Official Inspiron 1545 Owners Thread

I have had my 1545 for several days now. Everything is working as expected, except for one issue. Apologize if this has been asked before, but I'm too lazy to go through all the pages looking for the answer.
For some odd reason, in the middle of typing text such as composing a mail, the contents will be wiped out. This has happened to be couple of times already. I don't recall touching anything on the keyboard when that happened. And other times, some dialog box will popup. This is very annoying. Is this user error or a bug?

 

It's not something I've had happen, but at least one other user has reported similar things in another post. I suspect that it is user error due to the fact that this is only the second instance of it, but if you are concerned maybe have a chat with Dell about it.

 

Hello everyone. I'm finally done reading all 21 pages of this thread, exhausted. Anyhow, I bought a 1545 last Sunday at Walmart for $300. The specs are Celeron 900 (2.2ghz), 3gb of ram, intel 4500 graphics, 160gb hdd.

Here is the deal. I bought it in order to use it till the end of the year or beginning of next year when I will be getting hopefully whatever sager puts out to replace the NP8662. I am a gamer. However this baby will be hand down to my wife so she can put our daughter pictures on it and go on the web. My problem is this, this celeron chip feels sluggish to me. My previous laptop was a Dell XPS Gen 2 which had a P-M 2.0 ghz, 2gb of ram and a Geforce Go 7800GTX with 100gb hdd.

So I was thinking about upgrading the cpu and gpu since I got it for so cheap and I see that in the dell config page you can have an array of Intel T and Intel P core 2 duo processors and that the gpu can be upgraded to a hd4330. Excited I open up the bottom cover to find that the cpu can be upgrade but the intel gpu is solder in the mobo. Fragilexx and other experience users of this system, if I decided to upgrade the CPU (since it seems that is all I can upgrade) with a P8600 or a T9400 adding to the original $300 cost of the laptop, would I be better off returning this one (have 15 days) and buying new one from dell with the better cpu and more importantly better gpu already in it ? Would I be spending about the same ?

Basically what are your thoughts and what would you do in my situation ?
Remember that I will be using this for a good 6 months to a year at the most while I wait for 32nm intel chips and hopefully usb 3.0 and maybe a new bad-a$$ nvidia gpu to replace the 260gtx, maybe wishful thinking but we will see.

Thanks for answers and for reading long post.

 

I guess it depends on how much gaming you intend to do on it, what games you play and what your wife will be using it for.

For older games, the standard integrated graphics will do just fine. Once you get into anything that requires more 3D grunt, then you're going to get stuck. The Inspiron GPU is integrated, and I'm afraid that you can't upgrade to the HD4330 without buying a whole new motherboard.

With regards to the CPU, I've never been a fan of the Celeron processors. Not sure which Pentium M processor you had, but I'm going to bet it had 2MB L2 Cache, whereas the Celeron 900 only has 1MB. This number will make a significant difference for some applications (read: probably most). Now upgrading to another processor, sure you could do that, but then that would mean you'd no longer have a processor covered by the warranty. Also, anything else goes wrong and Dell could say the problem was due to the replacement of the processor.

You can see where I'm going here. I personally would get a refund and get a different machine.

However, I'd probably say that, if you are going to get a new machine in 6 months time, then maybe go with something a little cheaper than the p8600. Maybe something like the T6400, which has the same 2MB L2 Cache as you had before, 2GHz processor, but this time it's a core 2 duo; so you'd still notice a difference between this and your old one.

The P series processors are their energy efficient range; so they use less power and generate less heat. If this is an absolute need then go for the p8600.

 

I understand what you mean fragile. yes the xps gen 2 had a p-m clock at 2ghz and with a 2mb L2 cache. it was snappy even after being 4 yrs old. it would have been 4 yrs in 26 days. Anyways I sold that for $500 and that's where my budget comes in for this laptop.

I want to get the Sager NP8662 right now but with all this new tech coming out soon i dont think is the best option, even though playing the waiting game with new tech is never ending.

