Inspiron 1520 owners lounge

I've tried to search this thread but the search function doesn't seem to be working. Anyway,


Does anyone else have a problem with the computer not loading up when it is not plugged into the mains despite a full battery. When starting off the battery there is power but it does not advance past the first screen.

 

Hoping someone can help out here.Thank you

 

WOOT. Just got myself one now!

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7250 (2MB cache/2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB), English
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition, English
Ruby Red Color with Microsatin Finish
Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch display (1280 x 800)
Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 Dimm
120G 5400RPM SATA HDD
256MB NVIDIA ®GeForce™8600M GT
8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability

All for $1220. Would you consider that a good deal? >.>

Also, how do I check the expected ship date after I just purchased it?

 

just ordered
2 ghz core 2 duo
2 gb ram
8600 gt 256
OS : free Dos

i want to install win xp
i heard something about driver issues , problems about xp instalation
is it true? what do i need?

 

Disable AHCI from your HDD at your bios and Windows will install fine, after you installed XP install the SATA drivers and enable AHCI again at your bios.

You can always go to this page and this page.

Let me know how it goes!

 

No fair. I'm checking through the posts, and people have a better system + cheaper. Damn you Americans and your awesome privileges =P

edit: I changed i to Alpine White. Am I like the only one that has that shade? xD

 

I have a question

Is it possible to downgrade to xp if you ever wished to, and later reinstall vista?

I don't plan to but can you do that?

 

I see no reason why that should be a problem. It would be just like you want to install Vista on a older system, that's possible to right?

 

Edit: Removed

 

What is the "sd forum"? I did a search and got nothing

Thanks, Brad

 

Just curious, how well will some of the latest games - Crysis, Gears of War, BioShock, Unreal Tournament 3, Lost Planet, COD4 - run on my Inspiron 1520?

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7250 (2MB cache/2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB), English
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition, English
Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch display (1280 x 800)
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 Dimm
120G 5400RPM SATA HDD
256MB NVIDIA ®GeForce™8600M GT

 

Gears of war will play fine at base settings.

 

That's not bad. =)

Btw, I just ordered one yesterday. How long does it take for them to get an estimated ship date?

 

Call of Duty 4 runs well on my computer.

 

COD4 runs absolutely perfect on my computer at 1280x800 and all settings maxed out. It will occasionally drop down to around 25 fps during heavy firefights or large areas with lots of characters but it is still completely playable. I sometimes slightly overclock my card but even without the overclocking it is just great.

 

That sounds awesome =D I can't wait!

Btw, this is probably an obvious answer, but the laptop can have external keyboard/mouse via USB right? I might want to use the laptop as if it were a desktop Lol.

 

i can run bioshock maxed out settings

 

ok , mine should arrive today
have a couple questions
so the 8600 gt is ddr2 , ddr3 or gddr3 ?
and whats the difference between T7300 and T7250 ___found out this one , its the L2

btw , i'm waiting for a 1520,T7300,2x1024,8600gt

 

Yes, there are 4 USB ports.

The 8600GT is DDR2.

 

thank you crash
another thing ,which one is the best driver for the 8600 gt

 

Well, there is no best driver per se, they're each suited for a different purpose. For instance, the newest beta drivers may offer the best performance, but may cause instability, while the older drivers are generally really stable, but lack performance. It just depends what you're interested in. That said, I'm using the 169.09 driver (one of the newest from NVidia) and I haven't had any stability issues with it.

 

Hey, i oredered a dell a few days ago, spec in my sig.

came to £670, great price i think

just a couple quick questions...

how well will UT3 play for people with a simerler spec, in terms of gfx quality vs FPS...

Also what bloatware does the dell come with that needs uninstalling and how easy it is to just reinstall vista an start with a clean system?

Cheers

 

witch desktop cpu matches the t7300's performance?

 

I got A Dell!

 

ive almost got one

 

Finally, I got an EDD: 13/12! <3
CAN'T WAIT!

 

hai guys!

I thought I'd join up since there seems to be a decent amount of information here.

Dell Inspiron 1520 Jet Black
CPU - Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2GHz
RAM - 4096MB
GFX - nVidia 8600M GT 256MB
HDD - 120GB (5400RPM)
15.4" - 1680x1050
WiFi - Dell 1505 Wireless-N
OS - Windows Vista Home Premium

 

Is there a big difference between 1680x1050 and 1280 x 800?

I got 1280 x 800 and I have a feeling it's going to suck Lol

 

I have 1280 x 800 and i dont mind it at all. I like it better because it will give me better performance in games and such since they will have that extra poer because of the lower resolution.

I also dont mind the lower resolution because I have a desktop pc that all my high end stuff gets done on anyway.

 

Yes, the 1680x1050 screen is a much higher resolution. Things are going to look a lot smaller than on a 1280x800 screen. There are about 2x as many pixels on the 1680x1050 screen than on the 1280x800 screen.

