Official Inspiron 1545 Owners Thread

The pc overall has really sped up since reinstalling without most of the Dell stuff. The only issue I'm having is with the touchpad. I really liked the synaptics on my old Dell C610, but this Alps thing is so sluggish. I have to lay my finger on it and wait 1/2 second. If I don't, it's is halfway across before it registers a movement, and it gets even worse if the cpu is under load, or the hard drive is under heavy access. I have it set to light touch so it will measure a slight movement, and it doesn't help.

Is there anything that will make this pad work similar to my old synaptics?

 

Hello everyone. I just picked one of these up for my Dad for Christmas for $399 via a Dell deal. The specs are:

T4200 Processor
3 Gig's of RAM
250 Gig HDD 5400 RPM
Wifi, Webcam, 6 cell battery
Vista Home Premium

I got the machine and promptly installed Ubuntu 9.10 and have been very impressed with it. I think it is going to be a lot easier for my father to operate.

 

Hi all, I recently got my inspiron 1545 with c2d 2.2 GHz, Intel GMA 4500HD and Win7, its beautiful in my opinion, i also took the extra $65 design studio customization aswell. In any case, I need your opinion on the WLED screen. I have the 700p one and as I work alot with graphics I notice that the color tone is really not upto par. There is a greenish tone where it should be more orangish. Perfect example would be the folder icons in Vista/Win7, in my Dell Mini 10 HD screen, the colors are more vivid and folders look orange compared to the Inspiron which makes the folders look dead/greyish green. Can any of you see the same?

I tried to fix the color using windows 7 color calibration by lowering the color green but still it looks fake.

Kindly let me know your feedback aswell just to make sure I didnt get a bad unit.

 

Take a picture and post it up.

 

Its actually worse than that, but its the best image i could get outta my iphone.

 

Looks the same as mine to be honest, and mine looks the same as my desktop. I'd suggest the issue may be with the mini 10 display / callibration perhaps. Either that, or I've just been really unlucky and have a duff display with my desktop machine and my notebook - not impossible, but unlikely.

 

To me the inspirons one looks less vivid, thats my opinion.
Keep in mind both the Dell mini and Macbook Unibody's screens are inside the glass layer on top, that might make a difference.

 

If this was asked already i apologize *LOL* ... Does the Inspiron 1545 support more than one internal hard drive? My old laptop had two so it seems a waste to not use the one that's still good if the dell supports it

 

There is not enough space internally to support two hard drives. The majority of 15" and smaller notebooks only support a single HDD, though there are a few that will, for example the ASUS G61 (I think) and the HP Envy 15. No doubt there are others.

However, it may be possible to add another HDD by removing the optical drive and using a caddy as detailed in this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4936086

Not tried it myself though, so can't vouch for it.

 

I waited a week before posting my opinions on my new 1545, I give it a big two thumbs up.. It replaced our old Thinkpad which died of natural causes. I'm impressed with the the speed in both opening/running apps and quickness with internet surfing.
For the 1st time ever I stayed away from the GeForce graphics due to the eutectic bumps problems causing premature failure and honestly I'm not disappointed with the 4500MHD, it does the job nicely. Frankly I wasn't expecting such a difference between this and our old thinkpad, much faster, super nice display and much better looking all around, hate to say it but makes me wish my old thinkpad died sooner

New 1545 Inspiron:
Midnight Blue
T6400
4GB ram
4500MHD Graphics
DVDrw
Bluetooth
Integrated Cam.

 

Just bought my wife a 1545 with the designer lcd back. She loves it, and I swear she carries it around like a security blanket, and she's not normally a techie type.

Does anyone know of a type of cover or film that can be put over the lid? She's already paranoid about scratches on the design.

 

Yeah scratches suck. I found a neat seller on e-bay that sells laptop skins.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Laptop-Netbook-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a557a478



Has anyone replaced a keyboard on a 1545 themselves? Did it break or runin anything? One of the Ctrl keys popped off my keyboard and it won't go back on.

 

Anyone at all?

I've replaced keyboards on other Dells like the 5550 and 8600 and was wondering if replacing the 1545 keyboard is the same.

 

A few nights ago, I dripped a drop of orange juice into my touch pad, between the touch pad and the mouse key. I tried absorbing it immediately with the corner of a tissue. Now, my left mouse key clicks really loudly when i press it. Any solutions?

 

Bumping one more time.

