E1505 Full Review (w/ Pics & Possible Sigmatel Audio Fix)

First of all this is a wonderful computer- especially for the price. I feel that this computer among others is unfairly reviewed, because you hear more from the people who don't like the machine than the happy content people. And on forums like this where the average member has much higher expectations than an average consumer, it is also criticized.

Well let me start off by showing you my configuration, and how much I paid for it. This is my first laptop, but I am heading overseas this coming January, I felt that I needed a fairly durable notebook with a good balance between dedicated graphics and power consumption. I am also starting college, I needed something powerfull enough to draft on comfortably, I also do a fair share of audio recording/editing, I'm a bit of an audiophile, and lastly I am a gamer, this machine wonderfully suits my needs. (Take note, I upgraded my ram with Newegg) Here are some pictures.

The DVD is The Chronicles of Riddick


DVD in the dark.

DVD up close.

DVD in the light.

Computer in the light.

[Configuration]
SYSTEM COMPONENTS
E1505 Dual Core Qty 1
Intel® Core™ Duo processor T2500 (2MB Cache/2GHz/667MHz FSB), Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 Unit Price $2,023.00
Inspiron affiliate offer $750 off $1999+
LIMITED TIME OFFER! View Details Remove Coupon
- $750.00

Catalog Number: 29
Module Description Show Details
Inspiron E1505 Intel® Core™ Duo processor T2500 (2MB Cache/2GHz/667MHz FSB)
Operating System (Office software not included) Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
LCD Panel 15.4 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen SXGA+ Display with TrueLife™
Memory 512MB Shared Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM 533MHZ, 1 DIMM Upgraded through newegg, see below!
Video Card 256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory™
Hard Drive 100GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
Network Card and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
Combo/DVD+RW Drives 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
Sound Options Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy® ADVANCED HD Audio
Wireless Networking Cards FREE! Intel® PRO 3945 and Dell 350 Bluetooth Internal Wireless Cards
Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed) No productivity suite- Corel WordPerfect word processor only
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) No Security Subscription
Primary Battery 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Carrying Cases Dell Nylon Deluxe Carrying Case
Hardware Warranty 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr At-Home Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support
Accidental Damage Protection (Except in Florida) SAVE 10 %! Add CompleteCare Accidental Damage Svc to 1Yr Lim Warranty
Dial-Up Internet Access 6 Months America Online Internet Access Included
Miscellaneous Award Winning Service, Support
Mobile Broadband No Broadband Expresscard technology is available in the market now
Future Operating Systems Windows Vista™ Capable
Operating System Re-Installation CD Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition re-installation CD
Dell Digital Entertainment Starter Entertainment Pack - Basic digital Music, Photo and Game experience

ACCESSORIES
Free Netgear WGR614 Cable/DSL Wireless Router Qty 1
Unit Price $0.00

TOTAL:$1,273.00

Additional Discounts and Coupons

FREE GROUND SHIPPING!
Limited Time Offer! View Details

Total Price
Sub-total $1,273.00

Shipping & Handling $27.00

Shipping & Handling Discount -$19.00

Tax $73.14

Total Price $1,354.14

Newegg order
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
2 Transcend JetRam 1GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Notebook Memory Model JM488Q643A-6 - Retail
Model #: JM488Q643A-6
Item #: N82E16820208037

$10.00 Mail-in Rebate

Subtotal: $163.10
Shipping: $7.37

Total: $170.47

So the grand total is 1524.61

[Memory]
About Dell's ram, if you need more than the basic 512mb stick you should look elsewhere. In my case Dell wanted 300 dollars to upgrade from 512 to 2gbs of 533mhz ram. I went to NewEgg and got 2gbs of 667mhz transcend ram for 170 dollars. The E1505 has a 667mhz fsb, so essentially I paid much less for faster ram. Why Dell doesn't offer 667mhz ram as an option when you configure the machine, I don't know. As far as installing the ram goes, all you have to do is remove to screws on a seperate panel on the bottom, and both slots are then easily accesible. My Bios, version A05 at the time, recognized it immediately without a hitch. The transcend ram has tested perfectly also.

[Display]
The display is absolutely beautiful. I again have the 15.4inch WSXGA+ with Trulife. I run my desktop on the native resolution of 1680 x 1050. For those worried about the icons being to small, I checked the box "Large Icons" on my Appearance/Effects menu, and I think they look perfect. Text sizes can be adjusted also, but for me it is just fine, the screen has very good clarity so text and details are easily distinguishable. The high gloss high contrast coating that is put on the screen does minimize the vertical angle viewing sweet spot to perpendicular with the screen- Meaning you have to be looking directly at it not down at it or up at it for it to display properly, however the horizontal viewing angle is very wide. Lastly, many people have reported light leakage problems along the bottom of the lcd, on my notebook there is a faint amount of leakage that extends maybe an inch from the bottom, but it so faint that had I not known about it ahead of time, I probably wouldn't have noticed, it does not hinder anything, and can only be seen when the screen is black. Finally, DVD's and games look absolutely delicious.

[Touchpad/Keyboard]
This laptop is equipped with a touchpad and 2 buttons, left and right. I find the touchpad to be as accurate and precise if not better than any other laptop I have used. The touch pad also has scroll sliders along the right side and bottom for scrolling through windows, I believe this can be disabled, or the entire pad disabled through settings. My first impression of the two buttons were, "they are kinda toy-like" but now that I've used it for a few days, I don't have any worries of them breaking, they tilt slightly forward and back but I don't expect to have problems. The keyboard is pretty standard, full sized- feels and sounds just like a laptop keyboard, I have not noticed any kind of flex. It will not be a good choice if you like to use it as a coffee reservoir.

[Performance]
This is my first dual core proccessor, I have had hyperthreading in the past but this kicks everything out of the water. I have the T2500 2ghz Core Duo, the fastest dual core option on the E1505. With this processor, teamed up with a 7200rpm harddrive and 2gbs of 667mhz ram, this laptop is screaming fast. Even before I reformatted and reinstalled the OS, with all the bloatware it was very fast. This machine is very good at multitasking, even with a slower dual core and less ram, I would expect this computer to perform very well with multiple complex tasks.

[Graphics]
I am a gamer, I play CSS, HL2, WOW, Warcraft 3, just recently I'm trying EVE Online. I easily ran warcraft 3 on full high. Just last saturday night I tryed out the laptop at a CSS lan party, and it looked great at 1280 x 800, you could play at 1650 x 1050, but you would have to turn off the bells and whistles. I feel that on this sized screen, gaming at 1280 x 800 is very crisp, I'd rather have the effects than an ultra high resolution. At the outdoor lan party we managed to blow alot of powerstrips, not to mention 3 street lights, I noticed that automatically when I was running on battery power, to conserve energy the laptop steps down the cpu, display brightness, possibly ram and harddrives speeds aswell but I'm not sure. I think this is a good mechanism, and if your running on battery power and tell it to do something, it will step of the proccessing accordingly, and back down when not in use. It mechanism really seems to work quite efficiently. And you can shut it off in the Bios if you don't like it. I did install EVE Online last night, and I was in awe of how responive, fast and beautifully it performed. Lastly this card is a very good balance between dedicated graphics and power consumption.

[Power/Battery]
I have the 9 cell,- It is not bigger than the smaller battery just more dense, it does not stick out of the laptop in any shape or form. The battery was surprisingly fully charged out of the box. It was a physical battery power meter right on it, executed at the touch of a button- Just like duracell or energizers built in power meters, except this uses leds. I talked about the laptops automatic ability to step down the speed to conserve energy, this does conserve power very well. I haven't done any extended tests, but according to the estimated time the laptop gives, on a lower brightness, with or without wifi/bluetooth and light websurfing/applications you should be able to get at least 3 to 5 hours of power. When gaming, and running intensive tasks you should expect a good 2 to 3 hours.

[Speakers]
The speakers are laptop speakers thus they are not "uber" good, I believe there are actually 4 of them (2 in the front grills and 2 on either side of the keyboard through the heat vents, but as far as the hardware is concerned there are essentially two speakers. With the added Audigy software they sound much better- I'd say worth the 20 bucks. I did have some problems with the sound card, but everything works in the end- I'll discuss those problems in my final notes.

