Inspiron 15n

[Talon2]

The Inspiron 15n is now available (http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dncwzl1&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&kc=segtopic~linux_3x).

This looks interesting. The only mistake I see is that wifi is Broadcom. I really wish Dell would get away from Broadcom components.

[wgarider]

The Inspiron 15n is now available (http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dncwzl1&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&kc=segtopic~linux_3x).

This looks interesting. The only mistake I see is that wifi is Broadcom. I really wish Dell would get away from Broadcom components.

The price is certainly right.......

[Benboom]

Yes, it does look interesting. I've always stayed away from Dell but my wife was thinking about netbooks so I researched them; this is a lot bigger but at the same price appears to have more horsepower and it comes with Ubuntu (no Microsoft tax). I can't even find a single review of it anywhere.

[Talon2]

I can't even find a single review of it anywhere.

It appears to be new. Generally you see a few reviews even for new systems but not in this case. It does appear Dell released the Windows and Ubuntu models at the same time.

It this system is of reasonable quality it could be a good seller. A lot of people like the 15 inch screen size and the price is low.

[aysiu]

At least they got the pricing right.

The Inspiron 15n (Ubuntu) with a semi-decent configuration is US$479. The Inspiron 15 (Windows) with the same configuration is US$689.

Ubuntu is now over $200 cheaper. When's the last time that happened?

[guywithcable]

I just noticed this one too. A 13" model I was looking at was $300 more with worse specs. It had Windows (ick). I think I might be down for one of these.

[Benboom]

I'm interested but I really need to read some hands-on reports.

[botulismo]

I just got one in the mail, got a replacement after the laptop arrived with a couple hardware problems. Dell replaced it and had a new one made and arrived within a week. No hardware problems evident on this one, I'm sure I just got a fluke. The DVD drive was locking and refusing to open unless I had a reboot, and the wireless networking was rapidly connecting and disconnecting from unboxing. This one doesn't have these problems, it was directly evident from minute one, and must have been hardware related. I'm impressed with Dell's customer service over the whole thing. I was only on the phone for 10-15 minutes and got everything set.

The only thing I have different than the stock model that's relevant is the brighter screen and the dual core pentium instead of the celeron. Just got it minutes ago, am burning recovery media before I do anything to it.

I'm going to upgrade to 9.04 and I'll let you guys know if everything works well with 9.04. I'm going to go the regular upgrade through upgrade-manager path.

I'll handle it if 9.04 doesn't work. The laptop looks great, especially for the price. $400, Ubuntu already installed (gotta upgrade already ;3) and I know everything works, and on top of it I have legitimate legal media playback. This is great.

If anyone wants to know anything in particular, ask, I'll pay attention to this thread as best I can.

[sjhook]

I am v. interested. I also have one on order. I went for the std config. with the webcam, bluetooth and bright screen. I am v. excited. Let me know how the upgrade to Jaunty goes.

Thanks, Simon

p.s. Also thanks for letting me know about the potential hardware problems

[sjhook]

Just checked my mail and the order has been delayed to June 17th from June 10th.

S.

[botulismo]

That's odd about the delay. Mine had a longer projected time and it was knocked down by about a week after a day or two. With it all added up and the second laptop thrown in, everything probably worked out on time.

The upgrade to Jaunty went fine. No problems with anything, the wireless works, desktop effects works, dvd burner works, the preinstalled powerdvd works. No problems whatsoever. It was a smooth process, now I'm just installing my favorite apps and games. There's enough power in the onboard graphics chip that you should have no problems with Compiz if you like it, just don't crank the effects up all the way.

It's seriously a great buy, and the bright screen is worth it. Comparing it to the two other laptops in the house (and my desktop LCD monitor) the screen is brighter than all of them, even on half brightness with the thing unplugged.

I don't have the webcam, but everything else is just great.

For the price range that it's in, it really is much better than a netbook could ever be, which was what I was initially in the market for, not so much for the size, but because I just wanted a budget laptop to take with me traveling that could access the web, play music, upload photos to, and watch movies. It does all these things and I'm very happy because after getting it I realize the 15" screen is the smallest I could handle. I'd feel really sunk if I'd invested $400 in a netbook right now!

[sjhook]

How did you do your upgrade. My plan was to re-install from a 9.04 usb drive. That way I could partition appropriately, i.e. have a separate home partition. Did you just go with the repositories -- we they preloaded -- are they at Dell or the regular ubuntu ones?

thanks,

S.

[botulismo]

sjhook, the upgrade I did through the update manager distribution upgrade, but I don't see why doing a 9.04 fresh install wouldn't work. The repositories are all the ordinary ubuntu ones except for one dell one from launchpad. A seperate disc comes with the laptop for reinstalling the media playback software that is included with the laptop on a fresh install of Ubuntu. The only other thing that's included with it is a normal Ubuntu desktop (8.10) disc, which makes me think that there are no proprietary drivers coming from Dell that would stop the laptop from functioning normally with an ordinary install of Ubuntu.

I'd really have to test that to be sure, but that's the kind of sense I make of it. I'm away from the laptop right now but later on I'll check and see what packages from the Dell repositories are installed on the laptop to be sure.

Even if there are, there is a Jaunty/9.04 version of the Dell repo, so you shouldn't have any problem accessing it and installing a driver if it's necessary.

[lnxnut]

Hey, I just ordered on of these laptops. But I ordered before I read your post, I noticed you guys are very happy with the screen upgrade, I didn't think anything about that, is it really worth the extra? I think it was only like $35 more. If its that much difference please tell me to change it, I think I can change it by Monday and get it. Thanks.

[sjhook]

I have not got mine yet but I tend to go for screen upgrades since it is what you stare at all day. I made a conscious decision to buy the screen upgrade. I will not get my system until the 17th according to Dell so will not be able to tell you what it looks like in time.

Hopefully botulismo will let you know in time.

S.

[lnxnut]

ok, I got tired of sweating the screen and changed my order, actually had to cancel the original order and go through all the rig-o-ma-roe on the phone. But it should be worth it!
The bright screen was $25 extra and not $35

[botulismo]

Oh hey, sorry for taking so long to reply, I wasn't feeling very well yesterday.

Anyhow, yeah, the screen upgrade does seem worth it to me. I don't have the original screen I could have gotten with it to compare it to, but I do have 2 laptops and 1 lcd monitor to compare it to and it seems much brighter.

I took a picture, please excuse the terrible quality, but you can at least see it compared to my 22" Acer screen that pales in comparison.

Just open this up, at least you can get an idea of it. (http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/7641/15nvby.jpg)

[botulismo]

OH, and as for the dell repository, nothing from the dell repo was installed on the computer, just access to the repo itself! Not even the PGP key was installed (but it's easily installable as a package, which you may want to do if you decide to keep the dell repo.) The only package other than the PGP key available from it was wifi drivers that apparently the 15n doesn't need.

[lnxnut]

hey, like your setup, the laptop looks nice! Glad I went ahead and changed my order, now I can't wait to get the thing. This is the first time I have bought a dell and I didn't know they had a repository. Thanks for the info on everything.

[Knowle]

Hey botulismo that screen looks good, would you be able to post some pictures of the case itself? How is the battery life on it? Any heat/noise issues after it has been running for a certain extent or playing a cd/dvd?

I might get one myself and upgrade to the Core2Duo 2GHz, WLED display, 6 cell battery.

[botulismo]

Knowle (and everybody) I took a set of photos. The only thing in these pictures that isn't included is the AC adapter and the box it came in, but otherwise this should satisfy most of the curious people. :) Here you guys go! Enjoy (http://img390.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=stuff2.jpg)

As for heat issue, it gets warm (like any laptop) after an hour or two but it's not burning or intolerable as far as I've been concerned. The AC adapter however gets rather hot, but I think that's sort of commonplace.

I got the lowest (4 cell) grade of battery they had because most of the places I'm planning on going still have electricity, though I guess it would still be nice to have a bigger battery. Ubuntu claims about 2 hours of battery time, but I'm sure you could extend that by dimming the screen (default screen dim is 50%) and turning off Wifi, if you needed it.

lnxnut do you mean the custom theme I set up? If you want to know what I did, specifically, I can let you know, but if not, that's fine too.

[lnxnut]

I did notice your screen was setup different than normal, I was eyeballing your desktop and laptop and I'll have about the same thing soon, my desktop has the 22" widescreen and I have built some computers with the acer monitor and its a nice monitor especially for the $$$$$, and knowing how good the acer actually is and seeing the laptop and how bright and clear it is kinda makes me itch a little to get that thing.

[Benboom]

Thanks for posting those pictures; it's been impossible to get any information on this unit so far. I'm quite interested in one but at this point I'm waiting to hear from more actual users since there are no reviews at all out there yet.

I come from Mac land and don't know the whole Windows/Intel machine world very well. I wanted to ask if the upgrade processors Dell offers for the 15n are actually any improvement or if you're just better off to take the machine pretty much as is. The only thing I was planning to add was the 6 cell battery and a mouse.

[lnxnut]

From my experience building desktop systems, I have found there to be little use in going with much more than what the video chip is. In this notebook it has the IGP chip from intel, the x4500hd. I could find little information on it but what I did find was that it is 3d and it does have linux drivers and its no speed demon by any means and upgrading the cpu simply for more speed would probably be very little success. However, if you are multitasking or running cpu intensive programs that would be a different story.
It will be fun seeing the fps difference between the cpu's, memory, and different configurations.
Personally, with the one I ordered, I decided to stay with the celeron, I will be doing nothing cpu intensive, cruizing the net and runescaping will be the hardest thing it will see.
You might want to look back through this post, I was thinking I read different things you may have mentioned.
But thats my 2 cents worth.

[Benboom]

upgrading the cpu simply for more speed would probably be very little success.

Yes, this was my guess, as well.

[botulismo]

The 3D chip is adequate for Linux, in my opinion. I've been able to keep Compiz Fusion running on about medium settings without noticable slowdown unless I'm doing something intensive. I also am able to run 3D games while Compiz fusion is running. Neverball and Neverputt run fine. ZSNES runs fine... World of Goo runs fine... Running a virtual XP machine in VirtualBox does what I need it to do which is access a couple USB devices that I can't access in Linux. Virtually anything that I have thrown at it has worked well without a hitch, but again I really don't plan on using this to do more than casual games on occasion when I'm bored.

I haven't really had anything tax it quite yet, but I'm sure if you were running one of the newer games in Wine it would have a problem. GLX Gears with Compiz running averages around 1300-1400fps. Not great, but not terrible either. Compiz's simple benchmark utility averages about 189fps.

I encoded a 2 hour 500kbps 1theora video in about 2 hours which is actually about as long as it takes on my (windows) Desktop which has a better CPU and (though it's not relevant) GPU in it.

[rivenathos]

I was in the market for a new computer to use while traveling, so for $299, this looks like a decent deal on a laptop. I just put in my order for one with the basics. Adding in shipping and tax, I only spent US$350. Now comes the fun of awaiting delivery.

[Benboom]

How big is it? I'm mainly interested in width x length. I don't care that much about the thickness. The Dell site doesn't seem to list this information, or anyway I can't find it.

[aysiu]

How big is it? I'm mainly interested in width x length. I don't care that much about the thickness. The Dell site doesn't seem to list this information, or anyway I can't find it.
From the Dell website (http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-inspiron-1545/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-inspiron-1545&s=dhs&cs=19&~oid=us~en~29~linux_2~~): Dimensions & Weight
Width: 14.7" (343.5mm)
Height: 1.02" (25.9mm) front / 1.48" (37.8mm) back
Depth: 9.6" (244mm)
Weight: Starting weight of 5.8 lbs. (2.64 kg)7 (15.6" WXGA glossy display, 6 cell battery, DVD +/- RW, integrated graphics). Weights will vary depending on configurations and manufacturing variability.

[Benboom]

Thank you!

[GirlofTime]

Could someone that owns this laptop do me a huge favor that owns this laptop the Dell 15n!? Could you pop in a Backtrack 3 final live cd and tell me how it runs? perty pleaseee =). Thanks!

[jlcapps]

Could someone who has one of these puppies comment on sleep / hibernate. I assume they're working properly? How long does it take to resume from sleep? From hibernate?

TIA!

[GirlofTime]

so many questions! such little time!!!!!! hehehehehehe. jk.

[delogren]

Howdy, Folks,
New to this forum. But an old-time Unix command line jockey...

A couple-three questions:

How in heck do I get one of these critters? When I go to the Dell web site, I find nothing about the 15N. If I get there through Google search for the 15N, the web page hangs when I select an option. Any help?

Speaking of the Unix command line, can I get there?

And, does it come with a C/C++ compiler, or will I have to install an IDE?

tnx

--del

[aysiu]

This is the direct link:
http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-inspiron-1545/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-inspiron-1545&s=dhs&cs=19&~oid=us~en~29~linux_2~~

[delogren]

This is the direct link:
http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-inspiron-1545/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-inspiron-1545&s=dhs&cs=19&~oid=us~en~29~linux_2~~ (http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-inspiron-1545/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-inspiron-1545&s=dhs&cs=19&%7Eoid=us%7Een%7E29%7Elinux_2%7E%7E)


Thanks for the link.

In the words of Tweety Bird contemplating the consequences of an action, "I dood it."

A new toy in on order.

Now to see if I can get to a command line, log in as "root" and do some real damage to the new toy...