 

Hey Rowan,

I have removed the keyboard, then reinstalled the the same one on my sister's 1545. The keyboard had areas that were uneven and caused more flex than usual. I had to remove the keyboard to make some tweaks to correct the issue.

As far as keyboard removal/reinstall- the process is basically the same as most other fairly recent Dell notebooks (Inspiron 1520, 1525 and Studio 1535, in particular). The first step is removing the 'Central Control Cover'*** (which is Dell's fancy name for the plastic trim piece above the keyboard- LINK. Then follow the directions for removing the and reinstalling the keyboard- LINK.

***Note- when removing the Central Control Cover, the Service Manual instructs to use a Plastic Scribe to loosen the cover. I've found that the ideal tool to use is one pick portion of one a plastic dental flosser.

 

When I removed mine I found a screw driver with some duct tape on the end worked well enough.

 

I may try that because before now I had never heard of a plastic scribe....:GEEK:

I have another question that I can't remember the answer to because it's been so long that I've had a laptop that's actually under warranty. Is the adapter covered under the warranty? I ask because the pin in the end that goes into the side of the computer broke and luckily I had an extra because I kept the adapter stuff from the laptop I sent back to them in case something happened.

 

Hello
I am new to this group so please forgive me if I am asking about something you have already solved.
I am helping a friend set up his new Dell 1545 with Windows 7 64 bit, here in the UK. I have been trying for hours (maybe even days) trying to get the Wireless LAN 1397 mini card to talk to my router (Netgear DG834G Firmware V1.05.00), initially with WPA-PSK Security Encryption (20 characters) but later with security disabled. The card picks up the fact that the router is there but refuses to connect with it. Ethernet connection is fine.
I have checked that the driver seems to be the latest version.
Any ideas please? Has anyone been successful with this configuration? (I imagine all 1545s have the same card ...)
Thanks

 

In the past few days the fan on my 1545 has decided it wants to run almost all the time, even when I'm barely doing anything. I've scanned for malware, viruses and etc. and everything has turned up clean.

 

Have you updated to BIOS A14 released on 1/15/10? If not, I'd start with that. Dell often modifies thermal thresholds and related settings in BIOS revisions.

If that doesn't resolve the fan issue, take a look at what's running in the background and utilizing memory and the CPU. I use a free app called Process QuickLink ( DOWNLOAD it HERE) to see what's running. It simply opens Task Manager, but allows you to click beside any "Processes" running to get details on each one and whether it's legitimate or suspicious.

Other troubleshooting steps- have you made ANY changes at all (installed or uninstalled programs, tweaked any settings or any other changes)?

The next step would be to contact Dell Tech Support (I suggest using the Chat option).

 

mi home network is WPA2 on a netgear router and i have the 1397.it conects fine.

i undervolted my 1545 and now i get 40C idle and 50 on mid load.

 

I just picked up a black Inspiron 1545 for my wife.
It was on clearance at my local Staples.
I bought it for a decent price.

Called Dell and they extended the warranty since it was a pre-Win7 system.

Specs are T4200, 4GB DDR2, 320GB 5400RPM, 4500MHD

The system runs fine undervolted .9750 using RmClock.

 

The BIOS update seemed to help quite a bit. The only other thing that's annoying me quite a bit is how low the sound is even at the highest level.

Does anyone else have any issues with the sound or could it be a problem with my laptop?

 

It isn't just your laptop. The sound on the Inspiron 15 is definitely sub-par. The speakers seem to get kind of loud to me, but not loud enough to fill a room with background music. Not that you'd want to since it sounds like crap. Also if you are referring to headphones, the headphones might be too high of a resistance for the laptop's sound system to make very loud. It isn't as bad in this regard as many desktops with integrated sound though.

 

I guess a part of me is glad that it's not my imagination. I've had a few Dell laptops over the years and this is the first one that has had such crappy sound when used without headphones. It's so low even when set to the highest level. The poor sound quality really surprised me.

 

I've only had this laptop since the very end of Oct and the left side touchpad button is already pretty warn.......

 

I ordered the 1564 so I hope its better then the 1545.

 

You're kidding. I don't know what you are doing as I got it in July and use mine extensively and it still looks the same.

 

When you receive your 1564, I'd love to hear some feedback on your initial impressions of build quality, performance, and any other areas you care to comment on. It looks to be a step-up from the 1545 in features and design, but it's also a bit more expensive.

