Dell Inspiron 1525 Notebook Review

Let's take a look at one of Dell's most popular notebooks, the Inspiron 1525. Across college campuses everywhere, you will likely find one of these compact notebooks hiding within lecture halls and student unions alike. This review will try to identify both the positive and negative sides of ownership, and what it can offer for you. This review will be split into sections that will review general performance and features, followed by an in-depth review of its usability in a real-world scenario, rather than laboratory conditions. Hopefully, by the time you are done skimming this brief review, you too will have an inside look to this portable notebook.

Specifications As Tested

• Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 (65nm) 2.0Ghz


• 15.4" Glossy Wide Screen WXGA+ LCD Screen (1440x900)


• 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-667 PC2-5300 SODIMM Memory


• 160GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive


• Intel Integrated Graphics X3100


• 8X DVD +/- RW Dual Layer Drive


• Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium


• Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0


• Intel 3945 WLAN (802.11 a/g) Mini Card


• Integrated 2 Megapixel Camera


• 85 W 9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery


• Dell Media Direct 3.5


• Spring Green Color

Aesthetics

The Inspiron 1525 is a simple, yet elegant notebook. The unit I'm reviewing comes in a Spring Green though you can go from extravagant as Flamingo Pink or decorative patterns to as conservative as Jet Black. There should be enough colors and patterns to make you go crazy trying to decide on which one. The silver Dell Logo is encased in the center on the opposite side of the notebook screen. The keyboard is surrounded by silver trim which complements the logo on top. The layout of all the buttons and LED indicators the aesthetics of the rest of the notebook well.

The size of the high capacity battery is the only flaw that stands out in the design. If you go with a beefy 9 cell battery, you will notice how the notebook battery sticks out, extending past the notebook screen. So at the cost of a bigger and heavier size notebook, you will have longer battery life. If you are looking to have a flush look when you close the notebook, you should avoid a 9 cell battery, and opt for a smaller 6-cell which fits the design better.

Build

The build quality of this notebook appears to be solid. The screen hinge feels strong and should last you a couple of years. The Inspiron 1525 does not use any latches to keep your notebook shut, but instead uses the strong hinges and the weight of the screen.

Weight

This notebook weighs about 6.4lbs, which is about average for a notebook of this size. Weight distribution is more important, meaning a notebooks can feel heavier than another due to an unequal distribution of weight on the notebook. This Dell Inspiron does not suffer from this problem at all. So it may feel a lot lighter compared to other notebooks with similar nominal weight.

Noise

The noise coming out from a notebook is important. Whether you are in an office environment or in a college classroom, you don't want to be that person with a notebook that sounds like a jet engine taking off. When the computer is idle, there is little to no noise. I did however notice a faint high pitch noise, but could only hear it if I pressed my ear against the notebook. As you start to do more intensive activities, the fan spins faster and louder. When the notebook is at about 50% utilization, in my opinion the noise starts to be audible in a small room. If you are just browsing the web, doing some office work, and listening to music you won't notice this.

Heat

The heat that a notebook gives off is one of the reasons why you don't hear the term laptop used anymore. The bottoms of the notebook have gotten so hot, that it would often be dangerous to users if they would to put it on their lap. The Inspiron 1525 does a good job of getting rid of the heat away from the notebook. Even when loading the computer with Intel Thermal Analysis Tool, the bottom did not get too warm. I still would not quite recommend putting it on your lap, but you can rest assured that your notebook will not burn you if you touch it.

The air vents on the very bottom of the notebook let the heat escape from the notbook, instead of being trapped in it.

Screen

The notebook screen uses a glossy finish with a widescreen resolution of 1440x900. The LCD panel on this unit is made by LG, model KR515. The big advantage of the glossy screen is that the colors just pop out at you. The widescreen makes watching movies much nicer than a 4:3 shape LCD. You can look at the panel from almost every direction and it will looks exactly the same as if you were looking straight at it. Dell may or may not be using this LCD panel in future Inspiron 1525 models.

While the glossy screen makes watching movies much nicer, it is not without its faults. To achieve the more richer and vivid colors, these panels saturate the colors more. Those planning to use this notebook for photography, creation of movies, or even printed media should remember that what you see on the screen may not necessarily be what comes out of your printer or how it looks when you take the multimedia elsewhere. The other problems with glossy screen is the glare on the screen. This will be a big problem if you are one of those people who like working outside in sunlight. Dimming the screen brightness did help reduce the glare, but it was still a nuisance having to move to a place where light was not directly hitting the notebook screen.

Only when you look at the notebook screen with an extreme angle do you notice the notebook screens picture start to become unclear.

Keyboard

The difference between a good keyboard and a bad keyboard can affect how accurate and how fast you can type. For me, the keyboard is slightly above average. This keyboard has some decent tactile feel, but a little too soft. It isn't as nice as the Thinkpad keyboards from Lenovo, but still a great competitor to it. If you are looking for this class of notebook, try the Dell Vostro 1500 to get a comparison, as Vostro series has a much nicer keyboard.

