The Dell Latitude D430 is Dell's current ultraportable offering that features Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) Intel processors and a host of other technologies in order to create one of the smallest 12.1" machines that still maintains a respectable amount of battery life and computing power. In the past few months, Dell has further updated the Latitude D430 to include a newer, more powerful processor from Intel. Read on to see how the new configuration for the D430 stacks up against the old one and its competitors! (Note: As this is an updated article, I'll only be changing the sections in which my opinions have changed or the specs have changed. I reserve the right to plagiarize myself!) Reasons for Buying After several months with my original Latitude D430, it started developing an intermittent problem that Dell was unable to solve. In hindsight, it was probably the same problem that landed that laptop in the Dell Outlet where I found it, but after Dell could not fix it they offered to trade my old D430 for a brand new D430 with updated specs. At least I was smart enough to realize that it was a good deal for me. New laptop, no problems, and another review article! Price & Model Specifications The D430 starts out at a not-so-cheap $1,149. Since the original article was written, the base configuration by default comes with a dual core processor, which makes this an even better deal. My specific unit was configured as follows: As configured, this notebook would cost $1,495 before taxes direct from Dell. However, Dell Latitude D430's can be found at the Dell Outlet for as little as $700 now and similar configurations can be found for $900-$1,100 no problem. Build & Design Business notebooks are supposed to be the top-of-the-line laptops, with the highest build quality and top notch support. My last three notebooks (including the original D430) were all high quality notebooks, and I expect the best. In the last few months, I've come to realize that the D430 is the most solid notebook I have ever owned, and it is the lightest as well. The entire body of the laptop is built of tightly packed guts and a solid magnesium alloy frame with sold plastic "plating." The best way to describe it is that the bones and muscles of the D430 are solid metal, while the skin is made of a strong plastic. The screen construction is also impressive, but not as much as the chassis' construction. As with most laptop screens, the display can be twisted a little bit ... but not nearly as much as other laptops I have encountered. The bezel has one small weak spot at the inside vertical edges, and when pushing in on the LCD screen from up top I can produce some ripples on the screen. Would it possibly be enough to damage the screen? No, but as with any notebook do not act out any of your dreams of dropping bricks directly onto the notebook. When in my backpack or another tight spot, I have no need to worry about the screen protection. I have included a video illustrating the squeeze effect, but I am pressing VERY hard to produce the ripples. Most users will never notice this. Since getting my new notebook, there have been ZERO problems with it. That is a welcome improvement from the first D430 which had a lot of problems near the beginning of the summer. Other parts of the notebook are sturdy as well. The hard drive on the D430 features hardware-based shock protection (I never saw evidence of a hardware and software based solution like the Fujitsu E8410, HP 8710p, or HP nc8430), and the keyboard/mousepad area has absolutely no flex so all those computer parts directly underneath your working area are perfectly safe. Coming in at a meager 12" in size, the D430 is definitely a small notebook. When placed in my backpack, I really do not notice the extra weight and it is easy to take with me every day. The only bad thing about such a light laptop is that if you leave it behind somewhere, you are not going to notice a huge weight lifted off your shoulders. From experience, I've had to learn to check a little more carefully to make sure the laptop is not left behind. In fact, I've become addicted to how small the notebook is ... I love its size and portability. Another feature that needs mentioning is the DVD drive, or lack thereof. The D430 managed to achieve its incredible thinness by ditching an internal DVD drive and going with an external Dell-specific-version-of-USB external USB DVD drive that can run off of the notebook's power mains to minimize the cable requirements. For users that do not need an optical drive very often, this will be perfectly fine. Users who need it more frequently may find themselves wondering if they'd want to carry around a second piece of equipment. I myself do not find it annoying to be missing a drive whatsoever, as I rarely need to use an optical drive. I love having the option to shed some backpack weight and leave the DVD drive at home, but some may not. As far as appearances go, this is a business notebook. Appropriately so, the D430 features a mostly black and gun-metal gray visual design. When compared to the design of the HP Compaq business notebooks, I would say that (1) the exterior of the Latitudes does not look as sharp but (2) the interior sections of the D430 look more professional and sharper. The exterior of the D430 (the back of the LCD screen and the bottom of the notebook) appears to be almost 100 percent gun-metal gray, which is a design feature that we've seen in Latitudes for a long time. It's getting kind of old, but it still looks nice. The updated model coming out in a few months will be a welcome redesign and refresh of the Latitude look, but this notebook still looks great. The interior of the D430 is really what looks nice and professional. The lines are sharper and the overall appearance is more visually appealing than my previous notebooks. When closed, the D430 reminds you of a thin workbook or textbook. In fact, the dimensions of the D430 are fairly close to standard 8.5"x11" paper and I regularly carry my D430 inside of a stack of notes and books. For a college student, this is really nice as you can move around with all of that in your hands and not have a problem with any of it. Try moving a 17" notebook with a few paper notebooks on top and see how awkward it is, and then you'll understand why one can appreciate the size of the 12" D430. Screen The D430 features a standard 12" WXGA screen with a total resolution of 1280x800 pixels. Widescreen has pretty much become the standard for all notebooks, and I do have to say that it is nice to have this much horizontal real-estate. The screen resolution itself is just right for a 12" notebook display, as for me all text and graphics easily readable. If you want to see a 12" screen for yourself, head to a local store that carries notebooks and try to find any 12" notebook there. Many readers will wonder how a 12.1" screen could possibly be