dell inspiron 1545 laptop mag

Wherever possible, it's interesting to test the whole process of ordering a laptop from a company, and

looking at the before- and after-sales support as well as the machine itself. So that's just what we did with this

Dell 1545 battery , a smart, relatively

economical machine that opts for trademark Dell efficiency over outright excellence.

We decided to customise the base vgp-bps8

laptop option, making a few important choices. At the time of ordering, Dell sold the machine with a Dual Core

processor as opposed to a faster, full Core 2 Duo CPU, so we opted for that improvement, along with a bump to 3GB

of memory, an integrated webcam and a different coloured lid.

As anyone who has ever tested the Dell online shopping process can testify, the firm remains keen to throw

umpteen options at you if you want to customise your purchase - which is invariably worth doing - and it's very

confusing. It feels the closest you'll get to the sales assistant in PC World trying to flog you things that you

don't want.

Once we completed our order, we were surprised that it was going to take several weeks to deliver it. That's

the price you pay for customisation, though as it turned out we did have our machine in under three weeks, and you

can't quibble with the level of communication that Dell latitude d630 battery puts in place. We found this too when testing the after-sales support,

with e-mail responses both prompt and friendly.

But what of the machine? Laptop prices have been sneaking up over the past year, or at least the prices of

the components have, and manufacturers have been protecting the assorted price points by slightly compromising on

specifications (such as the use of Pentium Dual Core CPUs over Core 2 Duos, for instance). There's not too much

evidence of that here, though, and in fact, since we conducted this test, Dell's specifications have improved

further. In short, we were pleased with the make-up of the 1545.

The spec of the machine we ended up with boasted a 250GB hard disk (partitioned by default to allow a small

recovery partition), a DVD writer, a glorious 15.6-inch widescreen display, built-in webcam, 3GB of RAM and a

T6400 lenovo v100 battery Core 2 Duo processor

running at 2GHz.

There are generous connectivity options built into the laptop and, for a tidy ￡470 price tag (of which just

over ￡30 was accounted for by the colour of the lid, an easily dispensible luxury), the upgrades we chose proved

their worth.

In terms of performance, our benchmarks found that - once we'd unloaded the usual Dell pre-installed clutter

- the machine performed well, with the Core 2 Duo processor outperforming reference Dual Cores and also leaving

AMD equivalents in the rear-view mirror. In the sub-￡500 price bracket the Dell fujitsu lifebook u810 battery machine was

steadfast, and we've found in recent times that the endurance of the company's machines is extremely impressive

too.

We were pleased with both the service and the product that Dell aspire 3680 battery delivered here. There's little to shift our thinking that the firm

doesn't produce spectacular laptops, but when it comes to efficiency and reliability, it's hard to quibble with

what Dell does provide.

It's a comfortable computer to use, and it'd be interesting to see it installed with Windows 7 rather than

the Windows Vista Home Edition that Dell is currently including in such systems by default. Vista does the 1545

few favours, sadly.

But still, this is a fine machine at a solid price. A front runner it isn't, but this is a t61 battery laptop potentially primed to give

you a good few years of service. The after-sales service isencouraging, too.

Dell is one of the most popular computer brands worldwide, and a default choice for many shoppers. Located

right in the middle of the company's lineup, the Dell Inspiron 15 is one of the most versatile and affordable

midrange laptops, offering configurations for as low as $379. We tried a configuration from Dell t60 battery with a Core 2 Duo processor and

256MB ATI Mobility Radeon graphics, which cost $794, which is not far off from the cost of more fully featured

multimedia machines.

While our configuration was priced relatively high, remember the Inspiron 15 line is essentially a

ridiculously customizable laptop line that can cover a lot of bases. It's no surprise that it's "Dell's most

popular laptop," simply because the Inspiron 15 line is literally and figuratively a giant black box--it

can be made into a huge number of configs, which adds selective value for the consumer.

But, boy, it can get a bit confusing choosing everything from the CPU to the Wi-Fi card--perhaps

preconfigured systems like the very attractively packaged Gateway NV5807u (or Dell's own i1545-012B) aren't such a

bad idea after all.

Covered in glossy black plastic on the inside and matte black plastic on the outside, the Inspiron 1545 lenovo c200 battery looks as if it's headed off to

an undercover sting. It's not an unattractive look overall, it's just not that distinctive, and feels like too

much black. A wide variety of other colors and designs (including Cherry Red, Promise Pink, Jade Green, Passion

Purple, and...you get the idea) can be added for $40 each, which is not a bad deal if you're dead set on

something with more flair.

The interior couldn't be any more minimal: above a straightforward keyboard sits a lone silver power button,

and below is a black touch pad with black buttons. With a matte texture, the touch pad was average size and worked

fine for our fingers. The old-fashioned tapered keys on the a1175 1545's keyboard had good response and travel, with decent spacing between keys, which made

for comfortable typing with a few misses here and there. The base of the laptop, however, does feel a bit wide-

-they probably could have fit a number pad in there with some effort. That's it for buttons: all other controls

are operated with the keyboard (but without needing to press the function key at the same time, which is nice).

The Dell Inspiron 1545's 15.6-inch glossy wide-screen LED screen has a native resolution of 1,366x768 pixels,

which is standard for laptops in this price range (while budget 15-inch systems typically have 1,280x800-pixel

displays). While a higher-resolution option is available (1,600x900), we found the screen to be perfectly

adequate for most mainstream applications. Text and icons were easily readable, but the screen isn't full-HD

(1080p) for true hi-def content.

While glare was minimal during casual use, the colors and brightness seemed slightly less vibrant than other

screens we've seen recently. One note on audio: the Inspiron 1545's vgp-bps9a/b speakers are almost unusually loud and were more than adequate for games, music,

or movies. We almost never had the volume above the halfway mark in the office.

Port-wise, the Inspiron 1545 comes with 3 USB 2.0, VGA-out, and Ethernet/modem jacks, all fairly standard

stuff, plus an SD card reader and an ExpressCard slot, which are useful for adding a broadband modem or Bluetooth

card. 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth can be added for $35 and $20 respectively, but it feels as if we're being

incrementally nickel-and-dimed.

We recently reviewed a preconfigured retail version of the 1545 line, the Inspiron 1545-012B, for our back-

to-school retail roundup. Although that version had a dual-core Pentium processor, a smaller hard drive, and no

dedicated graphics to speak of, it also only cost $429, a veritable bargain.

Our 1545 shared the same shell, plus a Webcam, and a more powerful processor inside, and it has 1GB more RAM

and a larger hard drive. The Inspiron 15 line starts at $379 at its base model, before a flurry of add-on options.

The processors can be upgraded from an Intel Celeron 900 (Netbook-level power) all the way up to a P8600 Core 2

Duo (an extra $200). System RAM, hard drives, a larger 9-cell battery, and even Blu-ray are all available options.

In short, the Inspiron 15 line can be as affordable or as ridiculously expensive as you like. But the higher up

you trick out your Inspiron 1545, you do invite the question of why you're not simply buying a fancier multimedia

laptop such as the Sony Vaio NW160J>.