The Dell Inspiron 15 (click here to see the Dell Inspiron 15 on Dell.com) is a 15.4″ screen mainstream multimedia notebook that competes head-on with the likes of the HP dv6700t and Sony VAIO FZ. Dell has introduced the Inspiron 15 as a thinner and lighter alternative to the previous Inspiron 1520. Dell has always been known for its direct to order model and ability to configure to your hearts delight, and now they’ve taken that a step further by giving you the ability to customize the color of your notebook from a selection of ten designs.
The Inspiron 15 is the follow-on to the popular Inspiron 1520 notebook. The Inspiron 15 is actually less powerful than the Inspiron 1520 because it does not offer a dedicated graphics card. Instead Dell has taken the approach that buyers should look to the Dell XPS M1530 notebook for those that want dedicated graphics, while the Inspiron 15 is a reasonably priced multimedia laptop that suits the average user that does not get into gaming or other high performance demanding tasks. The Inspiron 15 comes with the Intel Core 2 Duo processor platform dubbed Santa Rosa.
System as Reviewed
The specs for the Inspiron 15 as reviewed are the following:
- Screen: 15.4-inch WXGA (1280 x 800) CCFL TrueLife (glossy) screen
- Processor: 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7250
- Memory: 2GB DDR2-667 SDRAM (up to 4GB DDR2 SDRAM available)
- HD: 80GB 7200 RPM SATA HDD
- Optical Drive: 8x Dual-layer DVD�RW drive
- Graphics: Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
- Wireless: Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card
- Colors: Jet Black
- Media Card: 8-in-1 flash memory reader
- Input and Output Ports: 4 USB 2.0, HDMI, VGA, IEEE 1394a, RJ11, RJ45, 2 headphone, 1 microphone, 1 ExpressCard 54mm slot, 3 mini-card slots, consumer IR, S-Video
- OS: Windows Vista Home Premium
- Dimensions: 1.00″ - 1.48″ (height) x 14.05″ (width) x 10.08″ (depth)
- Weight: 6.0lbs with 6-cell battery
- Starting price: $499
- Price as tested: $907
I paid around $900 after all was said and done. Using the ubiquitous Dell Coupons found around the web you can drive the price down a bit. Dell is always one of the tops when it comes to price competition
Places to buy
It used to be that you could only buy online to get a Dell notebook, but that has recently changed. If you want to buy a notebook you can go to their website and configure one, call and order over the phone or go to a Dell kiosk in a mall and place an order. You can also now walk into a Best Buy or Staples Electronics store to see Dell notebooks, so the options are quite endless — shop around to find the best price.
What you get
- Inside the box you get the Dell Inspiron 15
- CDs with preinstalled software and driver files
- Product info guide and Owner’s Manual
- Ear buds in a small black bag
- A/C Adapter
- Remote Control
- Battery
Weigh in
One thing I like to always do with any new gadget I get is take it to the scales and see how much it weighs:
| Notebook | Actual Weight |
| Dell Inspiron 15 (15.4″ screen, 6-cell battery) | 6.03 lbs |
| Dell Inspiron 1520 (15.4″ screen, 9-cell battery) | 7.4lbs |
| HP Pavilion dv6500t (15.4� screen, 6-cell battery) | 6.10lbs |
| Sony VAIO FZ (15.4� screen, 6-cell battery) | 5.62lbs |
With the 6-cell battery you can see the Inspiron 1526 is quite reasonable in terms of weight, it’s much lighter than the Inspiron 1520 predecessor and lighter than the competing HP dv6500t. The Inspiron 15 would actually be quite reasonable to carry around in a backpack for a while, though 6lbs would begin to hurt your shoulder if you’ll be walking for more than a mile.
Size-Up
Another interesting metric I like to look at is the dimensions of the notebook compared to similar notebooks.
| Notebook | Dimensions |
| Dell Inspiron 15 (15.4″ screen) | 14.05″ (W) 1.00″ - 1.48″ (H) x 10.08″ (D) |
| HP Pavilion dv6500t (15.4� screen) | 14.05″ (W) x 1� - 1.69″ (H) x 10.12″ (D) |
| Dell Inspiron 1520 (15.4� screen) | 14.12 (W) x 1.47 - 1.65� (H) x 10.59� (D) |
| Sony VAIO FE (15.4� screen) | 14.41� (W) x 1.02� -1.39� (H) x 10.81� (D) |
| Sony VAIO FZ (15.4� screen) | 14″(W) x 0.98-1.4″(H) x 10.02″(D) |
At its thinnest point the Inspiron 15 is an 1″ thin, which is really good for a 15.4″ screen notebook. Indeed, it’s almost a full half-inch slimmer than the previous Inspiron 1520.