productive. Having a small, portable machine allows you to work virtually anywhere, which is better than having a larger screen in my eyes. However, I do acknowledge that a smaller screen does require some multitasking sacrifices. Most programs do need to be maximized in order to really have an effective layout of the GUI, and exceptions are few and far between. Word, Outlook, Firefox, etc. ... all of them need to be maximized for best performance while you are doing your individual tasks. Multitasking is going to require tabbing through all the windows or using your mouse to navigate. Personally, I find this mode of working acceptable given the tasks that are typically going to run on the D430. Head on, the screen itself is very high quality. Text and graphics are very sharp, and the backlighting seems to be very even for all levels of brightness. The brightest of settings is perfect for any indoor environment and more outdoor conditions. The dimmest screen setting possible can easily be used indoors with good lighting, but outdoors it is nearly impossible to use. Finally, the screen does have a built-in ambient light sensor that can automatically adjust the brightness of the screen. When using that feature, I have found that the sensor does accurately determine how bright the screen should be for me to work effectively. This is a welcome improvement on the HP ambient light sensor, which has consistently set the screen to too dim of a setting for me to work effectively for the past year and a half. However, after six months of usage I've become annoyed with the feature and have permanently turned that off. I prefer to adjust it myself. Viewing angles are a bit of a mixed story. Vertical viewing angles are below average, but with such a small screen I have a hard time imagining that users would be looking in from those directions. Horizontal viewing angles are average, though the graphics on the screen tend to white out just a little bit when viewing from the side. If and when you are sharing a screen view with a co-worker or buddy, both of you should enjoy a relatively decent view. Pictures are worth much more than words, so see the graphic below for an illustration. Speaker and Audio Notice the title of this section is "Speaker and Audio." That is because the D430 only has one speaker, and not a very good one at that. While it does function well enough to emit the occasional "You have mail" sound clip or make the "Windows prompt" beep, that is all it is good for. Listening to any type of movie or music on the D430's internal speaker is a painful experience, and my fiancée actually asked me to stop playing music on the D430 at least once. The speaker volume levels are fine for the laptop, but the speaker has an extraordinarily tinny aura to it. And there is no bass whatsoever. I would expect even an average speaker to be able to sound out a little bit of the baser notes in music, but this one fails utterly. Every time I listen to a music track or movie the sound has no depth and it feels and sounds like something is missing. To try and get around this, I tried using the headphone jack on the D430 with a pair of Creative earphones that are known to work well enough to my satisfaction on other machines. Even then, the D430's sound system disappointed so I know it is not just the lack of decent speakers. It is the lack of a better-than-low-quality integrated sound card. Granted, a business person probably will not have much use for the integrated speaker when making presentations, but I'm sure anyone would appreciate being able to listen to music. Furthermore, if a user hooked this laptop up to an external speaker set for a presentation, that user better not plan on using complex sounds and music clips. I just do not think this audio system would cut it, and six and more months later down the road there has been no improvement here. One nice update to the review is that on the new laptop, and during the last month or two of the old laptop's life, the sound card driver issues seemed to have been solved. I no longer have self-destructing sound card drivers, which is nice. Processor and Performance The U7700 is the whole reason for this review. My old D430 and new D430 had the same exact specifications, except that the U7700 is now available in the D430. The U7700 is Intel's latest dual core Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) processor, running at a chipper 1.33GHz speed. As of this writing, only one single-core version of this processor is available on the D430 - the U2100 which is a single core 1.06GHz processor. It is unfortunate that Dell continues to offer a 1.06GHz single core, because at one point a 1.2GHz single core was available (see my old review) that performed a little better at the same price. While single core processors are largely an obsolete technology, ultraportable notebooks can still enjoy the benefits of less heat in the laptop. I used to think that the single core version of the D430 laptop had better battery, but after testing the battery life on the D430 I am astounded to report the battery life of the dual-core is actually BETTER than that of the single core version. At this point, it is safe to say that the single core version of the D430 is no longer a good investment as the dual core ULV processors are not THAT hot. Before any benchmarks were done, I installed a fresh copy of Windows XP, upgraded to SP3, and installed some AV protection. So how did the U7700 perform? PCMark05 is a synthetic benchmark that gives users a general idea of how powerful any processor is, and the D430 came in with a final score of 2184. The accepted margin of error is about 100 points, but regardless this score is massive improvement from what my old single-core U1400 scored (1454). SuperPI and wPrime are programs that are useful in testing the computational abilities of processors. wPrime is a better benchmark program for multi-core processors, so this time around the results given by wPrime on my D430 will actually have some meaning. SuperPI, which forces the processor to calculate the first 2M digits of PI, clocks in with a final time of 1m 41s. wPrime, which finds a ton of prime numbers, comes in with a total time of 123.541s. Neither score is particularly impressive, but notice that the D430 dual-core's wPrime score is vastly improved from the 148.344s the single-core version clocked in at. In my original review, I concluded that a single-core U1400 processor was equivalent to about a 1.8GHz Pentium M or a 2.5-3.0GHz Pentium 4. The dual-core U7700 is noticeably faster than my old laptop, perhaps as powerful as the slowest original Core Duo processors. That is MORE than enough processing power for anything you would want to run on the dual-core D430. To give you an idea of what this processor can do...I always use my D430 with Windows XP and Norton Internet Security 2008. On top of that, I regularly write articles