New Inspiron E1505 HELP Please!

These are the options for the wireless card. I'm assuming they are the same but that the second one (for $20 more) has bluetooth capabilities ... correct?!?!


Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps) [Included in Price]
Dell Recommended
Intel® PRO 3945 and Dell 350 Bluetooth Internal Wireless Cards [add $20 or $1/month2]

Thanks!

W,  Bloatware are the many applications pre-installed by Dell including AOL, Wordperfect, and many, many others.  They take up a lot of HD space and are not anything I find useful.  Reformating gets rid of them, improves start up speed and provides more unused HD space.  Unless you like some or all of the pre-installed stuff, I would recommend a reformat. 

Message Edited by W Shackelford on 04-03-2006 03:21 PM

Right, the second one is what you'd select if you wanted BT.

My E1505 is configured much the same as yours but I went with the integrated 950 card and don't have any problems with it.  I have the XGA screen with true life and I like it.

 

My only suggestion is to consider getting the in home service contract.  I realize that they will only send someone out if something really bad goes wrong that they don't think I can fix myself but I want that security of knowing that I don't have to worry about mail damage on top of everything else if something serious breaks.

 

Otherwise I think you will be happy with this laptop.   

Yes the bloatware is what I was talking about. I have no idea what it is or what it means but I've seen it mentioned in several other threads. Everyone is erasing it and uploading everything (which requires the re-installation CD) so I guess I'll go ahead and purchase that and figure out what to do with it later! Thats a whole seperate topic!

As for good deals, this one is an online value that I saw in an ad. The orginal price is $1253 but its going for $899. I think thats a pretty good deal.

Thanks for your suggestions!

I would also recommend the 9 cell battery for longer time unplugged.

Smesson,

I've had my e1505 a little over a week now and I am very pleased with it.  Like you, we use it primarily for web surfing, music/DVD watching and travel.  I'm far from an expert, but here are a couple comments on your questions:

• Re: Bluetooth, your description does not list the 350 BT card.  You will need to buy it separately as the 3945 card is not the same as BT.  I found this out the hard way and I am ordering the card from eBay (DSP is more expensive).
• I did reformat the HD upon due to the bloatware.  One problem I did have is that the Dell Resource CD did not contain updated drivers for the 3945 card - - had to get them off the Dell Website.  IMO, this is a large error on Dell's part.  AFAIK, to reformat you will need the re-installation CD and it is only $10.
• Re: the warranty.  I'm not a warranty person, so I didn't get the extended one.

Hope this helps - - Z

Message Edited by zmony on 04-03-2006 02:33 PM

Nuts, it looks like I ordered the PC Restore Recovery System by Symantec as opposed to the reinstallation CD. 

Do you think if call On Call and get them to babysit me with uninstalling the bloated programs I could get the hard drive down to fighting weight?

And btw, the video card recommended in the other thread was the "128MB ATI MOBILITY RADEON X1300 HyperMemory, for Inspiron 6400/E1505." 

Oh and if you can afford it, OnCall is a really good service.

And don't forget to check the Dell Coupons at notebookreview!  I saved $750 on my 1505. 

Shack, Is it too late to order a re-install disk?  Having one around is a good idea and allows for future reformats when your registry becomes bloated from additions/removals of applications.  Some might view it as overkill, but I reformat about once a year and find that it speeds things up and solves conflicts.  It does take a while, but is easy.

I'm not sure what On Call is, but uninstalling is probably something you could do by yourself.  Maybe an expert can opine further, but I don't think the uninstall will entirely remove the application from your registry.

Message Edited by zmony on 04-03-2006 03:56 PM

I forgot to select the reinstall CD as well but it's not that big of deal for me because I have a full copy of Media Center from when I built my desktop.  As long as I have a valid Dell product code I should be able to use my own Media Center installation DVD

Oh I've reinstalled the operating system on my old 8500 at least twice, so I certainly know how easy it is. 

I don't know why I didn't order the disc.  Maybe I did and it's just not showing up on the invoice.  I am almost certain I ordered discs for XP Pro and Office, so I guess I'll find out tomorrow when it arrives.

I do know I got the system restore option, which I found to be useful on an Inspiron 9300 that I returned last month.  This option restores the machine to its original factory settings, which I guess would have the bloatware.

Meanwhile, OnCall is Dell's software support line.  It's the one that the hardware reps refer you to when they run out of options, but it's something like $99 per incident.

I had two months of it free with the 9300 follies, and found them to be top notch; I liked them so much that on this 1505 I even paid $49 extra just for a month of it.  I strongly recommend it.

Anyhow, if I manually nuke each bloatware program one by one and then ran a registry cleaner (EasyClean), do you think I could get a bloated 1505 pretty much in the same condition as if I did a reinstallation?

 

Thanks everybody for your help -- this is the best 1505 thread I've seen since I first considered ordering one. 

As soon as it arrives, email Dell support and ask for the CDs you are missing, including the CD burner software, antivirus if you ordered it, etc.  They typically don't provide CDs in the package, and it's easier to get within the first month of ownership.  And they're free.

Good luck!

Thanks for your help! I've decided on one and put in the order (so don't tell me anything else to make me wish I'd ordered something different :)

This is what I went with ...

Inspiron E1505
Intel® Core™ Duo processor T2300 (2MB Cache/1.66GHz/667MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display
1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
100GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Intel® PRO 3945 and Dell 350 Bluetooth Internal Wireless Cards
Microsoft Works Suite 2006- Includes MICROSOFT WORD plus much more!
McAfee Security Center with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 15-months
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Mobile Edge Premium Messenger Bag Fits Notebooks Up to 15.4-inch
1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support
6 Months America Online Internet Access Included
Award Winning Service, Support
No Broadband Expresscard technology is available in the market now
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition re-installation CD
Starter Entertainment Pack - Basic digital Music, Photo and Game experience

I don't play games ... ever ... so I opted to spend the extra $100 on a better battery rather than upgrading the video card. I'm not big on warranty's either so I stuck with the one year option. I also have a computer/software outlet nearby that I've always taken my computer to for repairs.

THANKS for your notebookreview.com advice. I ended up getting the computer for $100 less than the spotlight savings and that includes a carrying case! The coupon was for $450 rather than the $350 savings I had planned on using! I'm excited and can't wait to break it in!

Now for the bloatware issue ... can I just uninstall the programs I don't want if there are some that I do want to keep? Are there directions somewhere in this forum on how to reformat it ... since I did purchase the reinstallation CD? I really don't want to screw it up!

Again, thank you for your help!