dell inspiron 1300 laptop review

Budget notebooks have never been better! Low-end notebooks were always priced at $800 or more, and never really packed the "oomph" of higher-spec expensive notebooks. This may have changed. The Dell Inspiron 1300 starts at $599, and the model we reviewed is just $800 (Although you can get one for less with upgrades thanks to Dell's generous coupon offers) and can handle most if not all day-to-day tasks.

The Dell Inspiron 1300 (dell inspiron 1300 battery)is a 15.4" widescreen notebook, depending on how you configure it the Inspiron 1300 can be considered a budget offering or a mainstream type notebook with decent performance. The following is a review of the Inspiron 1300.

The 1300 is a customizable notebook that's built to order, so the price and features will depend on what you pick when you buy. The mode we used for this review has an Intel Celeron M360 processor running at 1.5GHz, a 60GB hard disk at 5400RPM, 512mb of RAM, a nice 15.4" Widescreen display, and to top it all off, 802.11a/b/g WiFi.

This is a budget notebook and as such is constructed in a manner to keep costs down. The body casing is entirely plastic, no fancy aluminum or magnesium protection. The plastic used is not flimsy though, it's actually really quite sturdy. I used the Dell Inspiron 1000 (dell inspiron 6400 battery )while back and was highly disappointed with the flimsiness of the casing, the 1300 is certainly a step up from that. There's no major flexing issues of the body and the keyboard is firm.

The hinges are firm, there's no wobble of the screen even if you move the notebook around. This is impressive, often with budget notebooks the hinges can be somewhat weak. The protection provided by the lid is also good, if you push in on the lid area it's hard to (apple powerbook g4 battery )get ripples to appear on the screen. However, the plastic area around the screen is not held on very well. I can pull the plastic covering away from the LCD with ease.

The look of the Inspiron 1300 is a mix of silver and black. The lid is an entirely silver-grey color while the rest of the body is black with an accent of silver trim around the keyboard. The look is not bad in this author's opinion, and actually better than the some off the exisiting Dell Inspirons available with the silver and white finish. It's certainly not sleek or pretty by any stretch,(dell xps m1330 battery )it looks like the plastic it is built from, the front speakers are ugly holes in plastic that look more like vents, and the largish green LED light indicators on the front are reminiscent of a 1980's mainframe computer. So no design awards but due to the well selected and professional black-silver coloring it's not ugly either.

If you pick up the notebook and wave it around (I don't recommend it) you will find that the screen hinge does not wobble or bend, and the display stays firmly where it should - open. This is great for such an inexpensive notebook, when I remember an old Dell Latitude l400 (dell inspiron e1505 battery) would fold flat if you even moved it on your lap. The notebook is 14" x 10.5" x 1.41" in size and weighs 6.7 pounds. Now I wont pretend that this is a subnotebook. In fact, this is more of a mid-sized model that's much more portable than a desktop replacement. The DVD+RW drive is on the right of the notebook, towards the front. The left side houses the three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA port, microphone and headphone jacks (3.5mm), ExpressCard (supporting 34mm and 54mm cards) slot, RJ-45 Ethernet jack, and a modem jack. The back of the notebook is empty apart from the power socket, and the front of the machine houses the two speakers and four LEDs.

As mentioned, the Inspiron 1300 is a customizable notebook, with processors ranging from a 1.4GHz Celeron M to the 1.73GHz Pentium M, all with a 400MHz front side bus. Mine came with a 1.5GHz Celeron M360 processor, 512mb of RAM in a 2x 256mb configuration, so if you want to upgrade you'll have to throw one away(1gb RAM maximum), a reasonably fast 60 gig 5400 rpm hard disk, and WiFi 802.11a/b/g. I wont deny that I was expecting to be disappointed by this notebook. Although I cant really class myself as a gamer, I do play on some intensive games (Rome: Total War and Sniper Elite to name a few) and was expecting them not to run well. Well, I now take it all back. I have migrated from a PC desktop running a 2.4GHz Celeron and 512mb of RAM with no dedicated graphics and an XGA screen, and I'm getting better frame rates on the notebook! Okay, Sniper Elite just isn't the same with a touch pad, but hey, it works! You wouldn't want to run serious CAD (dell inspiron 1501 battery )apps or Half Life 2, however. The built-in DVD+-RW is a bonus for mobile DVD burning, and a steal for $780! I'm not really strongly opinionated about the Express Card slot. I think it's good that Dell is thinking forwardly, and since WiFi is built in, I cant really think of a use for a PCMCIA slot. Unless you really want to use an EVDO card, then this isn't really a drawback. You decide whether this is a benefit or drawback.