and check emails without a problem. I frequently fire up my internal web server, MySQL databases, and PHP modules to do website development. Finally, I do some programming on the laptop and regularly work on projects for Purdue without slowdowns. Conclusion? The D430's processors are plenty powerful for everyday tasks. Additionally, hard drive speed is another factor that affects how fast a notebook is perceived to be. Ultraportable notebooks have been using 1.8" 4200RPM or 5400RPM hard drives, which require less power and generate less heat. But they are the slowest type of hard drive out there. As shown above, the 4200RPM drive in my D430 is no star. However, Windows loads fast enough (a little less than a minute for me) and I do not notice slowdowns during any of my usual activities. Video's and music are smooth with no glitches, and it does not take that long to perform a full backup of my system. Another thing to mention is that the HDD is a PATA/IDE drive, which means you'll need to pay attention to make sure you get a compatible drive if you ever upgrade anything. There are SSD drives available for the D430, but a quick read over at Dell Community Forums or DailyTech shows that the SanDisk SSD that the D430 uses (SanDisk makes just about the only 1.8" IDE SSD) has quite a few problems under XP or Vista. Avoid. Last and least is the Intel GMA 950 IGP graphics card. Obviously, Dell is using that IGP because it draws very little power and outputs very little heat. But at the same time it is not very powerful, and a newer IGP is available (X3100). I am not sure why that is not an option on this notebook, but either way this is not a gaming notebook and the GMA950 does work fine for office tasks. Previously, the single-core D430 scored 348 on its 3DMark test. Happily, the dual-core D430 scores 392. Unfortunately, that still means that only older games will work on the D430...Halo still pushes the D430 a little too hard. Fortunately, there are plenty of older games that will work just fine on this laptop. Including Window's Solitaire. Heat and Noise Dell obviously has quite a challenge keeping the D430 cool and quiet, and that challenge is even more difficult with a dual-core processor that has a TDP of 9W (up from about 5.5W with a single-core processor). That means there is even more heat that the D430 has to dissipate, so how is this notebook? The frame of the D430 is small and cannot dissipate much heat, and there is only one small fan inside of the notebook directly next to or on top of the processor. The single air vent is not very wide either. But they do work, and work well, while the U7700 is stressing the system. When at idle, the processor and laptop are actually quite cool. At a balmy 47C, this is actually a little bit cooler than my original D430 which came in at about a 53C idle temperature. I suspect the reason for this is because the U7700 does not have to work as long to perform the various tasks a notebook always does when at idle, which causes overall power usage to fall. As usual, I do try to take processor and hard drive temperature readings throughout my reviews, so let's take a look at the full picture, shall we? Overall, the hard drive temperatures remained the same while the processor temperatures were a little more extreme. Under the lowest power conditions, the dual-core D430's temperatures were lower than the single-core version. But as soon as one goes to "Always ON" or starts doing intensive work, the laptop gets hotter than its single-core variant. 90C is pushing one's luck, but it is still within a laptop's safe operating range. While I am not happy with the overall increased temperatures, it was not unexpected. However, the dual-core D430 most of the time will be performing office tasks and as such will be as cool or cooler than the single-core variant. When on battery and doing non-intensive work, the dual-core D430 is actually cool enough to place directly on one's skin and it not be too hot. I can finally wear shorts (and not pants) while working with the D430! The fan itself is quite annoying once it revs up, but during normal usage the fan will either be off or at its lowest speed setting. You will not notice it. But as soon as you start to do intensive work, one will be annoyed with the loud higher pitched sounds that both the single-core and dual-core D430's put out. Keyboard and Touchpad There really is not much new to report, except that in the last few months of usage I have come to love the keyboard on the D430. It is, hands down, the best laptop keyboard I have ever used. For the record, I have never used a Thinkpad but I have a difficult time believing Lenovo's keyboards are as good as this D430 keyboard. Overall, there is a little more feedback in the key-presses than all the other keyboards I have used, and Dell even managed to fit in a full-size keyboard in the 12" frame. The keyboard feels extremely firm, and there is no flex anywhere on the keyboard when using it. The biggest difference this keyboard has with others is that the PageUp and PageDown buttons are located above the arrow keys in the lower right corner of the keyboard. This is a good thing though, as it makes them much more accessible for document and web browsing. The F1-F12 keys up top are still a little too thin for my tastes though, as are the Esc, Home, End, Insert, and Delete keys that are found in the function button row. Dell could probably have made those 17 keys full size had their design department thought a little more creatively. The pointer stick, which I previously praised, is no longer my preferred method of mousing around. The stick is still a very nice thing to have, and I am sure many users will appreciate it. The dual mouse buttons on the D430 are as silent as ever, and unlike my last review I have found the mousepad to be quite nice. Unfortunately, that means that the touchpad will eventually degrade to the one I did not quite like in my previous review but palm rest replacements are quite cheap, so if you come to no longer like your touchpad you can get it replaced. I never did get used to the lack of a middle mouse button. I miss it, and I hope that Dell's upcoming Latitudes have that feature! Input and Output Ports, Wireless, and Battery With such a small frame, one would not expect many ports to be found on the D430, but the laptop does manage to squeeze in the essentials. From left to right: Kensington lock slot, audio-in/microphone, audio-out/headphones, PCMCIA slot, SmartCard reader beneath the PCMCIA slot, and an SD card slot. From left to right: WiFi toggle switch, power button. From left to right: Ethernet, modem, 2x USB, VGA-out, 1x USB (also used for DVD drive connection), IEEE 1394 Firewire 400 port, and the AC power jack. The Intel 3945 802.11a/b/g WiFi card works perfectly fine. I have no issues connecting to the networks I frequent, no disconnections, and few problems at all. Driver quality seems to have improved too, as I no longer have issues connecting to networks immediately after resuming from standby or hibernate. Another interesting feature about the WiFi card is a hardware switch that can toggle the card on and off, and a quick flick of the switch can make a popup list appear with all local networks shown. When turned off, the switch's light supposedly tells you if there is an unprotected network nearby, but since I only use encrypted networks I cannot yet test that feature. In my first review, I reported that the switch does require a little bit too much of a nudge to toggle the on/off position of the switch. In fact, a Dell technician accidentally slipped and broke the switch! It was an easy enough repair for another Dell technician (you only had to replace the entire motherboard!), so now I keep that in mind and only turn off the WiFi if absolutely necessary. The new D430 of mine seems to have a slightly better feel to the WiFi switch, but I still am not going to use it much. Just as before, I still feel the WiFi switch is a worthless feature ... especially since it cost Dell a pretty penny to replace my old D430's motherboard. As I previously alluded to, the battery life on the D430 has improved in the dual-core version. ULV processors are great for their lower power consumption, and for some reason a slightly more powerful ULV processor results in a much better battery life. With the screen at the maximum brightness, wireless ON, in the presentation power mode (which keeps the processor down to 800MHz), and while performing moderately difficult tasks on the D430, the laptop managed to clock in at a battery life of about 2 hours and 45 minutes. This is an improvement of about 30 minutes over the single-core D430's life. During an endurance run with minimal brightness, wireless ON, and presentation power mode the D430 lasted a total of 4 hours and 20 minutes. Granted, I was only browsing the web while doing this test, but I was unable to ever pass the 3 hour and 30 minute mark on my old D430. Either this new dual-core processor is that much better with respect to battery life, or my old D430 had a problem I was unaware of. During this endurance run, I found that the laptop used between 8-10W of power most of the time. That is not much of a battery drain! Despite the fact it takes between 2.5 and 4.5 hours to drain the battery out, the D430's 6-Cell battery can recharge to 80% in about 1 hour and 5 minutes. It takes about 40-50 minutes to get the other 20% of the battery charge restored, and that is about average for quick-charge batteries. One concern I am sure users will have is the power button on the side of the notebook. It could potentially be easy to hit when the laptop is in a backpack or luggage or briefcase. Everyone knows that an active laptop is such a small space could cause heat related failures, and Dell was aware of this as well. Fortunately, Dell programmed the BIOS of the laptop to NOT turn on if the laptop is closed. If you hit the power button and the D430 boots while shut, the POST sequence will recognize that the computer needs to shut down, which protects the laptop and the battery life. Operating System and Software Thankfully, the D430 comes with a minimum of extra software and bloatware to clog the system. There is no recovery partition on the D430 though (since the HDDs configuration options can be as small as 30GB), but this is offset by the fact that all recovery CDs will come with the notebook. There are only three: XP CD, Drivers CD, and the PowerDVD software CD. Unless you purchase a notebook with the fingerprint reader or require the business security suites that should be all you get with the D430. Less really can be more! At some point in the future, I will probably test out and see how Vista performs on this dual-core D430. While Vista's performance with a single-core 1.2GHz processor was abysmal, I do wonder how it would perform (and how the battery life would be affected) under a Vista installation. Perhaps we'll host a XP v. Vista Ultraportable article in the future! Customer Support In the first few weeks of my owning the original D430, I had numerous contacts with Dell's Customer Support teams for various non-technical issues. Dell more than impressed me during that phase of purchase and ownership. Unfortunately, my first single-core D430 did have numerous issues and as such I have had quite a lot of contact with Dell's Technical Support teams. Between the two motherboard replacements my old system needed, Dell was very quick to get parts out and their on-site technicians were very professional and knowledgeable. When the old notebook starting failing again, Dell's tech service finally concluded that a non-motherboard-related problem was affecting the D430...and they could not fix it. Clearly, Dell and I agreed it was a lemon. So they decided to permanently resolve the issue by building me a new laptop. Overall, my future experiences with Dell look to be very promising, which is a welcome turnaround considering how far in disrepair I felt Dell's services were a few years ago. Times have changed and Dell definitely has turned their act around for the better, and their treatment of my various D430 problems that resulted in a new notebook is a very good example of how far Dell's business support is willing to go to support their products. Conclusion The Dell D430 has made some significant improvements with the dual-core refresh of the notebook. Driver quality, one of my biggest complaints that could ever be improved upon, has noticeably improved! While the dual-core version does sometimes get a little hotter, there is a noticeable improvement in battery life and speed that I am glad to see in this model. The D430 does have a few drawbacks though, so the D430 is not for everyone. Power users that need faster processors will not want this notebook...nor will anyone who despises the add-on DVD drive. In the end though, the D430 is suitable for any and all office tasks and many people would be perfectly happy with the computing power available in ultraportable notebooks today. Notebooks in this category are largely evaluated on portability, longevity, and build quality. The Dell Latitude D430 definitely managed to excel in all three categories. The laptop has the highest quality build I've ever owned, and the battery life has improved since my last review too. On top of that, I cannot stress enough how much easier a 12.1" system is on a student's backpack (or a business professional's briefcase), and how easy it is to just take the notebook around and be prepared for any situation. Even though the next series of Latitude notebooks will be here in a few months, the Latitude series (and especially the D430) are still great notebooks with a fair price and value. College students, business professionals, and home users alike all need to give the D430 at least a fair consideration!
