 85WHr Li-Ion battery for those users needing extended battery life. One thing to mention is that with the 9-cell battery in you get an overall larger dimension for the notebook as the 9-cell battery sticks out of the back of the notebook.

Conclusion

Overall, the Dell Inspiron 1525 is an excellent budget notebook with good looks and solid performance. This isn't a gaming machine, but the 1525 can handle everyday computing tasks with ease ... and looks good while doing them.

In short, the Inspiron 1525 is exactly the notebook that the Inspiron 1520 should have been in the first place. Even though the 1525 is arriving a little late to the party we suspect it's going to be a very welcomed guest in many homes.

Pros

• Much thinner and lighter than the Inspiron 1520
• Reasonable battery life
• Nice keyboard, touchpad and media buttons
• Solid performance and features

Cons

• Glossy LCD lid is a magnet for fingerprints
• No dedicated graphics option
• Limited display options

 

It looks good, but it would be perfect it they at least kept the 8400M-GT as an option, and a WSXGA+ screen option..

 

So its basically a HP now in shape and with the HP glossy shell. To little to late.

 

I agree, even with those two things, the XPS would still be superior with it's 8600GT. Now, it's a neutered Inspiron that is no more appealing than an HP.

 

It wasn't too many years ago that everyone was copying what Dell was doing.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ... or the sincerest form of patent infringement, depending on how much "imitation" is going on.

In any case, I have to give credit to Dell for stepping up and (finally) making changes after several years of consistent criticism from consumers and reviewers.

I just hope Dell continues down this path of improving their lineup ... and I hope they don't sacrifice configuration options in the process. The lack of dedicated graphics is going to hurt sales of the 1525.

 

shoot ... I'd decided to buy a 1520 last night and now they're gone. I hope they offer xp as an option at some point (but I doubt they will).

 

Hey, Dell finally made something that's visually not an eyesore. I'm impressed. It's rare that I say that. It looks like Dell is starting to realize the value of aesthetics.

 

You should still be able to buy a Vostro 1500 ... which can be configured with the EXACT same configuration as the Inspiron 1520 (just with black as the only color option).

 

Hmm, this is actually less appealing than the HP dv6000. No dedicated graphics, and it tops out at a WXGA screen res. Thank god for the Vostro 1500....

Also disgusting: The Inspiron 1420 offers dedicated graphics and a higher res screen, not to mention the fact that its smaller and lighter by a half pound. Ouch.

 

JerryJ: Thanks for the tip. I hadn't looked at the vostro 1500 yet. I'll check it out now.

 

The 1525 has a WXGA+ option.

 

As you can see on my sig, I paid 1088 for my dv6500t which has almost the exact same specs as the 1525 here.. except it has a 8400m, wireless N card, and BT with two years warranty. That makes my HP a better value and more powerful. Add two years warranty and tax and this 1525 reviewed will cost more then what I paid and offer no dedicated GPU. So I agree, the lack of at least a 8400m will not be effective to compete with the machine its trying to copy, the dv6500t or now called dv6700t. And I agree, the unit shipped to NBR (commotion print) is butt ugly.. But at least they offer more options here.. I doubt that one will be very popular. Dell must be nuts to have sent that one to NBR.

So now, Dell is doing a major downgrade in the 15" line by eliminating the dedicated GPU. I guess that only leaves the 17" with the 8600gt or maybe vostro. I think what we are seeing here is major shift from selling online to retail. On the retail market, this should sell well since most retail notebooks don't offer dedicated gpu's. The 1525 might sell well next to a HP that only offers a few shiny colors. Well Andrew did mention that this will probably get a BD drive by months end. I am thinking it will include a 8400m to do that.

 

imo it has no use.

 

Oh, it does have WXGA+ as an option...Interesting, since I saw both here and on Engadget that it topped out at WXGA. But its still the same resolution and much less powerful graphics to go along with a larger and heavier chassis.

 

No discrete graphics option and the T7250 is the fastest processor they offer- puts it out of the running for me. The XPS M1530 is looking mighty fine about now. Even the 1520 is more appealing based on current options for the 1525.

It may change in the near future...much like with the XPS M1530. I was terrified when I realized that the only display choice was the standard (1280x800 resolution). For a higher-end system aimed at more demanding users, that was a huge oversight, in my opinion. They quickly rectified that.

At least the 1525 does offer an upgrade to the 1440x900, which is my preference.

 

Will there be a Dell Inspiron 1725? I hope so(only if it has dedicated gpu). Plus I think they got rid of the dedicated GPU option so they could sell more XPS M1530's I think this is a horrible thing do do, I much prefer the looks of this then the XPS M1530 plus this is cheaper even with dedicated gpu.