For under $500 (under $400 for the one I bought my sister), the 1545 is a very solid value and I challenge anything else the same size and price to beat it....only there isn't any competitor at that price!

The 1564 is currently starting at $589, which is still a great value considering the updates and the new Core i3/i5 platform. The 1564 is 0.21" thinner than the 1545 and weighs about a half pound less. It also has a new keyboard that includes a dedicated 10-key numeric pad like the larger Inspiron 17.

But my favorite feature of the 1564 is the "Brushed Metal appearance" interior trim instead of the Glossy "Piano Black" trim! The new look is sharp and hopefully it will be as good to use as it looks!

 

If you could do some benchmarks with games with the new GMA HD in the Core i3/i5 that would be great.

 

I purchased a Bluetooth mouse not realizing that my 1545 didn't have Bluetooth. I have Win 7 but could have sworn that when I still had Vista installed that I had the Bluetooth listed in the programs section. I guess I need suggestions on what kind of Bluetooth adapter I can get online.

 

You can buy the bluetooth piece for the 1545 on ebay: http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=bl...eSIF=1&_odkw=bluetooth+1545&_osacat=0&bkBtn=1

Install is pretty easy: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1545/en/SM/btooth.htm#wp1179885

 

Hello everyone, found this forum while doing a google search. I just bought the dell 1545 this morning from the dell site, and should have it in 48 hours. I'm on a used dell 1501 right now. I'm excited about it. I have a question, I've seen people "unbox" their dells on youtube, and I see a few discs that come with it, do I install all of them? I know that the re-installation disc isnt needed at 1st, but what about the rest? its a dumb question, but I am a total newbie..lol

 

You don't install any disks. Everything is already installed and ready to go! The disks are there in case for whatever reason you want to reinstall everything. The OS is on one disk, drivers and utilities on another, and office or works on another, etc.

 

thanks for the tip. I'm glad I asked

 

You have to reinstall the system to get the best performance( i.e. to get rid of bloatware)
And do not use the utilities disk cuz' it's just bloatware from dell. Drivers are all installed by Windows 7 disk. Win won't install the touch pad software for you. The software gives you some gestures and can be downloaded from dell support. I found it unnecessary as the apls pad is a piece of crap.

 

Today, I just bought a new 9-cell AGPtek battery for my Inspiron 1545. How come on the bottom right hand corner, the battery icon only shows the percentage left? There's no timer on it anymore. Anyone know what I can do to get the timer back? Its hard telling how much battery is left just by the percentage.

 

well get Batterybar or the RMclock Timer
thats how i display the time left of my batterie

 

Okay, thanks. I found my answer. Apparently, you have to wait a while before the timer shows up =]. Oh also, anyone know what kind of adapter I need for airplanes? It saids it requires an adapter that works for EmPower? And I plan on traveling to China, and the outlet is 220 volts, would I need to buy some kind of voltage converter? The Inspiron 1545 battery saids "Input: 110-240voltage", so do i still need a converter?

 

i got 220 on my house and it doesn't need an adapter you should be fine if the socket is the same.
i don't know about the airplane adapters.

 

Okay, thank you very much.

 

Has anyone had problems with their microphone after installing XP?

I've uninstalled the driver then reinstalled with the latest from Dell and I can't seem to get mine to work...



Thanks in advance!

 

Just a quick question about getting rid of bloatware by the 'Reformat and re-install' method:

I've had no trouble in reformatting previous machines - the last one an Inspiron 510m - to get rid of the recovery partition. This Inspiron 1545, however, has a hidden FAT partition (39.19 MB), in addition to the usual NTFS Recovery partion (14.65 GB).

Is it safe to remove BOTH hidden partitions in the reformatting process? I've no doubt the answer is yes - but better safe than sorry!

Cheers

 

Yes, delete them both.

 

Thanks, Slick.

(Just couldn't resist it - calling you 'Slick' gives me that 'Rockford' feeling!)

Your comment is much appreciated.

Regards

 

haha


Sure thing!

 

I thought the extra partition had something to do with recovery?

 

Dell provided the discs for reinstalling Win7 and drivers and utilities, so I really don't need the recovery option. I'd much prefer the extra 15 GB!

 

Hi,

Can I replace my Toshiba MK2555GSX (250GB) hard disk for a Toshiba MK5055GSX (500GB) hard disk?

Thanks,

e_sabbagh