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Budget notebooks have never been better! Low-end notebooks were always priced at $800 or more, and never really packed the “oomph” of higher-spec expensive notebooks. This may have changed. The Dell Inspiron 1300 starts at $599, and the model we reviewed is just $800 (Although you can get one for less with upgrades thanks to Dell’s generous coupon offers) and can handle most if not all day-to-day tasks.

The Dell Inspiron 1300 (dell inspiron 1300 battery)is a 15.4″ widescreen notebook, depending on how you configure it the Inspiron 1300 can be considered a budget offering or a mainstream type notebook with decent performance. The following is a review of the Inspiron 1300.

The 1300 is a customizable notebook that’s built to order, so the price and features will depend on what you pick when you buy. The mode we used for this review has an Intel Celeron M360 processor running at 1.5GHz, a 60GB hard disk at 5400RPM, 512mb of RAM, a nice 15.4″ Widescreen display, and to top it all off, 802.11a/b/g WiFi.

This is a budget notebook and as such is constructed in a manner to keep costs down. The body casing is entirely plastic, no fancy aluminum or magnesium protection. The plastic used is not flimsy though, it’s actually really quite sturdy. I used the Dell Inspiron 1000 (dell inspiron 6400 battery )while back and was highly disappointed with the flimsiness of the casing, the 1300 is certainly a step up from that. There’s no major flexing issues of the body and the keyboard is firm.

The hinges are firm, there’s no wobble of the screen even if you move the notebook around. This is impressive, often with budget notebooks the hinges can be somewhat weak. The protection provided by the lid is also good, if you push in on the lid area it’s hard to (apple powerbook g4 battery )get ripples to appear on the screen. However, the plastic area around the screen is not held on very well. I can pull the plastic covering away from the LCD with ease.

The look of the Inspiron 1300 is a mix of silver and black. The lid is an entirely silver-grey color while the rest of the body is black with an accent of silver trim around the keyboard. The look is not bad in this author’s opinion, and actually better than the some off the exisiting Dell Inspirons available with the silver and white finish. It’s certainly not sleek or pretty by any stretch,(dell xps m1330 battery )it looks like the plastic it is built from, the front speakers are ugly holes in plastic that look more like vents, and the largish green LED light indicators on the front are reminiscent of a 1980’s mainframe computer. So no design awards but due to the well selected and professional black-silver coloring it’s not ugly either.

If you pick up the notebook and wave it around (I don’t recommend it) you will find that the screen hinge does not wobble or bend, and the display stays firmly where it should - open. This is great for such an inexpensive notebook, when I remember an old Dell Latitude l400 (dell inspiron e1505 battery) would fold flat if you even moved it on your lap. The notebook is 14″ x 10.5″ x 1.41″ in size and weighs 6.7 pounds. Now I wont pretend that this is a subnotebook. In fact, this is more of a mid-sized model that’s much more portable than a desktop replacement. The DVD+RW drive is on the right of the notebook, towards the front. The left side houses the three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA port, microphone and headphone jacks (3.5mm), ExpressCard (supporting 34mm and 54mm cards) slot, RJ-45 Ethernet jack, and a modem jack. The back of the notebook is empty apart from the power socket, and the front of the machine houses the two speakers and four LEDs.

As mentioned, the Inspiron 1300 (dell inspiron 6400 battery )is a customizable notebook, with processors ranging from a 1.4GHz Celeron M to the 1.73GHz Pentium M, all with a 400MHz front side bus. Mine came with a 1.5GHz Celeron M360 processor, 512mb of RAM in a 2x 256mb configuration, so if you want to upgrade you’ll have to throw one away(1gb RAM maximum), a reasonably fast 60 gig 5400 rpm hard disk, and WiFi 802.11a/b/g. I wont deny that I was expecting to be disappointed by this notebook. Although I cant really class myself as a gamer, I do play on some intensive games (Rome: Total War and Sniper Elite to name a few) and was expecting them not to run well. Well, I now take it all back. I have migrated from a PC desktop running a 2.4GHz Celeron and 512mb of RAM with no dedicated graphics and an XGA screen, and I’m getting better frame rates on the notebook! Okay, Sniper Elite just isn’t the same with a touch pad, but hey, it works! You wouldn’t want to run serious CAD (dell inspiron 1501 battery )apps or Half Life 2, however. The built-in DVD+-RW is a bonus for mobile DVD burning, and a steal for $780! I’m not really strongly opinionated about the Express Card slot. I think it’s good that Dell is thinking forwardly, and since WiFi is built in, I cant really think of a use for a PCMCIA slot. Unless you really want to use an EVDO card, then this isn’t really a drawback. You decide whether this is a benefit or drawback.

