Dell Inspiron e1505 Review (pics, specs) Discussion

The Inspiron e1505 is Dells 15.4" widescreen notebook featuring the impressive new Intel Core Duo CPU. A virtually identical Inspiron 6400 is available through their business site. Outside it looks just like the Inspiron 6000 it replaces, but the new hardware inside makes for impressive performance. In traditional Dell style, the E1505 is well rounded, quite customizable and available at a competitive price, but doesn't offer anything radical.

Read the full content of this Article: Dell Inspiron e1505 Review (pics, specs)

 

Great review! Very well done!

 

Excellent review! Nice pictures! Was there a discrete graphics card option while configuring?

 

Very good review, thank you.

I am very dissapointed with the screen according to the review, and since I owned 9300 before I know what it means in practice to have sparkles etc.
I can only imagine how bad XGA is.

I was about to buy E1505, but now...not sure..

 

Andrew, nice review ! Thank you.

Have you seen the WXGA and WSXGA+ matte finish lcd panels (such as on the 6000)? I was hoping you could give us a subjective comparison to the panel in your review.

I'm one of those folks who can't seem to get used to the "sparkles" and I was wondering if the non-glossy WXGA+ on the 6000 might not suffer from the same malady.

Also, how glossy was the screen? such as compared to an HP or Toshiba - which are very reflective to me.

 

No, they still don't have a dedicated GPU for this unit.

 

Unfortunately, I haven't seen the matte 15.4" screen for comparison. A friend has a B130 but I haven't looked at it yet. I'll try to soon, and come back with a comparison.

The screen is "very" reflective, just like all the others I've seen. It is not a terrible screen, just has more than one minor problem that add up to make it stand out slightly. It's probably why Dell can have such low prices, although I would like to see beter options. I suppose it would hurt them to have a $100 option for better build quality, and a $50 option for "screen that doesn't sparkle".

My personal Dell 9300 is non-glossy. You might say it has 25% of the "sparkles" the glossy screen has. But so does my HP 23" flat panel at work, and also the cheap samsung 17" panel. I only notice when I try.

 

Come to think of it, I'm not sure they will offer a dedicated GPU. There's only one air vent and fan. It would require some internal reworking to accomidate a separate heat-generating GPU. Perhaps an updated XPS line will be the only option for Dell Core Duo with hot graphics.

 

Nice review, not to mention the nice photos. I've only had bad experiences with Dells, but their price points are shockingly low. They can offer a Core-Duo laptop for almost half of what Apple charges. If one doesn't care about looks, build quality, or customer service Dell is the way to go.

 

Sadly, this category seems to include most people. Personally, I'm most concerned about build quality. I'm forceful and resourceful enough to get good/fast customer service, and looks aren't so important to me.

 

Too bad Dell screens still have "sparkles."

I would have own a Dell if they didn't...

 

Wow, wonder if other components or the GMA 950 itself is enough to outscore the 200M. 569 v 504.

 

Very nice pictures and review...awesome read!

 

I was pretty much sold on the E1505 untill I read the comments about the screen... I've also been looking at an HP dv5030us for $999.00 and I think I may just go with that now.

 

To be honest I'm not sure what you all mean about the bad screen, as I've never seen it, but it seems to bug a lot of people in here, has anyone ever confronted Dell about it ?

 

IMO, the WSXGA+ matte screen on the e1505's forerunner is fairly good for a matte. The sparkle can get annoying. But its not that big of a deal to me. I've asked friends around me before and they often don't notice the sparkles. I only notice them when I'm looking for them. I notice the light leakage on the bottom of the screen more. It needs a particular color, like a cool blue (as pictured in review) or purple to be so noticable you want to punch the screen. On this forum. The very pale blue and gray of the posts isn't real sparkly on my panel and and neither is white. Maybe it would be worse though with the glossy. Since you have the reflection ontop of the sparkle effect. I can't say for sure. Hopefully a few more weeks and the e1505 will be at my local Dell Direct kiosk and I can check this for myself.

Nice job Fsacj, I enjoyed reading this review. The pictures were great! It seems Dell improved the port layout in the back. It's a pitty the 9cell wasn't available for the review, I would of liked to of seen just how much of an improvement they made on battery.The 6cells performance, suprisingly given the Core Duo is supposed to have improved battery life over the pentium m, doesn't seem like a big improvement to me.

