The Vostro 1510 from Dell.com/uk - £316 including VAT and Postage (with £50 off, plus a further 10% off). It's very dark in colour, and not very shiney from this angle. After the faulty advent I think I've finally got a bargain of a laptop to replace the Inspiron 1300.
The laptop scores well in Vista, although is let down slightly by the graphics, and 3D graphics scores. Aero is supported, but scores would be higher if a dedicated graphics card was chosen. The Vista experience scores are: CPU: 4.8, RAM: 4.8, GFX: 3.5, 3D GFX: 3.5, HD: 5.1 - giving an overall score of 3.5.
The Dell Vostro 1510 features a 1.8ghz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 250GB HD (WD), Vista Home Premium, DVDRW (slot loading TEAC), 15.4" widescreen, SD/MMC/MS/Pro memory card reader, 4 USB ports, WIFI (plus physical on/off switch), Firewire, a shiney sparkly black lid, a catchless closing mechanism (magnets? weighted shut?), a nice blue circuit board with easy access to the CPU and memory.
Some pros and cons, starting with the pros:
+ EXCELLENT price!
+ Good screen, clear, bright
+ Good sound (quite loud for a budget laptop)
+ Little installed software (Google gadgets, toolbar easily removed)
+ Very easy to access memory, CPU etc
+ Quiet - very little fan noise (as far as I can tell)
+ Plays Spore
Negatives:
- \backslash key is next to the forward slash key on the right!
- Mouse buttons are too deep - it's like pressing a key (I prefer a firmer click)
- Drivers out of date according to Windows update.
- lacks a scroll wheel (some games require this)
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