Display, Graphics, and Multimedia

The keyboard on the 1300 is fine. The keys have a nice click when pressed, but are not loud. The buttons are all full size, including full size Backspace, Enter and Shift keys. There is no sag or problems with the keyboard. The touchpad is as usable as they get, its size is appropriate and there's enough room to move your finger around. I've used notebooks for years and still dislike the touchpad form of input mechanism -- I still often find myself pulling up menus and losing them as my finger slips slightly and thereby takes the cursor off of the menu (webpage menus like this are the worst as they're sometimes hard to use even with a mouse). I've always favored a pointing stick mechanism such as the ThinkPad line of notebooks offer -- and if that's not available a wireless

The Inspiron 1300 can house either a 14" XGA screen or a 15.4" WXGA (800 x 1280) screen. I went for the 15.4" option. Although not as bright or shiny as some other notebooks on the market, it does the job and is certainly an improvement over an XGA monitor. The backlight is sufficient for everyday use. If you're in a dark room, then it can actually be painful to set it to full brightness, but about 75% should be good enough. This screen is not driven by a dedicated graphics card, but, as mentioned, it is good enough for reasonably demanding games. The Inspiron 1300 has Intel's integrated Media Accelerator 900 Graphics and you can set up to 128mb of RAM as video RAM.

The audio package provided is reasonable. While you're not getting an amazing, mind-blowing audio experience, your not disappointed either. The two speakers on the front are adequate, but if you want to listen to some serious music, plug in some headphones or better speakers. The lack of a microphone is rather annoying, especially when using Skype.

DVDs play well on this laptop, although the mentioned speakers can be pretty dismal sometimes. Battery life can be an issue if you want to watch a two and a half hour film at full screen brightness with WiFi turned on, but because 50% brightness is acceptable and the lack of need for WiFi when watching films, most will find it usable.

Speakers

You're not buying a multimedia machine with the 1300 and for that reason you can expect to get the usual rather poor sounding notebook speakers. The speakers are located on the right and left front sides, which is good placement since they fire forward to where you are sitting. If only the audio they pumped out was good. The speakers are good enough for system sounds and the likes, but playing audio music or listening to DVDs is pretty painful. You need external speakers or headphones via the lineout to get any type of decent audio.

Processor and Performance

You can opt to have your Inspiron 1300 configured with either a Pentium M or Celeron M processor. You'll save money with the Celeron M configuration and to be honest, I think that's the best route to go with this notebook. It's a budget machine and when you have the Intel 910GML chipset and motherboard (as the 1300 does) you're going to be limited to a bus speed of 400MHz between the processor and memory. Even though my system indicated a 533MHz FSB on the Pentium M 740 processor I configured and the memory I have can theoretically run at 533MHz, it does not, it runs at 400MHz. So esentially Dell put together a machine in which the chipset is the weakest link, and since components work together as a team, the system can only be as fast as that weakest link is willing to work (400MHz).

Battery Life

I decided to pay $20 more and get the 6-cell battery option. I suggest that, if you have the money, you get it. It's a small price to pay for 1.5 times the normal battery power.

The 6-cell is a 5045mAh battery, which isn’t bad for a 1.5GHz notebook. I got about 3 hours of use with mainly Skype over WiFi, and about 3 hours with no WiFi playing mp3s. Overall, I think the battery is acceptable. If you need WiFi, full screen brightness, and full CPU speed, then you may only get a few hours out of it, but otherwise its a pretty impressive battery. The standard battery is a 4 cell, 29 WHr Lithium Ion battery that Dell estimates lasting 2 hours.

dell inspiron e1505 laptop review

With the release of Windows Vista in late January, PC manufacturers have been quick to update their laptop models--those that can handle the upgrade, that is--with various flavors of the new operating system. For the midsize Inspiron E1505 (dell inspiron e1505 battery ), Dell now offers a choice of Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Home Basic. We got our hands on an updated E1505 with the Premium version and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Despite its high-end components, the laptop's performance on our benchmarks didn't wow us, most likely due to the new demands of Windows Vista. We expect to encounter similar lags on most of the first-generation Vista systems, though, and because we still like the Inspiron E1505's design and feature set, we think it remains a solid choice for home users who want a basic media-friendly laptop.

Aside from some component upgrades, this Inspiron E1505 is identical to the XP version we reviewed last year; please read that review for complete details about the laptop's design, features, and warranty.

Our Windows Vista-based Inspiron E1505 review unit costs $1,789 for a competitive mix of the latest components, including a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 processor, 2GB of fast 667MHz RAM, a discrete ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 graphics card with 256MB of dedicated memory, and a 100GB hard drive spinning at a fast 7,200rpm. That's a pretty strong setup that we'd expect to perform really well, but it appears that the new operating system dragged the Inspiron E1505 down on several of CNET Labs' performance benchmarks. On all but one test, the Inspiron E1505 lagged behind a Dell Latitude ATG D620 running Windows XP on an arguably lesser configuration (the same processor but less RAM, a slower hard drive, and integrated graphics). The Inspiron E1505 (ibm thinkpad x40 battery )did come out on top on our Photoshop test, most likely because of its ample allotment of RAM. Benchmarks aside, the laptop did not feel at all sluggish during our anecdotal use, when we performed basic tasks, such as checking e-mail, listening to music, and performing a quick system scan with Windows Defender. We think most home users will find the Vista-based Inspiron E1505 to have enough oomph for their everyday computing needs, provided they aren't heavy multitaskers.

