Vostro 1500 Encounter Experience - Satisfied

Granted, this is my very laptop purchase, so I don't have anything to compare against expect for my desktop.

The notebook arrived on Nov. 20, but I picked up at the depot yesterday due to some complication in delivery (this had happened before, so it's not to blame Purolator or Dell). First I must say, the box is heavier than I thought! I hoped the weight will be lessened the fact I take out the interior packaging and accessories. But toting the black giant out, it will weight quite a bit.

Connecting the ac adapter to the back, I powered up the notebook and went through the Windows end-user agreement blah blah blah ritual. It came with a lot of Dell added-on stuff which I quickly uninstalled. I didn't plan to fresh re-installed the system yet since I wanted to see the specs inside. Downloaded Everest, scrolled over to the screen and to my horror, AUO1370! I quickly rendered a few monitor tests but everything looked fine, no grains, no dead pixels. In fact, I think the screen is very crisp, too crisp! I played around the colour management, turned brightness and contrast down, and put digital vibrance to 25%. That's the closest I can get to match my desktop screen colours without making it look too artificial and unnatural. Note that this was mainly tested at night. Right now with my notebook facing the windows, I can see how people might see distorting due to the truelife coating. One thing I do notice is the weak purple-blue display. Certain shades of purple/violet I see on my desktop lcd are really hard to distinguish as on the notebook. Not sure if it's optical illusion, colour blindness , or just the way notebook screen works.

Alright, enough with the screen. I must say this baby is awesome at handling tasks. Shutdown and bootup are so quick. 25 sec up and 10 sec down? Restarting after windows update was so quick I didn't even notice the whole process when I was browsing on the desktop for a brief moment.

Wireless, I have the Dell 1390 and it picks up my Linksys WRT54G just fine. I haven't tried connecting to any hotspots since well, there aren't much around my area. It works for me since I don't intend it to of mobile use. The touchpad is nothing exceptional so it's functional, but I replaced it with a Microsoft wireless notebook optical mouse 3000 - very tiny, compact, and awesome design where the usb receiver can be stored underneath the mouse! The headphone jack does come with a bit of digital noise, but it's hardly noticeable when you have sounds coming through, seriously. I'm sort of an audiophile myself but either that or I'm half deaf on the higher octaves. The noise should not enough to shun you away from purchasing this system! The speakers, on the other hand, are kind of weird. Reason I think they're placed beneath is the give more bass when it hits ground first, and a more surreal surround feel (not that I feel it, mind you). The treble is very pleasant when it's not directed blasted at you. And it has a nicer angle when you're watching movies and listening to music from afar. I think the speakers are a nice bonus, since you can easily get a pair of external speakers if they don't suit your taste. By the way, I must say the speakers are very loud. I have to work with 3 bars of volume and let either media player or winamp take care of the rest. Powerful speaker nonetheless.

I've been using a logitech keyboard for a very long time. And switching to the Dell keyboard was not a problem for me at all. Keyboard has no flex at all, but they do take a bit of pressure to hold the keys down. I am having a little trouble with the 'c' key, hopefully I'll adapt to it. Keys are nicely placed, good distance gaps and whatnot. The media keys in front works perfectly with my winamp as well, a big bonus. I haven't tried the Dell Mediadirect, nor do I think I'll ever use it really.

Here are some prior experiences with Dell on the phone. Before placing my order, I went through 4 sales rep, all of which were directed to India. Of those 4, only one went as far as providing an upgrade on webcam, harddrive, and something else I forgot, which were worth $80 listed price. One gave me an accessory pack worth $60 I believe, one gave me a 3% discount $36?, and the last one gave me $30, in which I bought because the system had better discounts than the others. Total came to $1200+ Cdn with taxes and other fees. Originally, I ordered an XGA+ screen, but it was sent to me with the XGA. I think the sales rep heard it wrong when I said plus, and he took that as + Truelife lol. I'm not sure if I was charged for that (pretty sure I was), and I did get a completecare for 1 year for some reason as well. I really don't know what's going on. But anyway, I just called in earlier, explained to customer service I didn't get the screen I wanted initially, and was immediately given $200 credit refund. Of course, I could have chosen to send it back and then put in another order for a new one. But $200 is too good to pass on plus, who's to say the next system won't be problematic? I know the final price probably is nowhere close to an identical system ordered down in the states with all the stackable coupons, but having a system just above one grand is pretty good I'll say. For those interested in the spec, here they are:

T5470 1.6 Ghz
2GB ddr667 Samsung RAM
Wide Screen XGA w/Truelife
256MB 8600m GT
Windows XP Home
56-WHr 6-cell battery
Dell Wireless 1390
120 GB 7200 rpm HD
1-yr completecare

Total: 1,203.45 w/taxes - 200 = $1,003.45

Oh, I forgot to mention one more thing. This system is a notebook, not a laptop. Don't even bother trying placing it on your laps, unless your knees in critical hypothermia.

 

Does it run that hot?

 

It's actually not that hot, but with the weight pressed against your skin, you feel the fluid dynamics at work.