The old days of bulky, overweight Dell notebooks have come to a close.The latest addition to the Inspiron family of notebooks, the 15.4-inch Inspiron 1525 is here. I am more then glad here reviewing this Gorgeous unit and this sleek successor to the Inspiron 1520 is all set to surprise you.
Build and Design
The Inspiron 1525 is in fact 25% smaller, 30% slimmer and almost half a pound lighter than the Inspiron 1520. In addition to the eight color options available on other Inspiron notebooks, the 1525 offers four new patterns. These designs are inlaid molds so there’s no risk of the design coming off.
Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the glossy inlaid "Commotion Pattern" design, I must say it looks flawless.The new glossy lid designs might be a magnet for fingerprints, but it certainly looks more durable than the old Inspiron paint jobs.
Screen
Display options for the Inspiron 1525 include a matte finish 15.4" Widescreen XGA (1280 x 800), a 15.4" Widescreen XGA (1280 x 800) with TruleLife (glossy finish), or a 15.4" "high resolution" (1440 x 900) glossy widescreen display. In truth, the majority of "average" notebook users will think the WXGA resolution looks stunning.
The screen on my unit looks flawless from straight on and the horizontal viewing angles are great. Upper vertical viewing angles are good, but colors did begin to invert at lower viewing angles when the screen is tilted back.Keyboard, Touchpad and Media Controls
The keyboard on the Inspiron 1525 is fairly similar to the 1520. The keyboard is firm with virtually no flex and the keys have excellent travel and cushion.The touchpad surface utilizes the new design that is integrated with the palm rest surface. The only separation between the palm rests and the touchpad is the indented area above the touchpad buttons.
The touchpad buttons have excellent travel and cushion. The good news with the touchpad is that it’s responsive, has dedicated scroll areas and the textured feel is good. A series of touch-sensitive media buttons with blue LED back lights are located above the keyboard.
One nice feature about the media buttons is that the blue LEDs only stay lit for a fraction of a seconds after being pressed, so they won’t distract you by staying lit all the time. Another "interesting" feature of the media buttons is that the blue LEDs "pulse" back and forth for a few seconds during Windows startup which delights you equally as does the performance of Dell.
Ports and Features
The port selection of the 1525 is resonably good for a notebook of this size. Here’s a quick rundown of what you get:
Front profile view: LED status lights, dual headphone out, microphone in, and memory card reader.
Left side: Kensington lock slot, DC power jack, two USB ports, Ethernet, modem, HDMI out, and FireWire.
Right side: ExpressCard slot, WiFi on/off/WiFi catcher, optical drive, S-Video out, and two USB ports.
Back profile view: no ports here.
The built-in HDMI is a very nice thing to have for those that want digital video output, S-Video and VGA are also there for the more old-fashioned approach to video output. The fact that the 1525 supports HDMI with integrated graphics is impressive.
With the addition of FireWire, four USB ports, a media card reader, two headphone jacks, microphone jack, ExpressCard slot and Ethernet port you’re well equipped ports wise.I was pleasantly surprised to find four USB ports on the 1525.The fact that the 1525 packs four USB ports into a reasonably thin and light 15.4" notebook is worth praise.
Speakers
The speaker quality was "acceptable" for a notebook without a built-in subwoofer. The speakers for the 1525 are located at the top of the keyboard area above the media buttons. There’s not much to write about the speakers, they get loud enough with minimal distortion, but the sound is slightly tinny as is the case with nearly all laptop speakers.On the brighter side, both audio out ports delivered crystal clear audio to my earbuds flawlessly.
Performance
One thing to notice is that the dedicated graphics card option available on the Inspiron 1520 is missing from the Inspiron 1525. The reasoning behind this is that Dell is pushing the XPS M1530 as the 15.4" notebook for those demanding higher-end graphics performance. The Inspiron 1525 is meant for a more mainstream buyer looking for good multimedia and productivity features from a notebook, and not cutting edge 3D performance.
Regardless, I would have liked for Dell to offer at least an entry-level nVidia 8400 GS 128MB dedicated graphics card option on the 1525.That being said, the Inspiron 1525 performed quite well and this machine will meet or exceed the performance needs of most average (non-gaming) users.
Heat and Noise
The Inspiron 1525 does a reasonable Good job keeping heat under control. The system fan and heatsinks in the 1525 do a great job managing heat when the system is under load.This Machine Does an equally good job when it comes to reducing Noise levels. The notebook is almost Noise free(Negligible) untill you use the DVD Drive.
Battery Life
The 6-cell 56WHr Li-Ion battery provides excellent battery life for the 1525. With screen brightness set to maximum and wireless on, the 6-cell battery delivered 2 hours and 53 minutes of battery life. We’re certain that the 6-cell could deliver three and a half hours of life with the notebook set to "balanced" or "power saver" mode and the screen brightness turned down.
There is also an available 9-cell 85WHr Li-Ion battery for those users needing extended battery life. One thing to mention is that with the 9-cell battery in you get an overall larger dimension for the notebook as the 9-cell battery sticks out of the back of the notebook.
Conclusion
Overall, the Dell Inspiron 1525 is an excellent budget notebook with good looks and solid performance. This isn’t a gaming machine, but the 1525 can handle everyday computing tasks with ease...and looks good while doing them. Please Do Leave Comments To Improve my reviews the Next Time...Thank You!!