The Vista-based Inspiron E1505's battery ran out of juice at the 2-hour, 34-minute mark of our DVD battery-drain test. That's not bad for a laptop that isn't particularly portable, although the smaller battery on the 15.4-inch MacBook Pro (which includes a slower hard drive) lasted almost half an hour longer. The Dell Latitude ATG D620, with a smaller screen and less-power-hungry components, outlasted the Inspiron E1505 (dell latitude d600 battery )by 1 hour, 21 minutes.

If you're on the hunt for a notebook that offers multimedia functionality without the usual multimedia premium, the Dell E1505 (or the 14-inch E1405) may be just what you're looking for. This notebook's dual-layer DVD burner, playback controls, and Windows XP Media Center OS make it a highly attractive, feature-rich package for students or cash-strapped professionals.



Weighing in at a relatively hefty 6.8 pounds and measuring 1.4 inches thick, the E1505 (ibm thinkpad x60 battery )sports a roomy full-sized keyboard that makes prolonged typing comfortable. Air vents flank the left and right sides of the chassis for keeping the machine cool during extended use. The large touchpad with built-in horizontal and vertical scroll areas make navigating Web pages a breeze. Beneath the touchpad, embedded in the bezel, are DVD/CD controls that illuminate when pressed.



The 15.4-inch UltraSharp widescreen display delivered strong colors when watching DVDs, even from a variety of angles. The speakers, which are located on either side of the playback controls, produced surprisingly good sound, even though the bass was a bit weak. This configuration has an 80GB hard drive for storing your digital music collection, along with gobs of photos and videos.



Powered by a 1.66-GHz Intel Core Duo processor, the E1505 turned in a MobileMark 2005 score of 204, which is decent but a bit below average for a mainstream notebook. However, the CPU managed well under multitasking pressure; we performed two system-taxing activities-watching a DVD while running a virus scan-and the Dell breezed through our test.



The ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 (hp pavilion dv9000 battery )graphics included in this configuration flexes more muscle than Intel's integrated graphics, but not much more. This system notched a respectable 3DMark03 score of 2,350 and managed to run F.E.A.R. at 80 fps using the autodetect settings (640 x 480-pixel resolution). However, when we bumped the resolution up to 1024 x 768, the frame rate dropped to an unplayable 7 fps.



Also included in this configuration is a nine-cell battery, which lasted a very good 5 hours and 4 minutes with Wi-Fi on and an additional three minutes with the wireless connection off. We got a healthy average throughput of 12 Mbps from 15 feet and 9.9 Mbps from 50 dell inspiron 630m battery , dell inspiron 640m battery. If you want to add mobile broadband capability, you're limited to Dell's expensive EV-DO Express Card, since this notebook doesn't have a PC Card slot.



Preinstalled software includes Corel Photo Center and Windows Digital Media Enhancements, which includes Windows Party Mode, a full-screen skin that transforms your computer into a jukebox. Dell MediaDirect allows users to access movies, music, photos, and video without needing to boot into Windows. If you want a TV tuner to complete the multimedia experience, you'll need to fork over an additional $130, which also gets you a remote control.



Connectivity options abound: four USB ports, S-Video, FireWire, a 5-in-1 media card reader, and a VGA connection are available for attaching peripherals. The E1505 also features optional Bluetooth ($49) for syncing with certain phones and for pairing a wireless headset with the notebook for making Skype calls.



Although the design is starting to show its age, the Dell E1505 is a solid investment for those looking for a dual-core system that knows how to have some fun.

Dell's revamped Inspiron E1505, an entertainment notebook, now includes an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Though still a poor choice for gaming, the E1505 is plenty zippy for any other applications, including music and photo editing, and movie viewing. The 6.9-pound E1505(apple powerbook g4 battery )also throws in pretty good speakers, dedicated media buttons, and a cushy keyboard with stylish white trim, giving you a great all-around choice for consumers who don't want to spend an arm and a leg on a desktop replacement.

Generously equipped for the price, our $1186 (as of 11/6/06) E1505 (ibm thinkpad t42 battery )came with the Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system, a double-layer DVD burner, four USB ports, a FireWire port, an ExpressCard slot, and a three-in-one memory card reader. The laptop's 15.4-inch WXGA screen is great for mainstream work, but if you need to see more on your screen at once, a WSXGA+ resolution is an option.

