Official Inspiron 1545 Owners Thread

Thank you very much. It's working now.

 

I got to thinking a while back about the glossy black palm rests and how they attract fingerprints so badly, and came up with an idea. Has anyone ever heard of best skins ever? They make protective clear film you stick on your phone screen, laptops, things like that. I believe you can order small sheets of it to cut to fit. I use the skin on my phone and it works great, and protects it from scratches really well. I just replaced the film on my phone a few days ago, as the edges finally began to peel, but it had been on there for close to a year with no problems. I'm wondering if we could use this film on our palm rests and maybe reduce the amount of fingerprinting that shows up. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

I recently discovered that some 1545s in other markets (including the UK) have silver/gray trim rather than all the glossy black! The few I've seen with it are all low-spec models (Celeron processor, Vista Basic, etc.) but they look better to me than the glossy black! I'm hoping to find a way to get the silver palm rest and trim replacement part(s) eventually....

 

Send an email to fabio_mejia [at] dell.com; he helped me order some replacement parts for my Studio that weren't available anywhere on the Dell site or third party parts resellers. Ask him if he can get you an order for the 1545 silver palmrest.

 

I don't have my 1545 yet..it'll arrive by the 19th.

But anyway how's the fan noise on this and how often does it run? My previous laptop's (HP) fan use to run all the time even with doing nothing but browsing...use to nuts on youtube.

My build has 2.1GHz Core 2 Duo T6500 and Radeon HD4330.

Thanks.

 

Hello. New poster here.

I ordered a Dell Inspiron 1545 and it should be here tomorrow. I was wondering though out of impatience how it will play Source games, like Half Life 2 and such. I already know that you talked about it in the first couple of pages, but I never saw Source benchmarks. All I saw was Crysis and a bunch of other games. Has anybody at least tried it?

Specs are as follows:

Intel Core 2 Duo P8600
ATi HD4330
4GB 800MHz RAM
320GB Hard Disk, etc.

What do you think?

Posted from an Inspiron 1501.

 

Half-Life 2 will run on tin cans and AA batteries. The ATi 4330 will handle it nicely.

 

confirmed.

 

Tin cans & AA batteries? What resolution would you get with that? ;o)

Oh and FYI everyone, it looks like Dell has started putting up Windows 7 drivers, I've noticed them for a few models, not all of them, but the Inspiron 1545 is one of them. They only have a handful of drivers on there at the moment, I'm sure there will be many more to come.

Regards

 

Hello everyone I am still pretty new here but not new to laptops (especially dell branded). I recently bought a 1545 through dell.com and I reformatted the unit. I was able to get everything to work except the webcam. I usually download all the drivers through dell.com including the webcam driver which installed successfully. I then installed the webcam manager software and that installed successfully. I went ahead and opened the webcam manager software and it says "No supported webcam driver detected. Please install the webcam driver using the Dell Resource CD and launch Webcam Center again."

I will try opening it from video, photo, motion, etc... and still gives me that. I reinstalled the webcam driver and webcam manger software quite a few times and now I am just stuck. Let me know if you guys were able to get around this. By the way I did try to search this forum and others without a solution. Thanks in advance.

 

If you go into control panel > device manager, do you see your webcam listed in there? Does it have any yellow symbols next to it?

 

I did check that as well. That is usually my checklist to make sure I have all the drivers installed. There are no currently yellow marks on my device manager. My webcam driver says everything is working properly. This is a weird problem as I have installed webcam drivers and webcam software on numerous dells. Thanks for the quick reply.

By the way other than that this laptop is actually very powerful for what it is. This definitely beats the 15inch inspirons of the past.

 

I just ordered a 1545 that I am mostly going to be using for school, listening to music, and watching movies. Did I get a good deal with these specs?

