Entered CNET Catalog: 03/18/2006
SKU: E1505S2
Manufacturer: Dell, Inc.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
User Rating: 
8/10
Nice mid-range laptop
Pros: Optional Vdeo card, processor, casing, ports
Cons: screen is hard to see outside and seems a little flimsy
User Rating: 8/10
Give it a chance
Pros: Excellent display, quite keyboard, easy to use controls, super fast
Cons: Heavier than I expected, Dell's pre-loaded junk, keyboard takes some getting used to
This is my first note book so I don't have anything to compare it to, however I would say if you are purchasing your first note book this would be a good option, you can't beat it for the price. Mine configured with all of the goodies I wanted came in at about $1300.
I use it primarily for web surfing, gameing (Guild Wars runs beautifully), music and photos. I am truly impressed with performance, especially on the game...much better than I expected.
The pro's of this machine outweigh the cons, especially if you take the time to evaluate your notebook needs and purchase the right machine with the right features.
So, over all I must say I am really pleased....havent had to call customer service tho....lets hope it stays that way.
User Rating: 
9/10
Definitely a great buy for work and play - I can run EQ2 and WoW!
Pros: Great value, very pleased!
Cons: None so far!
This laptop is awesome. The display is nice and bright and rich. The sound is good considering it's coming from a laptop. The keyboard is adequately roomy if not superior to many other laptop keyboards I've used in the past. The touchpad and buttons are user friendly and not cramped. Boot-up time is extremely fast, under 20 seconds. This computer is also very quiet, I have no qualms about using it in class or at work around other people.
What I was wondering when I bought this computer was if it could possibly run EQ2 (EverQuest 2) and WoW (World of Warcraft). The answer? YES. In fact, it almost runs better than my souped-up desktop with it's top of the line NVIDIA and 2 GB RAM. Go figure! Even my husband, the technology geek, can't believe how good this laptop handles the games and heavy usage and how cheap I got it for. I had to print out the invoice to prove it to him. Ha!
My only complaint with Dell, in fact with any computer generated from a major manufacturer, is all of the pre-loaded software that is a total time drain to remove. I ended up wiping my hard drive and reinstalling what I wanted on the computer. But who really cares?
In sum, I have had an excellent experience thus far. I have owned this laptop for over one month and have used it quite heavily every single day, as has my husband. I am extremely pleased with my purchase.
User Rating: 
7/10
Core Duo Rocks
Pros: Dual Core processor, Built-in WiFi, DVD Burner
Cons: Comes with alot of preinstalled software
I'm real pleased with it and can't beat the price for the features. Like I said it is a refurb but it was just like new as far as I could tell. If your looking for a good multi-media laptop I'd highly recomend this one.
User Rating: 
2/10
Don't Buy Dell
Pros: It is relatively light for it's size.
Cons: It is a Dell & It is slow, and broke within a week.
75% of the technical support and customer service is outsourced to India and you have to fight to get anything done then wait 20 minutes while they apologize profusely without ever fixing anything.
They gave me this computer as a replacement for another one that was having problems and it worked a little more than 7 days before the hard drive went out, loosing all of my information and completely letting me down at work.
Be Warned, the customer service is not like it used to be!!!
User Rating: 7/10
I'm quite pleased with this laptop
Pros: Great for working environment, gaming, and all other everyday uses
Cons: battery doesn't last as long asothers.
pretty much the same as the E1505 just named differently.
Goods: Great for gaming. I run Half-Life 2 and Battlefield 2 with no problems even with online play. (Radeon X1300 255mb +omega driver) good for working on school work. Pretty much a good desktop replacement.
I only use it for when i go away long distances and whatnot.
Mediocre: Battery after a good 4-5 time breaking in. (charge battery fully and discharge fully) the battery (regular 6cell) lasts a good 2hrs with the brightness down to a medium. I guess its good enough to last you through a whole class in college. decent DVD playback quality isn't as good. I suggest a better DVD codec.
Bad:
Media Center is absolutely useless!
unless you're going to watch TV. Which i dont see why you'd want to. on a 15.4 inch screen. its absolutely useless.
Its pretty much Windows Media Player, dressed up as a whole program.
I mean i guess its useful for those shuttle PC's that people use as an Entertainment center at home. but its absolutely useless for a laptop. there's no need for it!
User Rating: 8/10
nice laptop for the money
Pros: nice layout and design.
Cons: display is just ok.
User Rating: 7/10
Does the Trick, but customer service is awful
Pros: brilliant screen; good price; battery's great, fast; mutimedia functionality
Cons: no info on windows vista capability, customer service
I would spend an extra 10 minutes looking for the $750 coupon because its out there folks. Then you can get the best screen, graphix card, upgrade HD, battery, and RAM for under $1400 with the 3 year service plan.
Dell's customer service reps are well meaning, but totally incompetent. I've dealt with other company's offshored customer service and had a MUCH better experience, so this is a dell-specific problem. They're blatantly resting on their laurels in this regard. "award winning" .... don't believe it.
Oh ya, you might wonder: if the computer is so good, why'd you call customer service. Well, if you turn on "privacy watch" on McAfee, the entire computer stops working. it took me a few restarts to figure that out.
I also agree with the comment that the hardware interface is strange. I get some resets when I'm on battery power and I connect external hardware.
User Rating: 
4/10
DELL shivs customers
Pros: Fast processor, great battery time, Truelife is gorgeous
Cons: No docking capability, backward hardware configurations, flimsy construction, plastic feeling, keyboard flexes and causes fatigue
For some reason they have removed the docking port from the Inspiron line, forcing you to fatigue the back port connectors if you frequently use your laptop at a desk. The "Advanced" port replicator for Inspiron is truly worthless, it cannot power the laptop and has no monitor ports. People are actually online discussing cutting up the case to solder a D-series docking port onto the motherboard, because the points are there they've simply deleted the feature..
For some reason the Inspiron has a 667Mhz FSB and only offers 533Mhz RAM? And why limit the 15" and smaller systems to older ATI cards with no dedicated RAM?
I almost purchased an XPS laptop, but they have no PCMCIA/Cardbus/Express expansion ports? Why? Trying to configure the perfect system with DELL has frustrated me to no end. I was a fan once. Now I've settled for an undockable plastic feeling toy PC just to get the good LCD. I would have liked a latitude just fine, but I'm a graphic designer and I get tired of looking at yellowing washed out laptop LCD displays. The Inspiron performs well, but I don't enjoy using it. What a waste.
%20-%20Laptops%20-%20CNET%20Archive&srcUrl=http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/dell-inspiron-e1505-dual/1707-3121_7-31795200.html){kind=small}