Touchpad

When walking around campus, I notice a lot of people carry mouses around. The main reason is because most touchpads cannot move the cursor around the screen smoothly. This one is no exception. I found that the touchpad works average compared to other notebooks on the market, but since it is a bit small and there is "flat scroll wheel" on the sides, I find my self accidently scrolling the window when I don't want to. During the time of my testing, the scrolling would occasionally lock and require me to press ESC to be able to return to my scrolling. I suggest carrying a small bluetooth mouse around if this is an area of concern.

Media Controls

The media control panel is located towards the top right of the notebook, above the keyboard. It provides controls for back, stop, play/pause, forward and the volume for the notebook. While touch sensitive and backlit keys are nice aesthetically, they still don't function well. When pushing the buttons, I noticed that I would get a significant delay in response and or wouldn't work on the first try. This got annoying especially when I was using the included Media Player and would have to push the keys 5 or 6 times before Media Center would actually register my command.

This can be problematic if you are at work or in a college classroom and do not want your notebook to make any noisewhen you accidentally visit a website that has background noise. You would quickly want to shut it off, so it doesn't disturb anyone else. But if the keys aren't responding properly, you will quickly find yourself at the stares of the people around you. But if you are seeking attention, you can just ignore what I just said.

Audio

The Inspiron 1525 comes with 2 Headphone Jacks in the front of the notebook and speakers that span the entire length of the keyboard. Like most notebooks on the market, the sound quality isn't stellar when compared to using real speakers, but I have heard speakers that sound a lot worse than this notebook. This notebook speaker is loud enough that it can be heard across a room if needed and you can certainly boost the volume more by some aftermarket speakers.

Having two audio jacks can be very useful if you have someone to share your media with. Otherwise, there isn't much else to use them for.

Ports

On the right side of the notebook, there is an Express Card Slot, WiFi Catcher, Optical Drive, S-Video Out, and 2 USB Ports. The layout will work just fine. Even if you have a USB device that is big, it will only block the S-Video port, not the Optical Drive.

On the left side of the notebook, there is the Power Adapter Port, 2 USB Ports, 1 VGA Output, an Ethernet Port, a 56K Fax/Modem Port, HDMI Port, and a IEEE1394a (Firewire) Port. I noticed that the USB port is very close to the USB Power Adapter Port.

As you can see from the picture, if you have a USB device that is slightly wider than a slim USB Drive, it will cover the Power Adapter Port. Dell really should have placed these ports elsewhere.

Webcam

The webcam that comes with the notebook is located on the top of the notebook screen. The quality of the pictures isn't that stellar compared to other Web Camera solutions for notebook on the market. Below are some pictures taken with it.

Note, these pictures have not been altered in any way.

(Click to enlarge)

As you can see, even with a light source, such as a desk light, the webcam still appears very dark. So for those planning on using the integrated webcam, make sure you are in a well lit environment.

The video performance below 800x600 resolution works really well and smooth. If you try to use 800x600 resolution or higher, you will notice a lot of video stuttering and very low frame rates. This isn't the web camera for you if you care about quality.

Upgradeability

Upgrading a computer can give a notebook more performance. The unit that I'm reviewing today already has 4GB of memory, the maximum amount by software (Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit) and hardware (only 2 memory banks) can support. I suggest getting at least 2GB of memory if you are using Windows Vista, and 1GB if you are running Windows XP. Make sure the memory you get is DDR2-667 PC2-5300 (or PC2-5400) SODIMM Notebook Memory.

Warning: Before you make any upgrades to this computer, make sure you wear an anti-static bracelet or touch a piece of a metal before opening it up. This witll remove any static electricity on your body, so that you don't accidentally damage your components.

To upgrade the memory on the notebook, you just have to remove these 9 screws. Then you just have to lift up the tabs, insert your memory in, and close the tabs. You can find the full instructions here.

To remove the hard drive from the notebook, you just remove the 2 screws on the side of the notebook. Then remove the two screws of the hard drive bracket. You can find the full instructions here.

The ExpressCard slot allows you to add cards that will give you more USB ports, SATA Ports (for hard drives) or even a tuner card. Just make sure that the ExpressCard you get is compatible with the Operating Systems of your choice (Windows Vista or Windows XP).

The rest of the hardware (such as video cards, processors, etc) are much harder if not impossible to upgrade, and are out of scope of this review, but if you are looking to try it, check out the Dell Inspiron 1525 service manual page for detailed information on how to do it.

Performance

Some of performance tests are non real world testing and often are the only real way to do a comparison that would be noticeable. In general, as you get faster components for your notebook, you will have to sacrifice something like battery life, added heat, or weight to your notebook. As a rule of thumb, the slower your components are, the more battery life you will get. It's up to you to make the necessary choices and sacrifices to pick the configuration for your notebook to maximize performance and battery life, while reducing weight and heat. This section will focus on the experience as a user, as well as provide some insight into theoretical (synthetic) performance levels.