[Heat/Noise]
Not bad at all, I like sitting down on a couch with a warm laptop, its kinda cozy. If you are doing intensive tasks, it will get warm. Nowhere on the sides or undercarriage is it at all uncomfortably too warm. The one spot I've noticed where it gets a little too warm is just under the lcd under down where the hinge is, I assume the light bulb for the lcd screen is around their somewhere.- However it took about 4 hours for it to get that hot- and it is not nearly hot enough to burn you- You don't stick your fingers there anyway. The fan kicks in accordingly, there is only one, and it is pretty quiet, and if there is any ambient noise, unnoticeable. The dvd rom does not whine or produce any high pitch noises, it has a soft whirring, just somewhat louder then the fan. When watching a dvd, it is unnoticeable. All in all there I have experienced no uncomfortable heat/noise issues.

[Networking]
I have not used the bluetooth module yet, but it seems to be in perfect working condition. The built in ethernet card works great, no hitches. The 3945 intel card- I had some trouble getting it to connect to my hidden SSID, WEP protected network- but it turned out to be the fault of my router. In the end it works real well, the range is better than some wifi cards i've used.

[Design/Durability]
The design is pretty nice, I must be one of the few who actually like the look of the white trim on the new series of Inspirons. I am using the media buttons on the front more then I expected myself to, so they are a plus. The lid on my notebook shuts flush, I've read of some other user's whose lid didn't quite sit right. The hinge feels very sturdy, I use to hands to move it because it is that solid and I don't want to put any uneven torque on the hinge (in order to reduce wear and tear). It is not uncomfortably heavy for me to move around with the lid open or closed. I wouldn't however suggest an old lady move it around often. I think if taken care of, it is pretty durable, on the other hand, I don't think it could survive too many 3 foot falls to concrete.

[Sound Card Issue]
I did have some trouble with the sound card, I ended up reformatting and reinstalling the computer several times. The first time I was just getting rid of the bloatware, the second time was an attempt to get the soundcard to work correctly and the third time was because the second installation sorta blew up on me. Finally I resolved the issue, and you can rest safe, none of the problems were hardware related, infact all diagnostics showed the hardware functioning perfectly.

(Possible Sigmatel 9200 Audio Fix /w the Audigy Package)
With the factory install the sound worked just fine. After my first install the sound would chop at consistent intervals. Reinstalling the card and software did not work. On my second install the sound with software worked on the first try, but due to a completely unrelated windows failure I had to nuke the system again. My third install resulted again in the sound card not working properly, this time I uninstalled the soundcard and software and I uninstalled the 56k modem- then booted into safe mode and installed the soundcard, modem and software in that order. From my experience, installing the soundcard before the modem results in a working card, while installing the modem first results in the soundcard misfunctioning. Perhaps the modem and soundcard share or have some interaction with some bus or ram on the motherboard, that would be my guess.

[Final Thoughts]
I am very happy with this notebook, a gamer wanting the best graphics available on a notebook and is willing to sacrifice battery life should look elsewhere. If you are looking to buy this notebook or a different inspiron for less money, the processor should probably be the first thing to be lowered. You will notice faster and higher capacity ram, and the 7200rpm harddrives much more than a processor upgrade. The slower dual cores are still dual core and perform very well. Another aspect that makes this laptop a little more futureproof is the expresscard slot, it is replacing the old pc bus hardware, and more cards will be coming out for it.

If anyone has any questions about the system I'll be glad to answer them.

*I'd like to note, since writing this review, I ended up returning the laptop due to the soundcard being insufficient. They installed a new motherboard and that did not fix anything. Infact the new motherboard gave out alot of high frequency whining, terribly annoying. Perhaps if there were a Creative audigy card for the expresscard slot I would have given that a try."*

 

thats a great review. seems like you really like the laptop. I am also going to be a college notebook and am looking at this and the ibm lenovo t60 (yet it is 1600 and would have to upgrade ram myself). Since you said that the biuld is pretty good, I may give this a second look!

thanks!

 

Great review!
Can you please post 3dMark05 scores?

 

I get ~2k on mark05 with omega drivers.

 

Thank you very much for your quick reply