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Entered CNET Catalog: 06/30/2006
SKU: DNDWEA3
Manufacturer: Dell, Inc.
Product summary
The good: Comfortable keyboard and touch pad; adequate display; solid collection of basic multimedia features; excellent multimedia controls; wide array of configuration options; competitive base price.
The bad: Mediocre performance with Windows Vista; too heavy for regular travel.
The bottom line: With a solid set of multimedia features and high-end components, the Windows Vista-based Dell Inspiron E1505 remains a good laptop for basic home use.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 02/06/2007
Aside from some component upgrades, this Inspiron E1505 is identical to the XP version we reviewed last year; please read that review for complete details about the laptop's design, features, and warranty.
Our Windows Vista-based Inspiron E1505 review unit costs $1,789 for a competitive mix of the latest components, including a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 processor, 2GB of fast 667MHz RAM, a discrete ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 graphics card with 256MB of dedicated memory, and a 100GB hard drive spinning at a fast 7,200rpm. That's a pretty strong setup that we'd expect to perform really well, but it appears that the new operating system dragged the Inspiron E1505 down on several of CNET Labs' performance benchmarks. On all but one test, the Inspiron E1505 lagged behind a Dell Latitude ATG D620 running Windows XP on an arguably lesser configuration (the same processor but less RAM, a slower hard drive, and integrated graphics). The Inspiron E1505 did come out on top on our Photoshop test, most likely because of its ample allotment of RAM. Benchmarks aside, the laptop did not feel at all sluggish during our anecdotal use, when we performed basic tasks, such as checking e-mail, listening to music, and performing a quick system scan with Windows Defender. We think most home users will find the Vista-based Inspiron E1505 to have enough oomph for their everyday computing needs, provided they aren't heavy multitaskers.
The Vista-based Inspiron E1505's battery ran out of juice at the 2-hour, 34-minute mark of our DVD battery-drain test. That's not bad for a laptop that isn't particularly portable, although the smaller battery on the 15.4-inch MacBook Pro (which includes a slower hard drive) lasted almost half an hour longer. The Dell Latitude ATG D620, with a smaller screen and less-power-hungry components, outlasted the Inspiron E1505 by 1 hour, 21 minutes.
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Find out more about how we test Windows notebooks.
System configurations:
Apple MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 15.4-inch
OS X 10.4.8; Core 2 Duo 2.3GHz; 3,072MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon x1600 256MB; 160GB Hitachi HTS541616J9SA00 5,400rpm
Dell Inspiron E1505
Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7200; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon x1400; 100GB Hitachi 7,200rpm SATA/150
Dell Latitude ATG D620
Windows XP Professional SP2; 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7200; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 224MB Mobile Intel 945GM Express; 80GB Toshiba 4,200rpm ATA/100
Gateway NX570X
Windows XP Media Center Edition; 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7200; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 128MB Mobile Intel 945GM Express; 80GB Hitachi HTS721080G9SA00 7,200rpm SATA/150
Lenovo ThinkPad T60p
Windows Vista Business Edition; 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7600; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB ATI Mobility FireGL V5250; 100GB Hitachi 7,200rpm SATA/150
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 User Rating: 
6/10
Nice components, but vista altered performance
Pros: -Decent speakers
-Like the feel of the touchpad
Cons: -Screen became very loose after a year
-Performance below par (partly because of the vista)
-Battery lasted only a year
-Keyboard feels chintzy
User Rating: 
8/10
Great laptop
Pros: fast(even with vista), bright screen, affordable
Cons: Thick, comes with xp
User Rating: 
1/10
Broke after 1 year and 1 month
Pros: Full Size Keyboard, nice screen size
Cons: broke after only 1 year and 1 month
User Rating: 6/10
Good laptop but with one problem
Pros: solid laptop, great display
Cons: Battery life really sucks
User Rating: 1/10
Absolute Disaster
Pros: none identified
Cons: Replaced in 1st 4 months: 3 hard drives, 2GB memory; mother board
Buyer beware - do NOT buy a Dell!
User Rating: 
9/10
I would buy again
Pros: Good Laptop for the traveling business. Full sized keyboard, large screen and power built in with plenty of resources.
