Dell Inspiron 1525 Review

Hey any of you guys bought the one with the "Commotion" pattern too? I recently had to reformat mine and I lost the wallpaper that came with it. Can someone post it here or send me the wallpaper/link?

Yes... I'm one of those guys whose wallpaper has to match the lid design and I'm desperate.

Thanks!

 

For me, the fan is quite annoying. It is loud and it comes on like every 30 seconds, which is distracting. Whether this is an issue depends on the person, but if you are someone who doesn't like unnecessary fan noise, you probably won't like this laptop.

 

I didn't know this about the 1525...maybe i'll get the 1420...

 

Yeah I was clueless too before my purchase. But the information is out there. If a certain issue (such as fan noise) is important to you, make sure to Google or otherwise research it for the specific laptop you are considering.

 

DPC latency checker gives bad results on the 1525, both under Vista and XP. For music or video editing, do not buy this laptop.
I have been testing this comp. with several tools (DPC, Process Explorer, etc) and I am not satisfied with it. It was meant to replace my older Inspiron 6400 in my music studio.
For more info about these things, have a look at the SOund on sound link:
http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/s...page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&vc=1#Post638088

 

The problems you're having are VERY common to all notebooks with WIFI enabled. As you mention, the problems mostly go away with WIFI disabled ... though even with WIFI disabled the 1525 isn't the best choice for this type of work.

In any case, I can't see this as a major problem. The 1525 is a cheap consumer laptop. It's not a workstation-class notebook. If you're going to split hairs over Deferred Procedure Call latency you really need to invest in something better than an Inspiron 1525.

For average Joe/Jane consumers who don't even know what DPC latency is (and who aren't doing professional video/audio editing) the 1525 is a nice cheap laptop.

 

I recently got an inspiron 1525 for a company notebook.

This notebook will allow you to work and nothing more.

They should not have bothered with the webcam as the quality and framerate is absolutely shocking at best when comparing it to similar Acer/HP/ASUS models.

Personally I find the touchpad terrible too, if your fingertip has the slightest microscopic amount of moist on it (unlucky ppl like me having sweaty fingertips) the touchpad becomes sticky and very clumsy. I do not have this problem on the Dell XPS 1330.

The weight point is more or less irrelevant since it is a 15.4" model. Too big to be convenient on the fly.

If you prefer snappy performance over bells & whistles and you often need to do small tasks at the drop of a hat, I would strongly suggest you opt for the Windows XP downgrade. One example would be when you often need to change your network connection properties or you connect to several different networks per day, these things go much smoother on this notebook with WinXP Pro.

It does come across like I am knocking Dell, but I'm really not. I really like Dell mainly because of the excellent warranty support I have had with them so far, and that really means alot in a country where customer satisfaction locally seems to be of no importance. And thats the reason I avoid HP like the plague, their support is outsourced to a bunch of incompetent mokeys.

Its just that the 1525 with all the glory of Vista is for someone that works in MS Office and browses the internet and doesnt touch any form of gaming outside windows games.

 

I decide to buy Inspiron 1525, but...

it's made in China, Ireland, or Poland !

I really affraid of China version. Is there any major quality differences between these versions?

 

Would be a halfway decent laptop if it had dedicated gfx. Meh. I like my 1400. :GEEK:

 

Hi Guys,

Just registered via this forum and I want to thank you for great info.

All right, got my second Dell Laptop in July, purchased from BestBuy, great price considered that it was Core2Duo.

Very first night when I got my 1525 home the system crashed, black screen, nothing on it. I am no stranger to computers and most likely this could be fixed, but I've choose to take it back and they replaced my 1525 with same.

The replacement was great first 3 days, than it started acting weird. Monitor started flickering for no apparent reason, every third time when the system was restarted, I would get that black screen with no commands on it.

Just this evening, I did 2 updates from Microsoft, it asked me to reboot the machines, which I did, now I've got black screen with My Documents folder opened and again no commands.

Now my old C600 had never a single problem, new dell's seem to be very poorly made.

All right, the "support". (Notebook made in China, support provided from "Manjit" in India) wow Dell really knows how to make their customers happy. Just few moments ago, DELL CS "Manjit" dude from India could not understand me, prior to that I was 38 person in line and when they came to me, I've got no help, nothing fixed nothing explained why all this problems, only thing that Indian guy could recommend is to re-install the system, wow, what a support.

One thing to remember, I am NOT the only one who complaints about Dell system, at work we have 30 desktops and 11 notebooks, all Dell and there isn't a single day that we don't have a problems. Not only that we have problems with the machines, but also with poor customer support.

When you purchase Dell, it's either going to be good from very first beginning, or you'll get a bad computer from the get go and there is nothing you can do about.

As soon as my system is fixed, it goes for sale.

Oh yes, did I mention that my Dell 1525 looks good! only that nothing else.

PS Real computers, such as HP, Toshiba, comes with one CD for all repairs, such as recovery and drivers, no need to worry what driver you need to install, Dell doesn't make it easy at all when it comes to system recovery.

Thanks,
Mike

 

I purchased this laptop with the dell wireless card. I have had major problems with this laptop. Beyond 5 meters range the internet becomes intermittent. I have called several times for this situation. we changed wireless channels changed wireless settings. They went as far as getting rid off all my data and reinstalling windows vista.
after reinstalling all my drivers they went over the settings again.
After several months of going back and forth with dell technical support they said that my wireless dell 1395 (802.b/g) mini card for European- pentium dual core does not support ranges from 10 meters. however shouldnt this support 5meters? i paid over 500 pounds for this. THey said i shouldnt get a warranty because i didnt make a complain in the first 7days/. however i did call and i was sent back and forth.

The service given was bad the advisors talked over me. WHy was this product not advertised as being a 10m range? i feel like ive been walked over.

Please do not purchase this product and overall the service you get from dell is not good so i would not even bother purchasing from dell!

 

I had to sell mine because of the loud, annoying fan and crappy touch pad