Skip to main content

Dell Inspiron 1520

Yes! I bought a laptop for myself, the Dell Inspiron 1520 (Black). Must say, it’s quite a beauty with the matte finish.

Dell Inspiron 1520

Though delivery time was a bit long (13 days), I got it finally with all the accessories as mentioned in the order, so no surprises. I bought the following configuration :

    Intel(R) Core(TM)2Duo Processor T5250 1.5Ghz 2MB Cache, 667Mhz FSB
    1 GB (2×512MB) DDR2 SDRAM
    15.4 Widescreen WXGA+ Display
    160 GB SATA HDD (5400 RPM)
    Nvidia(R) Geforce(TM) 8400M GS - 128MB GDDR2
    Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy Advanced HD Audio Software
    Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module
    Intel Pro Wireless 3945 Dual Band 802.11a/g Wirless Mini Card
    Camera
    Dell (TM) Remote Control
    Internal 8X DVD+/-RW combination drive with dual layer write capabilities
    6-cell 53 WHr Lithium Ion Primary Battery

Windows Vista (with Aero) runs fine, although I don’t see much difference between Vista and XP. There are some unrequired features that you may want to turn off. See this link for some help.

All the hardware components, like Bluetooth, Camera, Touchpad, DVD Writer were configured properly. So, there were no glitches with the default installation. Speakers in the front performs well and battery performance is quite good as well.

But there are some other nuisances, I must say when you decide to change the partitioning, either reducing the size of C drive or installing another operating system.

  • I must say that partitioning scheme is crazy. I had 140-145 GB as one partition, C: for Windows Vista. Then there was one recovery partition taking around 10GB of space. And there is also a 2-3GB space allocated for Dell Media Direct.

    Now, since I wanted to install Linux along with it, but I couldn’t due to this partitioning scheme. All these partitions were primary. So, I needed to delete a partition (basically C:) and repartition the whole system. Anyway, I had to do that. Installed Dell Media Direct also, but lost the recovery partition.

  • Hard Disk is another disappointment. It makes a irritating crackling sound already (typical Seagate HDD!). Though otherwise, it works fine. I kept the laptop running for 10-12 hrs, doesnt get too heated. Works fine absolutely except the irritating HDD noise. I think I need to get it replaced to a non-Seagate drive.

The next step is to install Linux (Ubuntu most probably).

Popular posts from this blog

iPod Nano 5G synchronization issues in Ubuntu

I was able to manage my iPod Nano using Ubuntu until now. When I recently upgraded to Ubuntu 11.04 Natty which was a clean install, a weird problem started. I could not synchronize my iPod using any application like Banshee, Rhythmbox, gtkpod, Amarok etc. On closer look, I realized that when I transferred any file, it was copied to the iPod but the database on iPod was not updated. None of the applications seemed to work and it was same error in each case. Since the iPod database was not updated, iPod could not see the file and was unable to play it. It was an iPod Nano generation 5, which comes with a video camera on the back side. To debug the issue, I executed Banshee in debug mode (banshee -debug on the terminal), and I noticed the following error when trying to transfer any file on iPod. ‘Failed to save iPod database – GLib.GException: Failed to generate sqlite database (in `libgpod-sharp)’ I searched for solutions on Internet but was confused at various solutions suggest...
Read more

Sydney Trip

I went to Sydney on a business trip for 2-3 weeks. Since, it was a business trip I was going to travel alone and miss my family. Therefore, I appreciated the short duration of the trip but it did not feel like a short one. Most of it was work only and some time for me during the two weekends. I had decided to make the most of available time instead of idling and feel more homesick. Also, I was going to stay in the CBD area so it was a big advantageous factor since not much effort was to be spent for sightseeing. The journey began with the longest flight I’ve ever been on (17 hours) with a stopover at Bangkok for 2 hours. I had a terrible time in the flight from Delhi to Bangkok; I was struggling a lot in the airplane seats and couldn’t sleep at all. However, the flight from Bangkok to Sydney was much better. On my flight from Bangkok to Sydney, an Australian lady was seated at the window seat on my right hand side. She asked me if I wanted to swap my seat with hers as I had starte...
Read more

Busy or Lazy?

Either of the two. But that’s been the case after my wedding. I’ve not done a blog post, neither I did anything on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ for that matter. Whatever! Better late than never. So, in order of priority, I wanted to write down a few important events that happened since my last post - We were blessed with a baby daughter – Naisha. Literal meaning of Naisha is ‘Special’ and she justifies this meaning completely. She’s beautiful, cranky and a fighter. She’s awesome! Naisha is one creature in the house. She just celebrated her first birthday dressed up as a Barbie, which was cute. All the day she’s running around the house and interpreting various things and objects in her unique style. I cannot understand much of it, but most of it appears very logical somehow. I switched from X to Y organization. It was a long pending decision for me and thankfully it worked out this time. It took its own time and I was recruited after long six months of interviewing process. A...
Read more