--del

[Coder68]

I ordered mine last Sunday. Dell says it won't be here until 6/26! I am brand new to Linux, and am working my way through an older version right now. (6.06 on a Shuttle box.) I will have to do a GOOD video review when I get it. (If I have time! Work, school, and Linux!) I can host it at my site too.

I upgraded to the Core 2 duo, wled screen and the 6 cell battery. I wanted to get the blue cover but could not justify $40 for it!!! It was a tad over $500 after shipping and tax. Dell is evil and charges tax on shipping!!! Is that even legal??

I can't wait for it to get here!

C68

[GirlofTime]

Hey guys. I gave up on that dell. For anyone else looking for a similar option but with slightly better specs check this out. Currently 450 with 150 instant savings and free shipping. gotta love the egg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115556&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-34-115-556-_-Product

[aysiu]

Hey guys. I gave up on that dell. For anyone else looking for a similar option but with slightly better specs check this out. Currently 450 with 150 instant savings and free shipping. gotta love the egg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115556&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-34-115-556-_-Product
That has Windows Vista on it.

The Inspiron 15n has Ubuntu on it.

[GirlofTime]

That has Windows Vista on it.

The Inspiron 15n has Ubuntu on it.

Yes I know that. But all you have to do is download the iso of ubuntu and then put that on a cd and install it on the acer. If you need help or have any questions on how to do that feel free to send me a message and ill help you better understand how to do that. Also I don't know if you read the top ranking reviews or not but both posters state that the acer works very well with ubuntu. A similiar speced 15n would cost you more with shipping and tax. I priced one out with only a cpu upgrade, screen, and battery that came out over 500 bucks with shipping and tax.

[aysiu]

Yes I know that. But all you have to do is download the iso of ubuntu and then put that on a cd and install it on the acer. If you need help or have any questions on how to do that feel free to send me a message and ill help you better understand how to do that. Also I don't know if you read the top ranking reviews or not but both posters state that the acer works very well with ubuntu. A similiar speced 15n would cost you more with shipping and tax. I priced one out with only a cpu upgrade, screen, and battery that came out over 500 bucks with shipping and tax.
I know how to download the .iso. I've been using Ubuntu since 2005, thank you.

I choose not to purchase Windows-preinstalled computers, because I don't want my purchase to go into Microsoft's sales figures. The only effective way to communicate to OEMs that Linux computers are worth selling is to actually buy Linux computers.

[GirlofTime]

I know how to download the .iso. I've been using Ubuntu since 2005, thank you.

I choose not to purchase Windows-preinstalled computers, because I don't want my purchase to go into Microsoft's sales figures. The only effective way to communicate to OEMs that Linux computers are worth selling is to actually buy Linux computers.

2005? Wow. And your welcome. I like to help. =)

Unfortantly with the dell I can't justify spending more money on a system that has weaker specs just because it has ubuntu. But I admire your devotion. Honestly.

[superm1]

Yes I know that. But all you have to do is download the iso of ubuntu and then put that on a cd and install it on the acer. If you need help or have any questions on how to do that feel free to send me a message and ill help you better understand how to do that. Also I don't know if you read the top ranking reviews or not but both posters state that the acer works very well with ubuntu. A similiar speced 15n would cost you more with shipping and tax. I priced one out with only a cpu upgrade, screen, and battery that came out over 500 bucks with shipping and tax.
You have no idea what kind of BIOS problems have yet to be unearthed on a system that doesn't ship with linux though. Even though two people say 'yeah it works' doesn't mean that they have been looking through it for those types of problems...

[GirlofTime]

/sigh.

It was just a suggestion people. I will no longer provide information that has the word microsoft in it. want the last word? Take it away....

[aysiu]

2005? Wow. And your welcome. I like to help. =)

Unfortantly with the dell I can't justify spending more money on a system that has weaker specs just because it has ubuntu. But I admire your devotion. Honestly.
Those specs look fine to me. The Inspiron 15n isn't intended to be a power user laptop. It's basic. That's why it starts at $299. If you compare it to the Inspiron 15 with Vista, it's $100 cheaper (last week it was $200 cheaper, not sure what happened).

I bought a Ubuntu-preinstalled HP Mini netbook, and it was $30 cheaper than the same Windows-preinstalled HP Mini netbook.

[botulismo]

Hey, I don't have a backtrack iso, but I'd be happy to test it, I'll go looking for it later. Suspend works fine but hibernate seems to be giving me problems, but I'm on 9.04. As installed (8.10) it may work fine.

I *did* have one problem, and one problem only, as far as installing an OS goes, and that was loading a windows xp disc that I had modified to accept usb booting... I did it twice, blue screen of death both times, disc worked fine on my desktop.

Of all things, XP won't work properly. Haha. :p

I didn't test an original XP disc as usb boot was all I was interested in, so instead I went the Virtualbox route, which ended up being better. I just didn't know at the time that Virtualbox now supported USB 2.0 devices.

delogren, the command line is easily accessible, as well as alternative/more lightweight windowing managers like fluxbox, e17, or xfce if you'd rather use something along those lines. To install the basic GNU C/C++, all you need to do is a simple "sudo apt-get install build-essential" on the command line, and you'll be on your way to compiling. If you need a featured IDE, though, I'm not sure what the packages are for that, but I know there's something in the Ubuntu repositories for you.

[bigpook]

Hey guys. I gave up on that dell. For anyone else looking for a similar option but with slightly better specs check this out. Currently 450 with 150 instant savings and free shipping. gotta love the egg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115556&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-34-115-556-_-Product

I followed the link and it does look good, so I read the reviews. Searched for linux and this showed up:

good for Vista

Pros: Well build all-in-one laptop solution for average user. Has camera, microphone, card reader, DVD-burner, modem, Wi-Fi, good quality LCD monitor, decent on-board video, large hard drive, 3GB of RAM. Small and light - OK to travel with.

Cons: 1. AMD new QL-62 processor is designed for VISTA only: it requires special power management software to control FID and VID (0.900-1.200 Vdc) to keep this CPU running cool. Otherwise it runs constantly at 2000 MHz and warms up to 170 F.

** XP and Linux ** do not have ** native support FID/VID control so you stuck with Vista power management (“Balanced” option).

2. Wi-Fi does not support WAP2...

3. Shipped with 32-bit OS installed...

Other Thoughts: Overall it is a good laptop – it can do everything that $700-800 laptop does.
----------------------------------------------------------------

What scares me is the FID/VID control that according to this poster only works with Vista. Can you verify if that is true?

Thanks for the info!

[delogren]

An amusing story...

My name is Del. Yesterday I ordered the Dell Inspiron 15N. Today the phone rang and my wife, Linda, answered. It was an automated message that went something like:

"Hello, Del, This is Dell confirming your order. If you are Del, press 1. If you are not Del, press 2...."

Needless to say, Linda was a bit confused. Even though, as family CFO, she was fully aware of the purchase.

Later in the day, we were sitting around and the phone rang again. Linda picked it up and got the same automated message. In the process of telling me about it, she realized that Dell was not Del playing some nasty trick on her... But by then the phone had gone dead.

We laughed about it. But then I started wondering whether it might have an impact on our order.

Any opinions?

--del

[delogren]

...<snip>

delogren, the command line is easily accessible, as well as alternative/more lightweight windowing managers like fluxbox, e17, or xfce if you'd rather use something along those lines. To install the basic GNU C/C++, all you need to do is a simple "sudo apt-get install build-essential" on the command line, and you'll be on your way to compiling. If you need a featured IDE, though, I'm not sure what the packages are for that, but I know there's something in the Ubuntu repositories for you.


Thanks for the info. I just spent a few bucks on Ubuntu books, hopefully with good info about command line syntax. It's great to hear that the GNU C/C++ compiler can be installed with relative simplicity. To start, I won't need a full-blown IDE. I'll just be tickled if I can get "Hello World" to compile.

The more I learn about the Ubuntu distribution of Linux, the more excited I'm getting about returning to my ancient Unix roots..

--del

[cxlxmx]

A seperate disc comes with the laptop for reinstalling the media playback software that is included with the laptop on a fresh install of Ubuntu.

Does this refer to, say, MP3 files, or can the 15n legally play DVDs? I assumed it couldn't because it doesn't mention this in the specs while the 530n specifically advertises "with DVD Playback". Thanks.

[botulismo]

cxlxmx, Dell included more than the DVD playback codecs. IIRC when Dell started considering offering Linux one of the things they were concerned about was the computer not being able to do common things out of the box, so they included licensed codecs for mpeg formats (including mp3) and avi formats. Another thing that's installed already is Flash. This is the first time I've ever not had to install ubuntu restricted extras... It feels nice to be able to play everything legitmately too. :D

On the disc with the media playback software are the PowerDVD packages and a package of codecs from Fluendo, who specialize in legally licensed multimedia codecs for Linux.

delogren, I'd just call up Dell and ask if there was any problem with your order. Also, good to have you back in the *nix fold. I took a break from it myself until I got the laptop. It feels like I'm discovering the computer again. One of the first things you should play around with is the synaptic package manager - you'll find plenty of programs to play around with that are easily installable. Just my two cents.

[Benboom]

Botulismo, thanks for the info on this machine. It's the one I have tentatively decided on for my wife, who wants a laptop. My linux experience is not very profound - I'm a Mac user with no knowledge of Windows at all, but I got Jaunty running on an old Power PC G4 and I like it; we've tried the various apps out that she would be using and it looks like it should be a good match. However, the Inspiron comes with 8.10 installed and the only Ubuntu I know is 9.04. Since you've upgraded to 9.04 would you talk a little about the difference? I saw your mention of hibernation as an issue. I'd also be curious about major differences between the two in terms. I don't mind messing my own machine up, but I'm a little nervous about upgrading somebody ELSE'S computer. :D

[Coder68]

botulismo,

Your images of what you got with your 15n shows the Desktop edition 8.10 of Ubuntu. My listing of my in production 15n shows the Notebooks Edition.

Is there really any difference?

Edit:
What does the sticker that looks like an N with some chineese below it represent? (It is next to the Intel sticker)

Thanks,

C68

[delogren]

<snip>
delogren, I'd just call up Dell and ask if there was any problem with your order. Also, good to have you back in the *nix fold. I took a break from it myself until I got the laptop. It feels like I'm discovering the computer again. One of the first things you should play around with is the synaptic package manager - you'll find plenty of programs to play around with that are easily installable. Just my two cents.


I gave 'em a call.. Little joy. The order service person just read the stuff I'd already seen on-line when I checked my order status. So I'm hoping that the order is done. Now I gotta wait a couple of weeks before I can start to play.

As for returning to the *nix world... It's beginning to look like everything I thought I knew is now no longer true. So all advice is valued.

But, in spite of the learning curve in front of me, I'm looking forward to re-gaining control over my computer.

--del

[sjhook]

Hi all,

I posted about the 15N about a week ago and then got an email saying my order was delayed to the 17th. Well much to my surprise a couple of days ago I got an email saying it had shipped and this email comes from my new 15n.

I am loving it. The only problem I have had has been the upgrade to jaunty. After the upgrade hibernation stopped working so I decided to just re-install Jaunty from a usb stick. All went fine, both hibernation and standby now work great.

Movies play fine. So what else, Skype works -- but make sure you crank up the sound for recording. Crossover works and associated apps. MP3 downloader from Amazon works. Thunderbird works. I also got a webcam and that works fine with Skype. I got the bright screen and it is indeed v. bright.

Bottomline, great machine, great value for money. About the only thing I would have preferred is an option for a video card with higher screen resolution.

Cheers S.

[Coder68]

SJhook,

Good to know! I have not decided if I am going to upgrade or stick with 8.10. Being new, I am thinking I will stick with the default Dell install.

Which battery did you get and how is your battery time?

C68

[sjhook]

I went with the 6 cell battery. I have not run the laptop continuously until it ran out of power but I would estimate a few hours of typical use. I did run the power out to see what happens and it shut down normally with appropriate warnings. The changes from the default I picked were:
1) 6 cell battery
2) Brighter screen
3) Webcam
4) Bluetooth

Cheers, S.

p.s. Check out my post on a Jaunty upgrade issue with the Power DVD software supplied with the 15n. BTW it is extremely easy to install from a usb stick if you use unetbootin to build a usb stick.

[botulismo]

Benboom, the differences between 8.10 and 9.04 are probably neglible. The system tray notifications are more refined (they look less like windows now and more classy, if you can say that about popup notifications.) I think you'll find the differences are unnoticable. The only thing noticably missing in 8.10 are the new themes from 9.04. If there was a theme you liked in Ubuntu 9.04, you can download it for 8.10 - I'm sure one of us could dig up a link for you. I mostly just upgraded for my own enjoyment of playing with programs. Since you don't have a lot of experience with Ubuntu, I would think that the 8.10 version would be fine for you to keep. It certainly can do everything 9.04 can. I did have to replace a few programs with newer versions (like VLC media player) to get them working properly, so you might even find 8.10 an easier use.

Anecodotally, I think your wife will be comfortable with it if she was comfortable with the Mac. My mother is certainly happy with her laptop I "upgraded" from XP to Ubuntu. She was having constant virus and spyware problems and I was reformatting it for her every 3 months. The thing has been running fine nonstop for 2 years now, she loves the thing, and it never causes her problems. She can add and remove programs herself, browse the web, listen to music, watch videos, and play with her photos. If my completely computer illiterate mom can use Ubuntu, ANYONE can.