 

the 1520 is still available if you click on the $300 off link coupon it will take you to the 1520

 

Exactly. But as noted earlier, you can still get the 8600 gt in the vostro 1500. Will Dell close this option off as well? If so, it will be readily apparent that they want to squeeze out the XPS premium (fatter margins) for those that want the fast GPU. The whole inspiron line is out of balance now. Currently, the 1720 has the fast GT GPU, BD drive and no HDMI. The 1525 has the HDMI and no BD drive or dedicated GPU. The 1420 has dedicated GPU, BD and no HDMI. The fact that the 1420 outperforms the 1525 is rather telling. I expect, at the very least, a 8400m, and BD on the 1525 and probably not that far off. Otherwise, this lopsided inspiron line is going to give them some grief with dell customers and probably fatten up HP's margins a bit with the dv6700t.

 

Meh I'll take my high powered processor 8600gt graphics 1520 anyday. Interesting they don't even offer new processors.

 

Thoroughly "meh". No dedicated graphics puts the dv6700t above it, and otherwise there's not a whole lot to say for it. Essentially a weight reduction with lower performance. A few design modifications, but largely the same (I cannot see a difference in the touchpad in the article from the one in the 1520) and nothing killer there (except perhaps HDMI which is canceled out by the lesser graphics). I'll take the 3000+ 3dmark06 of the 1520 over the 545 of the 1525 any day.

At least there's still the Vostro 1500, and the 1520 is accessible on their site. But with the 1420 > 1525 and all, it's a bit out of whack.

 

I'm impressed the pricing starts from $499 on this laptop, granted that's a Celeron processor, but I think the point people are missing is this is a cross between budget and multimedia laptop AND most importantly it's lighter than than behemoth of an Inspiron 1520. In my book Dell has done the right thing here. The XPS M1530 cost isn't that high either, you can get it for $999 starting and if you want a performance notebook that's where to go.

If you want the Inspiron 1520, as Jerry said, go for the Vostro 1500. It's exactly the same as the Inspiron 1520. The Inspiron 1525 is thin by design because they knew they'd not have to cram a heat producing graphics card in there. Thinner = harder to cool.

 

... Is the X3100 even powerful enough to play HD-DVD/Blu-ray movies?

Its pretty ridiculous they keep making these little screw ups, when designing these things. The 1520 was touted as being a multi media laptop, with the OPTION to play Blu-ray movies(and certainly had the horse power to pull it off) but lacked an HDCP connection to play protected content.

the 1525 fixes that, yet drops the component needed to actually play the content. Honestly, without a dedicated GPU thats capable of playing back 1080p/720p content, there is no major reason(other then convenience of only having one wire, over the 4 for component/spdif) to have it.

 

I would expect that the Vostro 1500 will soon be replaced by a black version of the Inspiron 1525. ("Vostro 1505", probably.)

 

they both HP and Dell are not the best in Asia or EU , dont talk about the US market as the whole world any more........

in Asia and EU , Acer is a much bigger player than these US brands and you dont even see any of HP or Dell in top10 sellers here , and nobody is copying the HP DV something, which is not at all unique or original(at best boring design). it is opposite, the HP is the imitation of the Acer 4920G-602G25MN , actually this model the first to have use the 4965AGN Wireless card, not the HP.

Acer is a much innovative company than HP and the 4920G series is a much better deal than any of Dell or HP, the 4920G is really cheap for what it is , if it were a Dell or HP , would cost 2 times more than it is now.

I think Acer notebooks should be reviewed more often , since the company has the biggest market share in the world.

 

Im thinking that other processors may become available during January when the penryn stuff becomes commonplace ? the T7250 is a santa rosa chip right ?

Im really put off by this, I think XPS machines carry a premium for the sake of being the "elite" model, it doesn't wash with me - I certainly wont be buying one.
I'm also hugely put off the 1525 due to the lack of dedicated graphics - you've just lost a sale Dell!

To the last poster: My old laptop was an Acer machine which I bought despite warning from several people not to do so, 2 years down the road the screen inverter went and cooked something on the motherboard - which aren't made any more, so I can't even get it repaired if I wanted to. Maybe I was unlucky but Acer do seem to have a higher rate of failure than other manufacturers.

 

Wish it comes with dedicated GPU and WinXP as an option. Not sure why Dell can't release one complete laptop with all the available options that user can customize according to his/her own need!

 

Does the 1525 feel as solidly built as its predecessor?

 

boooring... as usual cheap looking, overpriced, without good graphics card... I have Acer 5920G for over half a year that was cheaper and has better specs then this.

 

Since when was $500 overpriced? Really, thats the starting price of this notebook, and I'm really sorry that you missed that part of it.