Looks
The Inspiron 15 allows for customization of color for the lid. This is a nice option, although I sometimes find that too much choice leads to indecision in the configuration process and you always second guess if another color might have been better after you finally decide on one. I went for the black color simply because I was looking for a plain looking notebook.
The actual design and shape of the Inspiron 15 isn’t that earth shaking, it’s certainly not as eye catching as the XPS M1530. Still, the the look isn’t bad and the blue LED lights give a nice effect, especially in the dark. The slimmer styling of the 1525 also makes it look nice.
Construction
The overall build of the Inspiron 15 is very good, there’s no flex in the body. The material used to build this notebook is rigid and thereby contributes to it being solid. The hinges for the screen feel extremely firm, I have no doubt they’ll hold up over time. The lid cover itself is rock solid and will protect the screen with ease.
Ports
The port selection of the Dell Inspiron 15 is pretty standard for a mainstream multimedia notebook. Again I�ll compare it to what similar notebooks have so you get an idea of where it stands relative to competition
| Ports | Dell Inspiron 15 | HP dv6500t | Sony VAIO FZ |
| USB 2.0 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| FireWire | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Media Card Reader | Yes (8-in-1) | 4-in-1 | Yes (MS and SD) |
| Ethernet | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Modem | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Headphone out | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microphone in | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Monitor out | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| HDMI | Yes | Yes | Yes (optional) |
| DVI-D | No | No | No |
| S-Video | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ExpressCard Slot | Yes (54mm) | Yes (34mm/54mm) | Yes (34mm) |
| PCMCIA Slot | No | No | No |
| Expansion Dock Port | No | Yes | No |
Let’s take a look at the port offerings and locations on Inspiron 15:
On the front side you have the headphone and microphone jacks, memory card slot and LED lights.
On the left side you get a lock slot, DC jack, two USB ports, VGA out, Ethernet and modem ports, HDMI and FireWire.
On the right side is the ExpressCard slot, optical drive, Wi-Fi on/off, S-video port, and 2 USB 2.0 ports
On the back side there is absolutely nothing!
Keyboard
The keys on the Inspiron 15 keyboard are well placed, I have no complaints here. The feel of the keys is nice too, they have a bit of a grip to them. The travel is a bit shallow and light touch typists will prefer this keyboard over those that like to pound on a keyboard and get a ton of travel with a key. There’s no sag to the keyboard anywhere, it’s very firm.
The touchpad works fine, it has horizontal and vertical scroll areas and the mouse buttons are quite nice. It would be nice if there were an on/off switch for the touchpad like the HP dv6500t offers, instead you have to go into software and disable it.
Screen
Dell offers only a WXGA resolution screen on the Inspiron 15 notebook at the moment, it would be nice if there were more options and a WSXGA screen like the previous Inspiron 1520 had. You do get a choice between glossy and matt screens. Glossy screens provide for bolder colors and more contrast, but with the caveat that the gloss finish tends to be quite reflective.
The screen is fairly bright, though not as bright as recent Sony or Fujitsu notebook screens I’ve seen. That said, the viewing angles are good and there’s little in the way to complain about regarding the screen.
Sound
The speakers for the Inspiron 15 are located at the top of the keyboard. The speakers get loud enough with minimal distortion, but the sound is somewhat tinny sounding, but this is the case with nearly all laptop speakers. At least you get two headphone ports on the front for easy access to plugging in your headphones.
Performance
The Inspiron 15 has been enjoyable to use, it’s snappy for most general uses with the Intel T7250 2.0GHz processor, but it won’t suit for gaming since there’s no dedicated graphics cards offered — just the Intel X3100. Bootup is fast, and programs load instantly in Vista.
I ran PCMark05 on the 1525 to get an overall system performance score, you can see that the system performs well with a 4,163 score. This result was gained using out of the box configuration settings and before any of the bloatware was removed from the system.
Remember that the configuration of the Inspiron 15 as reviewed is pretty high-end since it has the fastest processor configurable (at the time of this writing) the performance will vary a lot depending on how you configure the 1525. Bottom line is that if you really want a more powerful notebook you’ll have to step up to the XPS M1530 with dedicated graphics and a faster processor.
Noise
The Inspiron 15 is fairly quiet, though at times the fans did get a bit noisy. Basically you won’t hear this notebook at all in an environment with ambient noise, but if you’re in a library like quiet environment you might bother those nearby with some fan noise.
