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When Dell released the Vostro line of their desktops and notebooks, the reaction to the new line of budget-oriented systems was somewhat mixed. Some saw the series as somewhat conservative in terms of exterior shape and colors, and some really liked the plain look. Some looked at the line as just another "Dell Inspiron" for Small Businesses, but some looked at all the new features, and realized that it's truly a line of its own. Some compared the laptop section to the then-current unofficial king of business laptop - IBM/Lenovo T series, T60- and T61 in particular, and wrote it off as an inferior, bulky product.
There was, however, one thing that was very hard to beat - the price. From the very first slick deal on it, it became obvious that Dell is looking to capture the market of mid- to small-size businesses, looking for computational power on the go. They seem to have hit the nail on its head with the Vostro. Starting with the absence of trialware, 30-day money back guarantee, free return shipping, along with already existing services Dell provided, they were able to capture the niche market of businesses and individuals who wanted a solid business laptop at a very modest price.
Of course, the original release is never perfect - both Vostro 1400 and 1500 had their share of lovers and haters, for a variety of reasons. Today we are looking at the upgrade to the now-classic Vostro 1500 laptop, the Vostro 1510.
Configuration as reviewed
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 1.8 GHz, 2MB Cache
- Memory: 2GB DDR2-667 (2x1GB)
- Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic, Service Pack 1
- Screen: 15.4 inch Widescreen WXGA+ LCD Anti-Glare Display (1440x900)
- Hard Drive: 160G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive (Seagate 5400.3)
- CD/DVD: 8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R
- Video Card: 256MB nVidia GeForce 8400M GS
- Network: Gigabit Ethernet
- Wireless: Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g
- Bluetooth: Dell Wireless 360 Bluetooth
- Webcam: Integrated 1.3MP with Digital Microphone
- Security: Fingerprint Reader
- Battery: 87 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Traditional package: Laptop, software, power cables, manuals and a... microfiber cloth?
Build, aesthetics, usability and ergonomics
Some of the most heard complaints about the Vostro 1500 were that it was too plain looking, too bland, too conservative, too bulky, and overall unattractive. The 1510 has an answer for all of the above.
Weight and size management
Top: Vostro 1510, Bottom: Vostro 1500
With the recent movement to slim down, Dell started by putting the 15" Vostro on a diet: where 1500 with a 9-cell battery weighed in at 7lb 6 oz, the 1510, also with a 9-cell battery, came at only 6lb 0.8 Oz. This put it in line with some of the lightest 15" laptops out there and that's also with a standard (non-LED) screen. If an LED option were available, I would expect the weight to break the 6lb mark.
Left: Vostro 1510, Right: Vostro 1500
In addition to the impressive reduction in weight, the 1510 replaces the curvy lines seen in 1500 with straight angles, making the laptop look more like a Latitude series, or even an Apple's MacBook Pro when closed.
Left: Vostro 1510, Right: Vostro 1500
Finally, the overall height of the laptop is reduced by as much as 1/3" towards the front of the laptop when closed, putting a nice finishing touch on the already good looking laptop, and also allowing it to be packed in slimmer luggage compartments, if necessary.
External appearance
The matte exterior of the 1500, similar to one currently used on the XPS series, has been replaced by a shiny, reflective shell. Sure, it's a fingerprint and dust magnet - but it definitely looks quite a bit cleaner, and sleeker. In addition to that, I personally didn't really like how Vostro 1500 would keep the traces of fingers after touching it with anything other than perfectly dry hands on the outside - a common problem with "powdered" exterior. To help you fight fingerprints on the shiny surface, Dell also includes a microfiber cloth, which works wonders in removing any evidence of you handling the laptop.
Build quality
The original Vostro was highly regarded for its solid build. Some went as far as calling it a "tank", both to identify its bulkiness and rigid construction. The 1510 left most of those features behind. The construction still feels very solid on the base of a laptop, but the screen feels a little too soft, although still much better than screens on XPS m1330 or m1530, which are outright thin. The magnesium alloy construction remains untouched, leaving it as one of the stronger, yet relatively light laptops on the market.
Vostro 1510 does not use a screen latch/lock and relies on screen weight and spring-loaded hinges to keep it down when closed. This works really well, however, it makes opening the laptop with one hand much harder, if not impossible.
Screen
The model we received for this review has an anti-glare, matte screen, with 1440x900 screen resolution, known as WXGA+. This is the highest resolution one can get without getting the reflective TrueLife screen, which go as high as 1920x1200 (WUXGA).