And you should also know that the Vostro 1500 has equal specs to the 5920 for a lesser price. Plus, it doesn't look like a toilet seat. Then theres the build quality. Since its the Acer's chief failing (of many), I think we should bring that up too. The Dell feels pretty solid, the Acer....doesn't. The build quality compares unfavorably to Gateways that cost half or even less, and the keyboard and mouse buttons are the absolute worst I have sampled all year, regardless of cost.

Booooring the Dell might be, but at least it isn't a piece of crap.

 

HAH! Acer is not the biggest player in Europe. They sell cheap notebooks. I still see more Dells & HP's. In the entire EMEA market, acer is still number three. But that includes many poorer countries

lenovo is the biggest in asia (not including japan).

Acer merely got the 4965AGN earlier (and I'm not so sure about that). As it's a part of the Centrino platform, HP's would have gotten it anyways. No imitation there. Getting specifications a little earlier is not imitating.

4920G costs as much as a cheap HP or Dell. I'd rather take one of those.

HP is the world largest, Dell is number 2. Acer is number four.

 

I'll admit the lack of a dedicated card sucks, which would take it out of the running for my needs...

But I wonder, would the 1525 be better than the 1520 for my wife? She plays no games whatsoever, so I doubt she would notice the lack of dedicated card options, AND would love the lighter weight.

 

Then yes. If you have no need for a dedicated graphics card or a really high res screen, then the 1525 will be better than the 1520.

 

Thanks for the review Jerry.

Making it thinner and lighter are definitely welcomed improvements, but I still can't help finding the design to be quite bland. But aesthetics are very subjective I know.

 

I'm curious to know if this notebook still has mag alloy parts like that of the 1520. I'm sure Dell may had to sacrifice a few of the 1520's sturdiness to achieve this new form. The question I guess is how much was sacrificed?

Give this notebook at least an 8400m and it's a winner for me.

 

I hope most of us realise that the gripe we have for not having a dedicated graphics is only common among the regular NBR readers... normal users wont really be bothered, or care if the notebook has dedicated graphics.

What they care is how heavy/bulky, price, cpu speed, and hard drive space. I think Dell would be fine with the 1525.

There is always the m1530 if you want dedicated graphics.

I would be happy to trade my m1330's 8400gs with the built in x3100 for more battery life. Not everyone is a hard core gamer.

With the 1525 being almost as slim and light as the m1530, Dell has got to differenciate the 2 models more, which is why the graphics for axed.

 

Nice to see a review up so quickly .
Would have been even better if there was an actual side-by-side comparison with a 1520 .

 

Nice job Dell! They will come back and be Number 1 again!

 

No they won't. Not with the way HP is going.

 

does the 1525 come with a remote like the 1520 and 1521?

 

THAT'S the 1525? Man it is ugly piece of machine. Dell is losing my respect daily. They just keep bungling over and over. No proper graphics options and screen? Booo and hiss to dell.

 

Just cause the communist government support company afforded to buy long standing computer department of U.S Company, IBM?

It's funny how you just skipped Japan. I mean, sure South Korea and Taiwan got their high tech players playin' but Japan is the lead "the man" of Asia right now (notice how ppl say "Japanese" and not "Korean" or "Taiwanese")

Toshiba, LG, and Asus are the three biggest players in Asia. Not "doesn't have to change their design" much 15 years good lived IBM thinkpad that Chinese company recently bought (Chinese were clever though, you know, you really don't have to innovate much from the "superman industrial" design? And you got your cheap poor Asian workers in China who lives off of 200 dollar salary so competition will be pretty good from now on)

 

In SouthEast Asia(Singapore,Malaysia,Indonesia,etc) Toshiba tends to have big market share. Acer does as well, mainly because they sell cheap computers. SouthEast Asia market is highly sensitive to price, so that's why Acer can get somewhat big market price.
Anyway nice review and nice machine. For me, the lack of an entry level dedicated graphic card isn't deal-breaker but I hope at least Dell could give us WSXGA+ screen resolution as an option in the future.

 

I Didn't skip it. Japan counts as its own market. Nec is the biggest player there. I was merely debunking your statements, Which is why I didn't include North or South america.

I'm not making up these numbers either (as you seem to be). I went by sales statistics for Q3 2007.

EDIT: my figures were taken from here

 

Nice little review there!

It's too bad that there is no dedicated graphics or higher-resolution screen options, and that particular lid pattern, although it reminds me of tetris, looks too 'busy' for my taste.

One thing I do like about this notebook, however, is the fact that you can get a matte-finish screen if you so desire, which is getting harder and harder to find in consumer notebooks these days.

But it appears that Dell is splitting their 15.4" models across the inspiron and XPS lines as far as price and features are concerned. Therefore, it would make sense that Dell isn't offering dedicated graphics or higher-resolution displays with the inspiron. It seems that the inspiron 1525 is going for more of a "budget" appeal while the XPS M1530 is more expensive, but more feature-laden (even though the inspiron has an extra USB port over the XPS).

