Dell Inspiron 1545, a nice entry level laptop (Dell Inspiron 1545)

Member Name: beckyX

Product:	Dell Inspiron 1545
Date:	22/09/09 (122 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, good brand, lots of features,

Disadvantages: Probably not powerful enough for games, bottom end of the market

(Cross-posted to ciao.co.uk)

The Dell Inspiron 1545 is an easy to use entry level laptop. Unlike two years ago when I bought my previous laptop, you can now get a number of Dell computers (of which this is one) direct from high street retailers. This is good if you want it in a rush and want a nearby place to handle any issues, but has the disadvantage that you can't customise your laptop to your own requirements to the same extent that you can if you buy it direct from Dell (which takes several weeks).

Because Dell are so good at allowing customisation, you need to be very careful when you buy that you actually get the one you need - they are not all the same, so you can't just go into a shop and say "Give me your Inspiron 1545" - you need to be sure that it e.g. has a suitable processor, enough memory and a big enough hard drive for your needs. At the time of writing, a current example from PC World costs £430 and has a 2GHz dual core processor, 3 GB memory and a 160GB hard drive and has a DVD rewriter and webcam.

I've been using Dell Inspiron laptops for a few years, so when my family told me a few months ago that they needed a new laptop, I picked a Dell Inspiron 1545 for them. A key motivation for me was the certain knowledge that I would be the main technical support person if anything went wrong with their computer. In the few months they have had it, I've only had to help them out a couple of times. One of these problems did require a reinstall of Vista (something I haven't had to do on my own machine), but that proved to be easy to do - I just used the DVD that came with the computer, left it running overnight and in the morning, it was all working again, with the bonus that none of my family's files were lost in the reinstall, so I didn't even have to restore things from backup.

Like other Inspiron laptops, the computer feels reasonably solid, weighing about 2.5kg. The finish is very shiny and doesn't feel cheap. The TrueLife screen offers excellent viewing quality, but is very reflective. I found the widescreen ratio to be a little bit hard to get used to - the screen is shorter and wider, so you have to page down more often.

The computer connected easily to the wireless router, which was just as well because the Ethernet port came loose after only a few months. The battery life wasn't fantastic, but if you mainly use it plugged in, then this isn't an issue. The keyboard was much like any other laptop keyboard - obviously the keys don't go down as far as a regular keyboard that comes with a desktop and sound a bit clicky, but that's par for the course for a laptop. It came with 3 USB ports and a card reader that I haven't used but claims to be 8 in 1.

This computer will probably struggle with the latest games, but if you want something that will run Office, play CDs and DVDs, watch online TV, browse the internet or similar, then this is fine. All in all, this is a nice entry level laptop.

Summary: A nice cheap entry level laptop that is good for watching films and browsing the web

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Installation:
Battery life:
Features: