Vostro 1500 just arrived! Impressions + question

About a week and a half after ordering my Vostro 1500 it has arrived. Now I had read a fair few reviews and threads regarding it and there were some things I was wary of.
Look: Coming from a HP Presario which I thought looked quite nice, I was dubious about the plain blocky black Vostro. However, now I have it infront of me I have no problem, the chunkyness appeals to me and the colour suits it fine.
Screen: On the review here it said get the 1440xwhatever screen, I didnt listen because it was an extra $100NZD to go from the 1280x800 and I was using that previously. I have no problems whatsoever with my Vostro screen.

Now there were a couple of problems which I wasnt ready for. I opted for the 160gig 7200rpm HD which performs very well (log on times similar to XP) but it does make a kind of clicking noise. While I would expect some HD noise, this is sharper than expected so is hard to ignore. Right now its clattering away at me.
I reinstalled Vista Home Prem when I got it, which got rid of loads of excess programs and was really easy, but also gave me a scare when me 8600M GT wasn't appearing under Task Manager. Luckily I had a old driver from LV2G stashed away somewhere (the 174.74 one didnt run for some reason) which fixed the problem.
Overall: Happy with the laptop, don't judge the product because people have had bad experiences with it. In saying that, the HD noise is annoying, doesn anyone know about that?

 

Just checked and its a Hitachi HD, if Device Manager is anything to go by.

 

This might help you with that HD noise.

Congrats on your purchase Glad to see you have no issues with it.

What are the exact specs and for how much did you get it?

 

They are good laptops! Is there a noticeable difference with the 7200rpm drive?


I'm pretty sure my next laptop is going to be a Vostro 1500 alongside my Inspiron 1520.

 

Thanks.
Specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 2.0 GHz
2 GB DDR2 RAM 667 MHz
160 GB HDD 7200 RPM
nVidia GeForce 8600M GT 256 MB
1280 x 800 TrueLife display

Came to $1303NZD which was a pretty good deal, a similar specced Inspiron would be around $1600.

I think there is a significant difference, its really noticable when logging on and starting up. Compared to my previous laptop which had a 5400rpm drive (as well as 1GB ram) it is far faster. I would recommend it to anyone considering the upgrade.

 

Hello, Im either getting a Vostro 1500 or a Vostro 1510. Im getting the Vostro because of the XP (if not it would be the inspiron 1520).

My basics are :
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5670 (1.8GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
160GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with Free Fall Sensor

However the problem is that the 1510 has integrated video, I would have to pay an additional $150. But I like it because is a bit lighter than the 1500, and its a brand new model.

My laptop is intended for office and home use. No gaming or DVDs.

Or should I get the Inspiron 1520????

thanks to all who can help.
best,