Lol. Hotspots in Alaska, love reviewers with a since of humors.

Here's your five stars. * * * * *=D!

I get pretty good customer service. Probably because I'm a nightmere to deal with on the phone and if I get on the phone with someone who doesn't speak english well. My raised voice has to be very scary. =/

Usually if you google it, you'll get the customer service number that will get you into an actual dell office in America. Google will run the world someday unfortunately. I promise myself everytime I google something it will be the last time. Why can't Yahoo catch up and decent give me an alternative? -.-;

<3 Niki

 

I’ve actually been able to get some higher run times since I wrote the review. I got an hour with 75% remaining at full brightness and wifi on (but not connected). The 9 cell battery has exactly 50% more cells, and almost exactly 50% more capacity, so I would expect pretty darn close to 50% more run time. Thanks for the nice comments and insight on the screens.

Andrew

 

Thanks Andrew,

Nice review.

I got my E1505 yesterday, so far I'm very pleased. I configured my Core Duo as a base unit, only adding the gloss screen. If there are sparkles? I haven't seen them. I'm still a bit at a loss to understand the phenomenon.

I suspect that when you review lappies you have a much better basis for comparison. My reference is my old Inspiron 1100, which I was very pleased with . . . until now.

One minor nit pick on the review, no bottom photo. Like that view to see the vents and doors.

Hermit

 

Hermit,

Could you try the following: get Dead Pixel Buddy program http://www.laptopshowcase.co.uk/downloads.php?id=1

and look at the screen at different colors, see if you notice sparkles. For my eyes the green color was simply impossible to look at..

 

Great review! Your pictures actually make the e1505 look good... and that's no small accomplishment, in my opinion.

 

That's real good to here. I'd been looking forward to an e1505 as a chance to really see how the Core Duos deliver on battery life compared to my 6000's battery life. One of the few things I'll give my 6000 credit for. Dell does seem to be a little conservative with the battery quotes. Probably because Cnet over quoted the previous 6000 so badly and there were complaints. It's great to see the Core Duo lives up to more of its hype than just power, for those of us who want decent battery life to.

I'm pretty sure Dell uses a couple different panels and its random change which WSXGA+ Glossy you get in your e1505. Just as it is with every other Dell model. It may be that's why the sparkles aren't as bad. I don't find green to be particularly Sparkly. Even pixel buddy's lime color. I've never checked to see which panel I have because I probably would find out I have the infamous Samsung panel (Thats the really bad one right?) and would notice it more.

 

Has anyone noticed in the 6400 manual (possibly E1505) there is mention of an X1300 (64mb) and X1400 (128mb) in the GPU section? Not much about the 950 to be honest

 

Well I'll be. You're right. The manual I have is for both computers, and it also mentions the X1300 and X1400. To bad neither is a spectacular card.

 

A few questions on this model for those of you who have one:

1 - Is the WSXGA display the glossy TrueLife or is that just an option for the WXGA? For those with the TrueLife display (any resolution), how is it? Any light leakage, sparkles, etc?

2 - I know the I6000 had an annoying 'loose lid' where the bumpers wouldn't properly meet the notebook base when closed - so when you push down, it would sort of 'jiggle'. Is this still the case or has Dell fixed that?

3 - The I6000 was made out of a pliable and a bit flimsy plastic (on the bottom) where the I9x00 and 710m has a very rigid sort of magnesium blend material (on the bottom). Does the e1505 still use the plastic chassis for the bottom? You can tell by gently squeezing the bottom of the optical drive and the white 'bumper' at the same time (thumb on underside of the optical drive and your pointer right above it on white bumper). If it 'gives' it's still the plastic.

Thanks!

 

Hi and thank you all for helping people learning more about notebooks.

In fact, I had a very simple - yet important - question: If you had to choose between the I6000 and the E1505 (both with basic options), which one would you choose?

I noticed that most opionons about the I6000 are positive, and the E1505 looks better, faster and lighter... only in principle, since only a few tried it. So should I opt for the old one that has been proven to be good, or try the new one?

Thanks in advance.

 

Like everyone else here, I agree that this was a very good review, and the reason I found the review in the first place was I was wanting an excuse to make the purchase. I only get into the very technical specs on the occasions when it is time to buy a PC (which I do to get a good value and hopefully achieve some degree of longevity). And in that vein I am hoping to get a bit more advice.

