Inpiron 1525 - good deal??

hey guys i'm just wondering if i'll be getting my money's worth with the inspiron 1525 with these specs:


Intel Core 2 Duo T7250, 2.0GHz, 800Mhz, 2M L2 Cache
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic
160G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
3GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm
15.4 inch Wide Screen WXGA LCDTrueLife
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Intel 3945 WLAN (802.11a/g) Mini Card
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Expresscard Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Audio
High-Gloss Street


Subtotal: $920 (this is with the $400 discount coupon)


so what do you guys think? do i get a good value for my money? i know it doesn't have a dedicated graphics card but all im planning on playing on it is pro evolution 2008 anyways..so the only thing im really concerned about is whether or not i could play pro evolution with the x3100 graphics card.

 

No you can't play pro evolution on it (if you can, it means pro evolution has a stick man mode and is basically a game of pong).

Go for something with a better gfx card. x3100 is integrated. Go for ATLEAST a NVIDIA 8400 ms

 

If you like the design of the 1525 you might look at the HP dv6700t which is very similar in size/case layout. You can get the Hp with the 8400 which now has 256mb ram. There is a special edition out now which has a copper like lid and silver keyboard http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4210. They did a review on it on this site and it looked sharp. I thought they were going to drop a 8400 in the 1525 by now but its looking like that might not happen. But Andrew (site super mod) did hint they might put a BD drive in it. I have not seen a BD with X3100 combo but who knows.

 

Did you try putting together an Inspiron 1520 instead? The 1520 has the option of a 8600m GT which is better than any option for the 1525. I'm not sure if there are any any downsides to the 1520 when compare to the 1525. Someone else may be able to fill you in on those. The 1520 comes with winXP which may be good or bad depending on your interests.

You can configure a much better spec laptop for the same price. I'd definitely suggest dropping the 3 gigs of RAM. Take 1 gig and buy a RAM kit from newegg or somewhere similar. You can get 4gigs for less than Dell charges for the two gig upgrade.

for about 900 dollars you can get

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)
Genuine Windows® XP Home
Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch display (1280x800)
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
120GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) Free Fall Sensor
6-cell Primary Battery and 9-cell additional Lithium Ion Battery

that is 939 with the 400 dollar rebate....You can also consider dropping the hard drive and upgrading that aftermarket too. I'm not sure what screen res. you prefer but that has room to change as well. But here you get the decent video card, near the best processor available for inspirons, a 7200 hard drive, and two batteries. Just an option.

 

I thought the 1520 was end of lifed. But I believe the vostro 1500 is still available with the 8600 GPU. Anyway, the OP was only concerned that it play pro evolution. If the 8400 can handle that they might want the lighter thinner design of a HP or 1525.

 

thanks for the feedback everyone.

i just checked the system requirements for pro evo and it says you need a minimum of at least NVIDIA GeForce 3 or ATI Radeon 8500 video card or better. so im not sure where the x3100 is ranked.

i really liked the price of the inspiron 1525 so i really wish they would at least have an upgrade for the graphics card.

oh and i was also wondering if it's possible to upgrade the graphics card later on for the laptop..sorry im not an expert by any means lol.

 

Probably not. It would probably require a new MOBO and there probably is not enough room in the internals. Upgrading GPU's in laptops is not done usually. Its best to just buy what you need day one.

I clicked on the Laptop deals tab on this site and built a similar HP system with your needs with the 8400m GS 256mb and it came to around 1050 dollars. I don't think HP is running any coupons now but they had a nice 500 dollar one after Christmas. I have seen the 1525 up close at staples and personally like the feel and look of the HP more. The altec lansing speakers are much better as well. The point is, the cost is not that different and the 6700t and 1525 are extremely similar form/size. In this class of notebook, the HP is a nicer design that offers the dedicated GPU. If you are patient, you can wait for another coupon from HP. I would suggest the HP 6700t and get the 8400m or building a Dell vostro 1500 under the home/business line.


EDIT: I also did a search on pro evolution but could not find much on X3100 and Pro evolution 2008. Someone noted it worked well with pro evolution 6. Sounds like a pretty new game. You might want to do more searching on whether it can work with that. The X3100 is decent card.. probably the best integrated GPU to date. It might work for you needs. Maybe someone can download the demo and see how it fairs with the X3100. The nice thing about the integrated GPU is that is will increase battery life for you as well.
The con for X3100 is driver support. In theory, its quite capable but whether Intel releases good drivers it may not see its potential. At least with nvidia, good driver support is a given.

 

The 1525 is a total waste if you plan on any gaming beyond solitaire and mind sweeper. Get a laptop with at leats an 8400gs. at leaset you'l be able to play new games on lower settings. If you want a Dell, Check out the Vostro 1500, Inspiron 1420, You can probably get an XPS m1330 for that price range of 900-1000 dollars. Maybe even a 1530!

 

i just got my new 1525 for a week and have no problem at all. However, I don't play games. At least, not on laptop. my spec is similar to yours, only my ram is 1GB. That's because i use xp and it's enough for school assignments (with office and java programming) and surf the Internet. Also, i suggest u to add a bluetooth card. it's quite useful no matter u wanna connect to a mouse, headset, and even a cellphone with bluetooth connectivity.

 

You CAN get the 1530 for that price...hell i paid 699 for my laptop.