Vostro 1500 Q&A Thread...

Only the 1700 supports two hard drives.

 

Sorce

We know this is true but just to confirm

 

ahh i thought the 1500 did as well, i ordered the 1700 personally and had asssumed they were much the same. thanks anyway

 

About the remote control, dell tech support called me back and left a message. An indian guy said my vostro 1700 will come with that lil remote that was in the expresscard slot.

 

What does the Vostro 1700 come with one free and not the 1500?

 

lol^^ thats another excuse for me to lower the price of my laptop!

 

From what we can see from those who got the Vostro, they don't. So you must order it.
And YES they are compatible.

 

So far so good, no grainy screen.

 

I got my Vostro 1500 yesterday and it has the headphone jack noise it is extremely annoying.

 

What I don't get is why noone on any of the deal or notebook sites is asking...where do we get DC power adapters? Don't you guys take these in cars or on planes? I emailed Kensington and they say that the port is different from past Dell models and that they don't have anything that will work. Even Dell doesn't have an adapter on their site

 

Actually, Dell does offer auto and airplane adapters right here.

 

And which one says Vostro in the description?...None that I can see.

 

Then call or chat with Dell and ask them. I really don't see what the problem is. Most likely it will use the same one as the Inspiron line uses.

 

This is kind of a dumb question since the built is suppost to be the same as the inspiron, and im sorry if im wasting your time but:

Does the 9-cell battery stick out on the 1500?

 

I have another question:

Does it come (vostro notebooks) with a recovery dvd? to reinstall OS?
If not, does it come with a recovery partition, and let you burn recovery dvd for the OS?

I havent been able to figure it out..... if not, how we can get backup for the OS?

 

From what I understand from reading posts from people who have recived their Vostro there were no recovery cd/dvd included. But as for a recovery partition I am not sure.

I am really hoping Dell just forgot to put it in so that I get a recovery disc with my Vostro But I doubt it!

 

I sent an email off to my rep asking about the software cd's and also told him if they do not normally ship with the laptop I would like them sent out. Dell really does have to send them if you ask regardless of a recovery partition.

 

Agree. I would rather have a recovery disc than a recovery partition!

 

I'll be updating this later today, just got home. Sorry for the non-update.

 

Let's talk power adapters for the VOSTRO!!!

I have a substantial investment in Kensington travel adapters with tips that work with any of the older Inspiron/Latitude line (pre-Santa Rosa).

Is the power adapters for the VOSTRO/New Inspirons the same tip and voltage as the old Inspirons/Latitudes (like D620, E1705)?

Thanks!

 

I asked the same question and got this response.

Dell wrote: "The 9 cell will stick out about half an inch. Depending on utilization, it could offer an hour or two more than the 6 cell".

 

How many partitions are on the hard drive and what size are they?

 

jagsfan confirmed a highpitch sound when using headphones

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=148270

saw it wasnt answered in the main post

 

I got a 1500 with 9-cell, the batt sticks out 3/4" or more. Really doesn't affect the portability IMO.

I got the 120GB HD.
main partition is 107 GB. Recovery partition is 2 GB.

I can confirm the same thing. The sound has a really horrible noise floor. There is an obvious buzzing/noisy distortion. Good news is that even with a horrible noise floor, when listening to most music or when using the speaker output, it is not really that noticeable. Really though, I think they could have done better. Plenty of integrated sound codecs these days are really nice.


PS to thread parent, NO I did not get an IR remote. The extra packaging contents was pretty spare. Just the AC Adapter, MS Works CD, and a couple of booklets.

Also, my desktop was completely clean, there was no preinstalled crap at all besides some slight customization of the OS by dell.

 

I would guess that it will be on ebay in some time but as for now the only place i can think of would be dell. I upgraded to the GT when i built my vostro so i wouldn't have to worry about it.

