Dell Inspiron 1520 review

[tarey_g]

Hi all ,
I recently got a Dell 1520 inspiron Laptop. Here is a mini review with some benchmark results.

Configuration :

Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T5250
15.4" Widescreen WXGA Display with Tru life
1GB Dual-channel 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Genuine Windows VistaTM Home Premium
Nvidia Geforce 8600 M GT 256 MB(dedicated momory not shared)
120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive - StrikeZone Shock Absorber
Jet Black Color with Matte Finish (six colors available)
Integrated 2.0 mega pixel web cam
6-cell lithium ion battery
Dell Travel Remote Control
8X max DVD+/-RW Drive with DVD+R double layer write capability
1 IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
4 Universal Serial Bus (USB 2.0)
8-in-1 Memory Card Reader
VGA Out; S-Video
RJ-45 Ethernet LAN; RJ-11 Modem; ExpressCard 54mm, Wireless 802.11 a/b/g
stereo in, headphone/speaker out and dual digital mics
Noise Isolation Ear Buds

Shipping Duration : 15 days from Malaysia

Cost : Rs. 53,000 (inclusive of taxes)

Payment Method : DD/Cheque

Warranty : 1 year 'full replace' warranty. You can also opt for extended warranty.

Colour : Dell offers 8 colours to choose from, i chose the blue one with smooth texture.




You can choose upgrades to the base config of dell 1520. These include processor,ram,audio,display,HDD and graphics hardware. I upgraded to 8600M GT 256MB.



Benchmarks :

Windows Vista Experience Index :




Super PI : Although Super PI does not utilize multicore processors(afaik), still here are the scores from this popular benchmark for this laptop. 2M calculations




3dMark 06 : 3401 3dmarks.



Battery : I dont know abt any benchmark to test the battery, but i did run the laptop on processes with busy hdd/processor activity with screen brightness to maximum. This gave battery time of 3 hrs, this ensures me that i can run this machine for 3+ hours easily on normal operation.

how is this compared to other laptops available in this range, please let me know. Also tell me if you want to see some other benchmark results too, give me the link to download the benchmark and i will post the scores here.



I am pleased with the performance of this machine, the 2MP integrated cam is awesome and i liked the Noise Isolation Earphones provided with it. The laptop is running NFS:MW on full settings at 1280x800 resolution easily(few hiccups due to less ram). I am also playing the game 'Infernal' on max settings. Planning to install fear , the game has benchmarking tool so i will post score from it too if anyone wants.

Not a very detailed review, but one thing i want to mention is that i am pretty happy with this purchase and this was best value for money i could find in this catagory.

Some pics from a bad cam:

[aku]

nice review man... but wud hav been better if u wud have added personal touches like wat abt the kbd, touch pad, hw well does da hw score whn any other os is installed.. adn also abt heat issues.. (if any)

[Choto Cheeta]

Gr8 review keeps me thinking, Me too want one

[gxsaurav]

Gaurav, never come in front of me with this laptop, I might be tempted to kill u to steal this

& I thought HP DV6314tx is the best out there. Can you tell me how u bought this, cas AFAIK this model is not available in india.

[tarey_g]

Originally Posted by akuCRACKER

nice review man... but wud hav been better if u wud have added personal touches like wat abt the kbd, touch pad, hw well does da hw score whn any other os is installed.. adn also abt heat issues.. (if any)

Like i said mini review .

Keyboard is great and so is the touchpad , touchpad has horizontal and vertical scroll bars for direct scrolling. It came installed with Vista Home premium, i removed it and have currently installed XP and Vista Home premium(Dell gave the orignal installation DVD) on it.

The 3dmark 06 scores are from XP(as i use XP for gaming) . I ran the super PI benchmark in vista, both OS were giving same results in this benchmark.

About heat issue, i have not worked on other laptops for a long time like this one , so i cant really compare or comment on that matter.

[infra_red_dude]

i'd like to add something. my sis got a 1420 (the 14" cuz of this laptop). the laptop is as quiet as it can be. no heat issues (has a core2duo t7100, 1.8ghz proc, 2gb ram, rest almost same). the touchpad is comfortable to use and so is the keyboard. no issues quite satisfied wid the product

@gaurav
hey dell gives all the (re)installation media (cds/ dvds) etc, but then what is the use of the recovery partition? it seems useless! btw, i remember reading somewhere that it bundles the mcafee suite. but i cudn't find it anywhere. did you? (neways, i installed kaspersky on it... )

[tarey_g]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Gaurav, never come in front of me with this laptop, I might be tempted to kill u to steal this

& I thought HP DV6314tx is the best out there. Can you tell me how u bought this, cas AFAIK this model is not available in india.