Buying Choices for the Dell Latitude D430 Notebook Computer (Core Solo U7700 1.20GHz/80GB/2GB) 
Dell, Inc. | $1,179.00
100.0% of people recommend this product - view 5 opinions | rate product
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(view large image)Buying Choices for the Dell Latitude D430 Notebook Computer (Core Solo U7700 1.20GHz/80GB/2GB) Dell, Inc. | $1,179.00
100.0% of people recommend this product - view 5 opinions | rate product
(source http://www.notebookreview.com)
Dell Latitude D430 with U7700 User
Dell Studio 15 First Thoughts
The Dell Studio 15 is a fittingly named 15.4" screen multimedia notebook targeted at those who want a nicely designed system that can dual as a very capable computer for work needs and as an entertainment system during those times you want to unwind and enjoy something like a movie. The Studio 15 has a large enough screen to make watching movies on it comfortable, yet it's not so big that you couldn't take this around campus. Since the Studio 15 can be had for around $1,000 nicely configured or under $1,000 for a more budget model it can fit either a tight budget or one with a bit of room to spend. The Studio 15 has multiple lid color selections available. If you choose a painted lid such as red, blue, orange, black, green or purple the paint job is very durable and will not scratch. An optional glossy finish lid with varying designs is also available if you prefer the shiny look (although beware of the fingerprints the lid will attract with such a design). The Studio 15 we obtained has a Ruby Red colored lid. It was purchased from Staples where they offer set configurations of the Studio 15, our budget configuration cost $799. If you want to completely customize a Studio 15 then the best route to go is via Dell.com. In our full review we'll also be featuring a Dell.com custom ordered Studio 15 machine with an orange colored lid - we'll give feedback on the order and shipping that occurs with that process. The specs of this particular Studio 15, the S1535-113P from Staples, are as follows: Staples only had a couple of different color options for the lid, either Ruby Red or Midnight Blue, and only two different set spec configurations were available in the store. However, if you prefer to purchase in a retail store for the ability to more easily return a product and not deal with any shipping waits, then Staples is available for that. So far our custom ordered Studio 15 from Dell.com has taken 20-days to move into "production" and shows no signs of shipping soon. We think that's a little bit long. It's definitely worth comparing the price of retail models to those on Dell.com as there can be quite a variation and you might find that going to a bricks and mortar store can be a better deal, even if you have to sacrifice on a couple of upgrades you might have liked. The box you get when buying the Studio 15 in a retail store is different from the usual all brown iconic Dell box we're used to seeing. From box to out of the package, here's what it looks like: Design and Looks As we mentioned before, the Studio 15 comes with varying color options so you can make the notebook "Yours". But the design features don't end there. Dell has followed in the footsteps of HP by having an inlaid design pattern on the casing. Around the keyboard and palm rest area you'll find a sort of topographical map design, Dell calls this "Graphite Gray". This design feature is ok, it's not as subtle or well integrated as the type of designs HP is using, but given the choice between just a plain old grey color case like we've seen on recent Inspirons versus this design we do prefer what's in place. The brushed aluminum look you get with the XPS series is still better, but that's why you pay more for an XPS laptop. Speaking of XPS design, the Studio 15 actually borrows quite a few design elements from the equivalent sized XPS M1530. The drop hinge design is almost exactly like that of the XPS M1530. The lid paint job finish is also the same as that you'll get on the XPS series. The touch sensitive media buttons are very similar to the XPS, though their backlit with white instead of the blue on the XPS. The slot loading optical drive is yet another feature that has been borrowed. Overall the Studio design is very nice, you can even get a backlit keyboard that makes it look better than the XPS, so in some ways the slightly cheaper Studio 15 looks nicer than the XPS M1530. Unfortunately, with the Staples configuration the keyboard backlight option is not there. Build Quality The build quality of the Studio 15 is good. It does have more plastic to it than the XPS design does, but it is in no way flimsy. There aren't any glaring weak spots; the feel is quite firm all over. With that said, this doesn't feel quite as rock solid as the old Inspiron 1520 - but that notebook was way too chunky and we prefer the lighter weight of the Studio 15 even if it means it's not quite as durable. Processor and Performance The Dell Studio 15 line right now only offers the "old" Intel Core 2 Duo inside, not the new Montevina everybody is talking about. Dell launched this laptop a month before Intel updated their processor family, so for the moment the Studios are shipping with the Santa Rosa processor platform. This is of little concern though, the T5750 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo that this budget priced Studio 15 came with is more than adequate enough for any normal work related tasks and can handle most any multimedia work thrown at it as well. The newer Intel processors might get 5 - 10% better processor performance, but you won't notice this change for anything but the most demanding of applications, such as gaming. And since the Studio 15 was not intended as a gaming machine (that's where the XPS comes in), there's not much benefit the new Montevina platform can really provide, though it's always nice to have the latest technology of course. To give an idea of processor performance we ran wPrime, a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once. Below is an example of how this budget T5750 processor holds up relative to other processors (lower scores mean better performance.) The Screen The Studio 15 widescreen display is not the LED variety available as an option on the XPS line, it's just your regular CCFL style of display that uses a couple of traditional backlights to illuminate the screen. The screen is nice though, it's very bright at around 200-nits. The glossy finish helps to make colors really pop and is especially nice for watching movies. The Studio 15 we have is just a regular 1280 x 800 XGA resolution, you can get higher resolution displays that will allow you to fit more content on the screen and enjoy movies in a higher-defintion format. If you wanted it to the Studio 15 could double as a PC/Entertainment center for a small area such as a dorm room. The screen is big enough that if you're within 10 - 15 feet viewing is comfortable. Heat and Noise The Studio 15 doesn't get too hot, nor is it overly noisy, so you're not going to really distract others in a quiet library like setting when using it. The fans only get audible if they rev up to full speed when you're doing things like light gaming or running benchmarks. By far the loudest characteristic of the Studio 15 is the slot loading drive, which generates a lot of mechanical noise whenever you load in a disc.
Buying Choices for the Dell Studio 15 Laptop Computer (Intel Core 2 Duo T8100/) 
Dell, Inc. | $1,124.00
100.0% of people recommend this product - view 2 opinions | rate product
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The drop hinge design on the Studio 15 is borrowed from the XPS line (view large image)
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(view large image)Notebook / CPU wPrime 32M time Dell Studio 15 (Core 2 Duo T5750 @ 2.00GHz) 46.238s HP Pavilion dv2700t (Core 2 Duo T5450 @ 1.66GHz) 49.793s HP Pavilion dv6700t (Core 2 Duo T5450 @ 1.66GHz) 50.480s Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz) 43.569s Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.485s Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz) 58.233s Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 38.343s Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz) 42.385s Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.705s Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi (Core Duo T2500 @ 2.0GHz) 42.947s 
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(source http://www.notebookreview.com)
Dell Vostro 1510
The Dell Vostro 1510 is available with a range of Intel processors (from the 1.86GHz Celeron M M540 up to the T9500 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo). There are four 15.4" screen offerings, a WXGA or WXGA+ display with matte anti-glare coating and WXGA or WXGA+ "TrueLife" glossy display. The notebook can take up to 4GB of RAM and Dell offers 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows Vista Business or Windows XP Professional. The system is priced starting at $599 with integrated Intel X3100 graphics at the time of this writing, but is also available with nVidia 8400M GS dedicated graphics. Our Vostro 1510 is equipped with the following specs: Build and Design Dell received some much needed attention in 2007 with the introduction of the sleek, high performance XPS M1330 and XPS M1530 notebooks. While these more expensive notebooks in the Dell lineup were praised for their looks and low weight, the Dell Insipron and Vostro notebooks were criticized for being bulky and unattractive laptops. Dell listened closely to this criticism when they designed the refresh for the Vostro line. The Vostro 1510 is thinner and lighter than last year's Vostro 1500. Unfortunately, the lighter weight and thinner profile come at some cost. Namely, the plastics used in the chassis feel thin and in some areas, such as above the keyboard and on the palmrests, there is a significant degree of flex. The edges of the chassis are also sharper than what we've seen on earlier Dell notebooks and these sharp edges and thin plastics make the design of the Dell Vostro 1510 feel slightly unfinished or unrefined. Like all Vostro releases, the 1510 doesn't come in multiple colors or display lid patterns. Black is your only option. However, this year Dell decided to get rid of the matte black finish in favor of a glossy black finish with just a hint of metal flake. The black paint with the fine metal flakes is inlaid with the molds so there's no risk of the glossy finish coming off. Although I wasn't a huge fan of the glossy black plastic lid with metal flake paint on our Vostro 1510, it does look and feel nice. Still, the new glossy lid design is a magnet for fingerprints and might not resist light scratches as well as the matte black finish on the previous generation Vostro notebooks. Another of the new innovations for the Vostro line is the "Hyperband Multi-Antenna" housed inside the LCD lid which Dell claims "can provide excellent reception and help reduce dropped signals" for both Wi-Fi and bluetooth. I've never had serious problems with dropped signals while using older Dell notebooks so I can't speak to whether the new internal multi-antenna actually improved wireless reception ... but I can say that I never experienced dropped Wi-Fi connections during the testing period. Screen Display options for the Vostro 1510 include a matte finish 15.4" Widescreen XGA (1280 x 800) and a 15.4" Widescreen XGA (1280 x 800) with TrueLife (glossy finish). Dell also offers higher resolution WXGA+ (1440 x 900) displays in both matte and glossy configurations. The screen on our review unit looks flawless from straight on and the horizontal viewing angles are great. Upper vertical viewing angles are good with just a slightly washed out look, but colors did begin