This review has been edited again, to tell the consumer about the condition of the laptop a year later and I will list where its important
== INTRODUCTION == This laptop has been carefully thought of in terms of ease, there's a function on the touchpad in which you do not have to use the mouse to scroll sideways or when you're watching a movie, you don't have to use a mouse to stop/pause or forward a few chapters in the movie, you just touch this button which I assume is another touchpad also without clicking anything.
Also, the laptop allows you to adjust a few things to your needs, for example the battery, it provides you three settings; high performance, power setting or a balanced setting. At high performance, it lasts for 2 hours but on power setting it can last as long as nearly 4 hours! When using the laptop for long periods and on battery, the laptop does tend to get very hot and hurt my hands sometimes! I feel as if it is an issue of it not being able to cool itself down properly through the vents and such. I also may end up blocking the vents located at the back by accident and it certainly heats up quickly!
Processor The dual-core nature of the processor means it is very quick! I can use my Media player, watch a film and talk to people on msn at the same time which is a breath of fresh air as on my previous model, it would stall every time I loaded up my computer. But on this laptop, it takes less than 30 seconds to load up completely. ===== Over a year later: After being reformatted 6 months ago, my laptop has taken its toll, it is now loading up VERY slow, it will black out when it reaches the desktop after being turned on, it freezes very easily, even if I'm using the minimum amount of programs- as in no MSN, perhaps one browser open and such.
Physical features The number of USB's provided is also a godsend, I had to crawl to the back of my old computer just to insert a few USBs but now it's on the sides of the laptop, it speaks ease to me. 4 USB's that are provided is more than enough to get a mouse, external hard drive and other bits you'd like to add. But you will certainly not need to use it all though!
Programs/ Features on Laptop There's no option provided in choosing the operating system you want to run your laptop on; it is always going to be Vista from now on as Microsoft has pulled XP off the line so everyone has to use Vista. Vista itself, is very bulky operating system and thus needs a lot of memory to run it. I personally have 3GB installed inside and it is more than enough! Vista has a lot of pretty gimmicks where you can twist the windows you have open at a certain angle and scroll through them. Isn't it as useful as going to the toolbar and click on what you want to pop up? It is a novelty that quickly wears off! One program that *everyone* has to use which is Defrag- I hate the way they've removed the imagery of the hard drive being sorted out in the process- I used to like watching the computer rearranging the clusters of information!
On my laptop, you have to use a certain program called MediaDirect that allows you to play bluray discs. It also allows you to view other DVDs, play music and view photos. One main drawback is that it is a very BULKY program that could use a lot of slimming down, so to say.
The bluray function on the laptop is incredibly poor. I have had to reformat my laptop many times in an attempt to get the bluray working. Last time it worked, it only played the disc once before giving up. I think Dell needs to realise that their bluray installation is very difficult and could be made a lot easier. Before reformatting, did you know that you have to put aside about 24GB in its own partition/'fake' hard drive in which you install MediaDirect into? I didn't know this the first 5 times I reformatted! The lack of information played its part in my disappointment with the bluray function.
But on the other hand, the few times the bluray worked successfully, the detail on my laptop was stunning! I didn't have to be far away to notice the difference in the detail between the DVD and bluray. It was instantly noticeable which says a lot about the quality of screen on the laptop and the bluray player.
Build of Laptop/Quality The build of the laptop is beautiful, it is very solid and looks like it is made out of metal- perhaps plastic melded with a bit of metal to get the metallic and plasticy but yet heavy feel. It also means it is harder to scratch the laptop itself which is a bonus if I plan to sell this laptop on in a pristine condition. The laptop isn't very heavy in my opinion which allows me to take it around wherever I want to in my bag which is bonus! One thing I must mention, I keep a good care of my laptop, I don't spill anything on it, I even dust the keyboard to keep out dust! But one day, I was clicking away on the laptop, the plastic square of the letter suddenly flipped off! The letter F specifically and still to this day ( it was 8 months ago!) I still cannot attach it back on. The keyboard may look like good quality but I would suggest being careful in the specified area.
Even with the cons I have listed here; I would say it is a fantastic product for £700 I purchased it for from Currys!
I don't recommend reformatting if you do not know what you're doing; I did this and I ended up sending it back to the shop to fix it! It was rather surreal as I'd reformatted my computers dozens of times. . . It must have been my copy of Vista or the build of Dell, who knows.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
(+) Product is fine but dont bother buying from them direct due to poor customer service/ norights (-) Product is fine but dont bother buying from them direct due to poor customer service/ no rights
(+) cool and quite robust trackpad, good display,64-bit windows 7 (-) few connectors,dell drivers only, not realy for gameing (most models), finger print prone!
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James-89 27.10.2008 (27.10.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
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Advantages: Can take it into Best Buy for Geek Squad. This is convenient, because Best Buy has many locations. Disadvantages: Slow, keypad breaks easily, internet issues, overpriced.
taylorb82 25.06.2009 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Dell Inspiron 1525
Aug 29th, 2008
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