-- Jet Black
-- 250 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
-- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
-- 8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
-- 3 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)
-- Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
-- Dell 1397 802.11B/G Wireless Mini Card
-- 15.6 inch High Definition+ (900p) Bright LED Display with TrueLife
-- 9 Cell Primary Battery


Total: $460

 

music and movies need space, but that's dependent on the size of your cd collection more than anything else. the 900p screen will come in handy for both schoolwork and movies. You shouldn't need much more ram or graphics, so long as you are not planning on gaming too heavily or doing too much photoshop work. Seems perfect, so long as you are good on hard disk space.

 

I'm in love with the Inspiron 1545!

So this morning I pulled the trigger on 2 more 1545's! I decided to completely rid myself of my desktop computer, so I needed something a bit more powerful than a T4200 and M4500XHD. I got these from dell outlet for what I think was a steal. $600 for a P8600, HD 4330, 4GB of ram, a 500GB hard drive, 9 cell battery, and LED backlit low resolution screen. The other was a bit over $400 and exactly the same other than a T6600 and integrated graphics. I will swap my 1600x900 screen and intel 5300 wireless onto the P8600 one. As for the other one I'm going to keep, I have several options spread out over the 3 other 1545's. I'm still not sure about what config(s) I'll keep and which ones I'll pawn off on ebay or wherever.

I hope I don't miss the bigger monitor, but I have been using the same samsung 19" CRT exclusively for the past 6 years. I don't think I'll miss the awesome video cards or processors. I packed up my last HD 4890 in the box to sell on ebay and I am just left with my celeron and an HD 4850 until the Dell boxes come and I get rid of the rest of my desktop system. I realized that online I like to play with the settings turned down all the way anyway, and if I want to do single player on any FPS's I can head over to my dad's house.

Oh yeah, I did edit that sig after I bought them! The first one is for sure, the second I have no clue.

Sorry if I'm just rambling here or whatever, but I'm just so excited!

 

I found it to be pretty competent for my needs. Despite the 3 gigs of memory and much faster processor, the system feels no faster than my desktop running on a P4 with 2 gigs of RAM and Windows XP. Despite the fact I did a clean install, it runs fine but not mindblowingly fast. And I only have the Internet and MS Office installed as I only use this system for work.

 

your p4 is likely at a higher clock speed, as is your RAM. then there's the fact that it's running XP and not vista, and that it feels inherently faster.

 

Even a T4200 is more powerful than any P4, including dual cores. The 2.2Ghz Celeron is more powerful than any single core p4. The DDR2-800 ram has the same or more bandwidth than any P4 system ever did.

The problem is that using the internet and office applications aren't going to stress one of the later P4's, let alone your current laptop.

 

720p at least. If you use 9v batteries instead and overclock the cans, you can probably hit 1080p with at least 2x AA.

Now that's pretty exciting. I hope the 1555 has some new drivers by the time my Windows 7 upgrade comes in October.

 

@Fragilexx - Thanks a lot for trying to help me.

I finally figured it out my problem with the webcam. It seems that when you reinstall your OS and download drivers, in this particular case, you have to use the driver cd that came bundled with the laptop. I usually do not use the bundled software I just go straight to dell.com to get the latest and greatest so I know I would have the most updated drivers and applications.

In the application cd there is a file called "webcam central" and that is the correct software webcam to use with the 1545s. I was loading the "Webcam Software Manager" Utilities usually bundled with every other dell laptops. That goes to show that dell really do put those cds in there for a reason. Anyways, I hope this helps some of you folks trying to find the webcam application for the 1545 and next time I will not think twice about using the bundled software.

 

My P4 is clocked at 3.2G. And on the laptop I have 4 gigs of RAM, not 3, my mistake . Still, I was hoping this thing would like fly. It's still fast, don't get me wrong, but I think there are several factors:

1) Slower hard drive
2) Slower clock speed
3) Vista is one resource intensive mofo
4) Performance vs. battery life modes

In addition, I have performed some of the tweaks suggested in the Vista tweaks thread. Made things a little lighter.

So far I'm digging the new system. Construction wise it feels solid (big improvement for Dell), no dead pixels and screen looks good, they gave me the Seagate hard drive (Momentus 5400.5) as opposed to the Samsung HM320 that was in the first system. I found the Seagate to be a little more noisy. Plus for some reason Speedfan is reporting it's only running at like 90%, and HDD Status says it's running at 82%. It's off on two benchmarks by like 3 points below the lowest reported value. Hope it's not a big deal.

