I've had my Dell Inspiron 1501 for about 3 years now, a year spent as a laptop shared between me and my younger brother, so bashed about a bit, and two years spent as my College computer, also bashed with the number of Essays and Coursework!

The Dell I got was the silvery-grey one, I think they had different colours out back then. I quite like it, the black keyboard stands out making it easier to type, it's small enough to carry but not too small that it's awkward, it's comfortable, was stylish back then lol, and has a mousepad right in the centre - I hate when it's at the sides, or a big ball you run your wrist over. The screen is also not too big but not too small, and there are no huge stickers explaining graphics or anything round the sides.

I honestly have no idea what the graphics card is on here, or most technical computer know-how like that. I do know it's an AMD Sempron, roughly 80gb hard drive, something I've never heard of before now, and 2gb of RAM, which I find is the perfect size to be honest. I can surf the net, write a document at the same time, can save shedloads of games and documents to anywhere on there - it's really quite a simple laptop. It's simple to use in general too; it came with Windows Vista so obviously the Start Menu holds most of the things you'll need to look at when first setting everything up. Programs were easy to install, and delete if necessary, and the AutoWizard guy still came up to help you through how to download or delete.

It's wireless works quite well, with my wireless at the moment I can only get the internet when I'm sat in the same room as the router, but we haven't figured out whether that's because of my laptop or because of the router. Before the internet died completely I was able to get wireless as far as two or three rooms away but it really could be for a number of reasons. Either way the wireless does work! The sound and graphics for games is also quite decent, not as good as HD but not so blurry as you can't see a thing. The sound is sometimes very loud on a low volume though, I don't quite know why yet.

It worked perfectly for the first couple of years, even when I dropped it down the stairs, but by the start of the 3rd year it began to run ever so slow. Yes, I know laptops and computers get old and start to fall apart after a few years, but I didn't know that back then. I thought they lasted for at least 5 or 6 years! I got the internet on it after it started going slow (worst idea ever, I know) and eventually the internet just wouldn't find the wireless and connect to it anymore. I kept saying it could be the router, it could be the router, but my brother's laptop worked just fine off the router so eventually I had to get the laptop checked.

Took it to a local guy who sorted it out for me, no problems, £20 and free McAfee. I thought great! It started running slow again 2 weeks later. AND it never managed to connect to the internet... One good sign, my brother's wireless broke too, so there was a chance it was the router! Still didn't get it working though, so I deleted all the internet and games and stuff I had installed and used it as a document laptop only. That worked well for a bit, but then even Word started going slow and I eventually gave up completely; I'd deleted everything and installed it again, checked for viruses, I even deleted all internet programs and had McAfee scan it before I did - nothing. The laptop was well and truly beggared!

Then my boyfriend suggested something and I let him have a go. After uninstalling everything, wiping the hard drive completely and then reinstalling everything down to sound drivers, the laptop was working almost perfectly and still feels as good as new now. He also explained that this would mean that if were any viruses on there, which is highly likely because of how badly it was running, then all I'd had to do all along was wipe the hard drive. It was that simple to fix!

When it started running slow I had my doubts about Dell but I think it was just the amount it was used, and it was quite old aswell. But, it's still going after 3 years and working almost perfectly now so they must have done something right with this model! I would say this would be great as a student laptop if you're not too fussy about perfect graphics and the best quality picture available, but for those who just need it to surf and write on, it's perfect. I'm using mine right now for this!