Easy to type on, nice glossy screen, choice of colors, lightweight
Disadvantages:
Horrid speakers, sound card, dell wireless card
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
It has been almost 3 months since I purchased not 1 but 2 Dell Inspiron 1525 laptops. The price was right! My daughter got the bright green case and I got the blossom. Thier nice looking laptops, good size 15" screens, true color glossy. The keyboards seem to be much easier to type on then my old 9300 Dell laptop. Speed is good, and applications load quickly on boot up.
Although this laptop is a great deal for the price, there are some downsides to it.
1. The speakers are horrid unless you use them with the earbuds which come with the laptop. They are very low even at the highest setting and terribly tinny sounding. With the earbuds, there is a 100% improvement.
2. The volume control is above the keyboard and is a touch type control on the same order as the touch mouse. It takes some getting used to, to get the control to mute or to adjust the volume.
I upgraded to the Sound Blaster sound card, only to find out when it was too late that it was not a sound card at all but an extra sound synthesizer program which is useless with the integrated sound card that comes with the computer. I wasted 25 dollars on it. The web site did not go into detail as to what you were buying, but rather made it look like you were upgrading to a better sound card. Dell boo boo on that one.
The 1525 has Dell brand built in wireless, with xtra built in antennas for better connections. Ummmmm...Dell has some work to do on their wireless cards. My old 9300 has Intel wireless built in and I can pick up free wifi just about everywhere I go. Using the 1525 in the same places, I am unable to connect to the same wifi I get with my 9300. I should have upgraded to Intel wireless (kicked myself in the butt once again when it was too late) but I trusted that Dell would have a good product when it came to their wireless cards.
Overall, I would recommend this laptop to others if you upgrade the wireless card and sound card if there is an available upgrade. I haven't tried a set of speakers yet to see if I can improve the volume of the sound. I basically bought and use this laptop when travelling because it's much smaller and lighter then my 9300.
Dell has great prices, just be careful and read closely what you are getting in the basic model and upgrade to what you think you will need. The extra 100 dollars you spend will be worth it in the end and you will have one very nice looking dependable laptop at nearly half the cost you would pay for other laptops.
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