to invert at lower viewing angles when the screen is tilted back. Keyboard, Touchpad and Media Controls The keyboard on the Vostro 1510 suffers from severe flex near the center of the keyboard. The keys almost "bounce" as you press them. The keys have a nice matte texture with proper spacing and each of the keys have excellent travel and cushion. There are dedicated page up and page down keys but the home and end keys require the use of the function key, so this might be a little frustrating for users who do a lot of coding. The touchpad surface utilizes the same matte texture with just a hint of metal flake that is used on the palm rest surface. The touchpad is nice and responsive but feels a little smaller than it should be. The touchpad buttons have excellent travel and cushion. Unfortunately, because of the way in which the touchpad buttons are slightly recessed the touchpad buttons are not very comfortable to use. A series of touch-sensitive media buttons with blue LED backlights are located above the keyboard similar to the buttons on the XPS notebooks. One nice feature about the media buttons is that the blue LEDs only stay lit for a fraction of a second after being pressed, so they won't distract you by staying lit all the time. The power button also features a blue LED backlight, but this light says on whenever the notebook is on. Ports and Features The port selection of the 1510 is reasonably good for a notebook of this size. Here's a quick rundown of what you get: Front profile view: LED status lights, microphone jack, headphone out, media card reader. Left side: Two USB ports, ExpressCard slot, and WiFi on/off switch. Back profile view: Battery, VGA out, Ethernet and power jack. Perhaps the most interesting omission from the ports selection is the lack of either S-video out or HDMI. Some older video projectors still use the S-video port and most newer external monitors and high-resolution projectors use the HDMI port. The absence of both the S-video port and the HDMI port means that this notebook won't be 100 percent friendly with all external displays used for presentations. This might indeed be a serious problem for traveling business professionals who never know exactly what type of video-out port they'll need for their next business presentation. Another curious omission is the lack of a docking station port on the bottom of the notebook. Most businesses prefer the Dell Latitude and Lenovo ThinkPad line because of the ability to easily dock those laptops with desktop hardware in an office environment. Since the Vostro is targeted at businesses, it would have been nice to have a dedicated docking station port. That said, with the addition of FireWire, four USB ports, a media card reader, a headphone jack, microphone jack, ExpressCard slot and Ethernet port you're well equipped in terms of ports. Although most users will find four USB ports to be more than enough to meet everyday needs, I perfer to have more USB ports on 15-inch and larger notebooks. The fact that the smaller Vostro 1310 packs four USB ports into a reasonably thin and light 13.3" notebook is a perfect indication that the Vostro 1510 needs more USB ports. Audio The speaker quality was on par with notebooks of this size and price range. The stereo speakers on the 1510 are located on either side ofthe keyboard and produces relatively shallow sound with limited range and no bass. You can get the volume loud without much distortion, but the audio coming out of these tiny speakers is less than impressive. This is unfortunate because many 12" and smaller notebooks (such as the HP tx2000z or HP 2133 Mini-Note) have stereo speakers that produce high quality sound with excellent range of highs, middles, and lows. The Vostro 1510 is a budget business notebook, but I'm certain that Dell can do better than this. On the bright side, both speakers are positioned perfectly for directing sound up and towards the user. Also, the headphone out port delivered crystal clear audio to my headphones during the test period. Performance and Benchmarks This budget 15.4" notebook is available with either integrated graphics or a dedicated graphics card option. While most business professionals only need integrated graphics, the optional Nvidia 8400M GS is great for mobile video editing and Photoshop as well as budget gaming. Our configuration of the Vostro 1510 with the 1.8GHz T5670 Intel Core 2 Duo processor and Intel X3100 integrated graphics performed adequately during testing. This configuration will meet or exceed the performance needs of small business users. 3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores indicate better performance): Heat and Noise The Vostro 1510 does an impressive job keeping heat under control. The system fan and heatsinks in the 1510 do a great job managing heat when the system is under load ... as we discovered when we ran multiple benchmarks back to back. What we found most impressive was the fact that the bottom of the notebook (usually the hottest side) ended up being slightly cooler than the surface of the keyboard and palm rests. This is quite nice and makes for a more enjoyable "laptop" experience. Below are images with temperature readings listed in degrees Fahrenheit: Battery Life The 6-cell 58WHr Li-Ion battery provides reasonable battery life for the 1510. With screen brightness set to maximum and wireless on, the 6-cell battery delivered 3 hours and 26 minutes of battery life There is also an available 9-cell 87WHr Li-Ion battery for those users needing extended battery life. Unfortunately, our configuration did not ship with the 9-cell battery, so we cannot provide any information on battery life with these batteries. Conclusion Overall, the Dell Vostro 1510 is a solid budget notebook with clean looks and acceptable performance. Whether you need a simple business notebook or a budget portable laptop with modest gaming capabilities, the