Display, Graphics, and Multimedia

The keyboard on the 1300 is fine. The keys have a nice click when pressed, but are not loud. The buttons are all full size, including full size Backspace, Enter and Shift keys. There is no sag or problems with the keyboard. The touchpad is as usable as they get, its size is appropriate and there’s enough room to move your finger around. I’ve used notebooks for years and still dislike the touchpad form of input mechanism — I still often find myself pulling up menus and losing them as my finger slips slightly and thereby takes the cursor off of the menu (webpage menus like this are the worst as they’re sometimes hard to use even with a mouse). I’ve always favored a pointing stick mechanism such as the ThinkPad line of notebooks offer — and if that’s not available a wireless

The Inspiron 1300 can house either a 14″ XGA screen or a 15.4″ WXGA (800 x 1280) screen. I went for the 15.4″ option. Although not as bright or shiny as some other notebooks on the market, it does the job and is certainly an improvement over an XGA monitor. The backlight is sufficient for everyday use. If you’re in a dark room, then it can actually be painful to set it to full brightness, but about (dell inspiron 1720 battery )75% should be good enough. This screen is not driven by a dedicated graphics card, but, as mentioned, it is good enough for reasonably demanding games. The Inspiron 1300 has Intel’s integrated Media Accelerator 900 Graphics and you can set up to 128mb of RAM as video RAM.

The audio package provided is reasonable. While you’re not getting an amazing, mind-blowing audio experience, your not disappointed either. The two speakers on the front are adequate, but if you want to listen to some serious music, plug in some headphones or better speakers. The lack of a microphone is rather annoying, especially when using Skype.

DVDs play well on this laptop, although the mentioned speakers can be pretty dismal sometimes. Battery life can be an issue if you want to watch a two and a half hour film at full screen brightness with WiFi turned on, but because 50% brightness is acceptable and the lack of need for WiFi when watching films, most will find it usable.

Speakers

You’re not buying a multimedia machine with the 1300 and for that reason you can expect to get the usual rather poor sounding notebook speakers. The speakers are located on the right and left front sides, which is good placement since they fire forward to (dell inspiron 6400 battery )where you are sitting. If only the audio they pumped out was good. The speakers are good enough for system sounds and the likes, but playing audio music or listening to DVDs is pretty painful. You need external speakers or headphones via the lineout to get any type of decent audio.

Processor and Performance

You can opt to have your Inspiron 1300 configured with either a Pentium M or Celeron M processor. You’ll save money with the Celeron M configuration and to be honest, I think that’s the best route to go with this notebook. It’s a budget machine and when you have the Intel 910GML chipset and motherboard (as the 1300 does) you’re going to be limited to a bus speed of 400MHz between the processor and memory. Even though my system indicated a 533MHz FSB on the Pentium M 740 processor I configured and the memory I have can theoretically run at 533MHz, it does not, it runs at 400MHz. So esentially Dell put together a machine in which the chipset is the weakest link, and since components work together as a team, the system can only be as fast as that weakest link is willing to work (400MHz).

Battery Life

I decided to pay $20 more and get the 6-cell battery option. I suggest that, if you have the money, you get it. It’s a small price to pay for 1.5 times the normal battery power.
The 6-cell is a 5045mAh battery, which isn’t bad for a 1.5GHz notebook. I got about 3 hours of use with mainly Skype over WiFi, and about 3 hours with no WiFi playing mp3s. Overall, I think the battery is acceptable. If you need WiFi, full screen brightness, and full CPU speed, then you may only get a few hours

With the release of Windows Vista in late January, PC manufacturers have been quick to update their laptop models–those that can handle the upgrade, that is–with various flavors of the new operating system. For the midsize Inspiron E1505 (dell inspiron e1505 battery ), Dell now offers a choice of Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Home Basic. We got our hands on an updated E1505 with the Premium version and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Despite its high-end components, the laptop’s performance on our benchmarks didn’t wow us, most likely due to the new demands of Windows Vista. We expect to encounter similar lags on most of the first-generation Vista systems, though, and because we still like the Inspiron E1505’s design and feature set, we think it remains a solid choice for home users who want a basic media-friendly laptop.

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 (ibm thinkpad x60 battery )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 (dell latitude d600 battery )by 1 hour, 21 minutes.

If you’re on the hunt for a notebook that offers multimedia functionality without the usual multimedia premium, the Dell E1505 (or the 14-inch E1405) may be just what you’re looking for. This notebook’s dual-layer DVD burner, playback controls, and Windows XP Media Center OS make it a highly attractive, feature-rich package for students or cash-strapped professionals.

Weighing in at a relatively hefty 6.8 pounds and measuring 1.4 inches thick, the E1505 (ibm thinkpad x60 battery )sports a roomy full-sized keyboard that makes prolonged typing comfortable. Air vents flank the left and right sides of the chassis for keeping the machine cool during extended use. The large touchpad with built-in horizontal and vertical scroll areas make navigating Web pages a breeze. Beneath the touchpad, embedded in the bezel, are DVD/CD controls that illuminate when pressed.

