I first bought a laptop in September 2002 and had to suffer through three major crashes. When it finally gave up the ghost earlier this year, I headed off to PC World and spent a lot of time trawling through the various choices. With a budget of about £500 including software, I fairly quickly settled on the Dell Inspiron 1525.
The machine had a good balance of processing power, dual-core processor for speed, well-sized screen and relative simplicity. Bearing in mind that my laptop use is pretty limited - basic internet use, the odd online game here and there, basic Word and Excel documents, etc, the Inspiron ticked every box.
The installation process was very straightforward - even for someone like me - and I was up and running within 40 minutes of first turning the machine on.
Plus points - the laptop has been very reliable so far, with no power problems, processing problems or reductions in speed. The battery life is excellent, with at least three to four hours of unplugged use from a full charge. The mousepad is easy to use, and the "scroll without clicking" function comes in very handy. The machine also looks very nice in the blue/silver combination I chose. The webcam is (for a relative novice like me) easy to operate and takes some excellent photos.
Minus points - the only thing I can think of is in relation to the software rather than the hardware itself. The machine only comes with Windows Vista, which required the purchase of a new Microsoft Office package which didn't come cheap. As I think other reviewers have mentioned, there are compatibility issues between Vista and previous generations of Microsoft, and also between Office for Vista and previous generations of Office.
All in all, 9/10 so far (four months and running).
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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Advantages: Great price, Amazing Laptop, it comes in a wide Variety of colours ... .. . Wow ! Disadvantages: I can really honestly say that I have nothing to complain about !
James-89 27.10.2008 (27.10.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Dell Inspiron 1525
Advantages: thin, light weighed, good battery life, nice keyboard touchpad,solid performance and featurs, fast speed Disadvantages: No dedicated Graphics option, a bit noisy
rizzu87 15.11.2008 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Dell Inspiron 1525
Advantages: Great price, Amazing Laptop, it comes in a wide Variety of colours ... .. . Wow ! Disadvantages: I can really honestly say that I have nothing to complain about !
James-89 27.10.2008 (27.10.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Dell Inspiron 1525
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
Sep 27th, 2008
very helpful by (100%):
