Ok, as an actual user of an Inspiron 1526, I can honestly say that this has been a great buy. This other review that is in this page is not a fair review because it is stating an opinion in general of Dell instead of writing about the actual product.My Inspiron specks are a little different from the one advertised. Mine, which I had now for 4 days today (8/30/08) has an AMD Athlon X2 1.9 GHz processor with 2 GB of RAM (Insp. 1526 can be expandeble to 4 GB of RAM) with a 160 GB HD, a DVD RW, and Windows Vista Home Premium. This also includes 4 USB ports, Ethernet, Modem, Wireless network connection, IEEE and HDMI ports and 8-in-1 Media Card Reader for your digital camera. I did not include the Web Cam nor Microphone.
Right out of the box, this machine has performed very well. This is designed for the casual user in mind. The main reason for me to buy this laptop is for writing screenplays. I added Office 2007 and Movie Magic Screenwriter 6. Both work great in this machine.
The system has been stable so far. Video quality is great with the True Life Widescreen display with vivid colors. The speakers are not the greatest, they sound rather tiny, but you do have two headphone jacks (if you're watching a DVD with somebody) or you can add external speakers to this laptop.
The video card is a X1270 AMD Radeon. It can display 3D graphics, but this card is not a good option for any of the new games out there. If you want to play any of those games like Halo 2, Bioshock, etc., then this machine is not for you.
Now, this machine can play older games, published about 2004 like World of Warcraft, which I can play it at the normal screen resolution of 1200x800 in the ranges of 18 to 32 FPS, which is playable and it looks good. I also have Unreal Tournament 2004 which performs well enough to play it, and and Magic The Gathering Online V3 which is a newer game but it will not tax your video card.
Overall I'm very pleased with this. It is a solid machine that would be great for a writer, student, or casual user who can read e-mail, surf the web, write documents and play World of Warcraft and is on a budget.
When I opened the box I was pleasantly surprised to see my brand new jet black inspiron 1526 with all those wonderful specs, sans the video card (I don't play games on my laptop much anyway so not a problem.) It and Vista worked great, especially because every piece of hardware that I had (mouse, printer, digital camera, cell phone) all were compatible with Vista.
3 Months later I get an error code that will not allow me to log onto my computer. I figured the nice people at Dell would help. They gave me a hardy *BLANK* Off, go to the retailer that you purchased the laptop from for help. I go to Best Buy who wanted to back up my files for $90? ahmm how bout no. (Best buy didnt have a warranty option on the website when I purchased it) They sent it to get "repaired" under the dell warranty. Dell had it for a week, did a diagnostics check, sent it back to me with an A OK! Got home, STILL COULD NOT LOG ON!
I had to split the drive into 3 partitions, re-install Vista on a second partition, in order to access all my files. Then burn them on disks for safe keeping while I formatted the entire hard drive and reinstalled all the drivers myself and put back all my files.
2 Months later. Sitting listening ( the speakers aren't great at all. But plug some headphones in and turn it up you'll be partially deaf for a minute or so) to a CD in the laptop while browsing, BLIP system shuts down wont turn back on. Take it back to best buy. They send it out for another week. Diagnosis... Mother Board burned out (after 5 months). I'm hearing its a common problem with the 1526. Dell fixed that. I get my laptop back from Worst Buy WITHOUT my CD. My calls have not been returned by Hells repair people or Worst Buy.