It seems to me that Vista, dual core and 64 bit are all quite big deals, and not the sort of incremental enhancement one should ignore. I am not a gamer or someone with the need for strong specs, with one exception, and that would be editing videos of our twins (with Pinnacle). So the lack of the better, dedicated gpu in this model is a concern, and I don’t want to spend the $ or get the extra size of the 1705 model. I was already waiting for Dell to offer a better graphics solution, and then you had to add that the post that this might not be in the offing. I would assume then that the lack of a dedicated gpu as an option at the time of purchase would also preclude me from upgrading later?

The longer one waits the more one will get for their $, but I have already postponed this purchase for quite some time. Dual core is to be followed by quad core and the other components will continue to improve as well. I can get pretty good deals on the Dells with little effort, as our company has an Employee Purchase Program with them. That said, I am tired of waiting and would buy another brand, possibly with an AMD chip if it already offered dual core and 64 bit chips in a laptop that didn’t weigh too much. I really would rather not wait until Fall to get something that could comfortably handle Vista, and hopefully not have huge buyer’s remorse in 6 months time that I should have waited. I have even considered buying a cheap desktop as a reasonable strategy of tying me over. As someone much more versed in such things, what would you suggest? Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

Sowelu: The lid is a bit loose, and the bottom is a bit more flimsy than my 9300.

e1505_yes_no and stage4. By all means buy the new one. It's bassically the same thing with a CPU that is twice as fast with some programs.


stage4: Video cards usually do little to help with video rendering. It's only 3D games that will benefit. You can wait forever because computers will always be getting better. Buy when you need a new computer.

 

Stage4, I agree completely with the last post. Don't worry about the integrated video when it comes to video editing. I ordered my e1505 last Sunday and the main reason for this purchase was to be able to capture and edit video when I'm away from home. The integrated graphics is fine for that. To me, the most important component was the hard drive. I know some people might disagree with me, but I would STRONGLY recommend the 7200 rpm hard drive (preferably the 100 GB due to the size of video files). The faster drive isn't really necessary for the video editing (although it will speed up rendering time), but during the capture of the video from the camcorder to the notebook, if the hard drive cannot keep up with the video (you cannot slow the video down during capture), it will result in dropped frames from the video.

On another not, (like I said above) I ordered mine last Sunday with a project shipping date of March 28 and I checked today on the status and it has already entered shipping (9 days earlier than projected). Hopefully, I'll be playing with it by the end of the week.

BTW, here is what I ordered: 2 GHz Core Duo, 15.4 UltraSharp Wide Screen SXGA+ with TrueLife, 2GB dual channel DDR2 RAM, 9-cell battery, 100GB 7200 rpm hard drive.

 

Thanks for a great review. I was going to order the E1505 because don't want to carry a luggage (E1705) around. After reading your review and messages from this board. I will hold off my purchase till Dell have new models on Dual Core Laptop. I prefer a 15.4 wild screen but with better graphic card and a WUXGA display.

 

I have a base E1505 with Core Duo and WXGA Truelife [glossy]

Based on the posted sparkle photo, it looks like film grain or digital noise. If that is a good description, then I haven't seen any sparkle. While the display is reflective, the darker the color the more reflective, its not a bother. Compared to my Inspiron 1100 with matte 14" XGA, its a huge improvement. Much crisper, brighter, just better.

Don't close and carry mine, its a DTR. But, there are bumbers aplenty, 7 in total.

There's a difference between design quality and build quality. Obviously, for Dell to meet its cost targets, compromises are made, for example plastic vs. magnesium. As to build, that's how well its put together. If labels are considered, then mine was poorly built, misalligned and incorrect. However, in most respects, it seems well put together. The hinge is very snug and the display stays put.

Dell has "screwed" with the key layout again. The insert and delete keys went from the bottom to the top, that'll take me a while to adjust to. I use them a lot for Copy and Paste.

HTH,
Hermit

 

It’s not grain or noise, but yes, it does look similar until you back off a bit and move your head around. The photo was taken with low depth of field and slightly off perpendicular, so the bottom right focuses on the pixels, and the top left focuses nearer to the surface of the screen that has the “texture” in question. Human eyes do not have such selective focus.

