Vostro 1500 Mini-Review (UK)

Hi Folks... After much delay I am pleased to say that my Vostro finally arrived this morning in a lovely cardboard box - the first thing I noticed was how small the shipping box was.

The laptop is well packacked, with a box with the Drivers (Vista Home Basic was included) and power leads were ontop with the laptop in another polystyrine box underneath in a padded bag, laminate sheets over the keyboard but not over the screen.

Uncovering the laptop revealed just how matt black it really is. The outer lid is a wonderful texture of both roughness and smoothness... First noticed how easily finger prints get marked up. Holding the laptop, it feels like an awesome build, very sturdy and well manufactured - no loose bits.

9 Cell battery sticks out but so very very unintrusive, you just dont notice it at all. Battery fits in very tight and secure. In the battery compartment there appears to be a SIM card (Phone) bay, must find out what this is for. Battery Trials I have put below:

Going off the assumption that the battery was fully charged before hand (doubtfull, probably charged 75% , I timed a 4 and a half - 5 hour discharge whilst surfing with the Vista battery setting on "Power Save". On the High Performance Setting, with 3dmark 2006 running I got an estimated time of 1 and a half hours whilst it was att 55% charge - so probably get 2 and a half to 3 hours out of this baby full whack gaming with wi-fi turned on (No bluetooth).

Nice layout of ports, everything I could possibly need. On bootup it took a while to start up with the Dell initiation but once into Vista it was as fast as anything. I purchased the matte screen (not true life), and I am happy to report I have no quabbles with it, low brightness settings pretty much make things unreadable. No trial-ware was installed, a pleasant suprise - however Dell software is endless, Dell Support, Dell QuickSet, Dell this Dell that - 10 minutes in Remove Programs sorted that.

Nice set of blue LED status indicators on the right hand side. The keyboard is very easy to write on, space bar generally quite small but not in an inoperable location and no wrong keys have been typed yet. Windowss button has changed to a very Vistaesk one.

Very easy to take apart (had to install more RAM). Hinge plate and keyboard comes off very easily and RAM locations are of easy reach. Wireless module bay is very interesting (you don't know how small these Mini PCI cards are, they are disgustingly small).

3dMark06 score is 3172 with an 8600GT 256Mb

If anyone needs any more info on Elly (Yes, I have named her Elly...) or if you want to request pictures or movies of any sort please let me know. I am all ears!

 

I REALLY want to know about the batery life and what you are doing to achieve the time you are getting?

Ive bene asking for weeks yet no-one has been able to help me out, PLEASE be the first to stop this

 

Good to see that you got your Vostro, timmyb123. It Sound like your satisfied with your purchase.
I just can't wait ti'll mine arrives, it got to Denmark early this morning so I guess it will be in the country tommorrow!

I also got the 9-cell, so when you say: "Battery fits in very tight and secure." Do you mean it does not wobbel?

 

sorry buddy, updated with battery info.

The battery does not wobble at all

 

Cheers for the info timmyb123. Out of interest when did you order yours? I ordered mine last week (also in the UK) and I think you are the first UK poster to state you have delivery. It brings hope that mine may get delivered before my holidays next week. Also have you put any games on it yet? If so how does it run?

 

Ordered it on the 17th of July, and apparently was put on the Priority List.

3dMark 2006 is about to get run . Will post the score up as soon as possible in the main post.

Battlefield 2 is getting put on tonight.

 

Oh yh Timmy ur the guy from hotukdeals right? Whenever u get the chance pls post up how long the battery life is

 

I bought Battlefield 2142 the other day in anticipation of the 1500 arriving. Its burning a hole in my desk! I seriously hope mine arrives before the 31st.
Did you have orange internet and BT internet on your machine? My dads 1000 that arrived had them preloaded. Had to uninstall straight off.

 

The SIM card is for the built-in Wireless from a sim card using wireless carrier (T-mobile in the UK?) if you chose that as an option.