There is much debate on the internet about which is really better - anti-glare or TrueLife (or any other name for a vivid, reflective display). In the end, it all comes down to personal preference, and the intended use for the laptop. I generally found true business users and persons working a lot outside favoring anti-glare screens. On the other side, users seeking entertainment, and artists who love eye-pleasing, vivid colors, and are willing to deal with glare in direct light, prefer reflective screens. The only way to really decide is to compare them side by side. Unfortunately, the limited resolution makes anti-glare LCDs less attractive to professionals seeking screen real estate for their daily work.
Notwithstanding, the screen on our sample is very sharp, and bright, with very good viewing angles and response time.
Keyboard
Top: Vostro 1510, Bottom: Vostro 1500
Vostro 1510 and 1310 introduce a new keyboard layout for the Vostro family. It's a whole inch narrower, down to 11" from 12". Most of the keys remain the same size, 11/16" squares, but the positioning is tighter, and the arrow keys are now about half the size of the other keys. The new design also removes standalone Home and End keys, and combines them with Left Arrow and Right Arrow respectively, making them accessible only via the Fn key. Page Up and Page Down keys are also relocated to the same general area as the arrow keys. All this causes the arrow key section to "break" the traditional rectangular shape, creating a small "bump" in the lower right section of the keyboard.
Coming to the 1510 from 1500, the reduction in keyboard width, change in positioning, and combining of the keys is unusual, and will definitely take some adjustment, especially since I work with documents and code on the regular basis. If you have never used a full size laptop keyboard, you will probably have no trouble adjusting to it.
Left: Vostro 1510, Right: Vostro 1500
The keyboard responsiveness is just as great, and tactile feedback is on par with the original, making it one of the most pleasant keyboards to work with, a close second to probably only Lenovo T-series.
Touchpad
Left: Vostro 1510, Right: Vostro 1500
One thing that really bothered me in the original Vostro was the absence of any barrier between the touchpad and the buttons. When using it, I often found my mouse pointer in random spots from where I previously left it - truly a runaway mouse without a cat, all because I would hit the touchpad with 2 fingers at the same time, causing it to get confused. Vostro 1510 adds a 1/8" break between the touchpad and the buttons, which effectively eliminates the problem. The touchpad is smooth, and tracks position and taps very well, making it a good alternative for when you don't have to or don't want to use a mouse.
Fingerprint Reader
As an optional security feature, Vostro 1510 offers a fingerprint reader - something that's becoming more and more common in business, and higher end consumer laptops, and wasn't available with its predecessor. This particular implementation allows storing user's biometric data on the hard drive, or in the reader itself. The former allows a virtually unlimited number of prints stored, while the latter is limited to 28. In both cases, biometric data is encrypted to prevent unauthorized access. While still somewhat a novelty, a fingerprint reader offers simplified logon to the PC literally with a touch of a finger. It also allows storing passwords for web sites, and Windows-based services, such as network and VPN logins. Basically just about anything that offers a password-based login may be added to an easy-to-use software, which will prompt you for a finger swipe, rather than entering a password. As of this review, both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox (including latest 3.0) are officially supported. Support for other browsers, such as Opera and Safari, or for Linux is not yet available. Firefox 3.0 users need to download an updated extension from reader manufacturer's site.
Fingerprint reader software replaces standard windows login procedure, whether you use a welcome screen or Ctrl + Alt + Delete combination (common with domain logins). Before you can use it, you enroll your finger or fingers so that the reader can recognize you. This is done after logging into your account with a password and swiping the finger on the reader. You are then taken to a special dialog, where you have to provide your password for windows login, and after 5 successful consecutive swipes of a finger, you are ready to log in via biometric credentials. As an option, you may also choose an even tighter security mechanism, which requires you to enter a password and swipe a finger. You can enroll up to a total of 10 finger prints.
I found fingerprint login to be very conveniet, not only for Windows logins, but also for other password-protected locations, such as web-based email logins, network logins, and other restricted resources. At this time, this method does not support advanced login operations, including Linux logins using a terminal application such as PuTTY, and it is not clear whether such support will ever be provided. Just about any application that supports "pre-entered" password will be recognized by the application automatically.