I called dell on the number provided on the site , talked to the representative , she explained me abt all the upgrades available. I placed my order via the phone and sent a DD worth 53k to their bangaluru address. If you opt cheque as payment option then a dell representative will come and get the chq from your home. The laptop took 15 days to ship from malaysia, the dell guy was on my doorstep the 15th day (at 6 A.M. Wtf ) with the laptop.

If anything happens to the hardware , the warranty is full replace. They wont repair but will replace, and you dont have to send your machine anywhere, they will give you the replacement first and then only take your existing hardware.

Originally Posted by infra_red_dude

@gaurav
hey dell gives all the (re)installation media (cds/ dvds) etc, but then what is the use of the recovery partition? it seems useless! btw, i remember reading somewhere that it bundles the mcafee suite. but i cudn't find it anywhere. did you? (neways, i installed kaspersky on it... )

Ditto dude i removed that partition too and made the laptop the way i want. Just i did not install any antivir (i never do).

[gxsaurav]

Originally Posted by tarey_g

I called dell on the number provided on the site , talked to the representative , she explained me abt all the upgrades available. I placed my order via the phone and sent a DD worth 53k to their bangaluru address. If you opt cheque as payment option then a dell representative will come and get the chq from your home. The laptop took 15 days to ship from malaysia, the dell guy was on my doorstep the 15th day (at 6 A.M. Wtf ) with the laptop.

Although at 6 am, i m in the nearby stadium...jumping on the trampoline but still....mind PMing me each & every step u took, including the Phone number. This laptop is a sweet deal indeed for just 53K. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 8600GT with Purevideo HD

[Pathik]

Yup... its a great budget buy.. btw tarey did u get a vista dvd wit it or only the setup files in a partition..??

[tarey_g]

@pathiks,

I got the Vista DVD from dell + a cd with Hindi language interface pack for vista. Laptop came with a recovery partition which had image of the main installation (but i deleted it). To my surprise the OS they installed did not have any crapware/adware extra utilities. Still as i neded XP and vista both so i installed it again by the DVD provided by dell.

@GX, just Call Toll-free at 1800-425-4026 to get the details. But chk the dell site before calling, that will give you idea abt other configs too.

[Ankur Gupta]

Yeah Dell Inspiron 1520 is one of the best selling notebook in the world...
I am too confused whether to buy this or HP DV6516TX...HP has very good promotions like Free iPod+TV tuner and a few more...
The only downside of DV6516TX is that it has 8400 as the gfx card...

[Chirag]

Yea even I got yesterday.. Was thinking of posting review but u already posted. I got black color. My laptop was stuck in custom and took 18 working days. And guess what after 2 hrs of using I was abt to partition and got confused with Vista options and donno where I clicked and boom C: went dead. Restart and error came bootmgr missing. Curses. First day and laptop ko bigaad diya. Phir I read online and reinstalled Vista. Hey tarey u got XP na? Dual boot.. so did it affect the speed? Now I don't have recovery partition Hey tarey that wifi button at left side. Till yesterday when I used to move it, it used to detect network and disply a window ki networks found or not. But after reintsall that wifi window not coming.. Any idea what to do?? Also u installed which drivers frm the cd?

[a_medico]

Their post sale service is outstanding. They replace the part with a new one if something goes wrong within the warranty period.

Best part is you don't have to take you laptop to any centre.. They send the technician to you home

[tarey_g]

Originally Posted by Chirag

Yea even I got yesterday.. Was thinking of posting review but u already posted. I got black color. My laptop was stuck in custom and took 18 working days. And guess what after 2 hrs of using I was abt to partition and got confused with Vista options and donno where I clicked and boom C: went dead. Restart and error came bootmgr missing. Curses. First day and laptop ko bigaad diya. Phir I read online and reinstalled Vista. Hey tarey u got XP na? Dual boot.. so did it affect the speed? Now I don't have recovery partition Hey tarey that wifi button at left side. Till yesterday when I used to move it, it used to detect network and disply a window ki networks found or not. But after reintsall that wifi window not coming.. Any idea what to do?? Also u installed which drivers frm the cd?