 

I just checked and I also have the high pitch hissing sound from the headphones. I do not have a grainy screen, with the 1280x800. The notebook runs cool. The xp os disk, drivers, and recovery disk were the software included with the notebook. No bloatware was preinstalled. When I booted up, only internet explorer, my recycle bin, and windows media player was on the desktop.

 

Updated some of the answers, will browse through questions and update main post tommorow. Sorry for the delay.

 

Made a post with some info on how the vostro performs w/ 8600m gt and how well it overclocks. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=152353

 

I've a question about the build of the Vostro 1500. Is it like the basic Dell Inspiron B130 like (cheap grainy plastic) or is it better? (smoother or something like that).

 

It is magnesium alloy. Very nice.

 

about the IR remote, do i have to order one or does it come free with the vostro 1500? if i have to order it, how much is it and who do i call?

 

I had to order mine seperately. It was just over £5. I noticed on the Inspiron 1520 it was listed at £40ish. Descriptions were the same but no other info. Anyone know if they are different?

 

The build is solid. It is not plastic, it's metal (magnesium allow) and it is smooth.

Personally, I think the look of the Vostro line is mediocre, at best. Reminds me of the cheap laptops of a few years ago. Very plain looking.

 

I ordered a Vostro 1500 in the UK from Dell and there is a 4 week waiting time on them. Anyone got any idea why the delay? My dad ordered a Vostro 1000 last thursday and his is being delivered tomorrow. Gutted I wont have it to take on holiday with me.

 

hey, heard some concerns about the battery wobbling quite a lot and also ,the vostro 1500 becoming real hot under heavy usage, is this true ?

 

heavy usage? well when playing counterstike online it does get warm, but not too uncomfortable even while setting on your lap... i would say that it is not any warmer than other laptops become when using max power...

 

So would you buy an Inspiron or a Vostro for the same price for the looks?

 

Is it too late to change from Vista Basic to Premium? ESD is 8/15.

(The Vostro 1500 isn't for me, so it is not in my sig)

 

Personally, I'm not a fan of either. I don't like the rounded edges on both models. I more prefer the looks of a Macbook Pro. But, if I had to choose, I'd probably choose Inspiron for the choice of colors on the lid and the silver insides. I, personally, liked the old Inspiron color scheme (silver and white). I went with Vostro for the price.

 

Just wait until you recieve it, fill out the little form to request an OS disc and 9 times out of 10 they'll send you Vista Premium even though you have Vista Basic with the laptop.

 

Damn u serious?

is that the form found here:

https://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/en/backupcd_form

 

Am i the only one that thinks the vostro is a sexy beast? anyway when mine comes might have to stick some carbon fiber laminate on there

 

The CD doesn't have the keycode on it, your computer does. If your computer has a Vista BASIC, then a Vista PREMIUM CD isn't going to do you any good, is it? You can't get PREMIUM with a BASIC keycode...

 

Yes.

 

does anyone know why my webcam randomly stops working (the dell's software says webcam is not connected or pluged in). Usually a restart works but I don't know whats causing this to happen

 

Hey I just got my Vostro 1500 a day ago. As soon as I got it out of the box and started it up, I realized it was REALLY slow and laggy. I'll click on something, and the cursor will swirl like ti does when its loading for a good amount of time, not letting me do anything else in the meantime. Once it kicks in, everything I tried to do while it was "froze" and what I had done that made it load in the first place pops up in a blink of an eye... I don't get it! My system has the 2.2 Ghz processor, 2 gigs or ram, 8600GT, 120 gig hard drive, web cam, blue tooth, wsxga+ screen, dvd burner, and Intel wireless N card. Any ideas whats slowing it down?
Thanks ahead for any and all help!

 

Vista or XP?

 

Reinstall Vista and it will be very fast. I promise.

 

"Very fast"? I doubt it. It may be faster than his current install, but there isn't a Vista install out there that could be classified as very fast. Why do you think many of us uninstall Vista for XP?

Maybe when Vista SP1 comes out....