Dell Vostro 1500

hmmm after seeing the pics in the OP im not impressed with it i see looks as a very high priority for me :( but i was looking at one of these not even a week ago

i ended up getting a HP Pavilion which i must say i love cos a bit more but got all my fancy do-da's

Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 Processor 2GHz
2048MB RAM
400GB Total HD's (2 x 200GB)
8600M GT 256MB
17" WXGA+ High Definition BrightView Widescreen
DVD-RW DL with Lightscribe
10/100/1000 LAN
54Mbps WLAN (built in)
Bluetooth (built in)
Mini Remote
1.3MP Camera (built in)
5 in 1 Cardreader (built in)
HDMI output
Altec Lansing® speakers

more then enough for me, but at the extra cost for mine you get what you pay for.
 
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InwardSinging said:
Did you bench before and afterwards? On previous dells i have had, even though you could overclock, it didnt make any difference, as its hard locked in the bios.
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in 3d mark06

default 513core, 400 mem = 3310
620 core, 480mem = 3900


highest temp 64

goes to show you how **** 3dmark06 is in comparing games, this would have you believe it is 1/3 the power of a 8800gtx (11k 3dmarks) whereas it is actually closer to 1/10th the power.
 
Getting my vostro on tuesday :D 13 days earlier than the estimated delivery, so i'm pleased about that.

About all the 'bloat' that comes on the laptop, how easy is it to reinstall the OS, i've never done it before, so i'm trying to find a thread that explains it. If anyone could explain it here, or link me to a good guide i'll be grateful :D
 
Thiras said:
About all the 'bloat' that comes on the laptop, how easy is it to reinstall the OS, i've never done it before, so i'm trying to find a thread that explains it. If anyone could explain it here, or link me to a good guide i'll be grateful :D
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The Vostro comes with the original Vista Business installation CD, so all you do is simply boot from it and go through the setup. The HD is split into 3 partitions.

1. Media Direct (approx 2.5GB)
2. Recovery (10GB)
3. Rest is the OS

I decided to leave the Media Direct and Recovery partition in case Dell get a bit funny if ever I have to return it.

Once you've installed a fresh copy of Vista, you'll need to install the drivers. In a earlier post in this thread, I posted a list of all the drivers you need to install.

Once you've done that, you can run Windows Update and then install all of your software.
 
Quick question to those using 163.44 Bioshock drivers with modified inf.

When you go into the nVidia Control Panel and Adjust the Desktop Colour Settings, do any adjustments you make remain upon rebooting?

I've ramped the brightness down but the setting never remains. Every time I start Vista it simply reverts back to the default setting.
 
Bah I just phoned Dell in the hope of grabbing one of these and securing a delivery discount. Not a chance. Couldn't get the guy to budge on it at all. Ahh well. Out of mah price range :(
 
GuruJockStrap said:
The Vostro comes with the original Vista Business installation CD, so all you do is simply boot from it and go through the setup. The HD is split into 3 partitions.

1. Media Direct (approx 2.5GB)
2. Recovery (10GB)
3. Rest is the OS

I decided to leave the Media Direct and Recovery partition in case Dell get a bit funny if ever I have to return it.

Once you've installed a fresh copy of Vista, you'll need to install the drivers. In a earlier post in this thread, I posted a list of all the drivers you need to install.

Once you've done that, you can run Windows Update and then install all of your software.
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Thanks Guru,
Do you get the option to keep the partitions when you are reinstalling then?
I'm going to be getting Vista Ultimate rather than Business edition, anyone who got the laptop with ultimate edition can confirm the CD comes with the laptop? :D
 
I've ordered an Inspiron 1721 with the 2Ghz C2D, 8600GT, 2Gb ram etc etc.
Its not due to turn up for a few weeks but I'd like to know how to modify the inf file so I can update to the latest drivers. I have bioshock and C&C3 waiting here ready to be played!

With regards to the processes running under vista, I'm currently on my GFs inspiron 1521 and most of the 80 runnings processes that aren't your normal stuff are part of McAfees massive scan system. There has got to be about 20 seperate processes running as part of the program. Bar that there isn't really any bloat.
 
Psycrow said:
Its not due to turn up for a few weeks but I'd like to know how to modify the inf file so I can update to the latest drivers. I have bioshock and C&C3 waiting here ready to be played!
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Go to here: http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=14560

Download the driver from the top of the page and also the Modded INF.

You now have to extract the contents of the driver package to a location on your HD. I simply use 7-Zip for this task.

All you then have to do is copy the Modded INF into the folder where all the driver files have just been extracted, over writing the existing INF.

Run the setup.exe and its all done.:)
 
After some hard bargaining with one of the dell guys I got the following for £663.50 inc VAT and shipping

Vostro 1500:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7100 Processor (1.8GHz,800MHz,2MB L2 cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with TrueLife
Matte Jet Black with 2.0 mega pixel camera edit
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)
160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
256MB nVidia® GeForce® 8600M GT
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 WHr)
Laptop backpack

I was hoping for the 2ghz C2D but having Vista Ultimate and the backpack thrown in for nearly nowt was nice. They were very reluctant to budge on much but kept calling me back whenever I said they'd lost a customer. Not massive savings but enough to have warranted the effort.
 
csmager said:
That's not fair. Must've gone for a popular spec, or something. I ordered one for my sister on 23rd August, and it still hasn't arrived.

I think Dell've been having supply issues, from what I've read.
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No it isn't fair is it. I ordered mine on the 24th and after reading InwardSinging's first post I emailed Dell using the 'Dell Order Acknowledgement' email, asking why a "ahem" colleague of mine had ordered a similar laptop after me and already had a delivery date. The following day my laptop was dispatched, should have it tomorrow. Might i recommend you do something similar ;)
 
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