Cons: A DVI port would be nice other than that nothing
User Rating: 9/10
amazing machine
Pros: quality,solidly built
Cons: battery life
User Rating: 
3/10
Horrible battery life
Pros: Good Keyboard, okay screen
Cons: Lousy service, battery life
User Rating: 9/10
Look wise its not uch good, otherwise nice powerful and econmical notebook
Pros: Performance
Cons: Color is not much good
User Rating: 9/10
It's been great to me!
Pros: Price - very very good for the money.
Cons: Not the best for gaming
User Rating: 9/10
How to save a ton of money with dell.
Pros: Upgradable to an XPS system inside without the cost
Cons: Don't know yet.
Believe me, I have bent over backwards on their website to find the best deals, here are some major tips, many of which saved my near $700. Please note that these tips are also good for anything computer related on any site.
1. Google for coupons. There are websites that simply specialize in coupons. The computer manufacturers (dell hp sony) will put out their own simple coupons like "save $49 dollars on shipping" or "$250 this model". Though these coupons are great for starting, you can probably do better. Just google "dell coupons" and look at the first few links you have come up. Many times, there are coupons that are for odd scenarios like "$500 off of an inspiron notebook over $1500". If you were initially purchasing a $1200 laptop, you just got a $300 upgrade and lowered the price $200.
2. Always check for items with crazy rebates. I saw this a lot with HP. They actually had an $80 printer with a $120 rebate. Free shipping included. Thats just dumb to pass up. Even if i don't need it, I could just take it, get the money, then give it away to goodwill for tax purposes, or heck, even keep it as a backup printer.
3. Go cheap and upgrade. You want a monster computer that will be at the top of the technology food chain, but don't want to spend too much money... try this. Look up the computer you want(XPS), then go to the cheaper computers and try to make the same thing by upgrading. You will save a lot of money. As for me, I have a monster of a computer in the dell Inspiron case. Frankly, i could go without the light changing effects.
4. Make it over the phone. If you make a computer on the website and save it, then talk to a dell sales rep, they can get you much better deals. For me, they put me on a credit program that was meant for small payments over time. This came with several benefits. The interesting thing is that it will make no difference to me because i was going to pay for it all in the first place. So i just pay it all off when i get the first bill, then i get the benefits without any extra costs.
5. Ask about discounts for school or work. My dad works for being, and i am a mizzou student. Sometimes my mizzou discount trumps the work discount, or vise versa, or sometimes i find a coupon on google that beats both of them.
6. Make sure shipping is free. Usually it is, but sometimes websites will boast about amazing deals when really they just moved the discount you were going to get from one area to another.
7. Don't buy a warranty just because its there. Realize that most companies have a warranty already in place for the first year. Also realize that most companies make most of their money on the warranties. Think of it this way, if it is going to break, it will likely break within the first year, or near the end of the longest warranty (which could cost as much as the laptop itself). If it breaks at the end of the big warranty, your not going to want a fix, your going to want a new one. My idea is to save that huge warranty money for the laptop that replaces this one when it craps out.
8. Never buy from the store. Bestbuy, circuit city... the websites will probably be cheaper, and the bestbuy wont accept web coupons.
9. Don't buy used unless you just don't care . If your just going to email and browse, then a used computer may not be a bad idea, but just remember that most used computer companies are selling you something that most people just get rid of, for a price that is far from cheap. Besides, there are $400 new computers out there.
User Rating: 9/10
First laptop; Very satisfied
Pros: Flawless; Price is right
Cons: Gets warm underneath; It is on the heavy side
User Rating: 
10/10
This is a great laptop
Pros: fast, great screen, speakers
Cons: nothing that i can see so far
User Rating: 8/10
The E1505 is a good laptop
Pros: Speedy, good for the money, sleek and professional looking
Cons: Cannot accept standard pcmcia cards
User Rating: 
2/10
The incompleteness of Complete Care
Pros: Price isn't bad
Cons: Complete care
So why can they say complete care if it doesn't completely cover the unit you bought? I'm not sure. It's all in writing though but in order to find it you have to follow several screens of text to the full contract. The people over the phone will tell you that complete care covers your battery but they lie. I think it's false advertising to call it complete care. They should just call it an accident clause and be done with it, because then people would read the fine print to find out that it really doesn't cover much of anything.