System Activity Indicators
Vostro 1510 combines the keyboard setting LED indicators, as well as system activity indicators, such as hard drive/optical drive activity and wireless/bluetooth indicators above the keyboard, next to the power key. The power and battery charge indicators remain on the front side of the laptop, and unlike the others, are visible when the laptop is closed. While mostly a cosmetic issue, I prefer being able to see the hard drive activity indicator when the laptop is closed, especially since there are 2 other LEDs visible, but that certainly doesn't make it a deal breaker for me.
Ports and Connectivity
Front: Power and battery charge LEDs, microphone and headphone jacks, card reader
The new Vostro 1510 offers a wide variety of connectivity options for just about any device a business user would require. This includes 4 USB ports, 2 on each side, a memory card reader, headphones + microphone pair, a firewire/IEEE1394 mini port, VGA output and a gigabit ethernet.
Networking
Back side: VGA output, ethernet port, power adapter port
With more and more small and medium businesses switching to gigabit network speeds, Vostro 1510 gets the upgrade to match the demand. The network card is based around a popular PCI Express Realtek chipset, and in my tests, I was able to get close to 940 Mbit throughput. One common problem with older gigabit network chipset, specifically PCI versions, was very high CPU usage when one gets close to about half of gigabit bandwidth and above. I did not experience any issues with it on this Vostro unit, and the network speeds are a very welcome upgrade that a lot of users have been asking for.
This unit comes with the base Dell Wireless 1395 adapter. It's a solid performer, and even though it's limited to G speeds (up to 54Mbps theoretical), this is the most widely deployed standard in most businesses and public hot spots around the country. The optional Dell wireless Draft N and Intel Draft N adapters are also available, if you are looking into the future with wireless technology. The bundled wireless software supports standard security protocols, including WPA2 and LEAP authentication, as well as older WEP and WPA for backwards compatibility. One thing worth mentioning - is that Vostro 1510 no longer includes a WiFi detector mode on the wireless switch, found on Vostro 1500. This mode was meant to search for wireless signal, and provide a color-coded indication whether one was available without having to turn the laptop on, thus saving road warriors' battery life. While pretty cool at first, it couldn't really distinguish between an open and protected network, and I didn't find myself using it much.
Video Output
Unlike its older brother which had an S-Video and VGA ports, the 1510 provides a single external video output - a 15-pin VGA port. While the absence of an HDMI port is somewhat surprising, considering the integrated nVidia 8400 series video card, it makes it clear that Dell is positioning this laptop towards business users more so than entertainment. After all the majority of installed projectors in offices and conference rooms have a VGA input a lot more often than HDMI. In addition to that, more and more modern high definitions TV sets include a PC/VGA input, so this may be more of a minor nuisance than a real omission on Dell's part.
USB Ports
Right side: Firewire mini, 2 USB ports, slot-loading DVD+/-RW drive, Kensington security lock port
Left Side: Cooling vent, 2 USB ports, ExpressCard slot, WiFi switch
As its predecessor, the 1510 has 4 USB ports, 2 on the right side of the laptop, and 2 on the left side.
Vostro 1500: USB device blocking network and power ports
The location of USB ports on 1500 was bad, especially for using them with bulky devices. One pair of ports was located very close to the network port, and another - very close to the power adapter. I use a (very bulky) Verizon Wireless USB card for getting to SlickDeals.net on the go. When I plugged it into either of the USB pairs, I would have to stay either without ethernet connection, or without AC power.
This problem doesn't exist with the 1510, as the USB ports are positioned separately from all other devices. And even though it's still a challenge to use 2 USB devices together, it's a lot easier to get by with 2-3 available USB ports, than without power.
Memory card reader
Just about every laptop PC these days has some sort of a memory card reader. Both old and new Vostro models have one as well. The reader supports SD (including High Capacity) cards, Memory Stick (including Pro cards) and MultiMedia Cards (MMC). mini SD and micro SD cards are also supported, if you have a full-size SD adaptor for them.
The device is reasonably fast, I was able to read from a 4GB Sandisk Extreme III SDHC memory card at an average of about 15MB/second. Using a Sandisk-provided USB card reader, that speed went up to about 19MB/s.
Multimedia and Entertainment
While the whole Vostro series is not targeted at the audience that is looking for an entertainment laptop, it hardly lacks anything in that regard. There is a slot loading DVD burner, bright screen, headphone jack, and a set of touch-sensitive LED-backlit media control buttons right above the keyboard. Even DVD playback software (CyberLink PowerDVD DX 8) is preinstalled on the system- so much for no entertainment value.
