Dell Vostro 1500

ic1male,

my advice to you is.


Try it out first, see if the panel looks good to you.

Dont go reading up on the panel. finding defects and then seeing them on yours lol. It only makes you paranoid.

If when you unbox it you love then panel then you know your onto a good one.
 
Is there any point in upgrading the cpu to 2.0ghz? Or will 1.8 do for most things? Im considering light gaming when i say this.

Also i was going to order on the borderline of the offer so i can cancel and get a better offer if its on, shall i order today or tomorrow?
 
GuruJockStrap said:
Just tried that actually and it seems to work. Display is less brighter and no noise from the panel.

Only problem now is if I use the battery, the BIOS settings overide the Vista power modes and the screen brightness is automatically set to low with the buzzing still there.
Click to expand...

You can change that in the bios (well on my other dell laptops you can) to keep the brightness on max when you have it off the battery. Might be worth doing to save you returning and being without it for a while.
 
Im hovering over the buy button like, 587.50 with 1.8ghz, 646.32 with 2.0. That delivery really is fudging ridiculous, only thing putting me off really. It doesnt cost me 60quid to drive for 2hours down south, total joke! Also annoyed ppl got a WAY better deal than me. You think if I order it now, i'll still have time to cancel and change to the new offer if its better?

Nice setup by the way Bossk128

cheers
 
I'm happy enough with my panel. It looks a bit bright compared to the TFTs I'm used to but I'm sure I'll get used to it soon enough.

I hope the RECOVERY and MEDIADIRECT partitions on the HDD aren't required for anything as I've just trashed them as part of my Vista re-install!
 
Now I'm a bit gutted. I can't get 64-bit Vista Ultimate to install. It keeps going to blue-screen and rebooting so quick that I can't see what the error message is.
 
bah should i press buy or not? If i dont now i doubt i'll have the balls to later. Reckon i'll be able to cancel easy enough if the offer is better tomorrow....or does the new offer start a day later?
 
Shicky said:
bah should i press buy or not? If i dont now i doubt i'll have the balls to later. Reckon i'll be able to cancel easy enough if the offer is better tomorrow....or does the new offer start a day later?
Click to expand...

Just buy it, even if it's cheaper later it's still a good deal now.
 
Really good review, my HP Omnibook died on me last night and it's going to cost a fortune to fix. I think I might take the plunge and get this dell laptop, I did have my eye on a Sony Vaio but this looks class.
 
Shicky said:
bah should i press buy or not? If i dont now i doubt i'll have the balls to later. Reckon i'll be able to cancel easy enough if the offer is better tomorrow....or does the new offer start a day later?
Click to expand...

You can cancel no problem, just say you prefer the new offers and you're gonna re-order. Thats if the new offers make it cheaper, I suspect Dell will up the price now its getting very popular.
 
Cells,

your a bit late on the band waggon dude,

It clearly states on their site when ordering that its the ddr2 version.

Going back to june when they launched it and you would have a case to complain mate ;)

It wasnt listed then as the ddr2 version.
 
Datamonkey said:
Cells,

your a bit late on the band waggon dude,

It clearly states on their site when ordering that its the ddr2 version.

Going back to june when they launched it and you would have a case to complain mate ;)

It wasnt listed then as the ddr2 version.
Click to expand...



i didn’t notice when i ordered mine :(
 
GuruJockStrap said:
I'd recommend a re-install of Vista. From 70+ running processes with the Dell install, I'm down to around 35-40 with a fresh install and nearly all of my apps installed.

Installation of drivers was fine. If your going the re-install route, here are the drivers you'll need:

1. Lastest chipset drivers from Intels website
2. 8600M GT - I used a modified set based on the recent 163.44 from here. If you don't fancy that, just use the ones from Dells website
3. Sigmatel Soundcard drivers from the Dell website - Run the .exe
4. Broadcom NIC - Download from the Dell website and update driver via device manager
5. Modem Driver - Download from the Dell website and update driver via device manager
6. Intel Wireless Adapter - rather than use the latest from Intel, I used the version from Dells website only because it says in the readme that it fixes an issue when using the wireless device and bluetooth. Download from the Dell website and update driver via device manager. I let Vista handle my wireless connections and don't want the Intel software installed (another 3 startup programs)
7. Webcam - Just used Vista own drivers
8. SD card reader - Download from Dell website - Run the .exe. If you don't, you'll see 3 unknown devices in device manger.
9. I installed the Synaptics touchpad driver as it allows you to disable the touchpad when a USB mouse is present and also allows use of the scrolling feature.

You can't use the Wi-Fi catcher button if you go the above route. Although I find that feature a bit useless. Nothing that clicking in the system tray doesn't fix.

Doing it via the above method will ensure full functionality of all the hardware while minimising any possible bloat and additional startup apps.:)
Click to expand...

which chipset drivers did you download from the intel site?
 
Generally all mobile graphics chipsets are crippled in some way, the 7950GTX for instance with a 2.33 in my old 1710 laptop only gets 5300 3dmarks 06.

Its not a gaming laptop by any means, the Vostro is designed as a business machine, its just one that we all plan on using for games, since its basically a rebadged 1520 without the funny coloured front.

For the price we are playing (i bought mine through the company, so £640 for all bells and whistles with vista ultimate and 2ghz/9cell) ill recoup pretty much most of my money when i shift it on in 3-6 months time.
 
i noticed the noise today, when i plugged my headphones in it was horrible really loud and annoying :(

edit - cant hear it when playing games, music or movies are on though, just when i have no sound playing.
 
Some you've had this laptop for a week or so now - what are your thoughts on it? Worth it? Any really bad points / problems?

I have ordered one, but im absolutely desperate for a laptop for work, and 6 days in and its still 'being prepared for production'

Is it worth the wait or should i cancel my order and look elsewhere? Hmmm what to do :confused:
 
Worth the wait as far as I'm concerned. I've mainly used mine as a desktop at the moment and played a lot of CSS. Can't fault it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom