Your Opinions on the Inspiron 1520 Config

Hey guys I was wondering your opinions on this new Inspiron 1520 from dell. Here is my configuration:

Components
SYSTEM COLOR Jet Black
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows ® Vista Home Premium Edition
DISPLAY High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1440x900)
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8600M GT edit
MEMORY 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
HARD DRIVE 160G 7200RPM SATA HDD
OPTICAL DRIVE CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)
BATTERY OPTIONS 85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition
WIRELESS NETWORKING Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card
BLUETOOTH OPTIONS Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR)
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
Service
WARRANTY AND SERVICE DellCare Plus
DIAL-UP INTERNET ACCESS No ISP requested
Accessories
ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE I chose Security with Value, Plus,or Premium Warranty Bundle
PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
POWER OPTIONS Dell Additional Slim 65W Auto/Air/AC Adapter edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Network Card and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.08
Doms Camera Module Jet Black color w/ 2.0M pixel Camera
Labels Windows Vista™ Premium
Processor Branding Intel Centrino Core Duo Processor

The total to this comes to $1,733.37 after my college discount.

I was wondering what are you thoughs on this laptop because I am going to school for Information Sciences and Technologies and I thought the specs on this would be pretty good and it seems to be a good deal after the college student discount. Is there anything you think I should add or something I will not need in the configuration. I mainly will be using this for school work, internet, and some medium gaming while im at college (games like BF2). I already have a custom built pc so I really don't need no high end gaming laptop. If you have any other suggestions on any different laptops or think this one will fit my needs please let me know. Thanks!

Jeff

 

Personally I would get the lowest ram option possible and upgrade myself because it is a lot cheaper. If the idea of opening up the laptop to get to a ram slot under the keyboard makes you squirm, though, i suppose there's not much you can do there.

 

IFL90/NP2090 kthxbye....

 

oddly enough, i did that special plan where you add uh the anti-virus software for like 15 months? I got your configuration plus 3 years of warranty and school savings and it came out to be 1650 pre-tax

 

Does anyone know if Dell will custimize with a 1 gig stick of ram and not the 2 512 sticks?

 

Yeah I would definitely recommend fiddling around with all the possible discount choices.

I tried before on a e1505 and the guy wouldn't let me. But on latitudes you can get them with 1 gig as one stick. If you call and try you might have better luck than I did.

 

As someone else said, you can save money by adding memory in yourself. Dell's prices are outrageous.

I have not been impressed by the speed of 7200RPM HDD over 5400RPM. If you want to shave off some of the price, that might be something to consider.

Is this an upgrade over the default sound options??? If so, what's the advantage? I'm genuinely curious.

What are you going to use this for? What kind of travel do you do? Is this something that will work only with your Dell or will it work with other computers? I have a Targus PAPWR005U which is relatively bulky but works with any laptop. In fact, it works with anything that plugs into a regular wall plug and that can operate on a source that generates 120V/90W/10A. So I could plug in a portable DVD player into it if I wanted to... or recharge a cell phone.

 

It's interesting because it says that it's software, which makes me feel like it's not that much of an improvement over say like Winamp or something.

 

As Santrago suggested rather cryptically it would not be a bad idea to look into the Compal IFL90 and the Sager NP2090 (which is basically a rebranded Compal IFL90). They are very close in specs relative to the 1520. The Compal IFL90 is priced very closely to the 1520 for similar specs. The Sager can come about $200 less but that's if you take the minimum warranty. I would recommend the Sager only if you feel you want to service your machine yourself after the warranty runs out (1 year on parts, 3 years on labor). The Compal IFL90 is sold with a better warranty but still not as good as a 3-year on-site as Dell sells. The one significant thing that the Compal and Sager have that the 1520 cannot give you is a better graphical subsystem: they all have the same GPU but 512MB for video RAM on the Compal and Sager vs 256MB on the 1520. The 1520 can use 256MB of system RAM to bring the total to 512MB but that's not as fast as a dedicated 512MB. I don't know what it means in terms of actual FPS since I'm not aware of anybody having done any real-world testing with any of these machines.