Speakers
One of the reasons the keyboard has been redesigned and shrunk is the addition of speakers to the left and right of the keyboard. The original Vostro 1500 speakers were on the front of the laptop, and weren't anything special. Unfortunately, the reduction in keyboard size hasn't changed much either - speakers still lack bass and treble, and when volume is raised too high (close to 85-90%), there is additional noise mixed in. They are better than what the original had, no doubt, but let's face it, good speakers and laptop only meet when they are separate. Headphone jack on the other hand provides good sound, so make sure you pick up a good set of headphones. I tried it with Sennheiser CX300B and Creative Aurvana DJ, from the recent deals, and both work much better than speakers.
Media Controls
Vostro 1510 Media Controls
Vostro 1500 Media Controls
Originally found only on the XPS line, the media controls are now touch sensitive, LED-backlit buttons. I definitely like the new approach for 2 reasons - the old location in the front of the laptop was a little too easy to push while moving the laptop, and the keys were narrow and sometimes hard to read in the darker room. The screen backlight on the 1510 provides more than enough brightness to distinguish the keys if the lights are off.
Slot-loading DVD Burner
Another new addition to this line is the slot-loading DVD drive. The base model comes with a DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo, but the model we received has a DVD/CD burner. Slot-loading drive is another feature found mostly on higher end (XPS) line in the past. While it allows the laptop to slim down quite a bit by employing a caddy-less solution, it also limits aftermarket upgrade possibilities, since it's considerably harder to find a slot-loading optical unit compared to a more traditional design. During a quick DVD playback session, I did not notice any issues with either the DVD player, or the software. Even speakers provided reasonable sound quality.
Webcam and Digital Microphone
Vostro 1510 is configurable with an optional 1.3 MP webcam, paired with a digital microphone. Truth be told, the 2MP Vostro 1500 webcam didn't shine, and the webcam on the 1510 is no better. The 1510 inherits a lot of noise, especially apparent in artificial lighting, and makes facial features very hard to distinguish under such conditions - something the original webcam did with at least moderate success. The microphone on the other hand, is quite good, and if used with communications software, such as Skype, provides a good experience. If you do not have a headset, or at least headphones, there will be some minimal residual echo, however, it's barely noticeable.
Gaming
Our review sample contains an integrated nVidia GeForce 8400M GS with 256MB memory. This is the top video card option for the 1510, which is a step down from the 8600M GT available on the original Vostro 1500. 8400M GS is an average video card, which will allow a user to play 3d video games at medium to low settings at native (1440x900) resolution. I would not recommend playing the newest games on it, as they will likely require a bit more video processing power, but games released a year or so ago should not have any problem. If you opt for a cheaper integrated Intel X3100 solution, you will be limited to casual games, such as solitaire, chess, and others, as that video card is not suitable for the majority of power hungry games.
Upgradability and parts
Traditionally, most laptops are hard to upgrade. This is caused by a variety of factors, including custom chassis, custom parts, and market segmentation. Some of the high end laptop manufacturers have tried offering upgradeable laptops, but that idea didn't work so well, since most of them were very expensive, and were troublesome to support. Vostro 1510 makes a few things a lot easier to upgrade, if you have the parts that fit.
The bottom of the laptop has undergone a major redesign compared to its older sibling. There are 2 main compartments, each only secured by 2 Philips screws. One of them contains wireless networking hardware and hard disk, and the other contains the memory and CPU, as well as fan. This has made some small changes to configuration for review purposes very easy.
This is the first laptop besides the XPS series I came across which actually makes CPU upgrade easy at home, if you have a processor that will work in this laptop. Dell offers CPUs from Celeron 540 to Core 2 Duo T9300 as available, and just about everything in between should work. The reason it's so easy is because the system now uses a single heatpipe and a single fan and both are accessible from the bottom of the laptop. If you wanted to replace a CPU in a Vostro 1500, you would have to take most of the laptop apart, undo about 2 dozen screws of widely varying sizes, and take out the system board. Whereas here, you take out the fan and the heatpipe, and the CPU is right there. So if you have access to aftermarket CPUs, the sky err motherboard is the limit.
It is worth noting, that a single cooling fan design does not cause any issues with heat or noise. In my comparison, a Vostro 1500 with a T7500 processor and 8600M GT video card was both warmer and louder because of the more hot video card, and CPU as well as dual-fan design.