 

I was hoping the review unit would be armed with a Blu-ray drive, as most readers are concerned with the X3100's ability to handle HD content. Oh well.

I still think the laptop's quite meh. I just didn't expect a supposed "upgrade" to turn out to be a total downgrade, I guess. Let's just see how well Dell can sell this one.

EDIT: Oh, and the 1420 > 1525 argument is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I'd take the 1420 over the 1525 anytime, even if it's more expensive [or is it?].

EDIT2: lol, ok so I configured almost completely identical 1420 and 1525 systems. The 1420 is more expensive, but of course, the "almost" part in my previous sentence is because the 1420 has dedicated graphics [8400M GS]. Also, the difference in price is only $75. So, yeah, I'll be taking the more powerful and compact system please!

 

It probably should be a new thread, but my account is not yet authorized to do so. Yesterday I learned the refurbished Vaio FZ190 I ordered (great price) was cancelled for "inability to estimate ship date" - obviously they ran out of such. I came here to revisit the discussion and reconsider the Inspiron 1520 and saw the thread on the new 1525. Read it and it seemed good (it's for my wife who is a very basic user but needs the screen size and lower weight) so I followed and tried to price it. Came out at $1289 after including a 1 year service plan and going for some upgrades (screen size, etc.). It was over budget so I came here again to check other things, saw the Dell Coupons link and saw the $300 for Inspiron models. Figured I try - it worked

Here is the configuration:
Inspiron 1525 - Intel® Core蒂 2 Duo T7250 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache), Genuine Windows ® Vista Home Premium Edition
Total Price: $1,289.00
Subtotal: $989.00
IVA: $69.22
Shipping and Handling: $19.99
Shipping Discount: -$19.99
Total: $1,058.22

-- Inspiron 1525 --
-- Intel® Core蒂 2 Duo T7250 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
-- Blossom Pattern [Very important for women ;-)]
-- 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
-- High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1440x900)
-- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
-- Size: 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
-- Integrated 10/100 Network Card
-- Integrated Modem
-- CD / DVD Writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)
-- High Definition Audio 2.0
-- Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card
-- Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
-- 85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
-- 1Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor,24x7 Phone Support
-- Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate)

So I got (ok, my wife did, I'm a Mac guy in my taste) a new Inspiron 1525 for just at $1000

 

Just to add to the discussion about why buy the 1525 and why (possibly) Dell configured it as such. For business users, who want:
1. A bigger screen
2. Good weight - I found that 6lbs is kind of the limit of comfort for most.
3. Good performance for basic work (Office, web, maybe some specialized software) but don't stress over "blazing".
4. Don't care about games/graphics/video performance.
5. Will be sufficient for 2-3 years comfortably.
6. Price.

It is a very good balance in terms of those attributes and fills a void in the marketplace. Assuming you buy a new one (I recommend refurbished if price matters because I had one in the past and it was as new, and they are) it provides a good configuration that is different than the Vostro or 1420 ones as well as others (Sony, HP, etc, that tend to be more expensive though better on other dimensions of course).

The reduction in weight and dimensions compared to the 1520 makes it much more competitive for those who care about the above attributes.

 

I guess I could live without the dedicated graphics card (if forced to) ... but how will the built in graphics handle vista? Is anyone running (and happy) with vista and integrated graphics?

 

HP is probably the top brand in SEA due to their Compaq legacy (Compaq used to dominate the AP markets at their peak). Dell either ties or closely trails them, due to strong marketing and very affordable prices. HP has a significant presence in SEA markets, more than they do in East Asia (HK, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, China).

Toshiba and Acer sells less PCs than HP and Dell as they are pretty weak in the desktop market (Toshiba has none in SEA), but Acer is definitely in 3rd place (they claim they are #1 in notebook PCs, something which I can't confirm because the brand has some serious reputation with its product reliability ratings in SEA markets and more people seem to be using a Dell rather than an Acer).

 

No point in getting upset about the lack of dedicated graphics. I can imagine this unit is specifically targeted for its Best Buy market. The kind of notebook any Jo Blow would want to pick up (or Johanne ). Perfect for everyday usage; web surfing, music, etc.

I just worry that they may be duping the mainstream audience. Not us, of course, I'm talking about the random passerby who thinks new shiny laptop = gaming machine. Or because its new, it can run Vista. You know?

I'm not sure why so many are complaining about the looks. Aside from the absolutely horrid back-cover, everything else looks fantastic to me. Simple, shiny, efficient, just cool enough to show enough. To me, the HPs with their too many swirly designs on keyboard and back, look way too urban and busy for my liking.

The fact that they're pushing the XPS makes sense. Why would a consumer purchase an XPS with dedicated graphics if they can get the same from an Inspiron, only much cheaper?

There's always eBay, or Craigslist.