Buying a Dell Inspiron 15 ?

eoinS

Hi,
I'm thinking of buying a Inspiron 15 from the Dell website. I just want to be able to do the basics - web surfing, playing cds, some office stuff and maybe play the odd movie or two (no games). Can anybody below tell me what they think of the spec. below?

I have a few other questions/queries - thanks for any help .....

1) Should i spend the extra 20 euro for a 6 cell battery ?
2) It includes basic vista but I wouldn't qualify for a windows 7 upgrade - I can spend a few extra euro and get vista professinal and then I qualify for an upgrade - should i bother ?
3) Is there somewhere I can get free software fprotection against virus and so on ?
4) Microsoft works is included - can you open and edit microsoft word documents with this and so on ?
There is also openoffice which i have been told is useful and free.


PROCESSOR
Intel® Celeron® Processor 900 (2.20 GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)

OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic SP1 - English

OFFICE SOFTWARE
Microsoft® Works 9.0 / English - (Does not include Microsoft® Word)

LCD
15.6" Widescreen WXGA CCFL (1366 x 768) TFT Display with TrueLife™

MEMORY 1024MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM

HARD DRIVE 160GB (5,400rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive

GRAPHICS CARD Intel Integrated GMA 4500MHD

OPTICAL DRIVE DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD)

PRIMARY BATTERY 4-cell 24WHr Li-Ion primary battery

WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Dell Wireless 1397 Mini Card (802.11 b/g)

Alanstrainor

Awful.
Rubbish processor.
Tiny amount of RAM.
Small Hard Drive.
Vista Basic.
Small battery, you'd be lucky to get 2 hours out of it.

In other words, don't buy it! What's your budget? How much does the machine you mentioned cost?
And microsoft works is crap, download open office for free. It's much better.

eoinS

the above spec cost 380euro or so - would not be able to go above 500e for sure - any ideas ? thanks ...

bp1989

For what you want it for, it's okay. If you have the extra cash, spend it on a better processor and more memory (ram).

dazzday

CPU and Ram are poor. Try something like this

aspx?b=&c=ie&cs=iedhs1&kc=NRS15452&l=en&m_30=136643&oc=N0054502&rbc=N0054502&s=dhs

Components [URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 1)"]Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor T4200 (2.0GHz, 800MHz, 1MB cache)[/URL]

[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 11)"]Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 (64 BIT) - English[/URL] + Win 7 upgrade

[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 1002)"]Microsoft® Works 9.0 / English - (Does not include Microsoft® Word)[/URL]

[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 30)"]1 Year Limited Warranty - Collect & Return[/URL]

[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 760)"]15.6" Widescreen WXGA CCFL (1366 x 768) TFT Display with TrueLife™[/URL]

[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 3)"]4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048][/URL]

[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 8)"]250GB (5,400rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive[/URL]

[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 6)"]Intel Integrated GMA 4500MHD[/URL]

[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 16)"]DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD)[/URL]

[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 112)"]6-cell battery[/URL]

[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 19)"]Dell Wireless 1397 Mini Card (802.11 b/g)[/URL]

[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 59)"]No Bluetooth Upgrade[/URL]

[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 379)"]1.3 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera[/URL]

[URL="javascript:to_page_mod(1, 380)"]Black Colour with Matte Finish[/URL]






















€493 icluding VAT and shipping. If you wished you could save €40 by removing the webcam

Rsaeire

Your main concerns, based upon the build in your post, are the CPU, OS, ram and battery. I'd have a look at dazzday's recommendation, as that would be the configuration, give or take the webcam, I'd recommend.