As with most laptops, memory (RAM) is easy to upgrade. It uses standard locking sockets, and replacing the modules (up to 2GB each DDR2-667 or DDR2-800 SoDIMM) is very easy. Just remember, on the first try, the memory/cpu module cover is hard to remove, and I was convinced there should be a screw besides the 2 holding it in place, but it's just the 4 plastic hinges that lock pretty tight that cause that illusion.
This is also one of the few laptops that do not use a hard drive mounting caddy, the hard drive simply slides into a serial ATA port, no screws required. It accepts a standard 2.5", 9.5mm serial ATA laptop hard drive, currently available in capacities up to 320GB. Unfortunately, the 500GB 11.5mm 3-platter hard drives (such as the one inside the recent SimpleTech drive) do not fit.
Trying on 500GB Hitachi drive (It doesn't fit...)
Physically it may be possible, as there is some plastic padding underneath the drive, but it is unclear if it will ever be accommodated for. All in all, 320GB should be plenty for everyone in a laptop.
As mentioned earlier, slot-loading optical drive mechanism makes it hard to upgrade it due to low availability of aftermarket parts. The same goes for the video card - it's integrated into the system board. You will have to make a decision for both of these at time of purchase, and stick with it for the life of the notebook.
Battery and mobility
The laptop we received shipped with an optional upgrade from 6-cell to 9-cell battery. While it adds some weight, and protrudes about 3/4" from the back of the laptop, is a worthy upgrade for a traveler. Dell claims battery life of up to 7:13 hours on a 9-cell battery, which isn't hard to believe, considering that in our test with full screen brightness, and with wifi and bluetooth on, but everything in idle mode, we achieved 5:11 hours from boot up to complete shut off. For all battery tests, we also switched Aero desktop off, and used normal Vista theme. We also performed a torture test with everything at full load, including processor, video card, DVD drive, screen, hard drive, both wired and wireless networking. When under this much stress, the laptop lasted 1 hour and 25 minutes. While this number may seem very low compared to the over 7 hours of claimed battery life, such usage scenario is highly unlikely, and is only provided to illustrate the strength of the 9-cell battery. Even with a 9-cell battery, Vostro 1510 barely breaks 6-pound mark, weighing in at 6lb 0.8oz, making it an excellent choice for a road warrior in need of solid laptop.
Tech talk and benchmarks
After unpacking the laptop, and turning it on, I pressed F2, expecting to see a common as of late Dell BIOS, and was in for a small surprise. Unlike just about every recent Dell laptop I have laid my hands on, this one is actually using a Phoenix BIOS. While it's still very limited in what it can achieve, it's somewhat an interesting choice, considering it does not provide nearly as much options as Dell's own BIOS. So far, it seems that a Vostro 1510 is a good contender to just about anything business oriented. Many users are also interested as to how it performs in various scenarios, and being pushed to the limit of its capabilities. Enter the benchmarks. For comparison purposes, we also tested 2 additional similar systems from Dell - an XPS m1330 and the original Vostro 1500, configured as follows:
Vostro 1500
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2 GHz, 4MB Cache
- Memory: 4GB DDR2-667 (2x2GB)
- Operating System: Genuine Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3
- Screen: 15.4 inch Widescreen WSXGA LCD with TrueLife (1680x1050)
- Hard Drive: 200GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive (Seagate 7200.1ASG)
- CD/DVD: 8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R
- Video Card: 256MB nVidia GeForce 8600M GT
- Network: 10/100 Mbit Ethernet
- Wireless: Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g
- Bluetooth: Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth
- Webcam: Integrated 2.0MP with Digital Microphone
- Battery: 87 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Dell XPS m1330
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 2.1 GHz, 3MB Cache
- Memory: 4GB DDR2-667 (2x2GB)
- Operating System: Genuine Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3
- Screen: 13.3 inch Widescreen WXGA LED LCD (1280x800)
- Hard Drive: 250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive (Western Digital)
- CD/DVD: 8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R
- Video Card: 256MB nVidia GeForce 8400M GS
- Network: 10/100 Mbit Ethernet
- Wireless: Intel Wireless N 4965
- Bluetooth: Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth
- Webcam: Integrated VGA with Digital Microphone
- Battery: 87 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
For Vostro 1510, the results are based on a freshly installed Windows Vista Business Service Pack 1. All systems have been updated with all latest Windows updates prior to testing.
