My new Inspiron 1525 quality issues and mini review

Well I ordered an Inspiron 1525 on January 3rd and received it on the 8th. KUDOS to Dell on the build and ship time. Just amazing.

Configured specs...

Intel Core 2 Duo 7250 (2.ghz)
3 GB memory
7200 RPM 160GB drive
6 and 9 cell batteries
Intel 4965AGN wireless
Bluetooth

That's where my elation ended.......

Issue 1

After firing it up, I found that the speakers would only crackle, not play music. But the headphone jacks worked, so I knew the sound card was fine. After opening the case I found that the speaker wire connection wasn't fully seated. Fixed that.

Issue 2

The reception the Intel 4965AGN was getting from both of my Wireless N routers (Netgear Wndr3300 & D-Link DGL-4500) was very weak. It would connect at 300 if I was within a few feet, but drop dramatically any further than that. So again, I opened the case only to find out that Dell only uses two of the antenna connections on the Intel card. There were 3 other unsued antenna wires in there so I attached another one to the Intel card and WHAM!!!! I get 300 throughout most of my 5000 sq ft home. Fixed that.
On a side note, it will connect at 300 but eventually drops to 180 and stays there.

Needless to say, I feel these two issues are simple factory quality control issues that just blow my mind. If I weren't a system builder I would have spent endless time on the phone with Dell and probably would have had to ship the thing back. God bless the non-techie if they get one like mine.

I ordered the Spring Green color, and it is no where near the same as any picture I've seen using several different monitors. I realize that colors on most monitors are by no means accurate, but the difference is huge.

Barring these issues I highly reccomend the 1525. For a non-gamer it rocks. I get about 4.5 hours on the 6-cell battery and 6 hours on the 9-cell. Outstanding.

I do wish I could have gotten the 1440 x 900 screen and a dedicated graphics card, but Dell has dropped the ball there.

I upgraded to the 7200 RPM drive and there is a noticable difference there, to my surprise.

I ordered an Atheros 5008 based Gigabyte GN-WI06N-RH mini PCI-E 802.11n card to do some router testing.

In the end, if you need a non-gaming laptop I would definitely urge others to give the 1525 a good close look.

 

Yes I don't know why they didn't allow the 1440x900 option on the 1525.
The 1420 has a 1440x900 option.

 

Wouldn't 1440 x 900 be tiny on a 14" screen. I think I would go blind quick (Well not too quick - it would take 8 weeks to get the screen)

 

Possibly for some people, but not for the same kind of people who go for the WSXGA screen on 15" screens. I used a 14" with a 1600x1200 screen for year. After I moved to a 15" with 1600x1200, the headaches went away.

 

I don't think 1440x900 on the 1420 would be any worse than the 1680x1050 on the 1520.
You can even get 1920x1200 on Dell's 15" business notebooks.

 

my dell 1525 doesn't have the wireless-N card. Are all 6 antenna's attached to the standard Dell wireless b/g card?

 

Mine only had two attached to the N card even though there are three posts on it. I attached one of the other three free wires and my reception doubled.

Also, I think the G cards only have 2 posts so there is no way to connect more antennas than that.

 

I also have a new Dell 1525 and am interested in how I would find out if my Dell N card is properly connected to the antennas. I have not opened the laptop and am curious if the check is easy to do.

I haven't purchased a N router yet and I am still using my G router. I do not think my dell is as good as my Toshiba on G.

As well I see you have a Netgear WNDR3300. I have been considering this router. What is your opinion on performance.

 

I have two N cards, the Intel 4965 AGN and the Gigabyte GNWI06N. I bought 4 N routers to test with both.

Netgear WNDR-3300
Netgear WNHDEB111
D-Link DGL-4500
D-Link DIR-655

The Netgear routers were terrible for both in either frequency (2.4 & 5.0)
The D-Link routers worked the best in 5.0 GHz mode on both cards

I get 180 - 300 speeds on the D-Link and 11 GB transfers consistenly with the Intel card.

I am going to post my findings in the Wireless forum soon.

Concerning the antennas... Check to see if Dell attached three to the internal card. Mine came with only two connected and three available on the card. Once I connected the third my reception and throughput doubled.

 

I have the Dell wireless card and there only appears to be 2 connections on the card a black and a white wire that were both connected. There are three additional free wires in the area 2 for the WWAN (not installed) and the other appears for another not installed device.

So that looks like the only connections I have available.

I think I will hold off on purchasing an N router for a little while until the dust settles.

 

MK,

Can you tell me exactly which color wire you used for the 3rd antenna connection?

Thx.

 

there are 3 wires for 4965AGN, black, white and grey. u need to connect all 3.