E1405 came in, my quick review

Build quality seems pretty good, keyboard is quite clicky, and the dvd drive is loud, other than that its really quite. There is some play on the screen when closed, ive read posts where other owners mention this. The speakers are mediocre at best, but are definetly usable. I have the Truelife screen and have to say that the glare bothers me more than the light leakage. Under the right conditions (evening, living room, lights dimmed), the screen looks reallly good. During the day however, everthing seems to reflect of the screen. On the upside, the display does get very bright.

Battery life is top notch, I opted for the 9cell and am very pleased. With the screen set to optimal brightness, I get 7 hours, and with it turned down, I get almost 9 hours.

On the performance end this computer really shines, I have the 80gb 7200 1gb 533, and a 2ghz duo. With this combo the computer flies, it compares to my Athlon 64 4000+ and in some instances is better because of the dual core.

Media Direct is pretty lame and dont really see a use for it, can someone please inform me to why this is a helpful feature? I can resume into XP in under 25 seconds, so why use this utility instead?

I initial impressions are to keep the laptop, granted I would love the have a higher resolution matte screen available, but I think this one will do. If the do offer a different screen in the future and dell starts replacing them, I will most likely jump on the bandwagon.

 

media direct give more battery life, but i guess you wont need that very much

 

what screen did you get? aou, sec or lpl?

To find out what screen you have, right click on the desktop ==> graphic properties ==> information ==> notebook tab.

thanx

 

sec4457, and the more I use it, the more I hate it. Is the sec the better one supposedly??? If so, I'm pissed, cause this thing sucks. The light leakage is finally starting to bother me bad. I can't find an angle with this screen where everything is evenly lit. either the top and middle look good, witht the bottom overlit and washed out, or you have the bottom and middle looking good, with the top dimmed and washed out. Pretty lame, has anyone been smart enough to try the 1280 matte screen instead of this junker 1440 "truelife" pffft.

 

The DVD loudness is what annoys me the most. Its louder then the fan on the laptop. Using earphones watching a DVD I can still here the DVD player spinning.

 

i had the auo screen and that sucked too, screen looks grainy, and the view angle sucked.

 

My E1405 has the SEC4457 as well. I have the exact same issues as Sampson describes. I'm really contemplating returning it because it is a big hassle everytime I use the notebook. My first impressions was to keep it and live with the display's lack of quality, but the more I use it, the more annoying it gets.

 

I got the matte screen but returned it. Obviously I didn't have the glare issure, but I had the same issues with poor viewing angle and light leakage. Furthermore, the screen was not very sharp and thus was tough to read (even though it was bright enough).

 

tarny when did u order yours?

 

I ordered mine on 5/4. It went into production on 5/7 or 5/8. I received it on 5/15 and returned it on 5/17.

 

As I posted in another thread I received mine on the 10th (ordered on the 3rd) and only had minor light leakage on the bottom 1/4 of panel...it is the AUO LCD (WXGA+ Ultrasharp). Everything else was perfect. I was very happy with what I had.

I used the machine pretty consistently since receiving it and made little changes to the config. beside installing MS Office. Then early this past Thurs am after I turn it on I think the light leakage might be worse but initially blame it on my just awake eyes and/ or viewing angle. By the time I get back to the machine approx. 1/2 hour later the screen saver is on as it should be but the LCD is what I initialy believed to be extemely bright for some reason...but when I get into the desktop what it was is almost a complete wash out across the entire LCD. I reboot, unload MS office and restore to the original config., reboot and reboot again and again. No improvement.

The initial and very minor light leakage I originally had took a turn for the worse. The LCD is obviously defective. Dell is taking it back for a full refund, no restocking fee and at their expense for the return shipping. Customer service rep indicated - after I asked - that alot of e1405's are coming back.

 

This is what I am concerned about. My wife is fairly content with it, but we are concerned that we will wake up one morning, and the screen will be hosed. Other than that, it is really a very good machine. It is disappointing that the screen is this bad.

 

I plan on holding out. If enough people complain they will change it and I'll just call Dell and have them send someone out to replace my screen once they decide on a new one to use.

 

Thanls pft, can you take a photo of the screen?

 

Unfortunately its been boxed up since Thurs. eve waiting for UPS (pickup/ return at Dells expense).

As an aside, UPS didnt show on Friday as had been arranged by Dell. When I called Dell Fri night I was transferred to a supervisor who told me that none of the Dell scheduled UPS pickups since last Monday had occurred...but that Dell execs are working on the problem.

 

We are probably sending ours back. There is a new problem that has cropped up. Areas that are light, like the frames of webrowsers and such, are showing some discoloration. For instance, near the menus, parts of it are just off color. It looks like whole blocks of pixels. You cannot really tell on darker background, but you can see it on the lighter ones.

Both my wife and I are pretty disappointed, because we were fairly happy with the rest of the book. I thought about pushing our luck in terms of the screen and hope they improve it before the warranty comes out, but I don't really think we should have to live like that. It should just work.

 

I thought I'd let you guys know that I installed Powerstrip and turned the gamma down. It has helped my issue with the light leakage washing out the bottom of the screen by quite a bit. Let me know if this helps anyone else.

 

Notebookreview just released a review of e1405, the light leakage doesn't look that bad.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2950&review=Dell+Inspiron+e1405

 

Big shocker that his pre selected "review unit" doesnt have the problems that we have. Mine is like 10 times worse than his, granted the gamma adjust has made it much better, almost to the point where I might keep the notebook. Thanks for the heads up.

 

Is anyone else having problems with "streaking" on their screens? My wife's book shows some slight discoloration along lighter elements, like menu bars of windows and such.

 

I believe the "streaking" you speak of is the infamous "sparkle effect." It is usually a problem on Dell LCD's w/ Truelife. It is usually apparent on lighter backgrounds (White, etc.) & just makes the area look grainy, not smooth.

 

DOES ANYBODY LIKE THEIR E1405? This is starting to look like a complete dud model.

 

are u kidding? it seems like this is a great laptop for most people. all of them have minor light leakage and a handful have it bad.

 

I love mine!
The only thing I don't like is that I think I will have palm sweat mark on the palm rest a month or two later, I think i am gonna get some PDA screen protector over that area.