The 15.4-inch UltraSharp widescreen display delivered strong colors when watching DVDs, even from a variety of angles. The speakers, which are located on either side of the playback controls, produced surprisingly good sound, even though the bass was a bit weak. This configuration has an 80GB hard drive for storing your digital music collection, along with gobs of photos and videos.

Powered by a 1.66-GHz Intel Core Duo processor, the E1505 turned in a MobileMark 2005 score of 204, which is decent but a bit below average for a mainstream notebook. However, the CPU managed well under multitasking pressure; we performed two system-taxing activities-watching a DVD while running a virus scan-and the Dell breezed through our test.

The ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 (hp pavilion dv9000 battery )graphics included in this configuration flexes more muscle than Intel’s integrated graphics, but not much more. This system notched a respectable 3DMark03 score of 2,350 and managed to run F.E.A.R. at 80 fps using the autodetect settings (640 x 480-pixel resolution). However, when we bumped the resolution up to 1024 x 768, the frame rate dropped to an unplayable 7 fps.

Also included in this configuration is a nine-cell battery, which lasted a very good 5 hours and 4 minutes with Wi-Fi on and an additional three minutes with the wireless connection off. We got a healthy average throughput of 12 Mbps from 15 feet and 9.9 Mbps from 50 dell inspiron 6400 battery , dell inspiron 6400 battery. If you want to add mobile broadband capability, you’re limited to Dell’s expensive EV-DO Express Card, since this notebook doesn’t have a PC Card slot.

Preinstalled software includes Corel Photo Center and Windows Digital Media Enhancements, which includes Windows Party Mode, a full-screen skin that transforms your computer into a jukebox. Dell MediaDirect allows users to access movies, music, photos, and video without needing to boot into Windows. If you want a TV tuner to complete the multimedia experience, you’ll need to fork over an additional $130, which also gets you a remote control.

Connectivity options abound: four USB ports, S-Video, FireWire, a 5-in-1 media card reader, and a VGA connection are available for attaching peripherals. The E1505 also features optional Bluetooth ($49) for syncing with certain phones and for pairing a wireless headset with the notebook for making Skype calls.

Although the design is starting to show its age, the Dell E1505 is a solid investment for those looking for a dual-core system that knows how to have some fun.

Dell’s revamped Inspiron E1505, an entertainment notebook, now includes an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Though still a poor choice for gaming, the E1505 is plenty zippy for any other applications, including music and photo editing, and movie viewing. The 6.9-pound E1505(apple powerbook g4 battery )also throws in pretty good speakers, dedicated media buttons, and a cushy keyboard with stylish white trim, giving you a great all-around choice for consumers who don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on a desktop replacement.

Generously equipped for the price, our $1186 (as of 11/6/06) E1505 (ibm thinkpad t42 battery )came with the Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system, a double-layer DVD burner, four USB ports, a FireWire port, an ExpressCard slot, and a three-in-one memory card reader. The laptop’s 15.4-inch WXGA screen is great for mainstream work, but if you need to see more on your screen at once, a WSXGA+ resolution is an option.

Our review unit had a 120GB hard drive. You can get a 160GB hard drive, still a relatively rare notebook option, for less than $60 more. Unfortunately, a built-in TV tuner is not an option, as it is on most other entertainment notebooks, but Dell’s USB TV tuner is just $104 extra. The small external box comes with all the cables you’ll need to connect to a cable box or a set-top box.

Equipped with a 2-GHz Core 2 Duo T7200 processor and 1GB of RAM, our machine earned a WorldBench 5 score of 102, which ranks within the top 20 percent of notebooks we’ve tested. The first E1505 we reviewed–equipped with a 1.66-GHz Core Duo T2300 processor and 1GB of RAM–did not play games smoothly and ran noticeably slower than other notebooks when we worked in multiple windows. With the faster chip, the notebook is now a much better multitasker, on a par with competitors, but game play is still poor: The laptop managed just 19 frames per second when displaying Doom and 36 fps in Far Cry. The 64MB of dedicated video memory allowed by a 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X130 HyperMemory card just isn’t enough to get most games off the ground. (We didn’t test with the optional 256MB video card.)

The E1505 turned in excellent battery life, lasting 5.5 hours on one charge. The battery, which is located on the bottom of the notebook, sports an external gauge that lets you see how much juice is left before you have to plug the notebook in.