I’m near-sided so my eyes have a sort of super-macro vision up close. When I look close enough where I can see the individual colors of the pixels and a giant mouse pointer, the screen looks quite similar to the photo. But who looks that close? That’s why I mentioned it’s exaggerated in the photo. Plus, most people won’t see it. I’m personally not bothered by it, but it’s definitely worth mentioning in a review.

 

As I said before. The Sparkle effect of my 6000's panel only gets annoying if I'm looking for it. Otherwise I never notice it and my friends who see my screen regularly have never said anything about my screen 'sparkling'. The only comments I get on it are people wishing they had a widescreen and yes, sometimes even the occational 'That's a beautiful screen.' from average schmoos who don't know its not really. Also depends on the background color. Really I can see be bit of sparkle on the Dell CRT moniters for the work stations at my school and on the new flat panel the 'rents got for my desktop they moved downstairs and made there's when the old family desktop went 'boom'. Maybe it's more common on all types of moniters than ya think if you only look for it. I think the Trulife screen is offered on WSXGA+ and WXGA. Again, the sparkle affect might be worse with a glossy where you have the reflection ontop of the sparkles. I can't be sure. My thoughts come from my experience with the 6000's WSXGA+ Matte LCD panel (Not sure which panel I have. Never felt compelled to look.)

I think it is important to note that the E1505, as the replacement for the 6000 will fill the same nitch in the market. They are not high end, high quality performance machines. They are budget or budget alternative laptops. If your looking for high performance and high quality, please look else where. If you want a budget machine with a good bit of power and can live with a few build quality qwirks then the E1505 will be for you. The 6000 used to be compared to the HP Dv4000 and I don't even think that makes for a good comparison, the 6000 had weak graphics and a weaker price tag (before coupons) then a comparably configured HP, so it's downmarket from even that and the same is probably maybe true for the E1505 vs the Dv5000t. They do seem more evenly matched to me though. The 6000 is supposed to be either a budget machine or a low budget alternative to higher priced machines.

The plastic on the bottom is a little flemsy compared to other notebooks, although I don't think it will randomly split open, its not that weak. If anything it appears to be the easier part of the notebook to scratch.

The lid does not meet the base of the laptop unlike other laptops when it is closed. They're is a noticable gap and the latches don't go into they're slots all the way. When I'm walking with the notebook under my arm (Say carrying it from the kitchen table to the couch) I can here the lid clicking against the base as I walk with it. It does feel very cheap and a little unsettling. I do worry if the latches will break.

Sorry to be long winded. Hope this helps. ^^;

 

Hot diggy dog!! E1505 now has dedicated GPU available as an option:

ATI X1300 128MB Hypermemory or ATI X1400 256MB Hypermemory!

 

Darn it! I just ordered mine the other day, and now it has a video card upgrade! ARGGH!


Its all good though. I won't be doing any crazy gaming. I got the 2 Ghz Core Duo with 1 GB of ram and 100 GB HD. I also went with the TV Tuner. I think that I will be pleased. (not too hard considering that my current computer (a desktop) took over 12 mins on the 2M "Super Pi" test.)

 

Projekt, sounds like I ordered almost the exact configuration as you and mine is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. From everything I had read, I knew that there would be a version with a graphics card coming out in the near future, but decided not to wait. And, like you, I still made the right decision (in my case). I am not a gamer and the integrated graphics will run cooler and use less battery than the dedicated card. That's not even mentioning the $99 or more to upgrade to the card (depending on which one).

Of course, for gamers, this is great news and IMHO will make this a very popular notebook.

 

^ Great! Not sure why, but I hadn't even thought of the power saving plus of staying with the itegrated system. When did you order it. I ordered it 2 days ago, and it says that it is supposed to ship March 28th, but I checked earlier today and it says that it is in the "Boxing" phase... So who knows?

 

does the 256 mb video card make that big of difference compared to the 128mb card?? I would rather use the 80 bucks on something else... isn't processor speed more important?

 

Projekt, I ordered my on March 12th and it had a project shipping date of March 28th, but shipped on March 19th--9 days early. It shipped the day after it was listed in the "boxing" stage and then (based on the current UPS tracking and the projected delivery for tomorrow) it seems to take about 3 days for regular ground delivery. Because of the weekend, I'd guess with yours in boxing today, you won't get delivery until Monday. If you "checked" the box on the order status page to be notified by email of shipment you will get an email within a day after it ships. Of course, if you check the order status page everyday like I do, you will know it ships before you get the email.