 

Over the last 2.5yrs, I've had to accept the fact that Vista simply isn't as 'snappy' as XP regardless how much horsepower you throw at it! Even with a 2.66GHz Intel T9550, 4GB RAM and a 512mb ATI Radeon HD 4570 graphics card (in a Studio 15 that I briefly owned), it felt no faster than my Latitude E6400 (2.4GHz Intel P8600, 3GB RAM, Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics, 7200rpm hard drive)! And the E6400 doesn't feel substantially faster than the Inspiron 1545 I bought for my sister a few months ago (2.0GHz T6400, 3GB RAM, Intel GMA 4500MHD, 5400rpm hard drive)....I'm trying to be optimistic that Windows 7 will fix that issue!

If you're running Vista Home Premium, disabling the "Aero Glass" interface will give you a boost in speed/responsiveness (but it won't look as cool...a sacrifice I'm willing to make for speed). I also have found that disabling the Windows Sidebar helps a bit....

The construction on the Inspiron 1545 is fairly solid. The plastics used and overall build quality is on par with the more expensive Studio 1555...although the 1555 is better looking without the glossy black trim everywhere!

As for the Seagate hard drive, there is a firmware update ( LINK) from the Dell Support site dated 5/4/09. You may want to download and install it if your system isn't up-to-date...it may not have any effect on the issues you mention, but it couldn't hurt!

In my experience, Seagate hard drives are often noisier than models from other major manufacturers (particularly- Western Digitial, Toshiba and Fujitsu). I installed a 320GB 7200rpm Seagate Momentus 7200.4 in my Latitude E6400 as soon as it arrived (it had an 80GB 5400rpm Toshiba) and it's easily the faster hard drive I've ever had....but it's also the only drive I've ever had that runs loud enough to be annoying at most times....I'm contemplating getting a Western Digital to replace it! But your 5400rpm version should be significantly quieter than my 7200rpm.

 

the current crop of seagates are really annoying. i'd just use it as an external and get a better internal drive from samsung, hitachi or WD.

 

Anybody know how to overclock the HD 4330? I need some more FPS in far cry 2.

 

So far I've not found a method. I'd probably advise against it anyway, seeing that the GPU is integrated into the mainboard, fry that and you need a whole new board.

 

Hi. I am the owner of an inspiron 1545 laptop, loved it for 3 omnths fairly heavy use (would leave it on overnight downloading now and then) and loved it. Overheating was sometimes an issue. Recently, the hard drive crashed out, problems everywhere and i sent it to dell for repairs. They replaced the hard drive, and it came back. Vista home premium had been reinstalled, as had dell drivers etc, but things like the volume being displayed when you press the multimedia buttons stopped happening - they still worked, but didn't display. Anyway, I had it a day, then it wouldn't shut down. It just said "logging off" and stayed like that for hours. I was forced to pull the plug and reset it. Now when I load it up i can type in my password, then it either stays on the "welcome" screen without freezing - the circle keeps spinning - or loads up a plain black screen with the cursor which moves, and then turns blue with the cursor still. Any ideas what is wrong? thanks, Phil

 

Heat is every laptop's worst enemy! Overheating or heat buildup will, at the very least, reduce the life expectancy of your laptop. At worst, it will cause one or more components to fail...usually, the hard drive is the first fatality.

First of all, I strongly recommend taking some steps to minimize any further overheating issues!

1- Don't leave the system powered on when not in use.

2- As a safeguard, be sure that you have the power settings configured for the system to sleep after a certain length of inactivity and also to hibernate after an even longer period of time. That will allow you to leave it running for a few hours (for a long download) and then it would hibernate after a few hours rather than continuing to run indefinitely.

3- Get a notebook cooler to supplement the 1545's cooling system. They usually have one or more fans to actively pull heat away from the system and they usually elevate the system slightly (less than 1"). The open space improves air flow and allows heat to espace from the bottom vents much more effectively.

