First look at the 1520 in kiosk. 9 cell does stick out by 1"

Well I went in today and had a look at the new 1520. They confirmed that the Australian model is DDR2. I should point out though that the staff barely had a clue as to which model was which and after getting "Dunno it only came in yesterday" several times I decided to take a look myself. My first impression is its big. Compared to my 15.4" Sony FE its significantly thicker. The casing is mostly plastic but feels quite strong. The keyboard resembles a desktop far more than a laptop. the touch pad wasnt very responsive. The lid looked really nice and had a nice feel (Ruby Red). The 9 cell battery they had in it is very large, it sticks out by over 2cm and slightly under 1". It also feels quite heavy. The screen wasnt as bright as I was used to but it was in a very heavily lit artificial area so the screen might have been struggling to compete.

The biggest drawback for dell is definitely their staff, I sent a email off four days ago with questions about the 1520, Rung 3 days ago and again 2 days ago and have yet to hear back from anyone. The staff at the kiosk were idiots who literally had issues turning the machine on (No joke, I closed the lid to look at the battery and it went to sleep and he couldn't understand why the screen didnt come back on)

 

So a few questions:

1. The casing is mostly plastic? Whatever happened to the magnesium? And how does it compare to the previous Inspirons?

2. Touch pad not being very responsive - I've never used one, so I don't have much experience. But couldn't you adjust the sensitivity, just like on a mouse? Either way, couldn't be much worse than the trackball on my laptop.

3. Battery - That's more than YoJr was saying it would stick out. Do you feel it's a problem? Again I've never had experience with this, but would prefer the 9-cell for life (especially with dedicated graphics).

4. Brightness - Do you know if it was glossy or matte? If anyone knows the brightness rating and the ratings of the competition, that'd be great.

I'll probably head over again myself then. I was thinking of just ordering the new ones without checking again, but now I'm not so sure...

And yeah, I wasn't too impressed with the staff and my local U.S. store either. Dell's staff should really know which computer is an XPS 210 and which one is an XPS 410...

Thanks for posting the info!

 

sh1t already got the 9 cell ordered, i dont want the battery sticking out

 

^Exactly my dilemma. But then again, how often will you really notice? I'm thinking 99% of the time you're actually using the laptop the screen will be angled back farther than the battery will stick out, and when you carry it you'll have it in a bag.

Admittedly, some of that is rationalization.

 

The 9 cell sticks out? The Dell rep assured me it wouldn't stick out.

@Apollo13 It's not so much a problem of noticing it, but your laptop might not fit in your carrying bag anymore. My current laptop carrying bag has a thight fit, so it might be a problem.

 

Yeah I got the 9-cell too... hmmmm...

You seemed to note only negative things about this laptop, any positive things? I just bought this laptop today, I don't want to feel like I made the wrong decision

 

@Inspired911: OK, glad it's not a big visual problem, hadn't thought of physical. But you can always take out the battery when carrying it (provided you have at least one other compartment, of course). Still would be more convenient if you didn't have to though...why can't everything have perfect design?

@larson: I agree, matt_h1 does seem to note only negatives. That's why I had so many questions. If I get to the store (won't be tomorrow; probably Sunday), I'll post my impressions as well.

 

I noted everything I saw. The machine may be ally underneath (I had three reps over my shoulder giving me odd looks) but the palmrest felt very plasticy. The battery stuck out quite alot and I think it might be a issue as if your resting it on your knees the laptop will be angeling the battery down which could bend of break the connection. No offence to dell, But when Ive called ive gone straight through to Indian call centres and as a rule Indian call centres will tell you whatever you want to hear to make the sale. Im a bit annoyed because I configured it last night for 1940, its now up to 2020 which is aggravating. To be honest theres nothing special about this machine. Its big, Its heavy, It has 10/100/1000 and no DVI/HDMI. The battery life is average. The support is poor : /.

 

Well just note that the poster is in AUS and not the US, so anyone going to a US kiosk do not expect them...US kiosk's aren't expecting them for about 2 more week. As for the 9 cell, they do not stick out of the E1505's but they do stick out of the E1520's.

 

How do you cancel your order? Im having second thoughts about the 1520 as i was originally going to get the 1420.

 

Please post your impressions . I've very eager to hear what other people might have to say.

 

Well if you are going to cancel your order for the E1520, keep in mind the 9 cell battery sticks up just as far, if not more, on the E1420...

 

Yeah, but i originally wanted a smaller computer as I dont need alot of graphics power and now the 9 cell and he said it looks really big, making me go crazy.

How would i go about canceling, i cant find a button on the order page.

 

I hate that... Why can't everyone be like the Apple store where they let you look at the stuff and don't harass you all the time?

Anyway, I'm not surprised if there's magnesium alloy covered in plastic... most laptops with magnesium alloy chassis have some or all of it covered in plastic.

 

Last week when I talked to my local rep he expected them in this week, so it might depend on location...then again this was the same rep who called the XPS 410 an XPS 210. But at least the reps at my kiosk let me look at the machine without being suspicious or harassing. They even let me pick it up without watching - not cart it off of course but lift it up, test the weight and temperature. Even with the XPS 1710. Sounds like the kiosks do differ a little bit, contrary to what the 22 Confessions guy said.

That the 9-cells don't stick out on the e1505 but do on the e1520 still has me a little confused - probably due to the graphics card but diagrams would make it a lot clearer.

I'll be sure to post on my impressions whenever I get there - likely Sunday. Definetely can't check now in the middle of the night .

