Any opinions on new Dell Inspiron 1501

walshki

It works on AMD processors
This basic spec can be had for €543 on epp. See link http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=ie&cs=ieepp1&l=en&oc=N11155&rbc=N11155&s=dhs&sbc=iedhsrsinspn_1501_3

Mobile AMD Sempron technology 3500+
Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition
15.4" Wide Screen XGA TFT Display: 1280x800
Collect & Return, 90 Day Service only
256MB 533MHz Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM (1x256)
ATI Radeon® Xpress 1150 256MB HyperMemory™
60GB (5,400rpm) Hard Drive
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software
6 Cell, 56Whr Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Accessories
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g 54Mbps Wireless Mini Card18

A Higher spec can be had for €687 here http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=ie&cs=ieepp1&l=en&oc=N11157&rbc=N11157&s=dhs&sbc=iedhsrsinspn_1501_1

AMD® Turion 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL50
Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition, SP2 (Does not include Operating System Re-Installation CD)
Collect & Return, 90 Day Service only
15.4" Wide Screen XGA TFT Display: 1280x800
512MB 533MHz Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM (1x512)
ATI Radeon® Xpress 1150 256MB HyperMemory™
80GB (5,400rpm) Hard Drive
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software
6 Cell, 56Whr Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Accessories
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g 54Mbps Wireless Mini Card18


Any opinions on these? Anyone know how good bad or indifferent the build in Xpress 1150 is for gaming and how the processor compares to the Dual Core pentiums on the Inspiron 6400? According to this forum http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=39568 the xpress 1150 is on the high end of integrated graphics (although thats still bad).

TerrorFirmer

The X1150 isn't too bad at all. Integrated, it's the best you're going to get. Its the successor to the X200, which in itself is ok for light gaming but it doesn't run the likes of Oblivion etc...The X1150 can run BF2142, which is about as much as you could realistically expect from an integrated card. I think there is a X1250 on the way as well, which i hadn't heard about other then from notebookreview forums, incidentally.

Another major plus for the X1150 is the fact that it's light years ahead of the GMA900/950, which was and is the standard integrated video for the Core 2 Duo range - forget gaming on those cards.

The laptops themselves, well, as above, at least now even with a low end machine, modern-ish gaming is a realistic possibility...other then that, I wouldn't be overly bothered. For the tasks it's suited for, a Mobile Sempron wouldn't offer much on a Celeron M, and the battery life isn't great.

The X2 I'm not sure about to be honest in regards to stacking up to the Dual Core Intel offerings, but by all means it's a powerful processor, and even if it did lag behind bench wise, I doubt you'd notice any significant difference unless you were really putting it to the limit.

For someone who likes the odd game, that cheap Sempron is fantastic value (although you'd need much more ram to allow for the hypermemory, I don't know if the X1150 is all dedicated, all shared, or comes in variants like the X200), for someone just looking to use all the bog standard functions however, a cheaper Celeron would still probably be just as good.

Either way, it's certainly good news anyway. The X1150 kicks the equivilent in the Intel builds badly, and the difference between the X2 and the CD, and the Sempron and Celeron are probably not worth talking about in the senarios you'd probably use them in.

Gamers on a really tight budget rejoice.

godtabh

walshki wrote:

256MB 533MHz Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM (1x256)
ATI Radeon® Xpress 1150 256MB HyperMemory™

Maybe just a typo but these dont match do they? I know intergrated graphics use memory thats available but surely they should come as standard with 1gb or ram

walshki

kearnsr wrote:

Maybe just a typo but these dont match do they? I know intergrated graphics use memory thats available but surely they should come as standard with 1gb or ram

Actually it will use different amounts of memory depending on installed ram. I think for 256mb RAM it uses up to 128mb (depending on the application). From 512mb RAM and up it can use 256mb. However the max it can use is 256MB and thats what the 256MB in the description refers to in this case. You'd definitely be better off having a gig of ram if you intend to use it for any moderately demanding gaming.

TerrorFirmer

Yeah obviously you'd want 512mb ram at least before you started playing games, and a gig if you planned playing recent games.

Its 256mb Turbocache so its dynamic though, so if you only have 256mb of ram it'll only take probably 32mb for itself. I dunno - does the X1100 come with any dedicated ram or is it entirely shared only? The predecessor, the X200, came in dedicated and shared versions....

walshki

Below is dells own description of what it uses based on different amount of RAM - doesn't say for 256mb RAM.

If we assume the more dedicated memory the better then you'll get the best performance at 1024MB and over where its using 128mb dedicated and 128mb shared.

---

HyperMemoryTM is a combination of new hardware and software enhancements which improve the performance of ATIs integrated GPU by supplementing the UMA memory or side port memory. This feature allows customers to utilize system memory more efficiently and get better performance at lower cost.

HyperMemoryTM is a total of dedicated system memory for graphics and shared system memory. The amount of each (both dedicated system memory and shared memory)allocated is dependent on the amount of total system memory installed, as outlined in the below Table.

Dedicated system memory for graphics, listed as UMA memory in the Table below, is allocated from system memory.
The amount of system memory visible to the OS would then be reduced by the amount of UMA memory as designed.
Shared system memory is drawn from the system memory visible to the OS and is allocated to support HyperMemoryTM as needed.


Table : Available HyperMemoryTM Values under WinXP for Inspiron 1501

Physical Memory UMA System Memory visible to OS Shared System Memory allocated for HM HyperMemory = UMA + allocated system memory
RAM UMA System Shared Hypermemory
Dedicated Available Used Total
512 64 448 192 256
768 64 704 192 256
1024 128 896 128 256
1536 128 1408 128 256
2048 128 1920 128 256

TempestSabre

Why buy a compromised machine then compromise still further by ordering it with out enough ram. If you to play games buy a machine thats designed specifically for it, preferably a desktop and specified accordingly. Otherwise in 6 months you'll have a laptop thats out of date for playing games and not light and portablly enough to be really useful as a laptop. Unless of course you have money to burn in which case you wouldn't be asking about this laptop anyway.

Capt'n Midnight

TempestSabre wrote:

Why buy a compromised machine then compromise still further by ordering it with out enough ram.

Maybe because, DELL overcharge for memory and it's far cheaper to buy it from shop4memory & co.
Same sometimes applies to hard drives too.

TempestSabre

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

Maybe because, DELL overcharge for memory and it's far cheaper to buy it from shop4memory & co.
Same sometimes applies to hard drives too.

Thats only if you buy it as an extra. When you buy a machine on special offer or from the outlet its usually cheaper than buying an upgrade elsewhere.

TerrorFirmer

TempestSabre wrote:

Why buy a compromised machine then compromise still further by ordering it with out enough ram. If you to play games buy a machine thats designed specifically for it, preferably a desktop and specified accordingly. Otherwise in 6 months you'll have a laptop thats out of date for playing games and not light and portablly enough to be really useful as a laptop. Unless of course you have money to burn in which case you wouldn't be asking about this laptop anyway.

The X1100 is designed for low ending gaming. Sure it's not going to run games in a few months but at least you have the option of playing relatively new games on good settings like Half Life 2, UT2K4, Far Cry etc...

Prior to this, the cheap Celeron with the integrated GMA was your only budget dell option, and all of those games were unplayable even at the lowest settings. (ok well, HL2 runs on low settings in Dx7 mode at about 25fps, but hardly desirable)

Capt'n Midnight

TempestSabre wrote:

Thats only if you buy it as an extra. When you buy a machine on special offer or from the outlet its usually cheaper than buying an upgrade elsewhere.

special offer, usually only for double memory and every second month, if you want more RAM or are waiting for next's month processor or other upgrade.

with an outlet machines I'd spend some of the savings on warranty, the ram price only applies to the ram in the machine does it ?

TempestSabre

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

special offer, usually only for double memory and every second month, if you want more RAM or are waiting for next's month processor or other upgrade.

with an outlet machines I'd spend some of the savings on warranty, the ram price only applies to the ram in the machine does it ?

Thats true. But on the outlet you often can get a machine with 2GB of ram (why would you need more) cheaper than an identical machine with 1GB of ram for less. At the moment theres €80 before vat off all machines.

empirix

Ugly - that silver and white look, what are they thinking, i bought a 9400 and returned it, i couldn't look at the damn thing and i am not usually one for looks etc

TempestSabre

empirix wrote:

Ugly - that silver and white look, what are they thinking, i bought a 9400 and returned it, i couldn't look at the damn thing and i am not usually one for looks etc

Not mad about the current look myself.

Scruff

What kind of memory does the 1501 take? Looking at the memory configuration on shhop4memory.com and i cant find anything.

NANOJO

Scruff wrote:

What kind of memory does the 1501 take? Looking at the memory configuration on shhop4memory.com and i cant find anything.

hi scruff it takes the same memory as the inspiron 1300 just put in an extra gig myself

TerrorFirmer

NANOJO wrote:

hi scruff it takes the same memory as the inspiron 1300 just put in an extra gig myself

which is pc4200 ddr2 i think

pwd

I got one
The dvd drive vibrates loudly occasionally.
Read about this happening to another one too I think.