Now on to your other issues-

4- The volume level display missing sounds like you need to install the Dell QuickSet utility- LINK

5- Your problem is one of two things- the hard drive or the operating system installation. Dell includes the Windows Vista reinstallation CD with all new systems, so you should have it. I would try doing a "clean" install using the disc. Dell also provides another disc with the drivers originally installed on the system.

Before doing a clean install, attempt to restore the system to factory settings using Dell Factory Image Restore (which is the D: partition on your hard drive). It may only restore things back to the (flawed) condition that you are currently dealing with, but it's worth a shot. The instructions for this are in the small green/white booklet "Inspiron Setup Guide" that came with it- starting on page 44. Or you can view the booklet here- LINK

If none of those steps correct the problem, your new hard drive is a dud...or you have other hardware issues causing the problems.

Let me know how things turn out! If you have any questions, feel free to post them or send me a message directly...contact info is in my profile (click on my user name to view)!

 

Sounds like a botched installation of Windows. Reinstall Vista from scratch with the disk that came with your system, and download the latest drivers from support.dell.com. For the record, the software needed to display the volume and brightness indicators on screen is called Dell QuickSet.

 

Phil, you might also want to look at undervolting, this can reduce the CPU temp, assuming it's the CPU that is overheating.

If you are happy taking the notebook apart, you could also apply some thermal grease to the CPU & GPU.

 

ok, i think the botched vista installation seems most likely. It actually got up and running today, no idea how, but hopefully i can fix it before it crashes again. i think i ran my last hard drive out by overheating it, i'll probably get a notebook cooler then. thanks guys, i tried dell, they were useless with tests i'd already done, so cheers, Phil.

 

are you sure that this computer will run sims 3 smoothly? I want to buy this exact computer and it's important to me whether or not it will run sims 3 smoothly.
I've seen that Sims 3 requires 128mb video card (GPU) - http://pc.ign.com/articles/939/939410p1.html . does this displaying cars is sufficient? what about the same computer with the display card ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4330 Graphics.

 

Hi everyone, has anybody overclocked this laptop?? it is possible???
thanks

 

It's highly improbable. To do any sort of FSB overclocking, you would need to physically pin-mod your processor, which is a very good way to break something permanently. And the new Intel chipsets have fail-safes against that sort of thing, and your CPU would most likely be locked to the lowest speed anyway.

In short, no.

 

Hey, guys, mKTank here. Haven't posted in a while, but I'm back for a bit.

Anyway, I called Dell and talked to them about how the X-Fi that comes as an option didn't work for me, and apparently they didn't release the Windows 7 drivers yet. Damn it all.

Anyway, is there an undervolting guide made for the 1545 specifically or that has been confirmed to work for it 100%? I don't want to mess things up. Not that I'm dissatisfied with the battery life, but the lower temperature sounds like a good reason to undervolt. And I'm not going to be losing any performance whatsoever with undervolting, right?

 

Tank, I have an Inspiron 1545 on order at this time and plan to undervolt it also once I get my hands on it. I don't know what CPU you have, but mine has a T6500. I checked the specs at Intel for this CPU with regard to voltage, and it gives a range of 1 to 1.25. Most likely the CPU voltage will be set to automatic when I get it. Hopefully the BIOS will have an option to change the CPU voltage to manual and set it at 1.2 or so. I will then take it down a little at a time and see how it goes. I should be able to go down to 1.0 with no problems but will try to go lower if it looks like there are further gains to be made in battery life and heat savings. The only problem that might occur is a BSOD, and if that happens, you know you went too far. Just go back in to the BIOS again and increase it a bit until you have no BSOD's.

I think you can make similar gains in battery life and heat savings by reducing the voltage on the memory. Once again, I don't know if the BIOS on this machine will permit manual adjustment of memory voltage, but I will be checking into that.

 

The BIOS does not have a setting to change any voltages. The only way to undervolt this laptop (and pretty much most others) is via software that only takes control once loaded up. Look in the stickies in the hardware sub forum for more info on a program called RMClock.