Overall System Performance - PCMark 2005
PC Mark 05 is an all around benchmark that tests overall system performance from graphics to hard drive to processor. Produced by the same company as 3DMark 06, it's geared towards estimating synthetic peak computer performance while performing daily tasks, such as manipulating photos, encoding music from CDs into compressed formats, office work simulation, etc. Higher score in this benchmark generally means faster performance during everyday use, especially when using multiple applications at once.
This laptop scored 3,768 points in PCMark 05. This is a respectable score, and it indicates that the laptop will perform well in majority of day-to-day office and entertainment tasks, such as web browsing, audio encoding, video playback, and basic graphics performance. Compared to the other 2, better equipped, laptops in the test it scored lower, as was expected.
Graphics Performance - 3D Mark 06
3D Mark 06 is widely regarded as a synthetic de-facto standard when measuring gaming performance of a PC. It heavily relies on a powerful CPU, as well as graphics subsystem and presents the results as a single score, which can be compared to other users’ results either directly or using product’s vast test result database, containing submissions from around the world. Higher scores in this benchmark usually translate into ability to run 3D games at higher resolutions and with higher image quality settings.
Our review sample comes with a dedicated nVidia GeForce 8400M GS video card, which results in average 3D graphics performance for a laptop. It will be sufficient for casual gaming with low to medium settings in most reasonably modern games. Some of the newer games may require to be configured to run at lower than native resolution to provide playable speed. If you are looking to really enjoy graphics-intensive games, you should look into more powerful configurations, available in the Dell XPS family of laptops.
Processor and Memory Performance - SuperPi and wPrime
SuperPi and wPrime are popular synthetic benchmarks commonly used on the internet to test a how fast the processor and memory is. The idea behind SuperPi is to determine how fast a PC can calculate up to 1 million decimal numbers of a commonly used number pi, not exactly your everyday task. Likewise, wPrime uses a high speed algorithm to determine square roots of very large numbers. SuperPi does not support more than one CPU core for its computations. wPrime on the other hand is multi-threaded, and is a popular choice when comparing performance of computers with multiple processor cores. High performance in these benchmarks usually means that your computer will be able to easily run an antivirus in the background protecting your computer, and at the same time will allow you to watch HDTV or a movie, read this blog post, and check email at the same time.
Both these benchmark are highly dependent on raw CPU speed, and since Vostro 1510 has the weakest processor of the three, there is no surprise that it takes the longest to complete the tests. The results, however, are adequate for the processor of this class and speed.
Hard Drive Performance - HD Tune
As technology moves forward, hard drives remain one of the slowest internal components of a computer and usually considered one of the main components that hold back overall performance. Benchmarks tests such as HD Tune can accurately measure how fast a specific drive is, and help compare different brands, models, and sizes of drives between each other. Faster performance in this benchmark usually means that you will enjoy quicker times when copying files, opening and saving complex office documents, working with large lists of Outlook contacts, large email files, and just about anything else that stores and reads data on your disk.
The Seagate drive inside this laptop is one of the fastest 5400RPM drives on the market. It passes 250GB Western Digital drive in the XPS m1330 and comes very close to a 7200RPM Seagate drive, which is considerably more expensive, and produces more heat. It is obvious that 7200RPM does not provide nearly as much benefit as it used to, and most consumers are better off either saving their money, or getting a larger drive instead.
Vista vs XP vs Vista
Some may wonder why we are talking about XP, when the laptop ships with Vista. The answer is simple - Dell is currently offering its business customers a choice of OS. If you choose to purchase Windows Vista Business or Vista Ultimate with the system, you have the option to receive your desktop or laptop with Windows XP Professional preinstalled and still have upgrade rights to Windows Vista when you are ready to make the switch. In addition, we felt that the laptop might be somewhat limited by the albeit minimal, but still present 3rd party applications, which may take up system resources and cause test results to be not quite what they can and should be. Therefore, we installed Windows XP Professional, and Windows Vista Business and repeated some of our tests for comparison.
Windows XP Professional clearly has an edge over both Vista editions. This is largely attributed to issues with Vista video card drivers, which are continuously improved, and should eventually catch up to full performance.