 

1280x800 isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I actually like it more than the 1024x768 on my thinkpad.

 

Ordered mine on 11/29, expected to ship 11/14. When it arrives is really o fno concern, as mom (who bought it, and has the account) says I can't open it until Xmas. Suckage.

Anyway.

I know this has been probably answered over a thousand times, but I'll ask it anyways.

In my configuring, I opted for the 8400 nvidia card. Reason for this is to mainly keep it under th DPA budget. But, later, if I get a bit more money, can I purchase the 8600 card and upgrade? (Please don't be too harsh, I'm rather slow. The laptop I'm on now, Latitude 110L, is so poor for gaming that I never worried about upgrading things...it has Integrated graphics for goodness sake! Not my choice, got it from college free)

 

doubt it, i think the gfx card is interigated into the motherboard so its not like you can change it as easy as a pc, i may be wrong though.

as for the res topic, i got the one in the middle, 1440x900. mainly to look better and it was only a £20 upgrade at the time.

 

I felt I needed the resolution as I have a tendency to have multiple windows open at once, requiring the additional real estate. Spreadsheets are much easier to handle with more resolution. My 19" LCD at work is only 1280x1024 and it kills me since I have two 22"s at home.

Plus I've noticed that running lower resolutions in games hasn't degraded the quality at all. I've been really impressed with both the viewing angles and color quality of the screen. Not so impressed with the backlight, however. Power Saver mode is near impossible to read.

 

The 8400 might be integrated, but I don't think the 8600 is:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...&cs=19&sku=UW390&mfgpid=190453&chassisid=8451

So I wonder if the 1520s with 8400 and below has a different mobo than ones with 8600?

 

Hmm... im stumped... i dont think thats the item in the photo, as it shows video outputs that the inspiron does not have. best talk to online chat, that might just be for people who are replacing the current gfx card an not upgrading... although its a very cheap price to upgrade if you can switch the 8400 with it.

 

lol I didn't see the photos at the bottom - that page comes up when I search for parts and upgrades for inspiron 1520...

Thats a desktop graphics card!

 

lol, yeah, def a desktop. my mistake.

 

The 8400 is upgradeable to the 8600. The X3100 is built into the motherboard and can not have the 8400 swapped in.

I'm trying to get the 8400 in mine. Currently waiting on ebay motherboard.

 

My gawd, it feels like it's taking forever to get here. And it's only been 3 days. The sad thing is I'm only getting it cause my parents are too lazy to pick up my desktop from uni as I go home next week. Lol >.>

Anyways, just curious, the 120GB HD 5400RPM, is it slower compared to my desktop HDD made 3 years ago?

 

So for asking too many random questions, but I was wondering when I'm using an external monitor, and plugging a USB keyboard/mouse, I can just close the laptop and not have it go to sleep mode? So it's kinda like my portable desktop

 

Was that a question or a statement?

How would you use your laptop when its closed?

 

Woops, forgot the question mark. (It's been a long night)

And I said having an external monitor connected to it while it was closed.

 

You can tell it to not go into stand by, but I am still trying to figure out how you are going to use it while closed.

 

Sweet, thanks. And I also said USB mouse/keyboard. Getting it now? Lol =P

I just want to put it securely inside a (open) drawer. And like I said before, it's late and I don't know what I'm talking about. >.>

 

ok , mine 1520 has arrived yesterday
started installing xp , all is ok except two issues
i downloaded the drivers from dell support based on the service tag number
nr1.cant install sata drivers(matrix storage manager) : "this computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing this software "
nr1.in the device manager i have one "Other Device" : Modem Device on High Definition Audio Bus

any ideas?
help is needed
thank you

 

ok, I know its possible, but I haven't given it much thought lately. Laptops that have the ability to use docking stations remain closed. Change your power profile to not standby when the lid is closed only when the laptop is connected to a power source.

That would be your solution. Then you could use an external monitor and usb keyboard/mouse (or bluetooth) to use it.

This is what I'm going to do but plan on getting a matrox dualhead to use dual monitors.

 

The very first thing you always install with a new install of windows are chipset drivers. Did you do this?

The Matrix thing is for running RAID. If you are not running RAID (you will know if you are) those are of no use.

The "Modem Device on High Definition Audio Bus" I could not figure out either. I just disabled it in the Device Manager.

 

Just a general question here. I"m waiting for my Inspiron 1520 to arrive in the mail. Here are a few specs:

Intel® Core 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)
4 GB RAM (Aftermarket Kingston RAM)
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1680x1050)
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
160GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Running on Vista Home Premium
85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR)

Anyways, I've heard things recently about how Bluetooth is a big time battery drainer. Besides changing the brightness of the screen, do I have the option to tune things down or even turn off things that will cut short the battery life?

Thanks

 

You can keep bluetooth off with WIFI off.
You can also use a program called "RightMark CPU clock utility" to UNDERclock your CPU. After underclocking my last two computers, I can't imagine NOT doing it anymore.