Vostro 1500: So far So good

My 1500 came today, 11 days early. Very Nice. I haven't done much on it because I am going to get XP Pro on it so it isn't worth my time right now but I will write what I have found so far and add pics and further review later.

Looks: Sexy as hell, Just how I like my women, Black with a little meat on their bones. It isnt fat but it ain't no thinkpad either. Festively plump. I like it because it lets me know that it is a solid design. Black on Black and Black to be exact is the color. The silver trim is nicely done. battery sticks out but I knew it would coming in and I could care less. No fingerprints, the only thing you can see on the lid is the slight oil marks but is not like an ipod. Inside the marks fail to show up at all. 10/10

Construction: As I said it is a beast, in a good way. Much sturdier than my roomie's Toshiba. Must be that Magnesium. It feel solid and I have yet to find a part that seem flimsy or weak/loose (except Battery), yes the battery wiggles a little bit but it is barely noticeable. If it bothers you that much fold some paper into it. Screen hinges are solid, even the opener that people have been complaining about seems fine to me. Keyboard is solid and feels great. Keys are perfect for typing. the weight isn't a big deal I used to have a HP 17" Pavillion so no biggy. If you can't carry around 6 lbs hit the roids and the gym. 9/10

Layout: Ports are there, Keyboard is nice and big, Touch pad works fine, Speakers could be not facing down but sounded fine for laptop speakers. Media buttons are sweet. Overall a very simple design. The stuff you need is there and thats it. It is a business laptop. 9/10

Performance: Quickly boots up can't wait to see this thing run on 2G of ram. DVD's look great on it (T2) easy to use with the media player. I will still install PowerDVD on it though. Screen looks amazing NO GRAININESS. Slight Slight Light leakage at certain angles. the Keyboard and touch pad perform awesome. Don't know what the complaint is there. I just went in and switched the pointer speed to high and it works like a charm. Now the downfall so far. It doesn't seem that fast, I was trying to load some programs and it seemed to take its time opening files and installing them. Hmmmm we will see if this changes. Maybe the processor is on energy saving? 9/10

I give it a 9/10 overall

Let me know what other questions you have. I will put some more stress on it once I get the OS going. I haven't checked out the Bluetooth compatibility yet because I don't have a mouse but I will get one from my friend. Digital Camera is coming tomorrows so I will try to post pics if people want them.

A few questions on my part.
-How do you control the processor and put it in and out energy saving mode?

- How can I test my computers performance( do I just test it on the pi proccess)?

-If I do install PowerDVD will the media buttons still work?

Thanks

 

yeah i really like mine too. the latch is cheap plastic though. i dont see it easily breaking or anything so its not a big deal.

 

I also dont know how to control the processor speed...its kinda annoying, yet my battery is amazing without tinkering with it. Maybe they dont include the option because the core 2 duos are already energy savers.

oh and dont worry your system, with 2gb of ram I just downloaded limewire in 30 seconds haha

 

can't wait to get my Vostro 1500...

 

I love mine. Great feel and so much better than my old Latitude D520.

 

Im really looking forward to mine... hope it comes today.

 

Sounds very promising, just the wonder of when it will show up ;D.

 

To the original poster - what abttery life are you getting?

 

I haven't really done much on the laptop besides surfing the net and downloading a few files. ( Building a PC right now and cleaning up my ipod) but if I kept on doing what I was doing it looks like I would get about 5-5 1/2 hrs (9 cell Bat)