Our review unit had a 120GB hard drive. You can get a 160GB hard drive, still a relatively rare notebook option, for less than $60 more. Unfortunately, a built-in TV tuner is not an option, as it is on most other entertainment notebooks, but Dell's USB TV tuner is just $104 extra. The small external box comes with all the cables you'll need to connect to a cable box or a set-top box.

Equipped with a 2-GHz Core 2 Duo T7200 processor and 1GB of RAM, our machine earned a WorldBench 5 score of 102, which ranks within the top 20 percent of notebooks we've tested. The first E1505 we reviewed--equipped with a 1.66-GHz Core Duo T2300 processor and 1GB of RAM--did not play games smoothly and ran noticeably slower than other notebooks when we worked in multiple windows. With the faster chip, the notebook is now a much better multitasker, on a par with competitors, but game play is still poor: The laptop managed just 19 frames per second when displaying Doom and 36 fps in Far Cry. The 64MB of dedicated video memory allowed by a 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X130 HyperMemory card just isn't enough to get most games off the ground. (We didn't test with the optional 256MB video card.)

The E1505 turned in excellent battery life, lasting 5.5 hours on one charge. The battery, which is located on the bottom of the notebook, sports an external gauge that lets you see how much juice is left before you have to plug the notebook in.

Like Dell's high-end XPS entertainment portables and budget-friendly Inspiron counterparts, the E1505 (ibm thinkpad t60 battery )has a unique "instant office" capability. The feature makes staying on top of business as simple as pressing the MediaDirect button. The button launches a menu that now includes not only the usual entertainment options--DVD, music, videos, and photos--but also additional menu selections for the application viewers. Without launching Windows, you can view--though not edit--your PowerPoint slides and Outlook and Outlook Express calendars and contacts. You can also play DVDs, music, and digital photo collections. So if you've forgotten the starting time for a meeting, just pause the movie and check your schedule.

Expandability is somewhat limited. The E1505 is user upgradable, with both the hard drive and memory chips in accessible bottom compartments. However, docking is nothing fancy, with only a couple of options--the better one being a screen stand port replicator, a $103 extra. (You must provide the wireless keyboard and mouse.)

All in all, Dell has another winner in the souped-up E1505.

hp pavilion zd8000 laptop review

The HP Pavilion zd8000 (hp pavilion zd8000 battery )series combines desktop capabilities with the very latest in technology to bring you and your family exhilarating home entertainment. The zd8000 features the latest and greatest graphics performance for immersive gaming with photo-real and lifelike images. The optional ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600 with PCI Express x16 graphics (up to 256MB of dedicated video memory) enables next-generation PC gaming and can easily handle your demands for rapid-video capture and editing and streaming video. You'll forget you ever needed floppy disks to transfer files between PCs, printers, cameras, and other devices once you use the zd8000's integrated 6-in-1 digital media card reader (compatible with xD digital memory, Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, MS-Pro Memory Stick, and SmartMedia cards). There's even an integrated bay for holding and transferring info from your HP USB Digital Drive. The zd8000 can be customized with the right optical drive for your needs. Three alternatives accommodate any budget: DVD/CD-RW combo drive, 8x DVD±RW/R and CD-RW combo drive, or 8x DVD ±RW/R drives with double layer write support, which allows you to almost double the amount of data you can store on a single DVD disk with only single layer support (currently limited to 4.7GB vs double layer 8.5GB). The zd8000 supports the most frequently used ports: four USB 2.0, one FireWire (IEEE 1394), one Fast Infrared (FIR), and one S-Video TV out. In addition, the zd8000 (ibm thinkpad t60 battery )includes an ExpressCard/54 PC slot to enable faster, thinner, and lighter PC Card expansion products. There's even an infrared tucked away in the machine for optional remote-control access. Keep your desk free of extra wires while controlling your media from your couch!

HP ZD8000 Review Unit System Specs




Mobile Pentium 4 520 2.8GHz, with Hyper-Threading

1GB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz(512x1) from Micron

Toshiba 80GB hard drive 5400 RPM

LG GWA-4080N DVD+/-RW Drive - CD-ROM (40x); CD-R (40x write); CD-RW (24x write); DVD-ROM (16x); DVD-R (8x write); DVD-RW (4x write); DVD+R (16x write); DVD+RW (4x write); DVD+R Dual Layer (2.4x write)

ATI Mobility Radeon X600 with 256MB dedicated RAM

17.0" WXGA TFT LCD ViewBright display 1440 x 900 resolution

Integrated V.92/56K modem

Realtek RTL8193 10/100 Ethernet LAN

Broadcom 802.11b/g Wireless LAN

Built-in Harman/Kardon stereo speakers

Intel ICH6 AC97 Sound Card

5-in-1 Media Reader (Secure Digital, Memory Stick/Pro, MMC, xD Picture Card)