 

Hey guys, I was able to compile some images of the E1520 from doing some google searches, here:

With this picture, you are able to see the battery just a tad. It doesn't look like it is sticking out too much, but this could easily be the 6 cell, and it probably is.


Side Shot (able to see some of the inserts):



Side/Back Shot (if you save the picture, then zoom in, you can look at the keyboard and the touchpad. It's a high quality picture so zooming in does not affect the quality):

 

I didn't post it at my other thread, but I saw 9 Cell battery sticking out, as well. It wasn't very noticable from front, but can be problem when packing. I can also confirm Dell staffs are their biggest drawback.

 

I dont mind the battery sticking out. For me the extra battery time will make up for it. On my acer(the one that the 1520 that i ordered is replacing) the battery sticks out the back and I didnt notice till I read this thread about the 1520's lol.

So I wouldnt worry too much.

 

I should point out that dell does have some good staff Yojr on the NBR forums told me more in three pm's than my repeated attempts at contacting Dell here.

 

personaly i like the color and unless it isnt overly hunking im note too upset about the frame.

Im sold on the screen (1660 by 1050) and the gfx card (Geforce 8600m GT) I would have ordered a Sager 2090 but it could come too late (thiers at least a slight chance that the dell will come before the 21st)

If i go to some store ill try to see if they have it on display though i think that dell tries to sell people thier laptops through thier site.

 

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/6906/dellfo0.png

Take a look at this, i made a lil comparison type thingy between 6 cell and 9 cell - 9 cell sticks out a bit.

 

lol that's nothing to get worried about.

 

Yes, that doesn't look even close to an inch--the extended battery on the M1210 sticks out about an inch and it's MUCH more noticeable.

 

Bunch of Yahoo about nothing! LOL!

Wouldn't you all be happy if "you" stuck out an extra inch? LOL!

Thanks for ths pics Dervi!

 

Just a comment on the kiosk near me, I have never had a problem with the reps breathing down my neck. I picked up pretty much all of their laptops to get a feel for them, and was actively flexing the screens and trying to tweek the bodies of the laptops, and they didn't say a thing.

 

I feel like if I were to flex the screens at the kiosk near me, that they would be "blanking" a brick if I did that.

 

does the 9-cell stick out of the 1720?

 

So what's the general consensus? It is a larger but sturdier notebook?

 

1720?, it can play full 1080i HD

 

No the 1520. I meant larger than notebooks in its class.

 

yep also sticks out too according to at least 5 dell 'workers'.

 

think thats 1080p bro...

if you get the 1920*1200 that is

 

What's with the fussing guys/girls, give me a break. Just buy both the 6 cell and 9 cell. sign.....

 

i think in the grander scheme of things, and by that I mean the overall size of the laptop, it's gigantic, a very small stick out of a nine cell battery isn't going to kill anybody.

 

hey matt h1, where abouts is australia did you see this on display? and also are there any places or going to be any places in melbourne (victoria) that you can see these new notebooks?
thanks

 

Dell has Kiosks at all westfeilds I think, you can find a list here. http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/top...main/en/dell_direct?c=au&cs=audhs1&l=en&s=dhs

 

damn only in NSW and QLD, how annoying. well what's your decision as of now?

 

Decided to go with the 1520, the V1s is to far away. If Asus Released it here at the same time as the USA and at the same price I would buy it, But past experience shows they release it a month or so after the USA, and at twice the price. The MBP is nice but I dislike the whole OSX thing and touchpad. The Dell warranty is really what sold me.

 

OK, finally got to the kiosk. They only had a 1520 chassis at the one I was at. I was more concerned with placing an order than evaluating the 1520, but a few things I noticed:

*The keyboard is very good. Compared to the ThinkPad 760XL I'm used to for a laptop, it's extremely solid, with no flex.
*The Jet Black matte finish is a bit of a fingerprint magnet. It was on the chassis model, so it was the one being touched by the general public all the time - and you could tell it hadn't arrived the day before.
*The other colors don't look bad, but neither are they riveting. The kiosk had all the other colored lids on display, and I almost didn't notice them.
*The web cam is pretty unobtrusive, right in the middle like in the pictures.
*It doesn't look any bigger than the e1505 to me.

Hmm...other than that I didn't spend enough time looking at it to see major differences between it and the e1505 the rep was placing my order on (figured it was a little more important that the order came out right). As this model didn't have the interior components, I can't comment on the battery sticking, how much it weighed, or how much heat it produced.

Might as well also note that the glossy screen on the e1505 did reflect lights from the mall, but seemed perfectly bright enough. I'd say the brightness factor in the mall was about what you'd get in a room with the sun coming in the windows in the afternoon (not directly onto the screen of course), and it wasn't blatantly artificial light.

 

How come Australia gets them before the US? I don't get it.

 

Yeah, we should get everything first, always. Waaaaaaaaaahhhh!

 

My post was intentionally whiney, but let's not start doing that. I'm just saying - for a Texas-based company, you'd think kiosks in the US, where they're going to sell many more units than in Australia, would get the floor models first.

Just seemed off, plus I'm wanting to get my hands on one to check it out...

 

The Dell kiosk in a mall probably 15 miles from the Dell headquarters in Round Rock still doesn't have the new Inspirons. What's up with that?

 

There's my point exactly.

 

I think they don't actually make Dells at the headquarters, but they ship them from China. So since Australia is closer to China... they would go to Australia first? I could be completely wrong about this, and I probably am. Just taking a stab at it.

 

Well that would do it if that's the case, but I thought they were manufactured in the US, too.

Meh, whatever.

 

Nothing is manufactured in the US anymore

 

BAH!

I knew its DDR2... DAMN!

Is there a big difference?!