New Inspiron 1525 for Christmas? No it's going to be a Vostro I think.

I found out late yesterday that my brother's IT guy had ordered me a new Dell laptop for Christmas, not an Inspiron 1525 like the configuration I had sent him 3 weeks ago, the guy told me he had ordered a Dell Vostro, he said you'll like it, I like the Vostros better than the Inspirons. The guy couldn't remember which Vostro he had ordered but he did say the Vostro had a stronger case and was better built than the Inspirons which he called "flimsy".

I told him well that's fine as long as the case color was anything but basic black. He said he wasn't sure about the case color either. I'm already convinced that the guy doesn't know what he's doing but who am I to argue, it's supposed to be a gift. My question to anyone on this board is this, are the Vostro models as good as or built better than the Inspiron models? Just because the guy told me he liked Vostros, he must automatically assume I'd like Vostros. That's like saying if he likes Hellmanns mayo I must like it too.

 

it use to be that some of dells vostro series were just rebaged inspirons, examples were the inpiron 6400-and it was offered as a small buiness verions that was the exact notebook. okay, the inspiron laptops can only be ordered with intel x3100 video card only, which is not that great in my book. the small business vostro 2510 series can be bought with a 8400m gs video adapter, a big plus for gaming . my view is that it depends on what version your friend is buying you as your gift, if its the vostro 2510, yes, its better than the inspirion series. dell offers the studio laptops at home and office site, that does what the 2510 does, with probably more effort put into them for home entertainment. if you include the xps m1530, studio 15 & 17, i would say that they would be better for home entertainment that the vostros. the vostros are more geared for small business,s on a budget, but the 2510 would not be bad.

i had a inspiron 1520 , did not like the keyboard and lousy 1200x800 resolution and it got sold on ebay. hp won me out this time with a dv9700t, a 17 incher that i purchased with $400 discount. i sort of like the hp,s notebooks better than dells at the moment, but this is a personal preferance.

 

So would you rate a Vostro 1510 as being a better machine than the Inspiron 1525? I requested a new laptop to replace a 2 year old damaged Dell Inspiron 1300 which I used only for web surfing, email and some Quicken. The Inspiron 1300 was a budget no frills machine but it served my needs until I dropped it in January 2008 and crashed it's monitor. I wasn't then nor am I today into digital photography or into playing games on a computer.

I'll just have to wait and see what model Vostro is shipped but it better have a good processor, a core duo 2 and at least 2GB of system memory if it has Vista. I sent a set of specs to my brother's company weeks ago, I had configured a nice Inspiron 1525 for $629.00 and a Studio 15 for $674.00 and the guy tells me late yesterday that he'd ordered me a Vostro and yet he couldn't remember exactly which model Vostro he had ordered.

I didn't see a Vostro 1000 on Dell's website last night, I guess it's been discontinued. Whatever was ordered probably will come with a Celeron processor and 1GB of memory, if it does I might just ship it back but I noticed you can get an XP upgrade on some of the Vostro models, if this one comes shipped to me with Windows XP and only 1GB of system memory and a Celeron processor I might decide to keep it. Would you keep it or not if it was a gift?

 

the inspiron 1525 and vostro 1510 are notebooks i personally don,t care for, but one has to consider dells purpose behind these notebooks, budget and entry level hardware. if i got either as a christmas gift, would sell it on ebay and then go to the dell outlet and get a inspiron 1720, 1520, or one of the studio notebooks. i would just wait and see what you get, maybe you will like it. let us know what happens, i am curious.

 

Well I got into a chat session with a Dell representative on Dell's Small Business Division's site earlier today who was willing to give me details of the new Vostro laptop which will be heading my way soon after the first of next year, details are listed below. Is the configuration any good?

The only thing I didn't see in the configuration was a 56k modem which I don't need since I have DSL but I would like to have had in case I traveled to a place with no broadband service. The Dell rep recommended a Lattitude E6400 if I wanted a laptop from the Small Business Division site which could be configured to include a built in 56k modem. Is the E6400 better than a Vostro 1510? Build wise, fit and finish? Operation wise?


Order Details


Order Number: XXXXXXXXX Estimated Ship Date: 01/02/2009


Item Number Quantity Item Description

223-8900 1 Vostro 1510, Intel Core 2 Duo T5670, 1.8GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2M L2 Cache
320-6437 1 15.4 inch Widescreen WXGA LCD for Vostro 1510
311-8551 1 2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 DIMM
320-6435 1 Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
341-6597 1 160G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
311-8593 1 No UPEK Fingerprint Reader
420-8708 1 Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic SP1
420-6581 1 Image Restore,Vista,Dell OptiPlex,Precision and Latitude
420-7293 1 Dell Icon Consolidation
420-7658 1 Dell Support Center 2.0 for Dell Vostro
313-6829 1 CyberLink PowerDVD 8.1 DVD Playback Vostro
310-8627 1 You have chosen a Windows Vista Basic System
410-1858 1 Adobe Reader 9.0 Multi Language,for Dell Vostro Notebooks and Desktops
313-6192 1 8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R write capability, withRoxio
313-6191 1 Roxio Creator Dell Edition 9.0for Dell Vostro
313-4783 1 Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0
430-2886 1 Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini Card
313-6184 1 No Built in Camera and DigitalMicrophone
313-6187 1 No Personalization LCD Back
410-1789 1 McAfee Total Protection 15- Month Subscription English forVostro Desktops and Notebooks
312-0685 1 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, for Vostro 1510
420-7773 1 Microsoft Works Plus 2008 English, for Dell Vostro Desktops and Notebooks
983-3920 1 Warranty Support,Initial Year
988-1460 1 Basic Support: Next Business Day Parts and Labor Onsite Response Initial Year
987-7022 1 Basic Support: Next Business Day Parts and Labor Onsite Response 2 Year Extended
990-4067 1 Dell Hardware Limited WarrantyPlus Onsite Service Initial Y ear
982-9072 1 Warranty Support,2 Year Extended
990-4068 1 Dell Hardware Limited WarrantyPlus Onsite Service Extended Year(s)
991-2878 1 Dell ProSupport Service Offering Declined
900-9987 1 Standard On-Site Installation Declined
420-7179 1 Dell DataSafe 2.0 Online, No Install
330-0254 1 Intel Core 2 Duo Label
462-4506 1 Purchase is NOT intended for resell
310-8977 1 Info SKU-Software and Peripherals products and solutions catalog included in system boxes
* -DISCOUNT/COUPON APPLIED
Subtotal: $584.00
Shipping and Handling: $0.00

Sales Tax: $40.88
Total: $624.88

 

Nobody can offer me any feedback on that Vostro 1510 configuration in my previous post? Is it good or not so good?