I would give this laptop a low 3. A 2.9 if possible. When its good its good, but when its bad it REAL bad.I apologise first of all because I didn't buy this from Amazon. I bought it from a dealer in Beijing's Computer Area for roughly the RMB equivalent of GBP600. After my last laptop, a BenQ JoyBook which should really have been called MiseryBook, this truly is a joy to use. It's fast: on a fast internet connection you can work almost as fast as you can think and that feels amazing. Compared to the Benq, the screen is really bright. Really bright. It looks totally cool in navy blue and silver. The keyboard (which was the reason I had vowed never to have a Dell again)is a real pleasure to use: I love it. I'm running Avira, Spybot, Spywareblaster, Malwarebytes, CCleaner, Stopzilla, Eusing Registry Cleaner, Ad-aware, Glary Utilities and Superdefrag and it runs really clean. Before I was always having to waste time getting rid of viruses. All in all, IMHO this is a just a wonderful machine to use. My only gripe is that all the documentation and software was in Chinese and Dell China/Hong Kong refused point blank to provide a duplicate in English despite my many efforts, although they could have done so had they wanted to. I did manage to download an English manual from their US website, but no thanks to them. Shameless. So I will never buy from them again since their's is a culture of contempt. What self-sabotaging incompetents they are. "One customer properly looked after is worth more than $10000 of advertising" Jim RohnMy 11 year old son purchased this laptop 11 1/2 months ago with his own money. Three weeks ago the hard drive failed suddenly. The hinge on the left side of the machine was also failing, so I contacted Dell. The hard drive is a self install and I was sent a postage paid box to send the laptop to Texas for the hinge repair. Dell contacts me the following week to inform me they WILL NOT cover the hinge because the unit has been "abused". This laptop has NEVER been dropped, thrown, etc. They want to charge me $120 for the hinge repair which will not happen.. When you complain online or via telephone you will NEVER speak with a english speaking tech unless you buy an extended warranty in which case that will entitle you to speak with someone in the good old USA. If you like throwing your money away and being frustrated, please purchase this laptop!I have the Inspiron 1526 and have had it since 2008. Overall it hasn't been a bad operating computer and I haven't needed Dell Support Service as I am able to solve most of my computer problems and am mechanical enough to repair and replace parts my computers need (having been the first female office equipment repair technician in the Denver area in the 1970's). While the operation of the computer has been good, the overall construction is chintzy, flimsy, and of poor quality. The computer's overall appearance is attractive, but having offered that positive observation, I would caution that the case will fall apart easily with minimal use. I bought this computer as a secondary computer, my primary being a HP Pavilion. With opening the computer no more than 4 times, the plastic hinges began to separate exposing the wires contained within. Then the top back cover began to separate from the bezel. These problems worsened with every use. One day the computer fell off of the sofa onto a thick and thickly padded carpet while closed. Keys popped off of the keyboard. Normally keys can be pressed back on, but one of the keys broke a clip necessitating the replacement of the keyboard. With the stress being placed on the bezel from the separation of the top back cover and hinges, the bezel has cracked in half at the bottom nearest the left hinges. Estimates to replace these parts were almost $500. Ordering the parts directly from Dell is out of the question as they are more expensive than ordering them from online computer repair companies. I have ordered the parts from an independent Dell repair company for slightly more than $100 and will repair the computer myself. My HP Pavilion was dropped on a hard floor by TSA at the Denver Airport and other than a couple of scratches to the case, the Pavilion's case and keyboard emerged unscathed, and the computer is fully operational. Had that happened to the Dell, I would have been carrying the Dell through the airport in a million pieces, I'm sure. Additionally, the touchpad to the Dell show a great deal of wear from minimal use, while my 7 year-old Pavilion's touchpad shows no wear and tear from hours of use daily. In doing searches for the parts to repair my Dell, I found numerous computer repair companies that do complete cosmetic refurbishing of Dell computers (including replacement of the top and bottom cases, keyboards, palm rests, touchpads, etc.) for $250 to $300 which indicates to me that Dell's computer cases and the other plastic parts aren't built to last. I can't comment on Dell's technical support having never needed to use it, but overall I'm not impressed with the quality of the Dell laptops in comparison to HP, Toshiba, etc. If the laptop will be getting a great deal of use or is being carried around a great deal, I wouldn't recommend a Dell unless one buys a Dell that has been manufactured for business use (which also comes with a high price tag). I just replaced a broken screen in an E Machine, and in comparison, the case to the E-Machine is far sturdier than the case to the Dell Inspiron and the E-Machine laptop wasn't nearly as expensive. My rating of this computer is probably better than it should be and wouldn't have been as low as it is were it not for the poor quality of the computer case and its lack of durability and suitablilty for everyday use. I can't rate a computer very high if with light use, one has to duct tape the case together.
0 comments:
Post a Comment