Vostro 1510 makes a fine choice. That said, the chassis isn't as nice as we hoped ... the edges are sharp and could be smoother or more rounded, the case feels hollow and flimsy compared to the earlier Vostros, the touchpad button placement is bad, keyboard suffers from significant flex. So why buy a Vostro 1510? One huge advantage to the Vostro line is the support, lack of bloatware, and excellent return policy. Dell will let you purchase a Vostro, use it for 30 days, and if you don't like it you can send it back for a full refund without any restocking or shipping fees. That's just amazing. In short, the Vostro 1510 is a good addition to the Vostro family and gives business professionals and consumers on a budget another alternative to the Dell Inspiron 1525. Unfortunately, the price as configured ($684) places it neck-and-neck with the Inspiron 1525. Although the Vostro has a lot to offer, the Inspiron 1525 has a better chassis design, and for roughly the same amount of money businesses can purchase a 15.4" Dell Latitude notebook or Lenovo ThinkPad R61.
After last year's successful launch of the new Vostro line of copmputers targeted ar small businesses, Dell made a serious effort to listen to customer feedback criticizing Dell's thick and heavy laptops. The result was a bold revision of the Vostro line with thinner and lighter chassis designs for 2008. The new Dell Vostro 1510 is a 15.4" screen notebook designed for businesses that need a budget desktop replacement. Is this the best choice for businesses or consumers looking for a value-priced notebook? Let's see.
Buying Choices for the Dell Vostro 1510 Laptop Computer (Intel Core 2 Duo T5670 1.8GHz, DDR2 SDRAM 2000MB, 160GB) 
Dell, Inc. | $584.00 
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Right side: Firewire, two USB ports, Slot-loading optical drive, and security lock slot.
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(view large image) Notebook / CPU wPrime 32M time Dell Vostro 1510 (Core 2 Duo T5670 @ 1.8GHz) 51.875s Dell Vostro 1310 (Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz) 37.736s Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz) 43.569s Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.485s Portable One SXS37 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz) 41.908s Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz) 58.233s Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 38.343s Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.299s HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz) 40.965s Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz) 42.385s Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.705s Samsung Q70 (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz) 42.218s Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi (Core Duo T2500 @ 2.0GHz) 42.947s Samsung X60plus (Core 2 Duo T7200 @ 2.0GHz) 44.922s Samsung Q35 (Core 2 Duo T5600 @ 1.83GHz) 46.274s Notebook 3DMark06 Score Dell Vostro 1510 (1.8GHz Intel T5670, Intel X3100) 519 3DMarks Dell Vostro 1310 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Nvidia 8400M GS 128MB) 1,679 3DMarks Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100) 545 3DMarks Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100) 504 3DMarks Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB) 4,332 3DMarks Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT) 2,905 3DMarks Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB) 1,408 3DMarks Samsung Q70 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and nVidia 8400M G GPU) 1,069 3DMarks Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB) 2,344 3DMarks Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB 2,183 3DMarks Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66GHz Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB) 2,144 3DMarks Samsung X60plus (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7200, ATI X1700 256MB) 1,831 3DMarks Asus A6J (1.83GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB) 1,819 3DMarks HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400) 827 3DMarks
PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance (higher scores indicate better performance):Notebook PCMark05 Score Dell Vostro 1510 (1.8GHz Intel T5670, Intel X3100) 3,568 PCMarks Dell Vostro 1310 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Nvidia 8400M GS 128MB) 4,813 PCMarks Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100) 4,149 PCMarks Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB) 5,412 PCMarks Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT) 4,616 PCMarks Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS) 4,591 PCMarks Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 4,153 PCMarks Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 3,987 PCMarks Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB) 4,189 PCMarks HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400) 4,234 PCMarks Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400) 3,487 PCMarks Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX) 5,597 PCMarks Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400) 3,637 PCMarks Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400) 3,646 PCMarks
HDTune measures the performance of the notebook's hard drive in terms of both transfer rate (read/write speed) and access time (how long it takes to find data stored on the drive):
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Fortunately, noise was likewise a non-issue with the fan on the 1510. The fan moved a significant amount of hot air and the noise was exceptionally quiet. The fan was so quiet, even when running at full speed, that the air rushing past the heatsink actually made more noise than the fan itself. Buying Choices for the Dell Vostro 1510 Laptop Computer (Intel Core 2 Duo T5670 1.8GHz, DDR2 SDRAM 2000MB, 160GB) Dell, Inc. | $584.00
(source http://www.notebookreview.com)