Complete care is complete bull.
User Rating: 9/10
A solid set of features at a great price
Pros: Great value, nice multi-media features, quick
Cons: The cover and plastic trim feel a bit flimsy, not the quietest keypad
Vista runs quickly and problem free with this set up. I've experienced no sluggishness, even when running multiple programs. The MediaDirect controls, which allow you to listen to music from audio files, play DVDs etc without booting up Windows, are great. It is an easy to use feature that saves some battery life and time. The standard speakers are okay, but pale in comparison to HP's dv6000. If good sound quality is a concern, it may be worth upgrading the speakers, as the standard set are rather weak with non-existent lows.
I couldn't be happier with the screen resolution, although as noted elsewhere, the glossy finish often times produces a bit of a glare that could prove irritating to some.
The cover does feel as sturdy as those found on the HPs and Toshibas that I've used, but that hardly detracts from this machines capabilities.
$1000 for the setup I have is a terrific price for a machine that had not so much as a finger print on it, let alone any scratches or smudges. I've been using the notebook for three weeks now with no problems or quirks whatsoever. I was skeptical about a refurbished model, but were it not for a little red sticker on the bottom, you would never know it wasn't a "new" machine. The same configuration for a new laptop at Dell (or other manufacturers for that matter) ran about $500 more.
Bottom line, I believe this is a great product, although Dell's customer service can be a pain if you do happen to have any issues. If you are looking to save money, Dell's outlet is a great way to do so.
User Rating: 9/10
A solid set of features at a great price
Pros: Great value, nice multi-media features, quick
Cons: The cover and plastic trim feel a bit flimsy, not the quietest keypad
Vista runs quickly and problem free with this set up. I've experienced no sluggishness, even when running multiple programs. The MediaDirect controls, which allow you to listen to music from audio files, play DVDs etc without booting up Windows, are great. It is an easy to use feature that saves some battery life and time. The standard speakers are okay, but pale in comparison to HP's dv6000. If good sound quality is a concern, it may be worth upgrading the speakers, as the standard set are rather weak with non-existent lows.
I couldn't be happier with the screen resolution, although as noted elsewhere, the glossy finish often times produces a bit of a glare that could prove irritating to some.
The cover doesn't feel as sturdy as those found on the HPs and Toshibas that I've used, but that hardly detracts from this machines capabilities.
$1000 for the setup I have is a terrific price for a machine that had not so much as a finger print on it, let alone any scratches or smudges. I've been using the notebook for three weeks now with no problems or quirks whatsoever. I was skeptical about a refurbished model, but were it not for a little red sticker on the bottom, you would never know it wasn't a "new" machine. The same configuration for a new laptop at Dell (or other manufacturers for that matter) ran about $500 more.
Bottom line, I believe this is a great product, although Dell's customer service can be a pain if you do happen to have any issues. If you are looking to save money, Dell's outlet is a great way to do so.
User Rating: 9/10
fast, good graphics, versatile
Pros: fast processor good graphics
Cons: heavy to carry and 14 inch screen would be better
and cost value
User Rating: 10/10
Wonderfully Designed
Pros: Perfect Screen Size
Cons: NONE AT ALL
User Rating: 9/10
This is one of the best middle/upper laptops to buy.
Pros: Touch pad, comes with vista home premium, large keyboard, plenty of usb ports (4).
Cons: Too heavy for heavy travel.
User Rating: 8/10
Fantastic Basic Media Notebook
Pros: Fast, massive screen, only slightly heavy, great overall build quality
Cons: Slightly heavy, (battery life?)
User Rating: 9/10
Upgraded Dell E1505 to Windows Vista Ultimate and Office Pro 2007 - Works Great!!
Pros: Nice Basic Laptop.
Cons: None - No Problems So Far
User Rating: 9/10
Great quality, great value, great options, and uh, it's nice
Pros: Very nice screen, fast CPU options, keyboard and mouse work great
Cons: I have the small battery, 6V, and it only lasts 2-3 hours, only available with Vista now
User Rating: 10/10
The Perfect Laptop, for work or home
Pros: This laptop has everything, and very durable. I'm completely satifisfied with Dell, and my E1505. I've own most of the other well named brands, but they can't touch this on price, durablibilty.