In our PCMark 2005 test we have encountered a strange inconsistency, where transparent windows test performed exceptionally well under Vista Home Basic, but not under other 2 operating systems. To verify it, we performed the same test on an overclocked quad-core desktop PC, considerably more powerful than either of the laptops compared today, and the result came out much lower. We therefore recommend that you view the PCMark 2005 score on Vista Home Basic as "invalid" and instead make your decision based on comparison of Windows XP and Windows Vista Business.
As expected, the hard drive read speed is consistent across all installations. This indicates that disk performance is mature in all tested operating systems, and you should not be limited, regardless of which OS you choose.
Super PI has known issues with Windows Vista, or configurations with 4GB of memory installed, and we were unable to complete the test under Vista Home Basic, hence it is missing from comparison. Windows XP Professional exhibits a slightly better speed, mostly due to lower idle CPU usage compared to Vista, attributed to a larger number of background processes.
Multi-threaded performance as indicated by wPrime 32 does not change regardless of the installed OS flavor, suggesting that in multithreaded applications all tested Windows versions should be approximately equal.
As we see, Windows XP still performs better than Windows Vista in some tasks. While this gap used to be wider, continuous improvement in device drivers, and recent release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is bringing things closer to a status quo.
2GB vs 4GB
In addition to comparing Vista to XP, we also upgraded the memory to 4GB of OCZ value memory, to see how much difference it makes in Windows Vista, as shipped from the factory, and re-ran the benchmarks. The table below summarizes our results.
The benchmark results do not show any improvement from using 4GB of memory vs 2GB of memory in Windows Vista. 2GB memory is the recommended level for 32-bit editions of Windows Vista, and it appears that it works very well with this specific setup. However, if you expect to run multiple applications at once, and often switch between them, which is very common in business tasks, it is recommended to upgrade to 3GB or 4GB of memory. Remember, that in case of 32-bit operating system and 4GB of installed memory, you may not be able to access all of it, unless you upgrade to a 64-bit version of the OS. The available memory amount will vary between 3GB and 4GB, depending on the exact system configuration, and in our case, it is slightly over 3.5GB.
Conclusion
When we got a request to review a Vostro 1510, I wasn't sure what to expect of it. On one hand, I am a proud owner of "the tank" in the face of a Vostro 1500, and was a bit worried that the new Vostro may disappoint. On the other hand, it's always exciting to play with new toys (see laptop gallery). And I am sure glad I got to review this update to the family.
Vostro 1510 just about has it all - there is the processing power from the excellent Intel Core 2 processor family, plenty of storage with up to 320GB hard drive, available dedicated video, and ultra high resolution screen, gigabit ethernet. All enclosed into a barely over 6lb attractive packaging.
There is the entertainment value with the sharp and bright screen, easy to use media controls, slot-loading DVD drive, and included DVD playback software for those short breaks between work.
There also are updated looks - "the tank" heavyweight has turned into a more attractive laptop with sleek straight lines, lost almost 1.5 lb of weight, added a shiny shell and nifty looking LED controls.
And then there is the price - base configuration starts at $499, with a well-rounded set up, closer to one we reviewed for $599.
What's Hot:
- Sleek looks
- Considerably reduced weight
- Available WUXGA full Hi-Def screen
- Abundance of well-positioned ports
- Dedicated graphics
- Gigabit ethernet
- Improved touchpad design
- Windows XP Professional for free with Vista Business/Ultimate purchase
- Inexpensive
What's Not
- Highest end graphics card is too low end
- Redesigned keyboard may take a while to get used to
- No DVI/HDMI and BluRay options (as of yet)
- USB ports on the right side are still too close to each other
- Built-in speakers could use some work
- No LED screen option
- Poor webcam image quality in any lighting
Vostro 1310 vs Vostro 1510 Gallery
The Vostro 1310 we reviewed along with the Vostro 1510.
Laptop Gallery
Just in case you are wondering - 5 out of these are past slick deals 
and 2 were sent in for review. From top to bottom, Dell Latitude D420, XPS M1330, Vostro 1310,
HP DV 6500T, Vostro 1510, Vostro 1500, Dell Inspiron 8600.
10-19-2004 $750 off $1500 Inspiron 8600 Pentiuim M 1.6, 512MB DDR, 30GB HDD, CDRW/DVD, RADEON 9600 Pro Turbo, Windows XP Home, 15.4 WSXGA UltraSharp LCD ~$780 [yes, it's still alive and well]
I like the slim look of it and if I win I will use for school (homeworks)
I wish they would have left the 8600M GT as a video card option though, it's no longer a powerhouse 
pc.