Design

The ZD8000 has a slightly modified look from its previous generation model, the ZD7000. Most notable is the cooling system. It is totally redesigned. Is it better now? Unfortunately that's a negative. There is an extra fan now, probably for making sure the machine can keep cool with the new ATI Mobility X600( dell inspiron e1505 battery )graphics card. The entire rear of the notebook is dedicated to having vents for cooling, thereby sacrificing the parallel port from the previous generation. Even with a number of vents, the computer still gets very hot and the fans spin up all the time and they are loud. The keyboard area and wrist rest below the keyboard still gets very hot to the touch, though not as bad as the ZD7000 (hp pavilion zd7000 battery )I used to own did. The touchpad area is thankfully improved and more usable now than before. I wish they had focused more on improving the cooling and reducing heat build-up around the keyboard rather than improving the touchpad though. The heat around the keyboard can make it uncomfortable to type after 10 minutes of typing on this laptop. The cooling system simply needs a lot more reworking, my use of the Toshiba Satellite P35 proved that a large desktop replacement notebook with a Pentium 4 processor doesn't have necessarily have to be a giant heat synch. Toshiba somehow managed to get rid of heat from the P35 system and typing was comfortable.

Size and Weight

This laptop is one of the biggest out there. Weighing in at a hefty 9.5 pounds, it is probably in the top 5% of the weight bracket for notebooks. The dimensions measure 16.5" L x 11.5" W x 1.57/1.85" H. The AC adapter adds another pound and 3 ounces to overall weight.(dell inspiron 630m battery )That means that you'll be carrying well over 10 pounds of computer related stuff, so this titan is not for the faint of heart!

Screen

Laptop LCDs and LCDs in general have come a long way. Gone are the days of ghosting and inaccurate colors if you buy a decent brand LCD, and most modern laptops seem to have displays of very good quality. The screen on my ZD8000 (dell latitude d610 battery)features BrightView which helps improve clarity, color saturation and contrast. It's quite a bit better than the older ZD7000 without Brightview. I notice no ghosting of any type in my first person shooter (FPS) games and there were no dead pixels. The blacks are deep and incredible, putting my professional Sony Trinitron CRT to shame. The white is a little on the warm yellowish side, I prefer cool, bluer whites. The viewing angle is simply amazing. This is truly a desktop replacement system as it will be hard to go back to your desktops display after seeing this one!

Speakers

The speakers are Harman/Kardon brand and relative to the size of the laptop are tiny. The speakers on this laptop face outward which is nice if you would like to play something with the lid closed. The performance of the speakers isn't so good though. You ( dell inspiron 700m battery )begin to hear sound distortion at about 80% max volume. Bass is virtually nonexistent with this set of speakers. For games the speakers seemed to perform decently, but they lack the virtual spacialization found in the Toshiba P35 speakers. There is no improvement in the ZD8000 speakers over the ZD7000 speakers, which is sort of a shame. Furthermore, these speakers can't even begin to compare with the Harman/Kardon speakers on the Toshiba P35.

Input

The keyboard is a very standard layout with built in numpad, which is certainly a nice addition.(hp pavilion zx5000 battery )If anything will drive you to this laptop, the numpad is it. Touchpad is a big improvement from the ZD7000. It no longer gets dreadfully hot and is sunken in. This helps alleviate the problem of it being accidentally tripped when typing. But due to its large size it still does not totally prevent this problem, even with small hands.

Wireless and Connectivity

The ZD8000 comes with the Broadcom chipset which when paired with Broadcom routers offers incredible performance. Broadcom seems to be the choice now in wireless chipsets. Performance is very stable and range seems to just keep improving after every revision. It offers more consistency and range than even the venerable Orinoco Gold PCMCIA card I have. The wireless switch is at the top right edge on the side of the laptop accompanied by an orange LED. I would have liked an LED on top for quicker identification as to whether WiFi was on or not.

I was very disappointed to see only 100MB fast Ethernet via Realtek instead of Gigabit Ethernet. Most people will find this a non issue, but I have a Gigabit network at home for transferring video files and with a 5400RPM hard drive,(dell xps m1210 battery )things could easily take half the time to transfer vs plain old Ethernet.

Conclusion

Overall the ZD8000 is a decent improvement over the ZD7000. Performance is great thanks to finally having a full 800MHz FSB. The X600 graphics card is no slouch either, playing Half Life 2 is brilliant on this laptop. However if gaming is your thing you should look toward the Pentium M as it is nearly twice as fast clock for clock as a Pentium 4. The Pentium 4 excels in heavy FPU data like Photoshop, video editing, and encoding. Overall a decent laptop replacement, however I would have to recommend the Toshiba P35 over the HP ZD8000 unless you really cannot live without a numpad on the keyboard

dell inspiron e1505 laptop review

Dell laptops are often the go-to machines for those aiming at affordability. Of course, that doesn't imply that buying one means that you're cheap or cash-strapped. If anything, it's a sign that you're a savvy shopper who's sensible with money. If you're a fan of the Dell Inspiron 6000 (dell inspiron 6000 battery )or the Dell Inspiron E1505 ((dell inspiron e1505 battery), you'll love the Dell Inspiron E1505 (Core 2 Duo). Considering what you get, it's a great purchase: The E1505 (Core 2 Duo) is the only $999 (E-Value code: DNCMEA1) laptop on the market that comes with discrete graphics, a Core 2 Duo processor, and 1GB of RAM. Indeed, there's no other system like it, and for that reason, it earns the Editors' Choice title (for the third time) in the budget space.