Cons: Have NO CON'S
User Rating: 3/10
Vista+Dell=broke
Pros: light weight looks good
Cons: driver error...slow on the net...quirky
Also Vista is a slug on the web.....I see the "revolving orb of death" ALOT....my 4 year old P4 compy brings up videos faster!!!...Don't know why....maybe Vista is not compatible with the Internet yet...LOL...(I did go thru and apply a network fix to all of my XP puters so that vista can recognize them on the network) still did not help SlugVista.
And lastly the mouse buttons are intermittently not functioning...cannot right click sometimes??....I am not impressed..It would have been worth the $100 extra to have had downgraded to XP....should have ALLOWED that! What a sad realization.
User Rating: 9/10
The BOMB Laptop!!!
Pros: Everything
Cons: Battery Life (Should have went with the 9 cell battery)
User Rating: 10/10
Powerful, Lightweight, Sexy
Pros: Brilliant display, excellent ports (including firewire), super fast
Cons: That I didn't buy this laptop sooner!
User Rating: 10/10
Amazing Laptop!!!!
Pros: solid build, price, features, and pretty much everything about it
Cons: short battery life with 6-Cell Battery
Overall, this is the most amazing laptop I've ever had. I bought mine with a Core 2 Duo 1.66 Ghz processor which is plenty fast enough for downloading multiple files, gaming, and any other task. The TrueLife widescreen is amazingly clear. All icons and pictures are crystal clear. I also bought the Dell Draft N Wireless card which is extremely fast online. Definately worth spending the extra $60. The Windows Vista Home Premium is great for organizing everything and very easy to use.
The weight I wouldn't worry too much about. It's a bit heavy, and I still didn't get everything put into it. It's a great weight for carrying around town and short traveling.
Okay now the only thing i have to complain about is the battery life. I got the cheapest battery (53 WHr 6-Cell Lithium Ion) and the life only lasts about 2 1/2 hours on the power saving mode. I would definately recommend spending the extra $50 for the 85 WHr 9-Cell Lithium Ion battery.
So besides the short battery life of the 6-Cell, this laptop is obsolutely amazing. You'll be blown away at how fast it is and how easily it can handle anything. Great buy.
User Rating: 9/10
Great laptop
Pros: Great battery, excellent screen, fast
Cons: little bulky
User Rating: 6/10
Mine is being delivered on 2/9/07
Pros: To Be Announced
Cons: To Be Announced
I received my Dell on Friday 2/9/07. After playing with it for 2 hours, I did the right thing - I formatted the machine and did just the Vista re-install.
This machine comes with a lot of "bloatware". I know that Dell does that to keep the cost down, but the savvy user should re-install.
The machines comes with re-install disks as well as a part of the drive has a re-install image on it.
If you plan on re-installing, you'll have to change the boot order, so that it will hit the CD/DVD before it hits the hard drive.
User Rating: 9/10
Great product from Dell!
Pros: Design, build quality, features, price,
Cons: Worried about Dell's customer service rep.
User Rating: 8/10
Solid notebook after a format
Pros: Decent Mobiles Graphics Cards Available, Solid Performance, Great Touchpad, Affordable (with Dell Coupons/Instant Rebates)
Cons: Widescreen display can have issues with some dialogs, BLOATWARE (it's honestly unbearable)
In a few words this machine is more than capable to do almost anything.... AFTER you format it. The main downside is that Dell (probably true for all their systems) packs tons and tons of unnecessary software with the system. Along with this if you are a hard drive neat freak you most likely will find their partitioning upon arrival very annoying (also for all their systems I believe - google it for details).
But if you format the hard drive and reinstall your version of windows (highly recommend spending the extra $7-$10 for the CD) the system runs beautifully.
While I haven't been able to test the TV Tuner yet the remote works great and the MCE interface is more than adequate for remote use.
Overall I would say this notebook is a good choice if you can spend ~1200-$1600. Dell usually has coupons out there if you look, and they often have instant rebates to take advantage of.
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