These two places are good vendors to look at for the Compal and the Sager:

powernotebooks.com
xoticpc.com

 

i read somewhere actually that turbo cache can be faster than 512 dedicated ram, i forgot why, i think somebody said it had somethign to do with DDR2 and DDR3, but then somebody said that it doesn't make a big difference and yada yada yada.

what i'm really cruious about is the harddrive, dell won't tell me what brand it is, but i mean is it really worth the price? it's a 47 dollar upgrade for me since I went for the sale and base for the sale is a 160 gb 5400 rpm drive. is 47 dollars worth the bump up to 7600?

 

It's not that they won't tell you, it's that they have 3 or 4 different kinds they pick from...and they cannot guarantee you getting one over the other. You just get what you get...

 

To iceman33: Are you bringing the high-end custom-built PC to college? If so, then you really won't need this expensive of a laptop. Might as well get a 1501 or e1520 with lower specs and save some money if that's the case. If you're leaving the desktop, this isn't bad, but as FrozenDarkness said I'm pretty sure you could configure it the same way for less.

Also check with your school to see if you're getting anti-virus provided. If so, there's no point in getting one from Dell.

lemur's description of e1520 v. NP2090 is probably the most objective I've seen. Go to Dell's site and one of the NP2090 links, bring up an Excel spreadsheet, and compare all the differences in features and price. Then consider which one you feel more confident about and which one you like the design of more. Depending on how you configure it, the NP2090 can be either more or less expensive than the Dell.

Not sure on the $47 for upgrade to 7200 RPM Hard Drive. That's not too bad pricewise, but it's hard to know without a personal comparison. I'm still looking for something that'll tell me what RPM my hard drive has.

 

Everything looks fine, but if you want to save some money, you should get the 5400RPM instead of the 7200RPM. It's not worth it imo.

With that card, you're gonna have pretty good gaming for at least 2 years.

If you don't really use it, drop the camera. It's $30, which is a lot considering little upgrades add up to a lot.

Get the Dell wireless instead....it's not going to be that much of a difference between the two and you'll be fine.

Now read this. If you really want a great deal and want to save a lot of money, or the same price with better components, get the Sager NP2090 (Compal IFL90) I have configured these machines several times and the specs surpass this Inspiron by a lot at only $1600. I'm not saying this laptop is bad at all. I am merely saying you can get a better deal. If you buy from Dell, you will be paying for the name as well.

Sager NP2090

 

well you're also buying design, change in color, and the customer support that dell is known for, where they come to your house to fix your computer.

 

Don't forget that the OP will be buying with a student discount. I am not aware of any Compal reseller that offers that. After the discount, the prices can be very close. He may save some money with the Compal, but probably not a whole lot(it really depends on the configuration).

Oh, and the Dells can get accidental damage warranties which is a plus.

 

I have built the 1520 a couple of times now and, using a student discount, going with the warranty packages ended up adding very little to the final price of the system as a whole, for this reason i think the 1520 is a better deal than the Compal IFL90. You end up with similar specs, edge clearly to compal for the GPU, but you get 3 year accidental damage protection and LoJack for laptops. I haven't tried this without a student discount but the 10% saving is still there so i would imagine it would still be worth it. The compal is a better deal for Notebook alone, and if you are comfortable without the warranty and such i would highly recommend the IFL90.
You DO have the discount, so disregard that part. But my recommendation still stands.

 

Yes, but without discount....

Sager NP2090 > Inspiron 1520

 

Again, if you are comfortable without accidental protection, in a college environment idk how comfortable i would be

 

You can get accidental at xoticpc

 

But after adding that you're spending more than at dell, granted you are paying more for a better product. You're spending around ~$150 more for the gpu and screen upgrades, which is a good deal. At this point i call it a wash.

 

The Compal IFL90 when bought under the PowerNotebooks or XoticPC in-house brands (named PowerPro and Force respectively) comes with a 3-year warranty on parts and labor. I know that in the case of PowerNotebooks, 1 business day shipping is included both ways with this kind of warranty. This is not as good as the on-site service Dell offers but it is better than the minimal warranty Sager offers. To keep things in perspective, here's my own experience with Dell. I've had Dell laptops for 9 years. I had to use on-site service only once in those 9 years. All other service I got from them they just shipped new parts to me and I shipped back the broken parts.

