Inspiron E1501 questions...

Okay, I'm considering getting this to replace my previous laptop, which has started having major issues that aren't covered under warrenty. However, I have a few questions:

1) Based on pictures I've seen, this thing looks like it uses the 6400 series case except without the media buttons on the front. Does anyone know if it's as durable as the 6400? Part of the reason I'm so interested in getting this thing is that one of the people I know through a university club has one and it's a solid machine compared to just about everything else I've tried recently. Considering my previous laptop had serious durability problems from everyday use, this issue is rather important to me.

2) With the 9 cell battery, the 6400 apparently can get about four hours worth of battery life, but that's with a Core 2 Duo. I know the Sempron will be slow (probably still faster then my Celeron M 1.4, though), but how will it compare to the Core 2 battery life wise? Four hours is right about what I'd like to have.

Edit: 3) The basic E1501 ships with Home, while one deal they have for the same price with a bigger hard drive ships with MCE. I can't see using MCE myself, does it have any downsides in terms of compatibility and the like? Also, how hard is it to clean the gunk from the Dell installs? What sort of media/restore disc/etc. does Dell normally provide?

 

1.) They are the exact same system for the most part. The only difference is the 1505 is sold in the Home section for the most part and the 6400 is sold in Small Business. Both have media buttons and same durability

2.) not really sure

3.) It is pretty much the same as XP Pro, except you can't login to domain networks with MCE and you have the entertainment addons. Inspirons have a ton of junk, and you rarely get the discs, but you can get them from Dell's Tech Support. The discs from dell will give you a clean system. The best option for cleaning the junk is to reformat. They include a restore partition on the laptop, so you do not receive any restore discs.

 

I think he's talking about the new AMD notebook, not the E1505. It doesn't feature the media buttons at the front (bummer) or have media direct.

As for battery life, I couldn't imagine the two systems to be far apart, the X1150 would only consume a fraction more than the GMA950. With a single core (especially the Turion Mk-36, as it has better battery management) I could see you getting 4 hours.

 

if your planning on lots of video encoding,phtoshop, and the like, avoid the sempron, if its main use will be word processing/general office apps,internet,media playback etc, the sempron will suffice just fine, if your goals are from the first set, go with the turion x2

 

LOL, yeah, i should read the title more closely :-/ Just ignore my post

 

I didn't even notice that the 1501 doesn't come with the media buttoms until you mentioned. What would be an Intel equivalent of the Sempron?

 

It would be the celeron, I wouldnt call it the equivelent, but thats what it competes with largely, though it looks like dell is moving to the pentium M for the bulk of its low end offerings, I'd still take a sempron any day

 

I like having the functionality of the media direct volume buttons, but to be honest, I much prefer the cleaner look of the 1501 without them

 

I think it looks odd with them gone, i guess since im used to having them on my e1505

 

The reason there might have been the 1501/1505 confusion is I did accidentally put 1505 in part of that first post (though not the title). It's since been corrected.

Main question I have on the casing is not whether it's the exact same case (we know it isn't due to lack of media buttons), but whether it's as solidly built as the 6400 case is. I don't abuse my gear but the amount of screen flex and generally thin screen casing on most modern laptops makes me really nervous considering the problems I had with my previous machine. My experience with the 6400 I got to try out briefly was that it doesn't have these sorts of problems, so I'd really like to know if the E1501 is similar.

 

I have to say I feel the same. Plus, it's always nice to have those media buttons, which means you don't have to use a mouse to pause or change the volume while you're watching a movie or something.

Didn't that machine just become available like a week or two ago? I assume not many people have bought it yet, but I'd be interested in a comparison between the 1505 and the 1501 too.

 

Visited the Dell kiosk closest to me yesterday, and it is the exact case (so it seems) so if you like the build quality of the e1505, you'll like the 1501.

 

I have the e1501 in hand now (got it yesterday) I can confirm the build is the same (as in same material and sturdiness) as the e1505 / Inspiron 6400 but that the media buttons are of course missing.

I got a blue screen of death 10 minutes after booting the e1501 when I was trying to install IE7. I haven't gotten that since, hopefully I won't again. It had been a while since I've seen the blue screen though, was quite tickled by that.

My 1501 basic specs are as follows (I will be reviewing it):

Inspiron 1501, AMD Mobile Sempron 3500+ (1.8GHz/512KB)
15.4 inch Wide-screen WXGA Display for Inspiron 1501
512MB, DDR2, 533MHz 1 Dimm, for Inspiron 1501
ATI RADEON Xpress1150 Xpress1150 with 256MB HyperMemory for Inspiron 1501
60GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive for Inspiron 1501
1 Year Limited Warranty
Price: $549