It is provided with the new 45nm process technology raemkkaji 3gb and 320gb hard drive, turbo button on the keyboard to increase the speed of the central processing unit to a maximum of 20% of the chipset nvidia geforce 8600m gt three-dimensional, 5.1-channel audio output , and spdif hdmi connections, 15.4 “wxga + display, and built-in Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel camera.
If you don’t like the specifications of the particular Dell Inspiron 1525 we tested, you can easily configure your own online. That’s an important difference between this unit and most other inexpensive laptops:
Buy now’ button.Our review unit will please those for whom good performance is a priority. Equipped with 2GB of memory and the best notebook CPU Dell offered for this model at the time of our review (a 2-GHz Core 2 Duo T7250), our $999 (as of 2/7/08) Windows Vista Home Premium machine earned a WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 78.
That’s 17 percent faster than the average score of 65 earned by the five under-$1000 laptops in this roundup, and even 13 percent better than the average of 69 earned by 16 recently tested all-purpose notebooks in any price range. With the battery upgraded from the standard four-cell to a six-cell ($15 extra), our notebook lasted a fairly generous 4 hours, 4 minutes on one charge, about 10 minutes longer than our five budget laptop test group’s average.
About the only thing the Inspiron 1525 can’t handle is 3D graphics; with an Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 and no dedicated video card option, it’s limited to simple games and other 2D applications.
The 1525 is wedge-shaped but svelte at 6 pounds, including a 15.4-inch 1280 by 800 resolution screen, a DVD writer, and a good keyboard. The port variety and layout is fine (the 1525 is one of the few notebooks in this price range with an HDMI connection). And like the excellent HP Pavilion dv2600se, the 1525 gives multimedia lovers lots of entertainment features: an instant-on button, a Webcam, and even dual headphone jacks.
In fact, I like the Dell’s MediaDirect button more than the HP’s QuickPlay because it has Instant Office, an application viewer that lets you access your calendar, contacts and PowerPoint presentations. Also, Dell’s volume gauge is easier to use. Alas, the raspy-sounding speakers take some of the shine off the 1525’s entertainment appeal.
The real beauty of the 1525 is its customizability. For instance, our glossy screen (a no-extra-cost option at the time of our review) was pretty reflective, so you might be happier with Dell’s standard antiglare screen. From a base configuration of $500, you can build your perfect sub-$1000 laptop that includes a lid in any one of 11 different colors ($25 usually, but included in our test model’s price), Bluetooth ($20), an integrated mobile broadband card ($150), and even built-in wireless USB ($150).
If choice of features is paramount in your budget laptop, the Inspiron 1525 is your best bet among the models in our test group.
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Equipped with the new Centrino 2 processor, Lenovo’s ThinkPad X200 looks a mild-mannered ultraportable, and yet it can leap tall workloads in a single bound. Its battery life is phenomenal, and the keyboard is huge. In short, this is a much better notebook than the ThinkPad X61, which it replaces, and a surefire winner for on-the-run execs.
Because it bears a lower model number, you might imagine that this a less-powerful version of the ThinkPad X300, but the X200 actually has a more recent processor. The X300 has a 13.3-inch display, however, while the X200 has a 12.1-inch screen. Ah, but what you’ll see when you fire this baby up!
At just under 3 pounds with its lightest battery installed, the X200 weighs a few ounces less than the ThinkPad X61, despite offering the same 12.1-inch wide screen and a bigger keyboard. The bright little screen has an easy-to-read 1280-by-800-pixel resolution, making it quite comfortable for work on the go. And the built-in Webcam keeps you in visual touch with your colleagues.
The redesigned keyboard is as big as the ones that members of Lenovo’s ThinkPad T series carry, and it has all the same amenities: spill resistance, dedicated page up and page down keys, and the all-important ThinkVantage button. The ThinkVantage application suite offers one-touch access to the onboard user manual as well as to recovery, security, and other crucial utilities. A fingerprint reader rounds out the package. What’s missing: a touchpad. Many ThinkPads offer both a touchpad and aneaserhead as pointing devices, but not the X200.
The review unit Lenovo sent us came with 2GB of RAM and a 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400, and it notched a WorldBench 6 score of 88, putting it only 14 points behind the fastest laptop we’ve tested to date. As you might expect, the X200’s integrated video graphics can handle only simple games. But the X200’s battery life soars. Lenovo has expanded its battery line to three choices, topped by the powerful nine-cell model that our X200 carried. Though this battery extends the back of the notebook by about half an inch and brought our unit’s weight to 3.7 pounds (not including power adapter), the payoff was almost nine hours of juice on a single charge.
Unless you already have a spare external USB optical drive on hand, you’ll have to shell out $219 extra for Lenovo’s Ultrabase docking slice to get an internal drive bay. (A Blu-ray optical drive costs even more). On the bright side, the modular bay accepts other devices like a second battery or second hard drive. But the docking slice also offers some nifty new connections, most notably a place to charge yet another battery and a DisplayPort display interface that combines high-def audio and video in a single connector.
Of course, ultraportable ThinkPads have always used the space they save by omitting a built-in optical drive to add lots of laptop features that are missing from same-size competition. The X200 features three USB ports, microphone and headphone ports, a VGA port, and an ethernet connection. You have your choice of a modem jack with a five-in-one memory card slot, or a less expensive configuration offering an SD Card slot but no modem.
The X200 feels tough as nails, thanks to a magnesium alloy lid and bottom. A crash-proof solid-state hard drive up to 64GB is optional (we got a standard 160GB platter-based hard drive, however). For future upgrading the X200’s two memory chip slots are located in an easy-to-access bottom compartment, and the hard drive can be removed from the right side of the unit after unscrewing one bottom screw.
A full array of wireless communications options come built in: 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, WWAN, and even GPS. Before the end of the year Lenovo should offer WiMax, too–and a tablet version of the X200. But if all you need is the world’s best travel laptop right now, you’re looking at it.