Like Dell’s high-end XPS entertainment portables and budget-friendly Inspiron counterparts, the E1505 (ibm thinkpad t60 battery )has a unique “instant office” capability. The feature makes staying on top of business as simple as pressing the MediaDirect button. The button launches a menu that now includes not only the usual entertainment options–DVD, music, videos, and photos–but also additional menu selections for the application viewers. Without launching Windows, you can view–though not edit–your PowerPoint slides and Outlook and Outlook Express calendars and contacts. You can also play DVDs, music, and digital photo collections. So if you’ve forgotten the starting time for a meeting, just pause the movie and check your schedule.

Expandability is somewhat limited. The E1505 is user upgradable, with both the hard drive and memory chips in accessible bottom compartments. However, docking is nothing fancy, with only a couple of options–the better one being a screen stand port replicator, a $103 extra. (You must provide the wireless keyboard and mouse.)

All in all, Dell has another winner in the souped-up E1505.

Dell laptops are often the go-to machines for those aiming at affordability. Of course, that doesn’t imply that buying one means that you’re cheap or cash-strapped. If anything, it’s a sign that you’re a savvy shopper who’s sensible with money. If you’re a fan of the Dell Inspiron 6000 (dell inspiron 1501 battery )or the Dell Inspiron E1505 ((dell inspiron e1505 battery), you’ll love the Dell Inspiron E1505 (Core 2 Duo). Considering what you get, it’s a great purchase: The E1505 (Core 2 Duo) is the only $999 (E-Value code: DNCMEA1) laptop on the market that comes with discrete graphics, a Core 2 Duo processor, and 1GB of RAM. Indeed, there’s no other system like it, and for that reason, it earns the Editors’ Choice title (for the third time) in the budget space.

Dell’s newest budget entertainment notebook falls somewhere between the company’s high-end Inspiron E1705 (8.2 pounds; 17-inch screen) and its travel notebook, the Inspiron 710m (4.2 pounds; 12.1-inch wide-aspect screen dell inspiron 710m battery ). A nice compromise, the Inspiron E1505 ( dell inspiron 6400 battery )weighs 6.5 pounds and has a 15.4-inch wide screen; its keyboard is larger than the 710m’s, as well. It’s also a fairly good multimedia notebook for nongamers on a budget.

With the release of Windows Vista in late January, PC manufacturers have been quick to update their laptop models–those that can handle the upgrade, that is–with various flavors of the new operating system. For the midsize Inspiron E1505(hp pavilion dv1000 battery ), Dell now offers a choice of Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Home Basic. We got our hands on an updated E1505 with the Premium version and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Despite its high-end components, the laptop’s performance on our benchmarks didn’t wow us, most likely due to the new demands of Windows Vista. We expect to encounter similar lags on most of the first-generation Vista systems, though, and because we still like the Inspiron E1505’s design and feature set, we think it remains a solid choice for home users who want a basic media-friendly laptop.

Aside from some component upgrades, this Inspiron E1505 (dell xps m1210 battery)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 (dell latitude d610 battery )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.

Dell’s revamped Inspiron E1505, an entertainment notebook, now includes an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Though still a poor choice for gaming, the E1505 is plenty zippy for any other applications, including music and photo editing, and movie viewing. The 6.9-pound E1505 also throws in pretty good speakers, dedicated media buttons, and a cushy keyboard with stylish white trim, giving you a great all-around choice for consumers who don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on a desktop replacement.

Generously equipped for the price, our $1186 (as of 11/6/06) E1505 ( hp pavilion dv6000 battery )came with the Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system, a double-layer DVD burner, four USB ports, a FireWire port, an ExpressCard slot, and a three-in-one memory card reader. The laptop’s 15.4-inch WXGA screen is great for mainstream work, but if you need to see more on your screen at once, a WSXGA+ resolution is an option.

Equipped with a 2-GHz Core 2 Duo T7200 processor and 1GB of RAM, our machine earned a WorldBench 5 score of 102, which ranks within the top 20 percent of notebooks we’ve tested. The first E1505 we reviewed–equipped with a 1.66-GHz Core Duo T2300 processor (apple powrbook g4 battery )and 1GB of RAM–did not play games smoothly and ran noticeably slower than other notebooks when we worked in multiple windows. With the faster chip, the notebook is now a much better multitasker, on a par with competitors, but game play is still poor: The laptop managed just 19 frames per second when displaying Doom and 36 fps in Far Cry. The 64MB of dedicated video memory allowed by a 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X130 HyperMemory card just isn’t enough to get most games off the ground. (We didn’t test with the optional 256MB video card.)

Expandability is somewhat limited. The E1505 is user upgradable, with both the hard drive and memory chips in accessible bottom compartments. However, docking is nothing fancy, with only a couple of options–the better one being a screen stand port replicator, a $103 extra. (You must provide the wireless keyboard and mouse.)

All in all, Dell has another winner in the souped-up E1505. Though not for gamers, the E1505 is a strong contender for your consumer dollar.