Coder68, I don't think there are any differences between Dell's branding of Ubuntu Notebook and Ubuntu Desktop, I think it's just their lingo for Ubuntu with preinstalled multimedia support. Underneath the n is the word "series", not in chinese, it's just in a stylized font that isn't recognizable unless you're up close.

Delogren, I think you'll find some good things from the *nix world are still around, but of course when something gets vastly more popular you get some bad things in too. The Ubuntu forums are a good place for all Linux users to be though IMHO, lots of knowledgeable people who want to help out, it's very important I think.

cxlxmx, I tested backtrack3 and everything worked except the all important wireless network driver. I don't have an ethernet cable to test ethernet, but I'd assume since the other chipset stuff (sound, basic functioning, video) worked properly that the ethernet at least would.

sjhook, glad to see you got yours. Finally I'm not the only one with the laptop here :D

[Benboom]

Thanks for the reply!

BTW, did you get the hibernation issue you mentioned resolved?

[themrfreeze]

Hi all.

My new Inspiron 15 arrived yesterday...a replacement for the Thinkpad R32 I've been using since I gave Linux a try last August. The 15 I bought has the regular screen, dual Pentium processor, no webcam. $324 plus tax and shipping.

I'm a systems admin by trade, and see a lot of laptops, so I have a lot I can compare it to. To me, the regular screen on the 15 looks just fine. It's fairly comparable to the Thinkpads....very nice looking, bright but not blindingly so, with a reasonably wide viewing angle horizontally but not so much vertically. I just compared it to the 2 year old 17" MacBook Pro I use for work, and the 15's screen actually looks brighter (the Pro has a matte display).

The 15 is a no-frills laptop, which I actually prefer. Build quality seems decent enough, and hard drive and memory are pretty easy to get to (just remove a few screws). The keyboard was a pleasant surprise...I'm a little picky about keyboards, and the one on the 15 has a really nice feel to it. Better than the Thinkpad it replaced, as well as the 17" MacBook Pro I use at work. The only thing I wish it had was a hard drive activity light, but maybe I can add one to Linux?

Overall, this thing is an awfully good value...you get a very nice machine for very little money.

I can verify that upgrading the 15 to 9.04 does disable hibernation (and apparently suspend mode on my machine). I've only been using Linux since last August, so any help in figuring out how to fix at least suspend mode would be greatly appreciated.

[botulismo]

Benboom, I haven't gotten the hibernation issue fixed but it's not really important to me to do so (it's just not something I'm in the habit of using) but sjhook was able to get his fixed by reinstalling from 9.04's CD, I believe.

[themrfreeze]

Another thread has been started about it....uninstalling the Dell PowerDVD software fixes the suspend/hibernation problem (it did for me, as well as the OP of the other thread).

[KewlEugene]

Has anyone tried the Dell Inspiron 15n with Ubuntu ? You know, it's the note book from Dell which has Ubuntu installed by Dell. I was wondering of all of the hardware really works under Ubuntu.

[Benboom]

I thought that was the topic of this thread. What was the question?

[botulismo]

KewlEugene, just go back to the beginning of the thread and read from there, I've posted pictures of mine as well as my experiences with it. Sjhook also got one and posted some helpful thoughts.

[orac2]

Can someone who has one of these boxes in their possession please look in your manual and/or inspect the memory DIMMs and post exactly what type of memory it is and how many memory slots there are? What I'm wondering is if the memory can be upgraded to 8GB with 2 4GB DIMMS. My guess is there is only one memory slot in this unit with a single 4GB DIMM if memory is maxed out during customization.

Looking to possibly purchase one of these units for a roving computer lab running numerous VMWare instances and 4GB may not quite be enough. It would be nice to know if there were two slots and I could move up to 8GB if needed. Thanks!

[KewlEugene]

Oops, I posted my q on the Server subforum. The moderators moved it here. I plan to do glassfish and lamp server stuff on the 15n for my rented ubuntu vps site. I am old Solaris user, hw/sw engr, and am glad that Ubuntu has made it to a major computer mfg. I see the 15n is o.k. I'll get one then.

[themrfreeze]

Can someone who has one of these boxes in their possession please look in your manual and/or inspect the memory DIMMs and post exactly what type of memory it is and how many memory slots there are? What I'm wondering is if the memory can be upgraded to 8GB with 2 4GB DIMMS.

According to my manual, the machine has two DIMM slots which accept "800MHz DDR2 SO-DIMM" devices (which I believe is PC2-6400), with a maximum memory of 8GB.

However, both Dell's online info and Crucial say that the maximum amount of RAM is 4GB.

Why there's a discrepancy, I don't know.

[aysiu]

Oops, I posted my q on the Server subforum. The moderators moved it here. I plan to do glassfish and lamp server stuff on the 15n for my rented ubuntu vps site. I am old Solaris user, hw/sw engr, and am glad that Ubuntu has made it to a major computer mfg. I see the 15n is o.k. I'll get one then.
I moved it here, because I thought it appropriate. There was nothing in your original post indicating you were planning to run a server on it, and it is a laptop, after all (usually not ideal for servers).

[orac2]

According to my manual, the machine has two DIMM slots which accept "800MHz DDR2 SO-DIMM" devices (which I believe is PC2-6400), with a maximum memory of 8GB.

However, both Dell's online info and Crucial say that the maximum amount of RAM is 4GB.

Why there's a discrepancy, I don't know.

Interesting. Did anyone happen to order this unit with 4GB RAM? If so are there 2 2GB SODIMMs in it (more likely given the price point) or 1 4GB SODIMM? Probably the only way to know if it will take 8GB RAM is for someone with one of these units to try it. Anyone have 2 4GB SODIMMS ($$$) lying around they can pop into a 15n and see what happens? :D

Is it possible Dell is only letting buyers spec 4GB when buying because (I'm assuming) they are loading 32-bit Ubuntu 8.04 on these units which won't be able to access the upper 4GB of RAM? In that case I'm assuming 64-bit Ubuntu would work on the 15n if loaded to access the extra memory?

Ah, so many questions...but the bottom line is that if the Inspiron 15n can eventually take up to 8GB RAM I'm ready to pull the trigger on buying 6 of these for a traveling computer training lab. Thanks!

[Benboom]

I'd also be interested in hearing about real-world battery life (and which battery it is, of course).

[ddrichardson]

Two hours ten minutes, with wireless on - editing some code and surfing/denting. Battery life drops considerably with DVD or even streaming media.