Dell's newest budget entertainment notebook falls somewhere between the company's high-end Inspiron E1705 (8.2 pounds; 17-inch screen) and its travel notebook, the Inspiron 710m (4.2 pounds; 12.1-inch wide-aspect screen dell inspiron 710m battery ). A nice compromise, the Inspiron E1505 ( dell inspiron 6400 battery )weighs 6.5 pounds and has a 15.4-inch wide screen; its keyboard is larger than the 710m's, as well. It's also a fairly good multimedia notebook for nongamers on a budget.

With the release of Windows Vista in late January, PC manufacturers have been quick to update their laptop models--those that can handle the upgrade, that is--with various flavors of the new operating system. For the midsize Inspiron E1505(hp pavilion dv1000 battery ), Dell now offers a choice of Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Home Basic. We got our hands on an updated E1505 with the Premium version and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Despite its high-end components, the laptop's performance on our benchmarks didn't wow us, most likely due to the new demands of Windows Vista. We expect to encounter similar lags on most of the first-generation Vista systems, though, and because we still like the Inspiron E1505's design and feature set, we think it remains a solid choice for home users who want a basic media-friendly laptop.

Aside from some component upgrades, this Inspiron E1505 (dell xps m1210 battery)is identical to the XP version we reviewed last year; please read that review for complete details about the laptop's design, features, and warranty.

Our Windows Vista-based Inspiron E1505 review unit costs $1,789 for a competitive mix of the latest components, including a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 processor, 2GB of fast 667MHz RAM, a discrete ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 graphics card with 256MB of dedicated memory, and a 100GB hard drive spinning at a fast 7,200rpm. That's a pretty strong setup that we'd expect to perform really well, but it appears that the new operating system dragged the Inspiron E1505 down on several of CNET Labs' performance benchmarks. On all but one test, the Inspiron E1505 lagged behind a Dell Latitude ATG D620 (dell latitude d610 battery )running Windows XP on an arguably lesser configuration (the same processor but less RAM, a slower hard drive, and integrated graphics). The Inspiron E1505 did come out on top on our Photoshop test, most likely because of its ample allotment of RAM. Benchmarks aside, the laptop did not feel at all sluggish during our anecdotal use, when we performed basic tasks, such as checking e-mail, listening to music, and performing a quick system scan with Windows Defender. We think most home users will find the Vista-based Inspiron E1505 to have enough oomph for their everyday computing needs, provided they aren't heavy multitaskers.

The Vista-based Inspiron E1505's (dell latitude x300 battery )battery ran out of juice at the 2-hour, 34-minute mark of our DVD battery-drain test. That's not bad for a laptop that isn't particularly portable, although the smaller battery on the 15.4-inch MacBook Pro (which includes a slower hard drive) lasted almost half an hour longer. The Dell Latitude ATG D620, with a smaller screen and less-power-hungry components, outlasted the Inspiron E1505 by 1 hour, 21 minutes.

Dell's revamped Inspiron E1505, an entertainment notebook, now includes an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Though still a poor choice for gaming, the E1505 is plenty zippy for any other applications, including music and photo editing, and movie viewing. The 6.9-pound E1505 also throws in pretty good speakers, dedicated media buttons, and a cushy keyboard with stylish white trim, giving you a great all-around choice for consumers who don't want to spend an arm and a leg on a desktop replacement.

Generously equipped for the price, our $1186 (as of 11/6/06) E1505 ( hp pavilion zd8000 battery )came with the Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system, a double-layer DVD burner, four USB ports, a FireWire port, an ExpressCard slot, and a three-in-one memory card reader. The laptop's 15.4-inch WXGA screen is great for mainstream work, but if you need to see more on your screen at once, a WSXGA+ resolution is an option.

Equipped with a 2-GHz Core 2 Duo T7200 processor and 1GB of RAM, our machine earned a WorldBench 5 score of 102, which ranks within the top 20 percent of notebooks we've tested. The first E1505 we reviewed--equipped with a 1.66-GHz Core Duo T2300 processor (apple powrbook g4 battery )and 1GB of RAM--did not play games smoothly and ran noticeably slower than other notebooks when we worked in multiple windows. With the faster chip, the notebook is now a much better multitasker, on a par with competitors, but game play is still poor: The laptop managed just 19 frames per second when displaying Doom and 36 fps in Far Cry. The 64MB of dedicated video memory allowed by a 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X130 HyperMemory card just isn't enough to get most games off the ground. (We didn't test with the optional 256MB video card.)