 

Hi,
I have a numb question: do you think I need to buy the spare 9 cell battery? Got the mint to buy, but heard that even for Lithum lon battery, it wears out even if you don't use it.
Thanks

 

Yup, lithium batts do wear out even when you're not using it, don't know how much or how significant but keeping them in a cool dark dry place helps to prolong it a little. With 9 cell batt you can get about 5-6 hrs on medium settings and no gaming/dvd watching. I'll probably get mine this weekend once I test out the display model in SF's Westfield mall

 

Thanks Jujube. Put the order yesterday. did not buy the spare battery. Will buy one later if I do need one in the future. The expected shipping date is march 29. Thanks again.

 

Hello.

So at Dell.com, the Dual-Core processor became a Solo. And if you prefer "duets" (Céline Dion & Mariah Carey, Laurel & Hardy, Bush & Cheney, Page & Brin...) then you have to upgrade the basic system... And yes, yesterday, the Dual-Core processor was included in the basic price!

Anyway, I just had two practical questions:
- Is it still a good deal: E1505 + Intel® CoreTM Solo Processor T1300 at $782
- What should I choose: Combo Drive - 24x/10x/24x CD Burner and 8x DVD-ROM, or 8x DVD/CD Burner (DVD+/-RW)?

Thanks you.

 

Looking at the pics above (you can't really tell on Dell's sites) the e1505/6400 has the classic Dell/HP/IBM layout. I've used both this and the "row down the side of keyboard" layouts and much prefer this "classic" layout. Hopefully the keyboard quality is as good as my i9400 which is nearly as good as my old i7000.

As for your copy and paste thing do you still run Windows 3.0? Give the modern versions a go - CTRL-C and CTRL-V (and X for cut). Even I managed to get used to them

Regards,
Tony.

 

Stop trying to scare us!

(for those of a nervous disposition, look away now) OK, I'll raise you Chico & Westlife (Music?) combined with Blair & Prescott (Polly-ticks).

Regards with a warped British sense of humour,
Tony.

 

Been using Cntl/Shift Insert for 20 years. Works of every Windows OS. All the desktop keyboards have Insert and Delete at the bottom, as does my Inspiron 1100.

Hard to retrain a Hermit.

 

NO, its not a good deal. You should be able to get a base Core Duo with DVD-RW for $699. Wait a few days, it'll be back.

Hermit

 

Let me show you my cave

Desktop keyboard with Insert/Delete at the bottom? Do you mean in the 6-key cluster in a line with the backspace key? That's where I think Dell's layout scores in preserving this cluster.

Best wishes,
Tony.

::

 

Based on this excellent article www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2830 , I had persuaded myself to hold off and wait to buy a machine that would be certain to handle Vista, and handle it well, …. even though I needed a new machine now. But then Microsoft delayed Vista YET again and also Dell offered at least a mediocre gpu with the 1505. So even though I am not a gamer, I had read enough that I thought having a dedicated GPU should make a difference running Vista (for the 3D features). Hope I am not wrong on this gamble as it cost me $180, but to my way of thinking this upgrade would give me a good chance of getting more out of the 32 bit version of Vista.

Those things and the $750 off coupon persuaded me to buy the 1505 on 3/22/06, but b/c of the ATI x1400, my ship date isn’t until 4/14/06. OUCH! Things are really hopping in this category and who knows what could change between now and then. If the new AMD 64 bit, dual core chip turns out to be decent in early May, surely the pricing on the Intel chips lacking 64 bit will have go come down in response. And the pricing may come down earlier than that on the rumors. Based on today’s news, I am content to sit tight, but does anybody know what event triggers my inability to cancel the current order?

 

BTW, the $750 off easily beat the pants off the best I could do using the Employee Purchase Program.

 

Hi ,

I got my e1505 today.

I went for 1 gb ram and a 60gb hard disk option.

On my first day it showed me memory dump and windows crashed ..
Is something wrong with memory...?


Also with 60 gb hard disk I see only 49 gb for total space on my harddisk

I m realy worried thinking of returning the box back..

-M