[orac2]

Interesting. Did anyone happen to order this unit with 4GB RAM? If so are there 2 2GB SODIMMs in it (more likely given the price point) or 1 4GB SODIMM? Probably the only way to know if it will take 8GB RAM is for someone with one of these units to try it. Anyone have 2 4GB SODIMMS ($$$) lying around they can pop into a 15n and see what happens? :D

Is it possible Dell is only letting buyers spec 4GB when buying because (I'm assuming) they are loading 32-bit Ubuntu 8.04 on these units which won't be able to access the upper 4GB of RAM? In that case I'm assuming 64-bit Ubuntu would work on the 15n if loaded to access the extra memory?

Ah, so many questions...but the bottom line is that if the Inspiron 15n can eventually take up to 8GB RAM I'm ready to pull the trigger on buying 6 of these for a traveling computer training lab. Thanks!

I found this gem under product reviews for the Patriot 2x4GB 200-pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 800 PC2 6400 at newegg:


Pros: Each of the DIMMs work in each of the slots increasing total installed memory from 4GB to 6GB. This means that the Patriot modules are fine.

Cons: Dell Inspiron 1720 doesn't boot when both slots are occupied by the 4GB Patriot DIMMs. POST progresses very slowly and stalls completely at 90% of the progress bar

Other Thoughts: Based on extensive web search and research I am certain that the problem is caused by the Inspiron 1720 BIOS. The electronically and physically identical Vostro 1700 recognizes 8GB of memory. Dell uses the BIOS to intentionally cripple the Inspiron so that it cannot compete with the more expensive Vostro or Precision laptops. If someone would figure out how to force a Vostro BIOS on an Inspiron, it would be great. Until that happens, Inspiron 1720 owners should buy only a single module. They can increase their memory to a total of 6GB.Can anyone confirm that the Inspiron line is limited to 6GB RAM by BIOS? Odd...

[Benboom]

Two hours ten minutes, with wireless on - editing some code and surfing/denting. Battery life drops considerably with DVD or even streaming media.

Which battery do you have?

[ddrichardson]

Whichever is the standard battery.

[Benboom]

That would be a four cell battery, then. Thanks.

Also I note that they keep moving the ship date back; it's now up to 6/29.

[themrfreeze]

I'd also be interested in hearing about real-world battery life (and which battery it is, of course).

I watched some .AVI videos yesterday with my 4-cell battery, and would say that 1.5-2 hours is all I would see with it. I'll do a little more testing this week and will report back.

[delogren]

Delogren, I think you'll find some good things from the *nix world are still around, but of course when something gets vastly more popular you get some bad things in too. The Ubuntu forums are a good place for all Linux users to be though IMHO, lots of knowledgeable people who want to help out, it's very important I think.


Yep, yep, and yep,

I started out in 'nix when Ma Bell was the only game in town. Since then, much has changed. Even early on when the company I was working for then was trying to find a solid version of unix that would run on a PC, the world was already fragmenting. Back then we coined the phrase "unix is not unix".. Of course, GNU stands for GNU is not Unix....

Commands, syntax, details, change. It's OS evolution.

But it looks like the Ubuntu forms is a good place to have stumbled into to get my old skills back.

Thanks, y'all, for being there.

Now I wait...........

--del

[Coder68]

Anyone tested the battery time on a 6 cell?

Mine shows it is in production and still has an estimated date of 6/24! It is getting closer.

Just an FYI - I am totaly new to Linux, but I figured there is no better way then to take the plunge head first... and buy a laptop with Linux on it. I am eagerly awaiting its arivial!!

C68

[RedRat]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what graphics "card" this machine uses? Nvidia, ATI, Intel?????

[eightfold]

Thanks to everyone for the info. I have been considering this, too, and also would be entering the Ubuntu world for the first time (and leaving the Mac world for the first time).

I had a couple questions: First - I could not find a place that mentioned this on Dell's site - is this a 64-bit installation or 32-bit? Does the 15n look like it could handle 64-bit?

Also, have the Dells packaged with Ubuntu generally been decent? I ask because I live in Hong Kong, the land that forgot Linux, and while I have an easy way to get the computer to me it would obviously be a pain to send back for warranty repairs.

Thanks! Stay happy.

[Coder68]

eightfold,

I can answer the 32/64 question because I asked Dell.

From Dell, it is 32 bit only.

C68

[orac2]

eightfold,

I can answer the 32/64 question because I asked Dell.

From Dell, it is 32 bit only.

C68

So the Inspiron 15n might well be able to handle greater than 4GB RAM at the hardware level and one would need to load 64-bit Ubuntu to access the memory above 4GB. Thanks!

[Bubbatech]

Greetings,

Another recent convert here. I have had this unit about a week and like it more every day. Replaced an aging VAIO.

For the GPU they call it Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD.

I have the 6 cell battery and the WLED display and go over 3 hours of fairly heavy use with life to spare always.


Could not get backtrack final to finish booting, just stalls during startup.

[Coder68]

Does anyone know if the 15n's video card can run the latest KDE and all its special effects.

What about WPA2? Does the 15n support that? I guess I should have ask Dell before I bought!

Thanks,

C68

[ddrichardson]

Does anyone know if the 15n's video card can run the latest KDE and all its special effects.

What about WPA2? Does the 15n support that? I guess I should have ask Dell before I bought!

Thanks,

C68
Dunno about KDE but it runs Gnome with full compiz-fusion effects and several instances of different applications including video without trouble.

[midwesterndirt]

I ordered one of these for my wife on 6/4 and the shipping date has been pushed back once again to 6/29. Does anyone know what's going on with this? Despite the enthusiasm on this site, I doubt that real-world demand has been so unbelievably high that Dell is having a hard time keeping up. This just one of the many reasons I try to avoid buying from them.

[Benboom]

Ditto.

[KewlEugene]

I ordered one of these for my wife on 6/4 and the shipping date has been pushed back once again to 6/29. Does anyone know what's going on with this? Despite the enthusiasm on this site, I doubt that real-world demand has been so unbelievably high that Dell is having a hard time keeping up. This just one of the many reasons I try to avoid buying from them.I ordered a 15n on 6/15 and the EDD is 7/2. This my 1st Dell. Is there a problem with Dell order fulfillment ? I mean all they have to do is screw in different parts, bake it with diags running, then box it up. I'm hoping that there is a backlog of orders, because, Dell is the 1st $B mfg to ship Ubuntu from the factory. I hope Ubuntu adoption spreads to other PC mfgs so that we can all have more choices, and that Adobe and other s/w vendors ship Ubuntu versions of their products.

[Benboom]

I ordered a 15n on 6/15 and the EDD is 7/2.

Man, this sucks. That's a full month late compared to the original announcement. Seeing that they are constantly revising the shipment dates later and later I am officially waiting until orders start shipping on time now; no way am I going to get into this line the way it is now. I guess if they can't get the act together I'll have to buy something else for my wife as a longer wait makes things difficult for us. I'm going to start looking seriously at other laptops and installing Ubuntu myself. I really didn't want to do that because of the money to the M$ Deathstar.