 

Hey guys I appreciate the posts..I will take down some of those additional things that I really don't need and I would like that Sager model, but I want a warranty I can trust because I am staying local at a college here for now, but within 2 yrs I will be at Penn State main campus and I will want to have a safe warranty. But I know some people may not be for dell, but I think this is a decent deal that will last me for a few yrs. But do you really think the Sager Deal will be better than Dell? Its a close comparison when you weigh all the odds. Also, I think I will just switch back to the 1GB of ram and then add another gig or 2 from like newegg or something like that. But I really appreciate all the posts so far! Thanks!

 

That's the thing. They come so close to each other that it becomes mainly a matter of personal preferences rather than a black and white thing.

 

Of all these options, Dell offers the best and most comprehensive warranty, no question about that.

 

You get a LCD accidental damage warranty. I believe the Dell's accidental damage warranty covers the whole laptop. Correct me if I'm wrong.


When I use my student discount to configure the Dell with similar hardware, Vista, McAfee, and the accidental damage warranty, it usually ends up a little cheaper--significantly cheaper if I purchase the xoticpc LCD protection*. However, the Compal comes with a fingerprint reader, a video card w/ 512MB of dedicated memory, and, I would assume, better build quality and customer support from xoticpc or powernotebooks.


The Compal IFL-90 gets my vote. I personally plan on buying one whenever I get around to it. Yeah, I'm that lazy.

*The Dell website doesn't like my router right now(or maybe the other way around?), so I can't give exact prices.

Edit: FYI, when I configured the Dell, I planned on buying the memory from newegg.

 

IDK about overall build quality, but the new series dells actually are built using the magnesium alloy now, so their build quality has improved since the last round of inspirons.
I would actually buy from the Hot Ram Deals list at http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=121363

 

A reminder for people doing price comparisons. Remember to take taxes into consideration because that can make a real difference. If I buy from Dell, I pay taxes. If I buy from PowerNotebooks or XoticPC, I don't.

 

Good point with the taxes. With what I want, the Dells are cheaper than the Sagers before taxes, but more expensive after taxes, even though Dell has free shipping and Sager doesn't. But just the fact that taxes push Dell's cost higher tells you it's pretty close.

I second BuckeyeFan's thoughts on build quality - I'm not sure Sager does have higher built quality anymore. From what I've read, the difference between 256 and 512 MB VRAM doesn't make a difference for most games, either. It really just depends on which one you like. If you're going to college in two years and hope the laptop will last 6 years total, the magnesium alloy build might be more important than if you only need three years. I know from experience plastic can chip fairly easily, but metal shouldn't quite as easily. Then again, you might be wishing you had another 256 MB VRAM or Wireless N (standard on the Sager) in a few years.

As Originally Posted by BuckeyeFan, View Post

 

i think the difference, tell me if i'm wrong, is that 512 MB Vram does not have turbo cache while 256 does, the difference is that the more ram you have, you can have up to 1 gig of vram through turbo cache. i can be wrong, so please someone prove me wrong.

wireless n is no big deal. buy an adaptor, or wait until they update the website.

 

Hey guys I just wanted to let you know that I did just order the Inspiron 1520. Here are the specs of the one I got:

Inspiron 1520 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)
Operating System Genuine Windows ® Vista Home Premium Edition
System Color Jet Black
Memory 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
LCD Panel High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1440x900)
Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8600M GT
Hard Drive Size: 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Network Card and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Combo or DVD+RW Drive CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)
Sound Card High Definition Audio 2.0
Wireless Networking Cards Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card
Camera Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 15-months
Battery Options 85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
4 Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service
CompleteCare Accidental Damage Service Add Accidental Damage and LoJack Theft Protection to 4Yr Warr.
Bluetooth Options Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR)
Datasafe DataSafe Online Backup 20GB
Doms Camera Module Jet Black color w/ 2.0M pixel Camera

Here it is...the grand total came to $1,584 after all the discounts. I originally couldn't get the $200 student discount, but I called up Dell and they gave it to me. How do you guys think this system turned out? I ordered over the phone, but I still see that I didn't get a confirmation email yet and my order status is empty. How long does this usually take? Thanks for all your help!

 

Hey guys...I already have my Inspiron 1520 ordered and its currently in the boxing stage!! But its time to decide on some ram for this thing since I ordered the 1GB. So I am looking at these 2 models:


G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Notebook Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231116

CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Notebook Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145157

I was just wondering if you think either of those will work out? I appreciate the help!

Thanks!