Games i would be playing are Quake 4, Ages of Empire 3, Civilization 4, Half Life 2, Emperors, Fear, Fear 2, L4D, Crysis, Supreme Commander, Anericas Army 3.0, and other newer games. I know, i know, in this machine i could probably play the first 5 on that list and that's it. I understand that but those are eventually the games i would like to play and why i need the other machine.

Anyways, i think upggrading this one with a C2D would be the smart and cheapest option. your thoughs ?

 

As I said before, my thoughts are that you'd probably be better off with an upgraded CPU, but it's something I'd return and order a new one.

Most of those games can be played with the Inspiron 1545, heck I can even play Crysis with mine, all be it at near enough the lowest settings possible. The NP8662 is a good gaming rig though, but didn't they just refresh it recently? I myself have the model before for gaming, though it tends to stay round my girlfriends house......she took a shine to it and well, to me it is practically alien now.

 

Which Swissgear backpack particularly?

Thanks again for the info...

 

The red one.

But seriously, that is the best answer I can give, because I bought it so long ago I don't remember which one. I just know that it's the best of the bunch I tried, and it has lasted a long time.

 

The Dell Inspiron I purchased came with 2MB cache. How difficult is it to upgrade this to 3MB? TIA for any advise.

 

The L2 Cache (which I believe you mean) is within the processor unit, so only way to upgrade is by replacing the processor.

 

I feel that this new 1545 is not any faster than my old ibm T43. For example, loading pages from the Internet or opening documents. Is there anythng I can do to speed this thing up?

 

What were the specs of your T43 and your new Inspiron, including OS?

 

I'll get you the specs tomorrow. I have another question though.
This laptop does not have LED for cap lock. When I push the cap locks key, sometimes a small "cap lock" pop up window will come up, that's all good. But a lot of times, there is no indication cap lock is on. This causes problems when entering passwords as such. How can this cap lock pop up be set to come up every time cap lock is on?

 

My caps lock always comes up on the screen. The only time it does not is when entering the windows password.

The caps lock image you see is part of the Dell Quickset program. If it's not displaying, maybe you have a problem with that software?

 

My IBM T43 has Intel Pentium, with 2Ghz/2 Ghz processor, 1GB RAM, XP sp3
The 1545 is 2 Duo T6400, 2 Ghz/800Mhz, 2MB cache. Vista home basic.
Can the Dell be tweaked to outperform the T43?

 

It will anyway. It is probably your perception of it and of Windows Vista.

Try running PC Mark Vantage on both machines, or Prime 35 and you'll see what a difference there actually is. Oh and the loading of Web pages might be more to do with Internet Explorer 8 rather than anything else; there were loads of issues with it to start with - I had to get rid of Spybot and re-install without one of the components to get IE8 working without being very slow.

 

Not to mention, loading Internet pages is not exactly a good way of judging one computer's performance over another's. If the internet connection is the same between the two, then you probably won't notice any difference.

 

The 1545 is my first notebook machine. I've always been a desktop guy, and upgrade maybe every 5 years or so.

With a little one running around the house, I find it unusual that I get time to spend in front of a desktop PC any more, so I was intrigued by the idea of having a notebook to carry around from room to room. I was attracted to the sub-$400 price I got for the Inspiron 1545 setup: Intel DualCore, integrated graphics, 3GB memory, 250 GB HD, LCD display, etc.

So far, so good on performance. I reformatted as soon as I got it; went to XP Pro as I'm not yet familiar with Vista. Not what most would have done, but I'm very comfortable with XP right now; I will probably go Vista or 7 once my company upgrades.

I'm used to using an IBM Lenovo T61 for work, so there were a couple of places I've been disappointed with the Dell:

Not digging the display. I guess I have the LCD version and not the LED. I have a real hard time seeing this display under most conditions. The gloss is weird; my T61 has a matte screen that I don't usually have too much trouble with.

Wish there were some more "idiot lights" on the unit. I'm used to having an LED to tell me if wireless is on, bluetooth is on, etc. Happened to see that a friend got a 1525 not too long ago and all of these lights were on his. Not sure why Dell downgraded.

