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 Gaming Performance
In our actual game benches, we found the Inspiron 15's Mobility Radeon HD 4330 to offer barely adequate performance. Since the Intel Core i5's integrated graphics can already handle high definition video acceleration, the real reason to opt for upgrading to the Radeon is going to be for a casual game here and there.
We used the built-in benchmarks for Far Cry 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum, while Empire: Total War, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, Crysis: Warhead, and Mass Effect 2 were all tested by repeating a section in each game and measuring the framerate using FRAPS. You'll notice we've added a few new titles, which means at present we don't have any results for previously tested laptops in those games. We'll be adding more as time passes, but it's pretty clear the HD 4330 is the bottleneck here.
The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 in the Inspiron 15 doesn't offer world-shattering performance—and we didn't really expect it to—but it does at least show playable performance with low/minimum settings at the screen's native resolution in every game we tested, the one exception being Crysis: Warhead. This shows that at least there's some breathing room with the 4330 for playing modern games; the brand new S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat isn't going to run in all its DirectX 11 glory, but there's definitely room to raise the detail settings.
Comparing the Inspiron 1564 with other laptops, we see the 3DMark results reflected in the various gaming titles. Titles that are more CPU limited show the i5-520M with HD 4330 with a slight lead over the UL50Vf with G210M. The UL50Vf struggles in Crysis: Warhead and Mass Effect 2, though the latter appears to be more of a driver issue than a CPU bottleneck, given the performance of the MSI X610.
Given that the Mobility Radeon HD 4330 can at least handle games at the Inspiron 15's native resolution, we're comfortable suggesting this upgrade for light gaming on the go. If you look at Dell's pricing, the Intel HD Graphics model comes with only 2GB RAM and a 250GB HDD for $579, so the extra $90 gets you a larger HDD and twice the memory ($50) in addition to the GPU upgrade ($40)—certainly a reasonable cost, if you're willing to sacrifice a bit of battery life. One thing that does bear mentioning is the system's fan: during games it spins up, and it gets extremely loud. The sounds of the game should mask it for the most part, but it's very audible. If you're going to game on the Inspiron 15, consider investing in a pair of closed-ear headphones.
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Hrel - Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - link
Haven't even gotten past the first page yet, but a 768p screen paired with a 5400rpm hdd just makes me lose ALL interest! Especially for almost $1000, wtf!wolrah - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
The 100mbit Ethernet connection is where I lose interest. Gigabit is cheap as dirt. There is no reason at all for any computer shipping today to not have gigabit, period. 802.11n not being there I can sort of see at the low end, since good 802.11n APs are still hard to find, but gigabit is an unacceptable omission.donjuancarlos - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
It's the Core i5--new technology that's jacking the price (not even available at dell.com right now). If you get a core i3, you can get one for under $600. I've seen them under $500 on sale. That's just fine price-wise.And I agree with Anandtech- the i5 in this laptop is overkill. For better performance you're much better off to get the $500 version of this laptop and throw an SSD in it.
T2k - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
I disagree: it's a DTR, remember?And if you do video/fx/cg/3D/graphics/etc jobs faster CPU and more memory always help a lot.
strikeback03 - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
a 15" relatively thin laptop isn't necessarily a DTR.dagamer34 - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
Because people who worry about stuff like that, Dell would rather you purchase a Studio XPS than from the Inspiron line of laptops.Hrel - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
Only problem with that is that they START at like a thousand bucks.JarredWalton - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
So skip the Studio XPS and look at the regular http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop_st...">Dell Studio line. I find those to be a lot better in overall features, customization options, etc.1: Please don't respond to spam posts, or you risk having your comments deleted. The following two comments were from other readers.
jecs:
Its ugly, but when a big fight involving big capitals has been beautiful???. Do you expect poetry? And then what is the point in a patent if it can't "protect" you or your products. And yes, I don't like it. But is better to have order and laws than not having them at all, or a system that can be fooled everywhere.
Apple is a corporation and is no better in that sense than the rest. Don be fooled because there are no angels here and there, and don't be naive, this is the world we live in. But again, ¿Why does a corporation exist on a legal basis? It does not includes just this silly method Apple is fighting for. What's involved here is the main reason why we need a legal system, clear rules and what should be protected and from who.
T2k:
Screw Dell and its price gouging - http://www.jr.com/acer-computer/pe/ACE_AS5740G6979..." target="_blank">take a look at here!
Yes, that's the SAME CPU there, bigger HDD, better screen, everything included and graphics is the LATEST DX11 Mobility Radeon 5650 1GB instead of Dell's outdated chip - all this for $750 SHIPPED.
Last year Acer became the #2 PC maker and it's not an accident: it's killing Dell with its faster model refresh rate, better quality-control and lower prices.
JarredWalton - Thursday, March 4, 2010 - link
Technically, T2k, that's the same size screen, same resolution screen, and a cheaper CPU (the i5-520M has a lot price of $225; Intel doesn't list volume pricing on the i3 or i5-430M, but I'd expect it's at least $75 less). But otherwise, yes, the Acer you linked looks like a much better buy.lyeoh - Friday, March 5, 2010 - link
Acers tend to be crappier than Dells though.http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/17/laptop-reliabil...">http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/17/lapt...-survey-...
(feel free to ignore the projections)
Dell's aren't that great but they aren't that crap either. They're smack right in the middle which I think is where they are aiming for anyway.