Expandability is somewhat limited. The E1505 is user upgradable, with both the hard drive and memory chips in accessible bottom compartments. However, docking is nothing fancy, with only a couple of options--the better one being a screen stand port replicator, a $103 extra. (You must provide the wireless keyboard and mouse.)

All in all, Dell has another winner in the souped-up E1505. Though not for gamers, the E1505 is a strong contender for your consumer dollar.

hp pavilion dv1000 laptop review

Just when you thought it was safe to buy a computer that didn’t also function as a television, a stereo system and a washing machine, convergence has once again reared its multi-faced head. At some point over the next couple of months (depending on its launch date), we’ll be looking at what appears to be a very nice machine from Toshiba, featuring its Sony-rivalling glossy screen technology. First, though, we have this offering from HP.

Rather than utilise the super-sized chassis it made famous in the tremendous zd7000(hp pavilion zd8000 battery)range, together with its 17in widescreen display, HP has opted to use a sleeker, lighter model. This means that the screen has been reduced to a 14.1in WXGA panel. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, in keeping with the current trend, HP is attempting to push this laptop as a mobile media centre, enabling you to take your entertainment with you on long train journeys. Secondly, it’s pulled out all the stops to drag the price tag below £1,000 (inc VAT). A smaller chassis, with a lighter feature-set, generally means a lower cost.

In terms of conventional components, you’re certainly getting a lighter feature-set here. There’s no stand-alone graphics card, which means that 3D performance is extremely poor (88 in the 3DMark 2003 benchmark is extremely disappointing by modern standards). This is no games specialist, though, so HP can’t really be criticised for making sacrifices in this area.

More worrying are the compromises on multimedia performance. The lessening in monitor real estate, for example, has a drastic effect on your viewing experience while watching DVD films. How many of you would consider buying a 14in television? As a further concern, the subwoofer that added so much depth to the zd7000’s ( dell latitude d610 battery)sound has been removed. The Harmen Kardon speakers are still far superior to what you would find in most mobile PCs, but they can’t compete with the output of a modern TV.

The rest of the specifications are what you’d expect at this price. A 1.5GHz Pentium M processor is middle-of-the-road nowadays (it seems likely that HP will upgrade to 1.7GHz for its release, but this won’t have a huge effect on real-life performance). Storage prospects are brighter, thanks to a generous 80GB hard drive and a top-notch NEC DVD+/-RW drive, and you even get a 5-in-1 card reader – possibly an attempt by HP ( dell xps m1210 battery ) to push the multimedia angle. Likewise, 802.11g wireless networking is better than a kick in the teeth, but again, this is hardly a novelty at £1,000.

At this point, you’re probably wondering what makes this a ‘convergence’ notebook. Everything we’ve mentioned so far is fairly typical in a modern mobile machine. Fortunately, HP has at least attempted to step out of the crowd with its ‘QuickPlay’ system. This enables you to boot straight to a Linux-based media player, from where you can play music or films, either from disc or straight from your hard drive, without the hassle of going through Windows. You can go from pressing the power button to listening to your favourite CD within 12 seconds.

This instant-on technology is helpful, as it enables you to use your PC much like a CD player. However, it’s not as revolutionary as HP seems to think. We first saw this kind of thing in an Acer machine almost a year ago, and Asus, Hi-Grade and Toshiba all have their own versions. It’s also important to note that, even though you’re not booting the entire machine, you’re also avoiding Windows’ battery-saving features, so you don’t add anything to the battery life by using the notebook in this mode. Fortunately, at three hours and ten minutes, you’ve got enough time to watch most modern films.

When you do boot Windows, the dv1000 (hp pavilion dv1000 battery )performs just as well as any other laptop of a similar specification. Response times within menus are quick, and you’ll have no trouble running applications unless you attempt some drastic multi-tasking.

If you shop around, you’ll certainly be able to find something more powerful for the same price. True, the QuickPlay facility’s a nice touch, but if HP wants to sell this as a multimedia specialist, it needs to add a larger, higher-resolution monitor and some more powerful speakers. Then we’d be really interested.

The HP Pavilion Entertainment Notebook PC Dv1000 (dell latitude x300 battery )lives up to its name. A standalone DVD player as well as a laptop, it plays movies or music CDs at the press of a button. An optional $15 remote lets you control the action from up to 10 feet away. (When you're not using it, the remote stores in the laptop's PC Card slot.) The $300 Xb2000 expansion base adds fantastic-sounding speakers. All that's missing is the popcorn.