The glossy surfaces adjacent to the keyboard could have been a matte finish which would help to keep the thing clean

And I wish it had a custom dock. I'd like this to replace my desktop unit, but I'd also like it to work linke my office notebook which drops right in to a custom dock for all connections and power. I guess Dell does not offer that as an option for these as a lower-end laptop.

Other than that, it's been working well so far!

 

this is my first laptop too. i know the ccfl lcd display is kinda tricky but now i got used to it, i would rather have a mate display but all laptop makers don like that screen anymore.
at least you got 1 ligth i got none!! mine broke, i don't know if it broke while in mi backpack front down. or it just burnt out. the only way i know is on is to see if the screen goes on.

the feature i like the most is i now can watch 720p videos !!!!
for CAD ppl wondering :
i run autodesk Acad 2010 +3d well but it gets kinda choppy from time to time
and Solid Works 2009 without a problem ( i like it better than acad) and i like the photoview360 realistic rendering!!!

for the gamers out there i can play:
red alert 3 + uprising on low settings ( i havent up em so i don't know if it will perform well on mid)
combat arms
warcraft3tft
unreal goty
guitar hero 3(latest patch)
gonna try l4d later.

 

I think your display query is related more to the fact that you've made the switch from glossy to matte. When you are used to matte screen, the glossy just takes time to get used to. You will get used to the reflections.

Yes, the lack of a dock is a point that not many consumer class notebooks address. There are docks out there that connect via usb. I myself have one that connects via the expresscard. Not the same, but unless you are buying a corporate notebook you generally don't get the option of a dock. Even if you do, docks themselves are quite expensive - you'd be looking at a quarter of the price of your notebook and upwards.

 

new BIOS A08 At Dells Website!!! 07/02/2009

 

Thanks for the info:
Already posted even if you think it should have been posted here.

 

dont blame me for being a neat freak !!! OCD is great!!

 

Just to clarify, an LCD is simply a liquid crystal display, which every laptop monitor is. An LED (light-emitting diode) display is just a subcategory of these displays, and it has to do with the backlight rather than the display itself. Until recently, most LCD displays were backlit by cold-cathode fluorescent lighting (CCFL), similar technology to the fluorescent bar lights in offices and such, just on a smaller scale. After being off for a while, they usually need some time to "warm up" to their full brightness. LED backlighting, on the other hand, is a newer technology, that turns on instantly without needing to warm up. LED-backlit displays are usually brighter than the CCFL models, and draw a little bit less power as well.

In short, an LCD display can either be CCFL or LED, but it is still an LCD. Sorry to nitpick.

As Fragilexx has pointed out, the difference in display you are seeing most likely has nothing to do with the backlight method, since that should affect brightness and very little else. It is probably due to the difference between matte (coated, non-reflective) and glossy (uncoated, reflective) display panels.

 

Good points. I think I jumped on the notion that the LED version was easier to see, as per comments earlier in this thread. It is probably more a function of the glossiness of the display. Just something I'm going to have to get used to. I've noticed that TV manufacturers seem to be going this way too; I'll need to learn the benefit that it provides over the matte surface.

 

Glossy displays tend to be brighter with more vivid colors; matte is usually a bit less bright, but does not have glare.

 

Pardon me for being a bit ignorant, but what exactly would be the benefit of upgrading my BIOS? I've heard it's a bit risky, as well.

 

A couple of days ago my 1545 started totally freaking out. First (I am using a laser optical wireless mouse), whenever I tried to adjust the volume using the slider in the system tray, the volume would just slide straight back down all on it's own! Very frustrating. ...

So, using the touchpad, I tried to manually boost the volume to 100 percent in the audio controls in Vista. All of a sudden I got incredible distortion over the top of every audio track I tried to play!

I was just about to give up, back up my system, and reinstall Windows, when I luckily was able to fix this.

First, I re-installed the drivers for the Logitech mouse, which solved the problem of the audio slider sliding down on its own. Then, I went back into Vista's audio controls panel and "disabled enhancements".

Voila, my 1545 was back to its normal, lovely sounding self.

Just wondering if any of you have suffered any similar problems?

