My wife and I were fortunate enough to recently have received a new Dell laptop computer as a gift from my father in law. We received a brand new Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop, complete with a portable printer. Now that I have been using this laptop (which I am using to write this article), I have a good idea of the strengths and weaknesses of this model of Dell laptop.
Although this is a mid-range computer, an important benefit that the Dell Inspiron E1505 offers is the Intel Core Duo dual processor. While I have never been someone who pushes the limits of what his computer can do, I do utilize some applications that are processor-intensive. For example, I run SETI@Home, which is a part of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence through the University of California at Berkeley. This means that my computer is processing radio-telescope data from the observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence. While this program only uses the unused processor cycles, so it operates seamlessly with whatever else one may be running, a benefit to the Core Duo processor is that the Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop is able to process double the data compared to a computer with just a single processor.
In addition to running SETI@Home, I am also a part-time computer gamer. Specifically I often play World of Warcraft, which is a massively multi-player online role-playing game. While I have been able to run World of Warcraft successfully on my older computers, the game runs flawlessly and seamlessly on the new Dell Inspiron E1505.
Speaking of game-playing, the Dell Inspiron E1505 has a maximum screen resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels, which is fairly high widescreen resolution. The World of Warcraft graphics look phenomenal on the new laptop, and I find myself playing the game on the Dell Inspiron rather than on my desktop most of the time. The fact that the Dell Inspiron has integrated wireless internet, so I am able to work on my graduate thesis or play World of Warcraft (depending on my mood and my motivation) from the local coffee shop or at the college, or anyplace I happen to be with wireless internet access. For someone like me, who is always on the go, this wireless capability is a crucially important quality for a laptop computer to have, and I have been impressed with the easiness of establishing a wireless connection wherever I happen to be.
As for the basic specifications, the Dell Inspiron E1505 offers a 70 gigabyte hard drive and a full gigabyte of RAM, which is more than enough for any application that I am likely to use. There is plenty of storage for digital media such as digital photos and downloaded music, and the full gigabyte of RAM makes for a relatively seamless operation, even when running multiple applications simultaneously.
The only negative observation I have to make about the Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop computer is the fact that the LCD screen causes certain lines of text to appear blurry rather than clearly defined. I am unsure if this is a defect in the workmanship or if this is a standard feature of LCD screens. As I have never owned another laptop computer, I have no basis for comparison and no way to know if this a normal feature of laptop computer screens, or if we just received a slightly defective model. In any case, the problem is not serious enough to be a problem, but occasionally the blurriness of the text can be distracting when I am concentrating on using the laptop computer to work on my reading or writing for my graduate research.
In conclusion, aside from the slight problem with the blurry LCD text, I have been very impressed with the Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop computer. I have owned a Dell computer before, and despite some problems with that model, I have always been impressed with Dell’s customer service and any problems I have had were always resolved quickly and easily, which is more than can be said for some other computer manufacturers. The Dell Inspiron E1505 is another fine specimen from Dell, and this should be a computer that will serve my needs adequately for many years. While laptop models come and go like lightening strikes, this particular model of Dell is a good balance of price and features and is another fine instance of the qualities that make Dell computers unique.