 

any light leakage im asking as many as i can to see how widespread this is.. seems like basically all of them so far..

 

Manzi, yeah I am the guy from hotukdeals nnice to see you around. The battery life is posted, The averages are:

Surfing and general usage on Battery Saver mode = 4 - 5 hours.
Gaming on High Performance Mode = 2.5 - 3 Hours

zfactor, what do you mean by light leakage? The screen is spot on.

Tiscali and Orange Internet were preloaded yes but uninstalled very easily.

 

Reason I asked about Orange and BT was everyone says the Vostros come without bloatware. Are these not classified as bloatware? Oh and Mccaffee.
How does the machine feel timmy? I will be gaming literally on my lap most of the time so want to know how comfy it is. Whats the mouse pad like? I ordered a trackball controller off ebay the other day so I dont need a flat surface.
Edit - Forgot to ask, what screen option did you get?

 

Screen Option was the WXGA 1280 x 800, the mouse pad is just like the average laptop pad, bit small for my liking however, made smaller by the scroll sides. The laptop feels spot on, its very quiet, hard drive operation is seemlessly quiet - it is quite hot though... and is especially quite toasty after just coming out from 3dmark06.

3dMark2006 score has come out at 3172

 

That seems quite low compared to some of the stuff I have been reading in the threads on here. I guess the proof is in the pudding though, if it runs BF2 at full settings then thats good enough. Dont suppose you have Oblivion do you?

 

for a notebook I thought it was a fairly good score. I will try BF2 and report back

 

You say 4-5 hours battery with Battery Saver Mode but is that with wifi on and the laptop being used constantly during the 4-5 hours?

 

with Wi-fi on, these are estimates mind. Id say around 4 and half real world use.

 

I see you have the dell remote with it. Whats it like? I ended up with a "what the hell" purchase at a fiver.

 

Thanks for the review timmyb123. GLAD to hear about the 9-cell being a 'friendly" protrusion. I was agonising over that decision. Not anymore. I reckon 3-4 hours "real world" battery life is quite GOOD, esp with WiFi on, which is how I will be using mine when I get it.

 

Nice to read a UK review, I ordered my vostro 1500 back at the start of August and my EDD is the 31st. I'm from HUKD too! (Sandman`), hello !

How did u manage to get put on a priority list anyhow?

 

all HUKD'ers hello haha

 

Ahh greetings HUKDers! Nice to know we are so widespread .

Regarding the priority list - I ordered July the 17th so a barrage of emails and complaints later I was put on the list, best thing is to call and enquire about it, say you're in a situation due to the fact it is going to take a long time to ship.

I didn't order the remote control? Although the laptop appears to have the infrared sensor at the front.

Any ohter questions?

 

Greetings fellow HUKD'ers!
Now lets invade the avforums, afterdawn and then the world......

 

Wow theres quite a few HUKD ppl around here! Also Timmyb123, in the time you ordered your laptop and it was delivered you do know that for the same price the specs were put up?

Also how do you feel about the weight? Is it too heavy tp put on your lap and do you get tired carrying it?

 

Yeah I'm aware of how more deals coming up on the website with slightly better specs. Fortunately I did a bit of jiggling about and it appears that i've come out pretty good. Overall I got this laptop for £450 - as I had £50 deducted for late shipping which sort of equals it all out. The only thing that i've lost out on is the slightly better processor (7100 instead of the 5470, a difference of 200mhz) and an extra 40gb hard drive space, which probably equals to less than the difference I saved anyway .

Look at it this way, I tried to get better deals from Dell reps whilst Elly was still in pre-production and I couldnt get the price down at all.

There is no problem with the weight at all, its lighter than most laptops I've had and it happily sits on my knee no worries. I'd say it equals a University textbook .

 

£50 deducted for late shipping? What date was it meant to ship and what date did it actually ship? Thats nice! Did you phone up or email to get that?