You can't undervolt the memory on this machine, again BIOS settings for many many laptops are significantly reduced in comparison to their desktop counterparts to stop people breaking their machines by doing daft things.

 

Fragilexx, Thanks for the info about RMClock. I read the sticky and downloaded the programs. I will use it to undervolt my new 1545, which is scheduled to arrive on 5 Sep 09.

 

Hi guys, recently my screen has been getting loose. Since college started, I've been using the laptop a lot. When I am carrying it on the side, the screen kind of opens around half a inch to a inch (Since there is no screen lock when you close it). And if u flick it when its opened, it wiggles a bit. Does anyone know of a way to tighten it a little?

 

No, unfortunately there isn't, unless you replace those crappy dell hinges.

 

hi everyone.. i bought a dell inspiron 1545 last month.. but i'm having problem with bluetooth now. its showing bluetooth hardware not detected when i try to use bluetooth. anyone plz help..
my laptop configuration is 3gb ram, 250 gb harddisk, core 2 duo 2mhz, windows vista home premium.

 

John, when you look at your Bluetooth device Properties in Device Manager, does it say it is working properly? One thing you could try while in Device Manager is to click on Uninstall, then do a Scan for Hardware Changes (also within Device Manager) to re-install it. If none of this helps, I would try to re-seat the Bluetooth device. If it still doesn't work, the device has probably failed.

 

I bought an inspiron 1545 off the outlet, got a damn good price, but got the god damn 1366x768 resolution screen, as i wasn't seeing any at 1600x900 coming up. I regret not waiting! i have called dell support, which said that they do not sell the 1600x900 ones, and i cannot find them on ebay or otherwise instock online. Any one have a part number that will work, or any other leads on upgrading my screen to 1600X900? I am very good with taking apart and modifying my Pc's, so the installation is not an issue, i just need the panel which seems hard to track down! If any one here wants to swap panels that would be an option too! (with me giving you some cash!)


Any ways, let me know if you guys have any ideas
Thanks,

Andreas

 

I have a 1600x900 and the hardware id is AUO10EE. Give it some time, they'll begin appearing on eBay sooner or later, or you could try giving the parts-people a call.

 

A little hint to anybody who's going to buy this from the Dell site:

If you're going to get the best processor, GPU, RAM, and whatnot available for the model, do NOT cheap out and opt out of getting the webcam, Bluetooth, and X-Fi. It will be the worst mistake ever. You're already spending around 1,200 dollars, don't cheap out at the last 50 dollars and just get the full thing, or else you're going to regret it like I am right now.

 

imho the X-Fi is overated. Also, I have the webcam, but if I have ever used it (or ever will) then I'd be suprised. For me, if I was paying extra for it I wouldn't have bothered. The bluetooth though is worthwhile just to keep a usb port free.

 

Thank you very much for the hardware tag, next time i try calling the parts people i will give them that code and see if they can get it that way. I tried calling earlier and talked to a woman that couldn't locate the part i wanted. i was ready to pay $200+ for the part if they had it but she couldn't find it, or something. It was very hard to understand exactly what the issue was on her end.

If any one has a lead on where i can order one online, that would be great, otherwise i may just have to wait!

Andreas

 

As I've said before, regarding the Inspiron 1545- it represents a very solid value for a sub-$700 budget notebook, but it doesn't make a lot of sense as a $1000+ notebook! The Studio 1555 has more standard features, more options and higher performance graphics cards and high-res displays (up to 1920x1080) for under $1000!

 

@ ktriebol

I can't find it in Device Manager also. Its not showing there.

 

arrrggghh D ell UK are infuriating, I was contemplating getting the Inspiron 15 (N0054504) - £399 with core 2 Duo, only to see that they have now removed the webcam from it. It's now a £30 extra.

 

If you wait a little time they'll probably add it back in again, Dell changes their 'standard' offers all the time, or phone up and speak to a sales advisor - you might even be able to get it thrown in for free.