- Average user rating:
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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12 out of 17 people found this review helpful
1.5 stars
"Beautiful Computer very very quiet"
Pros: Fast, not very big, very quiet
Cons: Vista ruins it, CD draws clumsy
Summary: I had the Inspiron 531 computer for 2 and a half weeks. It is going back. The computer is fast and operates good. It is quiet not like the noisy Dimension I had.
It has 8 fast USB ports 4 in the front 4 in the back. The only operating system you can buy this computer with is Vista. Vista is has two many problems and makes this computer a real hassle to use.
One is security permission like Windows Defender that cannot be shut off and if it stops a program like my email retriever from starting up you get a pop up each time saying it was blocked. When clicking on many programs you get a popup message to cancel or allow the program to be opened. Even if you are the administrator or the only one using the computer you still have this pop up for permission every single time you open these program. This is very time consuming.
Vista does not allow the ?ignore unsigned driver? option so I cannot use it with my Motorola Phone Tools and other programs. It has a feature to help you use some XP program. A couple of my programs worked after that some with error messages when closing the program. It does help you to find drivers that are compatible.
Other glitches in trying to use this beautiful computer. They have a feature called ?Personalize? in this feature you can change your font size, wallpaper, sound etc. It is something like the ?right click? on properties on the desktop in XP. It comes with beautiful wallpaper. The problem I have is the resolution for my wide screen 900 X 1400 you can only set the resolution for 60 . If I set my fonts to a certain size it adjust the size of the icons with the fonts. There is no separate feature to adjust just the font size or just the icons. Then the icons are distorted. When installing or clicking a program the icons get bigger or smaller automatically I don?t have an virus in my computer that might cause any of these things. When clicking on a program it starts off looking small to the left of the screen then moves forward and doubles it size. I know how to use XP maybe I just don?t know how to adjust these things. Sometime click on a program the desktop jumps or turn black temporarily.
The software is really nice. It comes with Works 8. Roxie depending on the kind of CD driver you put in. PowerDVD is very plain, basic only good to watch a video.
Vista is overwhelming with security, warnings, flashing downloads etc. I might find away around this if I spent 10 years on the computer. Dell has business options that do have XP choices for OS installed in their computers. They don?t put that option in the Personal computer or home link. XPS is another computer that is on their site with XP but it is over a thousand dollars.
You can install XP on this computer but if your reformat it you will not have drivers for your ether net card and other needed drivers. The software you paid for with your new Inspirion 531 will not install on an XP operating system. Computers with XP on it are in the ?business? links on Dell. I believe Microsoft still has to offer XP because many businesses cannot change all of their systems over to Vista. Too many hardware problems and driver problems for one thing and a whole lot of retraining employees.
One computer is a mini tower computer which I believe offers both Vista and XP. It is Optiplex 320 there are more you can build this one for under $1000.
Save yourself a headache. Buy something with XP.
- 4 replies to this review
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Learn how to use Vista before rating it like crap. Many people thought the same thing of Windows XP and stuck to Win 98. Now everyone clamours over XP. First off, Vista does allow you to turn off Defender, Firewall, and User Account Control (in the Users options) can be shut off. UAC is what pops up the "allow" or "block" dialogs. Wallpapers you generally download from wherever. And fonts and icons can be adjusted individually. Right click on the folder/desktop, click View and pick Classic (like XP), Medium (default) or Large (HUGE, they're 128x128 I think). Dont rate Vista like its crap simply due to it not running as well as XP or you can't figure stuff out. Do you honestly think XP runs nearly as fast as Windows 98? No, Windows 98 also fit on a mini-disc, the smallest I've gotten XP was 250mb (JUSt over a mini-disc).
Yeah Vista is bloated, yeah its slower. But its what you expect when hardware gets faster, and you can turn all the bloat off. -
this user gave a review for Windows Vista, which have received mixed feelings from users. Regardless, the review should address the hardware features as well as the price performance index.
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I have successfully installed Windows XP on an Inspiron 531 and am really impressed with the performance. It came with Vista Home, but most software that I need to run on this box is not compliant with Vista and is nagged about often. Though most of the software vendors do have upgrades on their software to make it work on Vista, they usually charge for the upgrade and at this point in time, what I have works and I am not anxious to go through any upgrade process.
I located the drivers needed by Windows XP on the Inspiron 531 at the following locations:
Chipset Driver-Included NIC Driver too...
http://tw.giga-byte.com/Support/Motherboard/Driver_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=Driver&FileID=2841
Video Driver - NVidia 6150 LE graphic GPU
http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/162.18/162.18_forceware_winxp_32bit_english_whql.exe
Modem Driver
http://www.driversplanet.com/device.php?id=94787
The 'Unknown Device" Driver (AMD Away)
Use Dell's R151573.EXE
Realtek Audio Driver
Use Dell's R162030.EXE
That was about it... Was a pain to locate the drivers, but hopefully posting them here will save others a whole lot of time...
Regards,
Andy -
It seems that you are only rating the software not the computer Its Demeaning when someone actually cannotrate something right. IM not just aiming at you im aiming at many other customers that really dont get the "gist" of their products personalize comes with vista... etc windows defender is a microsoft software u can remove it you know...