I cant be arsed to complain as I'm not really in a rush for it, would be nice to get on the priority list tho.

 

You would have also got a 2mp camera, maybe you should email debarta and ask him to compensate you and claim he said the spec/price would stay the same.

 

Manzi, looks like you have come out with it slightly better than myself. I have constantly emailed him throughout the whole order history with updates on new specs from the website and he hasn't budged since. To be honest i'm not all that fussed, I may do it later today though.

Malc, I ordered on 17th July, was meant to be delivered 31st July but was put back to 24th August - I went off on one (phone them up) and they were more than happy to knock 50 quid off straight away.. I pushed for £75 but they woulnd't have any of it. I think its a standard 10% discount.

 

Yh the debarta is a tough one i ordered through another person.

 

I see, that is a pretty shocking delay tbh! I shall defo be giving them a ring if my EDD changes.

 

I ordered mine via HDUK too. Guys, when do these current deals run out? My mum wants to order a Vostro 1000 and I am sure I saw somewhere deal runs out 15th August

 

Yh the vostro 1500 deal and vostro 1400 deal runs out this wednesday night, not sure about the vsotro 100

 

Hi,
I was wondering if you can post pics of the 9 cell battery on the vostro 1500. Im hearing mixed reactions and only pics would be able to truly justify it. Thanks in advance! VP

 

sure, will post them when I get home tonight.

 

Could you answer the temperature poll (see signature)?
I am also trying to understand if the long battery life you are getting are due to the T5470. I had ordered a T300 with 8600M GT but after I cancelled my orderd (due to endless delay) I was considering getting a T5470 or T7100 with a 8400 GS. But seeing that you can run almost 5 hrs on a 8600 GT makes me dubious again...

 

You've got to remember that this is running in battery saving mode which, if im not mistaken, lowers the clock speed of both the 8600 and the 5470 until needed.

 

Yep, that's exactly why I want to know.
If the T7100 (or the T7300) sucks the same power as the T5470 when doing light chores in power saver mode, I would definitely buy the more powerful processor. I could harness its power only when needed, but still achiede long battery like when I read or write documents.

 

Deos the battery saver mode lower the brightness of the screen and to what level?

Edit: im guessing the T7300 uses more battery power due to it having 2mb cache more

 

Yes, by quite a lot - making the Matt screen pretty unreadable (not sure about the truelife screen). However you can alter the brightness of the screen with the function key on the laptop and still have it within power save mode.

I assume the 7100 uses the same wattage as the 5470 in power save mode (its only 200mhz lower but same core specs).

 

Ok thx for the info. Also whats the longest amount of time you've got.

 

Battery pictures are below and have been put on the main thread. I am currently on a 87% charge on High performance profile and have 2 hours 50 mins left

 

Thanks a bundle timmyb123 for the pics! I dont think the battery will bother me that much and I could do with the extra power so i'll most probably opt for the 9 cell. Cheers!

 

That battery doesnt bother me. If its anything like my HP lappy with the big battery on it makes a nice leg rest when leaning back with it on my lap. Having said that my HP is a lot smaller and lighter so shall see. Timmyb how did you get on with BF2?

 

Just ordered my Vostra 1500 : D
(see sig) think I got a great deal

 

You shpuld have not ordered the 3 yr warranty now. You should have ordered at the end of the 1 year that comes free with the laptop, then upgrade your warranty at the end of that 1 year so you end up getting 4 years warranty for the same price instead of one!

 

ah well I got a good deal on the warrenty anyway, They dropped it from £140 to just over £90, so I do not overly mind.

 

Timmyb123 when you get the chance can you post up a more realistic battery life time you get as the one you posted seems to be more of an estimate lol.

 

Ok last night I got a surfing and general mess around time (listening to mp3's) of 4 hours 30 odd minutes before Vista started complaining and shut itself down.

 

Is that with wifi on and high brightness of screen?

 

wifi on and in power saving mode (brightness about half way)