 

BIOS updates generally fix very low-level stuff, like how components operate, or how the fan works. And there's no risk if you follow the instructions; make sure your battery is in and you're plugged into AC power, because if power is interrupted during a BIOS flash, it could cripple your motherboard. However, I'm pretty sure these new BIOS flash utilities won't even run if it doesn't detect your battery and AC power, so it's pretty idiot-proof.

 

Just recently won my Inspiron1545 from my school. Its a decent laptop, and great for internet uses. Decent for older games but definitely can't run games well. A couple of things i disliked about The inspiron was sometimes the mouse would stop working for 15-20 seconds, and i tried reinstalling the drivers for it. So if anyone has any fixes for that, that would be nice. At the moment i use a usb laser mouse, that works fine. Another thing is the display glitches every once in awhile if i'm doing a bunch of things at once. And sometimes it freezes. I'm not sure if it is a laptop problem or if its a compatibility problem. When i won my laptop, it was around the same time Windows 7 came out. So i spent a day downloading it, and it increased the speed of my laptop significantly. But i do have problems like the key for my cd drive doesn't work, which isn't a problem because the cd drive button is like an inch away. And i was wondering one more thing, which would be, has anyone tried overclocking their CPU at all? I'm a gamer and this is all i have, so would a slight overclock do any harm to my computer?
Thanks.
The computer is better i think with windows 7, and sorry if i asked anything that was discussed earlier on in the thread, but this has gotten pretty long. haha. Thanks

 

You won't be able to overclock your CPU.

 

and so far I have been unable to overclock the GPU. I don't even know why I bothered trying to be honest, I have a gaming laptop and a core i7 desktop with 4870s in it. I guess out of boredom.

 

Yeah, i figured out that i can't overclock. I guess ill have to look into something else for gaming.

 

I bought a 1545 last night from Dell Outlet for my sister. I had a 15% coupon that expired today, so I figured what they heck!

I ended up paying $372.50 (including shipping and tax) for the following-

Dell Inspiron 1545
Jet Black
Windows Vista Home Basic
2.0GHz Intel T6400
15.6" HD 1366x768 LED TrueLife Display
2GB RAM
160GB Hard Drive
DVD-RW
Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics
Intel 5100AGN wireless adapter
6-cell Battery

It also includes a FREE Upgrade to Windows7 when it is released.

It's not a powerhouse, obviously. But she's using a 4-yr old Toshiba that I gave her two years back and the display is slowly dying. This will be a nice step up in performance from that old clunker.

I can always upgrade the RAM to 3-4GB down the road. And I actually have a spare 320GB 7200rpm Seagate hard drive that I'll install before I give it to her.

I'm also thinking about swapping wireless adapters with my Latitude E6400. It has the Dell 1397G card and the 5100AGN should be an easy swap on both...I'm hoping.

 

Is the 1545 any good? I can't find any reviews for it here at NBR. Is this the 1545?

 

yes. the new inspiron 15 is the 1545. "15.6 inch screen"

 

Ok thanks.

 

I don't think Windows Vista Home Basic qualifies for the "free" (I think you have to pay shipping) upgrade to Windows 7.

 

Here are several reviews of the 1545, all pretty favorable-

LAPTOP Mag- LINK

PC Magazine- LINK

Cnet- LINK

 

Cool thanks.

 

Dangit, you're right! There is a line item on the detailed invoice that claims the system is eligible for a Free Win7 upgrade, so that's what I was basing it on. But I just read all the fine print on the Dell website and it says "Windows Vista Home Basic, Starter Edition and non-Bonus editions of XP are not eligible for this program!"

I'm hoping that all the rumors about Microsoft offering a "Family Pack" version of Windows 7 that can be installed on three computers.

I'm running Vista Home Basic on my Latitude E6400, so I knew I'd have to pay to upgrade it eventually. But a value-priced three-user deal wouldn't be so bad. I could upgrade both my E6400 and desktop as well as the new 1545 I bought for my sis.

I actually like Vista Home Basic quite well. I've been using it for seven months (after using Home Premium and Business for more than a year) and I don't miss any features from the 'premium' versions!

