Home > Consumer Reviews > Dell Vostro 1500, Intel Core 2 Duo T5470 (2x1.6GHz), 2GB RAM, 80GB SATA HDD, 8X CD/DVD Burner, 128MB NVIDIA Video Card, 15.4" Wide XGA LCD, 802.11g Wi

My 2-month old Dell Vostro laptop has been a problem since day one. It would not play DVDs or load DVD-based software. When I called tech support, their solution was to load a different DVD player, which did not work, either. After spending an additional 4 hours on the phone with tech support, they decided that I needed to reload the operating system. Somehow, it became my responsibility. They said it would take 2 - 3 hours on the phone with them for me to do that. I'm not that computer savvy, so I took it to a Dell authorized repair shop. They can get the laptop to work with Vista, but I paid $99 extra for the XP "downgrade". I don't want Vista. The repair shop could never get it to work correctly with XP. They called Dell, and Dell told them that it was a software issue and that they would not honor the warranty, or take the computer back for repair. So now, I have a laptop that doesn't function and a warranty that is basically worthless. Don't buy a Dell - you'll be sorry.

I've had my Vostro 1500 for about 9 months now, and it's worked perfectly. I bought it with a fast Intel Penryn Processor, 3GB of RAM, nVidia 8600M GT video card, and Windows Vista. The Vostro 1500 is built like a tank, and pretty heavy. That might be a negative to some, but I like to know it can handle the everyday use I put it through. This is my 5th Dell notebook, and I've never had a major problem with any of them. The 1500 has since been replaced by the 1510. IMO, it is not nearly as well built as the 1500. You can still find the 1500 around, and IMO it is still a great notebook that's more than fast enough for most of today's uses, except heavy gaming.