Heat
I’ve been completely amazed by the total lack of heat buildup in the Inspiron 15. The 1525 is very comfortable to use on the lap due to lack of heat buildup.
Battery
The 6-cell 56WHr Li-Ion battery provides good battery life for the Inspiron 15. Even under normal usage with the screen brightness all the way up, Vista set to “high performance”, and wireless on I managed to get 2 hours 53 minutes of battery life out of the 6-cell. If you had the 9-cell battery you might expect up to four hours — under conservative usage this could be 5 hours on the 9-cell. Thanks to the integrated graphics the Inspiron 15 is good on battery life.
Conclusion
The Dell Inspiron 15 is definitely a solid notebook. It won’t win any awards for performance since it doesn’t offer the fastest processor or dedicated graphics. It is good for those that want a quality computer that performs well on office tasks and multimedia, but don’t want to spend a whole lot of money. I really like the fact the Inspiron 15 is relative light and thin for a 15.4″ screen notebook. It has most of the port options you could want too. The lid design offerings are nice, though the actually look and shape of the notebook is pretty sterile and nothing as cool as the XPS M1530. Overall the Inspiron 15 is a good buy, will get the job done, but won’t win any design or performance awards.
Pros
- Nice personalization option with lid color selection
- Very good pricing, starting at $699
- Very cool running
- Good port selection
- Nice and light for a 15.4″ notebook and slimmer than average notebooks of this size
- Very good wireless connectivity options
- Good price
Cons
- They added color to the outside, but the design is still kind of bland on the inside
- Not much in the way of different screen options
- No dedicated graphics meaning no good 3D performance
- No Blu-Ray drive offering at the current time
Dell Inspiron 15 Pricing and Availability
The Dell Inspiron 15 is available for prices starting at $499 from Dell.com (click to visit Dell)
September 7th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
very lacking on the video aspect, can be slowed down bad even with 4 gig ram, ready boost helps alot.. and due to the fact that the video system uses the ram the ready boost aids noticeably to the graphics during gameplay.. best advise is to invest into a laptop that does have a video card… honestly its not much more
October 13th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I’m afraid I don’t recommend this one.
Bad keyboard quality, the screen becomes very greasy, and the all around quality of the laptop degrades in a matter of months. A close friend of mine has had his for just over three months, and it already looks ready to retire.
Dell’s just not as trustworthy as they used to be.
April 12th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Dell is, if anything, more trustworthy than they used to be. I just tried out one of these at Staples; the keyboard reminded me of the last-gen Macbook; not the more recent telephone-key type. Surprisingly, I found the Inspiron keyboards to be among the best Dell keyboards; in fact better than most higher end laptops. The Inspiron is solid and well built.
In addition, Dell has been making huge strides in responding to customer feedback; through their Ideastorm site and forums, they have made many long awaited changes in response to customer feedback. Dell is not the same Dell we used to know; and fortunately, this change has been for the better.
By the way, I see signs that the Inspiron line is due for an upgrade; the Inspiron 13 has already been revamped; and the 14 and 15 are likely to follow soon; among other things, it should feature slot loading drives and other higher end features; might be worth a wait.
April 30th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
I have just ordered one of these today. Followed up by this review hope i have made the right choice ill get back in a week or so and tell you my theory on this laptop.
July 20th, 2009 at 4:35 am
I’m thinking about getting this. But can’t afford the version with all the extras, so I’ll probably go for the £379 version is that one any good or is it worth the extra cash for the Upgraded one?
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:56 pm
I’ve only had my Inspiron 15 for a month so I’m still getting used to it; in addition, it’s my first home computer with Word, so while I’ve used both Word and Vista at work, I haven’t forgotten WordPerfect or XP, and can compare the different systems and word processors pretty reliably. I like them all; none is perfect in all ways, but they’re a lot more user-friendly than the technophobes I know–you’d be amazed, but some of my fellow librarians fall into that category–will admit. My Inspiron 1150 crashed and died on me after giving me almost five years of loyal service, and while I could probably get at least some work done on it successfully, it’s simply too heavy to make me want to walk around with it; the 15 is marvelously lightweight, which is a hugely appealing feature for someone who walks around (and travels) with books, pens, pencils and paper. In addition, I find the 15’s keyboard design easier on the arms and hands than the 1150’s, although the mousepad has a mind of its own, so I simply bought an external mouse from Dell and use it all the time; it’s wonderful!