 

The poll results look pretty good, IMO. Out of 27 voters, only four say they "Disklike it" or "Hate it". Granted, that's about 15% of respones...but in a lot of polls I've seen on here, those who are unhappy or having problems with their system are more likely to post. A lot of satisfied owners might never even look at this thread...(that's what I'm hoping, at least).

Does anyone have an opinion about the LED display vs. the standard CCFL display?

 

led al the way !!! if you can

 

My refurbed 1545 just arrived yesterday, and so far I love this thing. I was looking for something with some power to it but nothing too fancy since I have a gaming desktop.

Has anyone here popped a SSD into one of these bad boys yet? I'm debating getting another G.SKILL 64GB Falcon (I have one as the boot drive on my desktop) since it hasn't given me any problems and throwing the 250GB HDD that came with the 1545 in a caddy for storage.

 

What's your opinion of the build quality? Does it feel fairly solid? And how's the keyboard?

 

I'm honestly a bit surprised by the build quality. It feels really solid, like it might even withstand being dropped (I'm not trying!). I've had laptops in the past that just felt flimsy, but this thing is pretty sturdy.

The keyboard is no Model M but I haven't felt cramped or hindered when using it. My primary complaint with the whole package is the fact that the F1-12 keys have the brightness, WLAN switch, volume, etc mapped on top of them and you have to hold down the Fn button to use the ACTUAL F1-12 keys.

It's pretty minor but I just know that I'm going to be accidentally adjusting the brightness or something when I'm trying to close a window. Maybe it's a standard thing on laptops these days, I dunno.

 

For some reason, Dell has been changing the brightness/volume/etc. functions over to the Function keys. I had a Studio 1535 and the brightness was adjusted using Fn + Up/Down arrows, keyboard backlight was Fn + Right Arrow...can't recall how the volume was adjusted. Then on the Studio 1555, all of those functions that were Fn + Arrow Keys are now Fn + F1-F5 or something.

The Inspiron 1525 brightness was adjusted with Fn + Up/Down Arrows, so they've made the same changes on the 1545 as they did on the Studio 1555...who knows why??? I'm just thankful that they're situated the old way on my Latitude E6400 (and I love have dedicated up/down/mute volume buttons above the keyboard, too...so simple)!

Glad to hear about the build quality! As I mentioned, I had a Studio 1535 (bought in 9/08). I honestly think it is the worst laptop Dell has ever made in terms of quality materials and structural rigidity! The "lesser" Inspiron 1525 was built like a ThinkPad in comparison to it! I believe they learned their lesson with the 1535 and newer products like the 1545 are built to a higher standard.

I'll be getting the 1545 I ordered from the Outlet in few days, so I look forward to taking it for a test drive and putting it under the microscope (so to speak). I'll play with it for a few days before giving it to my sister (it's a gift for her).

I'm rather optimistic about it...although I don't really care for the glossy black palmrest...but at least the lid is matte black and not glossy!

 

A note on the function keys; this can be changed in the BIOS to either act as function keys or media keys primarily (with the fn button switching them).

It is a serious finger print magnet!

Oh, and the fan is pretty loud when it comes on; only seems to have two settings, loud and really loud. However, it wont come on that often unless you are pushing it a little bit.

the keyboard is fine, except it doesn't have a pause break button. I think also the print screen is no where to be seen, but I don't have it with me at the moment so I couldn't be 100% on that.

It's not a gaming power house, it's not an ultra portable, but for the price, you get a fairly nice machine, and because of the price you learn to live with a few minor things. Overall, I don't think any of these negatives would stop me from recommending the machine.

 

The one I ordered has Intel integrated graphics, so the fan may not be as active as it is on yours (hopefully). Then again, I am giving it as a gift, so beggars can't be choosy!

 

Oh sweet, thanks for the tip! I knew there had to be a way to change it, I've just been too busy with work to really have a chance to fiddle with it hardcore. The only thing I've done was put the Windows 7 RC on here and copy my music from my desktop. 7 runs like a dream on this laptop, by the way, although I'm sure this isn't news to anyone.