Thats cool , post the benchmark results from your machine . Installing XP wont make your system slow, i have installed both vista & XP in separate partitions. I have no idea abt the wifi button on the side, as i dont have any networks in range so i did not go in depth in that direction.

I downloaded XP drivers from the dell site and Vista ones were given in CD. Just my blutooth is not working in XP for some reason currently.

@amedico , ya thats the reason i went for dell, never bought anything via phone/online before.

[Choto Cheeta]

@tarey (or Gaurav I suppose as GX called u by that name)

Where did u buy it from ?? Internet ? or from Local Dealer ??

[infra_red_dude]

Originally Posted by Chirag

YHey tarey that wifi button at left side. Till yesterday when I used to move it, it used to detect network and disply a window ki networks found or not. But after reintsall that wifi window not coming.. Any idea what to do?? Also u installed which drivers frm the cd?

did u change any bios options? that button option can either be set thru the bios or the dell network manager. jus check the settings there.

and drivers, u may install thru windows update.. the latest ones....

[ashu_dps]

For this problem, install Dell Quickset. That will do it along with Dell wireless manager

[Sourabh]

Congrats! It's a kick-ass laptop at a very good price in India. Could be termed as a poor-man's MacBook Pro. Considering the only thing the Inspiron 1520 lacks out is the faster processor. You won't require all that processing power for normal usage in a laptop anyways.

How is the screen and the viewing angles? Battery life of 3hrs on moderate usage is decent and on par with most other laptops with similar specs. If you tweak the power settings for CPU and 8600M GPU it can only get better. The battery life is very random. If you tweak it right and don't overload the system, it can last up to 4.5-5 hrs with casual browsing.

If possible, post a HDtune benchmark for the hdd. I configured my Inspiron 640m notebook with an 80GB 7200rpm hdd but was quite disappointed with its performance. How good is the 2MP webcam?

Dell's Complete Cover warranty is just great. I've gone in for 3-year standard warranty on my Dell laptop too

[infra_red_dude]

the battery life wid a t7100 core2duo (on the 1420) is about 3 hours as claimed. pretty good for my sis who uses it outdoors. so i believe 1520 wid a bigger screen but stock proc which is slower than the above should give about the same results. the viewing angle for this laptop is not too wide. mebbe for privacy reasons.. but sometimes this sucks really! the 2mp cam is quite good for that kind of integration!

[gxsaurav]

Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T5250 @ 1.5 GHz
15.4" Widescreen WXGA Display with Tru life
1GB Dual-channel 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Genuine Windows VistaTM Home Premium
Nvidia Geforce 8600 M GT 256 MB(dedicated momory not shared)
120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive - StrikeZone Shock Absorber
Integrated 2.0 mega pixel web cam
9-cell lithium ion battery
Dell Travel Remote Control
8X max DVD+/-RW Drive with DVD+R double layer write capability
1 IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
4 Universal Serial Bus (USB 2.0)
8-in-1 Memory Card Reader
VGA Out; S-Video
RJ-45 Ethernet LAN; RJ-11 Modem; ExpressCard 54mm, Wireless 802.11 a/b/g

Specs look very good. Any idea how much the cost will increse if I change the CPU to something like 1.73 GHz C2D & RAM to 2 GB? If the cost remains under 1 lakh then this is an even better deal then MacBook Pro. Same hardware at much lower price.

P.S.- And someone said Macbook pro is not over priced

[Pathik]

@infra for how much did ur sis get it?? does it also include a 8600m gt??
cos afaik the 1420 only has two options... either the x3100 onboard or a 8400m gs..
@gx making it 2gb ddr2 667 and a t7100 makes the price 65803/-..
http://dellstoreroa01.sg.dell.com/pu...=41353&sr_no=4

[Ankur Gupta]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Specs look very good. Any idea how much the cost will increse if I change the CPU to something like 1.73 GHz C2D & RAM to 2 GB? If the cost remains under 1 lakh then this is an even better deal then MacBook Pro. Same hardware at much lower price.

P.S.- And someone said Macbook pro is not over priced

The price will come out around 65k...T7100 as the processor...

[Chirag]

In 1520 you would need to pay 9k extra for 2 gb ram and 23k for 4gb. Yea 23k, not a typo. 47k is the original price, so 47k + 7k(t7100 processor) + 3k(2gb ram) = 58k approx. Not bad..