Battery Performance - Different Screen Brightness

Battery performance in my opinion is one of the most important thing about a notebook. It gives you the freedom of not being tethered to an outlet. The tests conducted give you a good idea of real world examples of what you can expect to get out of your notebook.

As you can see from the above, reducing the screen brightness greatly increases the battery life. Reducing your screen brightness in half gives you an additional 1 hour and 30 minutes of battery life. This is one of the easiest ways to increase your battery life without making any drastic changes to how you use your notebook.

Battery Performance - Worst Case Scenario

This test determines what is the lowest battery life one can get. Under normal use it is highly unlikely you will ever be able to even get this close. So this test will give you a sense of the lowest battery life you can be in with a fully charged 9-cell battery. To stress the CPU at 100%, I used Intel Thermal Analysis Tool. To simulate web surfing, I was downloading a large file (the battery drained before the download finished). I also played a DVD to use the DVD Drive. To stress the Integrated Graphics, I used ATI Tool. Finally, I put the screen at 100% brightness to drain the battery the fastest.

The Inspiron 1525 was able to achieve a battery life of 1 Hour and 28 Minutes. This is quite amazing considering how stressful all of these tests are. This means that if you use your notebook under normal conditions and with your screen dimmed lightly, you will be able to easily get through 2 Hour Presentation or a college lecture without having to even think about charging your notebook.

Processor and Memory Performance - SuperPi

SuperPi is a popular synthethic benchmark commonly used over the internet to test a how fast a CPU. In general, SuperPi will do better on a computer with fast memory speeds and tight timings.

With CPU at 2Ghz with memory speed at 667Mhz for a Core 2 Duo, it does fairly decent. When tested against the Dell Vosotro 1500 that runs at 2.2Ghz with memory speed at 667Mhz, we find the Vostro 1500 beating out Inspiron 1525 in calculating pi to 1 million digit precision by 3 seconds.

Hard Drive Performance - HD Tune

The hard drive is one of the slowest computer parts and usually bottlenecks every computer so it doesn't seem as fast as it could be. However, rarely can people tell the difference between different hard drive speeds, without running a test like HD Tune.

The 7200 RPM SATA Drive is one of the fastest 2.5" hard drives you can get on the market. Even so, when compared to other 7200 RPM hard drives on the market, it is about 8MBps slower on average as compared to our Dell Vostro 1500 with a similar 7200 RPM Hard Drive. I recommend that most users choose a 5400 RPM hard drive because you will likely benefit more from reduced heat, increased battery life, and more storage rather than the small gains in everyday performance of a 7200 RPM hard drive.

Graphics Performance - 3D Mark 06'

The integrated graphics is one of the weakest points of this notebook. The integrated X3100 graphics is an absolute failure when compared to other notebook graphics solutions, even entry level desktop graphic chips. In 3D Mark 06, a popular benchmark used to determine system performance, with an emphasis on graphics performance, the Inspiron 1525 resulted in a measly 560 Points. To put this into perspective, an entry level 7200GS desktop graphics has no problem scoring above 1,000 points.

Graphics Performance - World of Warcraft

One of the most popular game on the internet is Word of Warcraft (WOW). However, if you decide to play WOW on this notebook, you will likely end up disappointed. This notebook can barely deliver decent gaming performance at 800x600 resolution and with all settings set to low. So unless you are not planning on playing 3D Games, look for a notebook with a faster, dedicated graphics processor, such as Dell XPS line of notebooks.

System Performance - PC Mark 05'

PC Mark 05' is a nice all around benchmark that tests overall system performance from graphics to hard drive to processor. Our Inspiron 1525 scored 4131, which is decent, but of course could be better. The most crippling part of this notebook is the graphics performance. If Dell would have given this notebook a non-integrated graphics performance, we would see this number go up tremendously.

Conclusion

The Inspiron 1525 is a powerful machine in all areas, except gaming performance. The absence of a discrete graphics chip, provides us with stellar battery life, and gets very sizeable gains just by reducing the screen brightness slightly. A casual user who uses this notebook to surf the web, for work, or takes it into a college classroom, won't be disappointed. Those who are expecting it to game while in the college classroom won't enjoy the experience. This product is not without significant usability drawbacks such as the USB port being very close to the Power Cord port, the Media Controls or the touchpad not responding properly. However, the beautiful looking screen, great size keyboard, and powerful computer do outweigh most of these disadvantages.

Great for general use

Great battery life

Vivid display screen

Stays cool and quiet

Lacks graphics performance

Media Controls and touchpad could be more responsive

Display screen has issues with glare

Bulky USB devices could block the Power Adapter plug.