Dell Inspiron 1564: Mobile i3/i5 for the Masses
by Dustin Sklavos on March 3, 2010 11:01 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Dell Inspiron 15 LCD Quality
We ran our standard series of tests on the Dell Inspiron 15's 15.6" LCD screen using ColorEyes Display Pro. While viewing angles are likely to continue to be problematic for laptop screens, the Inspiron 15's is particularly troubling. Most laptop screens have a sweet spot you can tilt them to in order to minimize discoloration at the top or bottom of the screen, but the Inspiron 15 can't ever quite make it there. Likewise, color contrast is particularly poor.
Like so many other laptops, the LCD quality on the Inspiron 15 is unimpressive. It will get the job done, but graphics artists are going to be disappointed. The color gamut is higher than most competing offerings at 61%, color accuracy of 2.0 Delta E is par for the course, and the 235:1 contrast ratio is right down with the rest of the inexpensive laptops we've looked at. We have a business oriented Dell laptop with a matte LCD, and it truly impresses with its high gamut LCD and anti-glare (matte) coating. It would be great to see a reasonable consumer notebook come with better display options that don't break the bank, but right now no one seems to be bothering.
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fett327 - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
I am assuming that since these are the new H55 based chipsets, hopefully the HDMI port will be about to output a 5.1 track? Or possibly also a DTS-HD or TrueHd track that comes off a bluray?It would be a shame if the HDMI ould output stereo. Can anyone confirm or deny?
warezme - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
I wouldn't buy any of these if I were serious about decent gaming. How sad.PyroHoltz - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
Where are all the Ultra Mobiles built on the arrandale chips?JarredWalton - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
Rumor is that Arrandale ULV has experienced delays and will show up some time in the next ~3 months.cjcoats - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
I recently had that experience buying a 2-socket Nehalem workstation from Dell. We're even having to do hardware installation for ourselves ("We'll sell you a SSD but we won't install it"). It was so bad that if it had been up to me instead of the bean-counters, I'd have said "to H--- with this" and purchased from a different vendor (at least two of which were quite willing to deliver exactly the requested configuration).FWIW
crydee - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
I've been following laptop progression for awhile now. I'm picking out a new one in summer for Grad school. Every article I read I still want whatever Asus UL will be out around then. These Dell's just don't stack up and for the $ when Asus offers free accidental coverage for a year as well.therealnickdanger - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
I know I've said this before and perhaps others have as well, but it would be nice if AT could add a "classic" gaming suite to its benchmarks. If a 'puter can muster over 60fps in games like FC2, obviously it can run older games just fine, but once you enter this mainstream and lower-end market, gaming performance is suspect.We're looking at this laptop that does 20-89fps, depending on the game. IMO, the biggest reason to use a gaming laptop is for LAN parties and mobile multiplayer: WoW, CS:S, UT3, L4D, Halo. If I'm in the minority and my request is unreasonable, so be it, but I believe there is a large gap in AT's gaming benchmarks when it comes to mid-to-low systems. I don't care how well the Core i3 IGP plays Crysis at 1080p, but its performance in the above games at 720p would interest many people.
We can assume a lot, but concrete numbers are nice to have.
LtGoonRush - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
Another laptop that continues the trend of taking a decent platform and pairing it with a dedicated GPU too slow to be useful. Have the major OEMs lost all ability to build a balanced system? For comparison, the Acer Aspire AS5740G-6979 for $799 at Newegg has a slightly lower-clocked CPU, larger HDD, and a Mobility Radeon HD 5650 1GB.strikeback03 - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
I hate everyone trying for a "balanced system", it means pretty much everything with a fast CPU has a GPU that I don't need.JarredWalton - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
Or there's the http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/671930-REG/A...">ASUS N61J for ~$1050 with 5730 and an i7-720QM... though battery life is going to suck on that, I'd wager. The Inspiron 15 is decent as a lower cost model, but the i5-520M is overpowered for what you get.