My Vostro 1500 Mini Review

Incredible, incredible one of the best notebooks I have purchased. I currently own a T60, Inspiron 5100, Inspiron 1501 and now a Vostro 1500. My configuration is the basic model as i'm always of the belief get the best bang for the buck and when it's time to upgrade you lose far less than trying to plan ahead.

I'm going to give it a grade of from 1 to 10, 10 being the best.

Build Quailty 9.0/10

It feels strong, thick without being too heavy. It feels like you can toss this bad boy and hurt somebody with it. Fit and finish is solid as well no loose cover or cheap looking plastics that look out of place.

One major gripe with many are the hinges which eventually cause the scrren to wobble. The upper screen is held in place by rotating shafts that fit on each side of the upper screen. It looks like these lids will take a lot of opening and closing during their lifetime.

Styling 9.5/10

Metallic Black IS BEAUTIFUL !

This laptop has the I mean business look with it's unique silver trim accents and silver Dell front and back logos. Silver audio controls on the front add a nice touch to the machine. Also the black finish along with the blue LED's fit right at home and adds to the machines look. What could have made it better? A blue back lit keyboard. The top lid does look like it attracts fingerprints but the palm rest area appears to be fingerprint resistant.

Screen 9.0/10

What is everyone taking about grainy screens. I order the 1280x800 Trulife screen and it is beautiful. It has a wide horizontal viewing angle which appears to be in the range of 170 degrees. Vertical viewing angle is not as good but I don't stand up while using my laptop so it doesn't matter. I did not notice any backlight bleeding whatsoever. It maybe there but it wasn't noticeable. MY SCREEN HAS NO GRAINY LOOK. It is bright with solid contrast.

Performance 9.0/10

I ordered my 1500 with almost no bloatware and it still has some like Java, Dell Quickset, my commit charge is 199MB at the desktop and this mother flys. I'm not a benchmark person and more of a real world apps like FPS in games etc. More to come when I throw some CPU/GPU intensive games.

The laptop runs very cool and is almost. The laptop has been on for close to an hour and the bottom is slightly warm and very little heat coming from the keyboard.

Keyboard 9.5/10

I love this keyboard in fact it feels better than my T60 keyboard. It has a semi strong tactile feel to it. It produces a light clicking feedback as well. Keys have a nice response and use a short snappy throw so no mushy soft feeling with the 1500 Vostro keyboard. I forgot to mention you get a full size keyboard which is standard with most current laptops.

One nice feature is that the keyboard is closer to you than with most current notebooks. You don't feel like you have to extend your arms forward to type. The touchpad is at the edge of the notebook and it in turn brings the keyboard with it.

Dell Wireless 8.0/10

It produces a strong signal within close distances where my wireless router is no drop outs and the accessing the net is fast. The bottom line is you could do better for longer range if needed but it gets the job done.

Accessories 7.0/10

Ok Dell sends you the OS disk but doesn't send the drivers disk....arrrgh

Well that's it for now if you have any questions i'll try and answer them. Please note I don't have a digital camera so I can't upload pictures.

p.s. This message comes courtesy of my brand new Vostro 1500.

 

very nice review

 

Nice review! THANK YOU.

 

best review i have read in the past 5 days!

 

One thing I forgot to mention is the dual layer DVD drive. When you eject the disk it has a quick release. What impressed me the most is that there is almost no play when wiggling the tray up or down. It has a nice tight quality feel.

There have been some complaints regarding static or unwanted noises when using the headphones. I can tell you the audio sounds crystal clear and somewhat impressive through the headphones. I tried the Carole King Live CD and there was no static, hissing, or other noises other than the music. So no problems with the audio when using the headsets.

 

This review makes me want my vostro even more.

 

i only hope that my machine is like yours or that I am that ignorant to oversee all the flaws

 

Nice comment so why did you even bother to post then.

May be i'm just lucky but it's a solid well built system, no regrets in my purchase.

 

Seems like you really like it huh? =P Anyway, I like the review and you seemed very enthusiastic about it! The number scores are awesome... I miss those in reviews. Buy more laptops and do more reviews!!! =P

 

Having owned a Vostro 1500 for 3 days. In fact all the problems that have been pointed out in this group are there, if you look harder.

- backlight bleeding: at lower screen, especially when watching a DVD
- grainy pic: need to be corrected by changing registry
- headphone noises: annoying
- heat: put your nose close to the fan
- CD/DVD rom: spin like earthquake

Then the question is how much you care. It's a 'don't care, don't matter' issue.

 

Almost all of the problems you listed I have not encountered with my Vostro 1500. As I mentioned earlier i've listened to music CD's with my headphones and have not heard any and I mean any unusual noises.

Of course there's going to be heat next to the fan LOL that's the systems natural heat vent. What I was referring to was any excessive heat from the bottom of the laptop or heat rising from the keyboard. As I stated earlier it's minimal. Now if you place the laptop on your lap then yes the fans will come on because you would be covering the CPU's air intake fan.

My dual layer DVD drive is whisper quiet and feels sturdy. In fact it has this cool chirping sound when it first loads to find sector 0 on the disc.

My picture honestly is amazing. I will place the following in caps for emphasis. I HAVE NOT SEEN ANY GRAINY QUALITY TO THE SCREEN.....NONE! The screen is absolutely bright and crystal clear. The only grainy screen I have is my 4 year old Viewsonic VX-700 which has that grainy look. I can honestly and truthfully say my Vostro 1500 KILLS my Viewsonic screen in image quality.

I did look for backlight bleedthrough and there is some but very minimal along the bottom but that doesn't bother me one bit.

Overall i'm very impressed with the Vostro 1500.

 

Rodknee, what are the specs on your Vostro? Great effing review, by the way.

 

Hey, if you own an inspiron and a vostro could you tell me what exactly if any the differences are between these? Is there anything at all besides the name thats different?

 

Not really. The color, maybe a few other small small small details.

 

Have you tried any CPU/GPU intensive games yet?

 

Screen bleeding is more evident if you reduce the color quality to 16 bits. Honestly I'm impressed by your confidence on Vostro 1500, which gives me one more reason to keep it. However, it's just hard to imagine any exception to a product of mass production.

 

I can second that! The Vostro screen is the best lcd panel I have ever owned, it's downright incredible. I know it's luck of the draw because the screen I received with the 1520 was the worst one I've ever seen. Two screens at totally different ends of the spectrum but I couldn't be happier with the Vostro. Sometimes I try being happier but I can't! lol

 

I wouldn't doubt that for a moment. Honestly though i'm very impressed with the Vostro 1500 and the screen that came with my computer. I was thinking of returning it because I have more laptops than I need right now but the Vostro is such a great system for $599 I can't part with it.

 

Why would you won't to lower the settings just to prove it's not perfect. If it looks great in 32 bits leave it there.

 

I purchased the base model at $599 and chose the Glossy screen. I also stripped 95% of the bloatware from the configuration.

 

What battery life are you gett ing on the vostro 1500 with the 8600 GT?

 

Rodknee, can you edit the first post with exactly what you ordered and the price. The grainy screen I believe plagues folks with the higher resolution WXGA+ and SWXGA+ screens. Although it could also be just personal preference. There is a post of a person with a Vostro 1400 with obvious backlight issues, so there could be random production issues since they are pushing them out so fast. Main reason I paid the $39 for hardware warranty, next business day on site. If my 1500 arrives with issues, they can come to me and fix it.

 

He ordered the Base Model at 599. WXGA