[Coder68]

We get a lot of Dells at work, and they are fairly quick. Of course that is a business ordering huge servers by the six pack.

My 15n is still showing an expected ship date of 6/24/09. It has been "in production" for about a week now. How long can it take to build a laptop? In production to me means it is activly being built. I think I could assemble a laptop in less then 8 hours. Then 8 hours of burn in and testing. *Shrug* Although, I must say that I would rather have a well tested laptop then one that I have to pay to send back for repair.

If your order was like mine, there was a warning that the WLED screen may delay your 15n. I am not defending Dell, just pointing out that warning I had.

C68

[Denny Johnson]

I mean all they have to do is screw in different parts, bake it with diags running, then box it up.
First they have to get the parts. "Just in time" inventories are probably even less on time in this economy.

[Coder68]

Dell's definition of pre production is "getting the parts". ;)
My 15n is in production - "being built" :D (At least I hope so!)

C68

[Coder68]

My 15n just got pushed back to 7/1/09. ](*,)

C68

[Benboom]

I was just on the Dell website, but I didn't have a link for the 15n (I wasn't at home). It's impossible for a mortal to find it. Every search I did (15n, Ubuntu, linux, Inspiron 15n) gave me results that took me to the 15, not the 15n. If you go to the 15 page there is no option for Ubuntu and the base price is $349 (because it comes with XP, naturally). It's as though they were hiding it. While I do know there is a page for the 15n besides the "build it" page, it sure isn't something they want you to find easily. Seems pretty clear they aren't pushing it hard.

I find it dismaying; I want to like this unit, but the fact is, it comes from a company I don't have a lot of respect for which keeps moving the arrival date back. Doesn't mean I wouldn't buy one, but I'm going to need to hear some stories about people that actually receive their units after ordering them without delays, and with good feedback to boot.

I had planned to buy one by now as my wife wants a new laptop. I'm starting to look at other options much more seriously, though.

[Coder68]

Goto www.dell.com
Do a search in the upper right corner for Ubuntu
Click on the first link that shows up. *Ubuntu logo* Dell Open Source for Home and Home office
Scroll down on the new page and click Shop for Ubuntu button
The 15n is the first item listed.

Or, just click http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

C68

[themrfreeze]

To find them, just go to:

http://www.dell.com/ubuntu

As for the delays, it took about 2.5 weeks for mine to show up. There have been a few rather well publicized sales on the 15n lately (including the one that coaxed me into placing an order), which probably explains the long production delays.

It was worth the wait...this is a VERY decent machine for the money. It may have the nicest feeling keyboard of any laptop I've owned, including ThinkPads and a myriad of Apple PowerBooks/MacBooks. I'm a system admin and have supported Dells for many years, and I can't really complain much about them. A few issues here and there, but overall the quality of the product and the support have been acceptable.

[Coder68]

If I get mine by the 1st, it will be a few days shy of a month since ordered it.

C68

[tmountain]

Just ordered one. The estimated delivery is 18 days from now. Oh well... it'll be worth the wait. I opted for the dual core T4200 processor. I'm curious how many logical processors it shows up as under /proc/cpuinfo. Are they hyperthreaded (giving 4 CPU), or just two dedicated cores? No big deal either way, just curious.

[BungaDunga]

Does anyone know if the WLED screen is a good idea to select? Supposedly it's brighter and sucks less battery than a normal backlight (which makes sense given it's LEDs). But it seems like it could be a bit of a gimmick.

Has anyone managed to get hibernate working with 9.04? I'm not worried about immediately upgrading to 9.04, but I'm sure I'll be using hibernate quite often and I'd like to not be stuck at 8 while versions wander up to 10 and beyond.

[KewlEugene]

Does anyone know if the WLED screen is a good idea to select? Supposedly it's brighter and sucks less battery than a normal backlight (which makes sense given it's LEDs). But it seems like it could be a bit of a gimmick.

Has anyone managed to get hibernate working with 9.04? I'm not worried about immediately upgrading to 9.04, but I'm sure I'll be using hibernate quite often and I'd like to not be stuck at 8 while versions wander up to 10 and beyond.

I ordered a 15n on 6/15, EDD 7/2. I selected WLED cuz WLED is bright on the Fujitsu P8010 I'm using now.

[sjhook]

Hi,

I have 9.04 on my 15n and hibernate and suspend work fine. HOWEVER, if you do an upgrade hibernate will not work. The problem is the video player that dell provides. If you uninstall that then hibernate does work. I posted about this and some else checked it and got the same result. There are lots of other video viewing packages available for ubuntu. If you have problems with certain formats look into the restricted extras package. In addition on the dell video cd other codecs are included as separate packages (double-click them to install them).

I got the brigher screen option and it works great (v. bright). Bright and glossy.

Enjoy!

S.

[BungaDunga]

Hi,

I have 9.04 on my 15n and hibernate and suspend work fine. HOWEVER, if you do an upgrade hibernate will not work. The problem is the video player that dell provides. If you uninstall that then hibernate does work. I posted about this and some else checked it and got the same result. There are lots of other video viewing packages available for ubuntu. If you have problems with certain formats look into the restricted extras package. In addition on the dell video cd other codecs are included as separate packages (double-click them to install them).

I got the brigher screen option and it works great (v. bright). Bright and glossy.

Enjoy!

S.

Okay, very cool- I'm perfectly happy removing it. Sounds like a great deal overall, and I have a spare XP license lying around anyway if I need it.

[Coder68]

The laptop should die before the WLED gives out. So that makes it worth it right there.

The CFL (older) style can die in a few years, and are a pain to replace.

C68

[superm1]

Hi,

I have 9.04 on my 15n and hibernate and suspend work fine. HOWEVER, if you do an upgrade hibernate will not work. The problem is the video player that dell provides. If you uninstall that then hibernate does work. I posted about this and some else checked it and got the same result. There are lots of other video viewing packages available for ubuntu. If you have problems with certain formats look into the restricted extras package. In addition on the dell video cd other codecs are included as separate packages (double-click them to install them).

I got the brigher screen option and it works great (v. bright). Bright and glossy.

Enjoy!

S.
FWIW, you just need to remove one script in /etc/pm-utils/sleep.d rather than the whole player to fix hibernate.

[bowadoyle]

I'm looking at this PC for Ubuntu only. Is it worth getting the fastest processor for the Dell 15N? Am I wasting my money for getting 4 gb?

Also, I like the Dell menu system. If I update to the newest Ubuntu OS, will I loss their menu system? If so, how can I upgrade and save the current menu system?

Thanks

[bowadoyle]

Personally, with the one I ordered, I decided to stay with the celeron, I will be doing nothing cpu intensive, cruizing the net and runescaping will be the hardest thing it will see.
.