One problem is that I can’t figure out how to open the wireless card slot (for a broadband access card, for instance) or the CD/DVD ROM drive slot to insert anything I want to view, listen to or install. It sounds like a silly question but I don’t know which button to push or slide–I haven’t tried it with the computer turned on; is that the trouble? I’ve looked at the photos here so I know I’m looking at pictures of “my” computer…I just need to know how to get the blame slots open, so if anyone can tell me, please do!
One of the reasons I chose this model is that I’m not interested in gaming; I write and am online a lot, and with all that stuff going on, I don’t see how I’d have time for gaming anyway! Another reason is that, in this lovely economy, I want to conserve my money…I compared the 15 with other Dell models, as well as HP’s, and decided on the 15 after a fair amount of research. Even knowing that the Inspiron line is due for an upgrade, so far I’m happy with my 15–and the whole field is constantly changing and evolving, like a kaleidoscope, so it’s impossible to simultaneously have the latest, greatest and won’t-get-any-better, anyway!
Barbara
July 27th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
I’m also hopefully perchasing the inspiron 15 for 379 because thats what i can afford but I’m also not sure if it worth it.. to pay more and be happoier with it..
July 29th, 2009 at 1:53 am
just orded one of these today
July 29th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
I am thinking of getting this laptop and everything seems to be to my likings with it being ideal for my everyday laptop use.
However, i have one question concerning gaming…
i dont normally play games on cd roms etc, however i do play an online game and im wondering is it just graphics that let the gaming side of the notebook down or is there any other matters that make this notebook not ideal for gaming?
July 31st, 2009 at 9:07 am
To answer tlev’s question, i believe it is definitely worth it to pay more and be happier beause with laptops, it is very hard to upgrade down the road, and you will definitely start to be more unhappy with it later on (if you buy a wicked cheap laptop). Core specs are everything, so try to max out your laptop budget when initially purchasing it.
Now to answer holly’s question, i believe i ordered an ATI graphics card with this laptop online, so it definitely comes with dedicated graphics now. However, if you choose not to upgrade to that, the X3100 or X4500 integrated graphics that come with it can actually handle low to medium range graphics very well, and that sounds like what you are looking for if you are only playing online games.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
im 14 years old and im getting this for xmas it would be great for my business work
October 19th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
I have been using laptops for years. This is the third Dell that I have owned. And, I absolutely HATE this laptop…Dell Inspiron 15c. The keyboard is wackadoodle crazy. You could be typing away and all of the sudden your cursor moves someplace else. Windows open up without you doing anything. I have adjusted the keyboard info time and time again and yet this problem still persists. I will be taking a sledge hammer to this one soon!!
October 24th, 2009 at 5:58 am
Hi,i am planning to buy a dell inspiron 15…i am getting it in an offer which is costing aroung 770 dollars..with all these features..its a new piece..Intel Core2 Duo T6600 (2.20Ghz)
- 4 GB Memory
- 320GB Hard Disk Drive SATA (5400RPM Fastest)
- 512MB Dedicated Graphic Memory
- Genuine Windows® 7 Home Basic 64-Bit
- 15.6″ Wide View XGA (Glossy Screen)
- 1.3 MP Camera (built in)
- 1395 Dell Wireless,
- 10/100 Network Interface Card (NIC)
- Bluetooth
- 3 USB 2.0 Ports
- DVD/ReWriter Dual Layer Drive
- 7 in 1 Media Card Reader (MMC, SD etc)
- 1 Year Dell Int’l Warranty
- Weight approx 2.64kg.
- Special Carry Case (Turgus)
I am taking it for my home..for kids..Hope i am making a right choice…Please HELP!!
November 7th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
I am looking at getting this laptop for high school. From what I’ve heard so far it sounds like it will do everything I want it to do. The only problem I see is that I have heard that the keyboard is low quality and the cursor randomly moves to a different spot which is very annoying and frustrating (I’ve experienced it on my dad’s laptop). Seeing as how I plan to do a lot of typing and writing on the laptop that will be a huge problem. If you can help me please reply or email me. tha1anonlii@yahoo.com
February 3rd, 2010 at 8:43 am
WOW Guys thanks! I ordered one yesterday and u made me think it was a fairly bad decision…Now I have to get a new graphics card for it if i want to game…A external mouse for the ever moving touchpad as a replacement…SO Thanks for making me regret it!!! >:O
February 12th, 2010 at 8:06 am
I have just ordered the Ispiron 15 online with Dell. There are a few questions I forgot to ask and i wonder if someone can inform me please if there is a built in webcam and microphone?