Dell Inspiron 1525
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Review Date : 15th Jan' 08

Realizing the increased competition in budget 15.4" screen consumer laptops, such as from Sony's NR series and LifeBook A6110 that we reviewed last quarter, and the lack of competitive advantages that Inspiron 1520 had against these, Dell moved quickly to launch Inspiron 1525, a revamped model that offers similar design advantages that it has with XPS line

The first put off factor to go away is the overall bulky size of Inspiron 1520. The newer model, i.e. Inspiron 1525 is almost 25% smaller than its predecessor. It's sleek also, measuring an inch thick at the front to 1.4 inches at the back. Perhaps the investment in design talent is bearing fruits now as in addition to this smaller size, and plenty of color choices that were already available, Inspiron 1525 will also feature hippy lids with decorative patters laminated onto them.

Before we go deeper into the review, a quick look at the hardware profile and pricing. The pricing as with other models from Inspiron series is for the budget conscious. There are plenty of good laptop choices in the market priced below the $1000 mark now, and even though the pricing for Inspiron 1525 starts as low as $499, a rather dependable configuration can be worked out at $950. At this price, we are talking about having an entry-level 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 160GB hard disk space, a dual layer DVD writer, 15.4" anti-glare screen, Intel X3100 integrated graphics card, Intel Wi-Fi a/b/g and last but not the least, generous 2 gigabytes of RAM.

Inspiron 1525 enjoys the same full-size keyboard that other models from Inspiron and XPS series have. It's a pleasure to type on since keys have been spaced nicely. The only difference is the texture of palm rest. It feels grainier and the touchpad inherits this texture. Depending upon your taste, this could be better or worse than the traditional lustrous finish. Right above the keyboard are dedicated media controls and volume button.

Inspiron 1525 has a 15.4" widescreen LCD housed in silver bezel. As for the finish, it could be glossy or matte depending upon the configuration you choose to build. Both have their pros and cons. The screen resolution however seems limited at 1280x800 maximum. Don't forget that XPS M1530 was also launched with this limited resolution but it didn't take long for screens enabled with higher resolutions to show up.

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