BTW Dell lowered the price or what?? Coz when I chose mine, if I wanted 2 gb ram I had to pay 9k extra and 57k for 4gb. Yea not a typo. I had checked with bot Dell and HP and for 4gb cost was damn high. But now only 3k extra for 2 gb and 23k extra for 4 gb..

[gxsaurav]

Originally Posted by Chirag

In 1520 you would need to pay 9k extra for 2 gb ram and 57k for 4gb. Yea 57k, not a typo. 47k is the original price, so 47k + 7k(t7100 processor) + 9k(2gb ram) = 63k. Not bad..

Nah, all I m looking for is a laptop with 1.6 or 1.73 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 8400GT & 2 GB RAM as minimum. 1520 is more then enough.

[tarey_g]

Originally Posted by Choto Cheeta

@tarey (or Gaurav I suppose as GX called u by that name)

Where did u buy it from ?? Internet ? or from Local Dealer ??

Hi , My name is 'Gaurav Tarey' . I saw the config on internet, called the dell toll free number, they directed me towards sales representative who took care of the ordering thing. I just had to send the DD and the laptop arrived in 15 days.

[gxsaurav]

^^^^ quite easy. Now that we also have dell retail stores, this might be available here too...

Gaurav, u need a new camera. You blue laptop look black

Originally Posted by pathiks

cos afaik the 1420 only has two options... either the x3100 onboard or a 8400m gs..

If the only thing you need to do is to run OS & no gaming then X3100 is kick ass at really low power usage.

[tarey_g]

Originally Posted by Sourabh

Congrats! It's a kick-ass laptop at a very good price in India. Could be termed as a poor-man's MacBook Pro. Considering the only thing the Inspiron 1520 lacks out is the faster processor. You won't require all that processing power for normal usage in a laptop anyways.

How is the screen and the viewing angles? Battery life of 3hrs on moderate usage is decent and on par with most other laptops with similar specs. If you tweak the power settings for CPU and 8600M GPU it can only get better. The battery life is very random. If you tweak it right and don't overload the system, it can last up to 4.5-5 hrs with casual browsing.

If possible, post a HDtune benchmark for the hdd. I configured my Inspiron 640m notebook with an 80GB 7200rpm hdd but was quite disappointed with its performance. How good is the 2MP webcam?

Dell's Complete Cover warranty is just great. I've gone in for 3-year standard warranty on my Dell laptop too

Yeah you are right , i was able to run the laptop on battery for 4:20 hrs on normal operation. The webcam is good and the software bundled for it has some cool features. I am dissapointed with the viewing angles of evey LCD screen after i saw the TN panel of my friends 24" dell displays (simply awesome), no laptop comes with TN panels (and they are damn costly ) .

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Specs look very good. Any idea how much the cost will increse if I change the CPU to something like 1.73 GHz C2D & RAM to 2 GB? If the cost remains under 1 lakh then this is an even better deal then MacBook Pro. Same hardware at much lower price.

P.S.- And someone said Macbook pro is not over priced

Procesor upgrade to T7100 will cost you Rs 7261/- extra.

Chirag is right , the memory was previously insanely priced from dell , 57K for 4 GIG . I asked them if it was a typo and they said no (wtf). Anyways its cheaper now , but still i wont recommend buying extra ram from dell, still costly.

Even after making all the specs as the mac book pro the machine will still cost much much lower compared to it.

Edit : WTF!! upgrade to 2GB just is Rs 3112/- now , i am crying (baahhhhhh) , last time i chkd it was 9k . GX you will need 10K extra for that config 53+10= 63k

[Pathik]

@gx making it 2gb ddr2 667 and a t7100 makes the price 65803/-..

[Choto Cheeta]

Originally Posted by Gaurav

Hi , My name is 'Gaurav Tarey' . I saw the config on internet, called the dell toll free number, they directed me towards sales representative who took care of the ordering thing. I just had to send the DD and the laptop arrived in 15 days.

I saw that there is a atleast 5k and (a lot more in higher models) price difference in any Dell / Lenovo / HP from their Web Site listing and from a local Retailing shop...

Problem is they are base models... so in the shop they cant tell u for sure, what kind of upgrade are available for the model...

Did u pay the exact price which was shown in the Web Page ?? or rather in ur case too prices were low comapre to the web page price??

[Pathik]

@ tarey and chirag and whoever took the 1520..
wich warranty or service option did u take??