The Dv1000 (apple powerbook g4 battery )is trendy looking, lightweight, and crammed with useful features. The Wi-Fi-ready black-and-silver unit with sloped front weighs just 6.4 pounds altogether. Our unit came with a fixed combination drive whose release button was textured so you could find it easily; you can upgrade to an 8X multiformat DVD burner for $150 more. The excellent keyboard is full of nice touches. We liked the eye-catching navigation keys, which have white tops printed with black arrows. The extra-wide touchpad sports both a vertical scroll zone and a lock to prevent the cursor from accidentally repositioning while you type--not that we needed this feature on the well-behaved Dv1000. There's even a dedicated back button for toggling through browser windows or on the Windows desktop. If you decide not to buy the remote control, it's still easy to launch and play movies or CDs using the full set of multimedia buttons above the keyboard. It's also easy to share, thanks to dual headphone jacks on the front of the case.

On the performance bench, the Dv1000 did not break records, but it did show stamina. Equipped with a 1.5-GHz/600-MHz Pentium M and 512MB of RAM, it earned a WorldBench 5 score of 64--just behind the similarly configured IBM ThinkPad R51 (ibm thinkpad t60 battery), which earned a score of 67. Processor choices for the Dv1000 top out at 1.8 GHz. In our battery tests, the Dv1000 lasted an excellent four hours.

In our multimedia tests, the Dv1000's 14-inch wide-aspect screen displayed full-screen DVD movies smoothly at its native resolution of 1280 by 768 pixels. The built-in speakers aren't bad for a laptop, but the full audio experience requires the Xb2000 expansion base that doubles as a stand, elevating the screen to eye level. The Xb2000 replicates most of the laptop's connections and adds two major features: an internal bay that accommodates a full-height 3.5-inch desktop hard drive, and a set of built-in premium Harman/Kardon speakers that will blow you away with their full sound. A wheel on the front of the base makes adjusting volume a breeze.

Docking the Dv1000 (dell inspiron 6400 battery)is not pretty; we had to struggle to tug the retractable cable out of the back of the base and pull it around to a connection on the left side of the laptop. And we did not like the clunky look of the big plastic USB infrared receiver for the bundled wireless keyboard and mouse. Still, the base is a worthwhile addition for audiophiles who could also use the extra storage: Its bay takes a 160GB hard drive ($180 extra), for a possible total of 240GB--not bad for a laptop.

The full set of connections includes FireWire and a six-in-one memory card reader that reads SD Cards and most other formats, including XD Picture Cards. Labels printed on the case help you keep track of the card types.

All of the Dv1000's rich features are well documented in two Acrobat manuals, which the company says come preinstalled on the hard drive. Our review unit did not have them, however; we had to download them from the HP Web site.

If a lightweight laptop with lots of connections and entertainment options galore is what you're after, the Dv1000 with an expansion base is light years ahead of the recently

At first glance the dv1000 (dell inspiron 6000 battery)looks a lot more expensive that it really is. The outer shell is made of silver colored plastic. The inside of the notebook is all black with a sort of textured feel to it. I would have preferred all silver rather than the two tones, but the look seems to work for this model. The laptop is sturdy, but I do have problems carrying it from the side, it seems a bit fragile and "creaky" when I am grasping it. The screen has very little or no flex to it, you would have to push very hard on it to see a ripple. The hinges seem very sturdy, there's no wobbling to the screen at all, when you put the screen in place it stays there. I have a problem with the latch that closes the notebook though.  With just a slight push on the latch the screen releases and I don't like the placement of it, it is right below the touchpad and I find myself pressing it with my thumb when using the pad. I feel they could have made the latch a bit sturdier.

The dv1000 only comes in one screen size, a 14 inch widescreen. I chose the Brite-View option for my screen and I must say I love it. It's bright, crisp and clear and it's a pleasure working on it. I love working in Photoshop and watching DVD's. Many people don't like the glare that the glossy screens produce, but I don't mind, and when it seems very noticeable I just adjust the screen angle and that usually does it for me. It seems the more I work on it the less I notice the glare and to me the benefits outweigh the glare. The screen has even backlighting and no screen leakage as far as I can tell. Thankfully my screen had no dead pixels!

The laptop has a Pentium M 1.73 GHz processor with 768 MB DDR memory installed (2 slots), 60 gig 5400 HD, and Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator 900 -- Pentium shared video graphics card. Performance is snappy; my startup time from the push of the button is about 45 seconds. Programs startup fast and everything is very responsive no lagging on anything I use except for a few extra seconds starting up Photoshop because of the plug-ins and fonts I have installed. I have not done any gaming so I can't report on that, but I do wish there was an upgrade option for the graphics card. 

The HP dv1000 is a great lightweight widescreen notebook at a great price. It travels easily has a great keyboard and does all the things it's supposed to with a few added features. It has a few design shortcomings but the pros outweigh the cons in my opinion.