How much RAM did you buy I'm in the same boat as you, I plan to use this laptop to serv the web, email and minor spreadsheets.

[Coder68]

Save some money and stick with the 2 gigs. It should be more then enough for surfing the net and other basic task. Even if you decide you want more, you can buy a 2 gig stick from Crucial or Corsair for way less. I looked on newegg for matched memory to the Dell 1545, and it was going for about $25.00. That would give you 3 gig, and you wont be able to use much more then that anyway. (Typicaly 3.2-3.3 gig is the max in a 32bit system.)

The fastest processor they offer is a Core 2 Duo at 2.2 for a huge jump in price. I stuck with the Core 2 duo 2.0. I have a laptop with a Core 2 Duo 1.6 and 3 gigs of Ram running Vista, Kaspersky Internet Security, and a few other always on apps, and I have no speed issues. I use this laptop to do EVERYTHING but my video editing. If Vista can run smooth on a Core 2 Duo 1.6, the Ubuntu should run great on a Core 2 Duo 2.0. I opted for the Core 2 Duo over the Pentium Dual core due to the fact that Core 2 Duo is much easier on the battery.

C68

[deenpac]

I ordered mine on the 8th and received it today (20th). Still charging battery, so can't tell you battery life. Here is what I ordered $543 total:

Inspiron 1545, Intel Pentium Dual Core T4200, 2.0GHz, 800Mhz, 1M L2 Cache
Jet Black
2GB, DDR2, 800MHz 2 Dimm
Bright, Glossy, widescreen 15.6 inch display (1366x768)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
160G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Ubuntu Notebooks Edition 8.10 w/ Multimedia Playback
Integrated Gigabit (10/100/1000) Network Card forXPS 1340
8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive
Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0
Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini Card
Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam
9-cell Primary Battery
Cargo Laptop Sleeve

Here is where I need you guys!!

I am a complete Linux newbie. I come from Mac (although I have used Windows a lot). I WANT to love Linux.

But - I cannot get my WEP 26 secured network to work. There isn't even an option for WEP26!!

Please help me!!!

Thank you in advance for making me a Linux lover. :~)

-deenpac

[OooBuntuRox]

Hello Everyone,

I have a question about the Inspiron 15n WLED option. How do you know if you actually got it? How do you identify it ?!! I mean other than a slip of paper from dell... Can you look in the bios, etc? Anyone have any pics posted that show the two options side by side?

Hello Ubuntu... :popcorn: !!!
Goodbye to the same old "Non-Mac-competitor" headaches :lolflag:
Thanks!

[lnxnut]

Hello Everyone,

I have a question about the Inspiron 15n WLED option. How do you know if you actually got it? How do you identify it ?!! I mean other than a slip of paper from dell... Can you look in the bios, etc? Anyone have any pics posted that show the two options side by side?

Hello Ubuntu... :popcorn: !!!
Goodbye to the same old "Non-Mac-competitor" headaches :lolflag:
Thanks!


botulismo took a great picture of his laptop compared to his regular monitor on his desktop, post #17 on page 2 of this topic, he has a link there.

[Coder68]

deenpac, (http://ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=859971)

I ordered mine on the 6th... and still have not gotten mine. I have the same laptop you have - the cam and 9 cell battery. Now I am PO'd at Dell. How is it I ordered before you and still do not have mine! :confused:

I am calling them on Monday.

On a more peacful note... glad to hear you got yours! :) Please give us a heads up one what you find out! Can you see if you can get Backtrack to run? I saw that someone else was unable to.

Thanks,

C68

[jtayl22]

The Inspiron 15n looks good and the price is right! Can someone tell me if it has video out? VGA or HDMI?

[jtayl22]

Just ordered one. The estimated delivery is 18 days from now. Oh well... it'll be worth the wait. I opted for the dual core T4200 processor. I'm curious how many logical processors it shows up as under /proc/cpuinfo. Are they hyperthreaded (giving 4 CPU), or just two dedicated cores? No big deal either way, just curious.

Looks like neither the T4200 nor T6400 support Hyper-Threading, so just dual-core for the upgrades and single-core for the Celeron.
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=37251
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=40479

[OooBuntuRox]

botulismo took a great picture of his laptop compared to his regular monitor on his desktop, post #17 on page 2 of this topic, he has a link there.

Thanks that was helpful. I appreciate your response.
I am still searching for a little more if anyone else knows how to verify the WLED screen. Like maybe in the bios? Anyone else know anything?

[OooBuntuRox]

The Inspiron 15n looks good and the price is right! Can someone tell me if it has video out? VGA or HDMI?

I agree about the price. You can't beat that with a stick! \\:D/

For Video, mine only has a VGA out. Ports are very basic... Just Like the price (basic low price) :D. If that disappoints you, just remember, for about the same price you could have had a netbook with an atom processor:roll:

The manuals are rather lame. They only mention Windows (not Ubuntu). Still, you may like to check these links:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1545/en/index.htm

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-1545?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Here's a tip: If you can't find info under inspiron 15n, try a search for the inspiron 1545. That s what came up on the "customize it" summary. And is also how I found the link to the manual. The Dell-Tech I "chat" with even had a tough time finding it. More like we stumbled onto the info rather than "found" it. One tech even told me that "Dell does not offer a laptop with Ubuntu". Then he thanked me when I sent him the link. Seems even Dell Techs are surprised by this deal.

Enjoy it while it lasts. At least you don't have to pay for (then throw away) Vista. I have a hunch that Dell sales have dipped for now. Perhaps when windows 7 comes out, this deal will disappear.

[OooBuntuRox]

Battery Charger Light: Does anyone know what the battery charger LED colors indicate?

Basically I want to know what color is the LED when the battery has a Full charge.

I've heard of blinking amber, blinking red, solid amber, solid red, solid blue, solid green. Anyone have a clue?

Thanks.

[deenpac]

deenpac, (http://ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=859971)

I ordered mine on the 6th... and still have not gotten mine. I have the same laptop you have - the cam and 9 cell battery. Now I am PO'd at Dell. How is it I ordered before you and still do not have mine! :confused:

I am calling them on Monday.

On a more peacful note... glad to hear you got yours! :) Please give us a heads up one what you find out! Can you see if you can get Backtrack to run? I saw that someone else was unable to.

Thanks,

C68

Coder! Ooh, bummer. Did you order a fancy color or something?

Okay, I got the 2 issues that I was having fixed!! I am now wireless (took 4 hours to figure out) AND have a working skype (took 5 hours to figure out). Not bad for a complete newbie.

I am all the smarter for it!

So far it looks like about 5 full hours on a full 9cell charge. The screen is nice and bright but, like another poster said - how would I really know if I got the screen I paid for? Hmmm....

Only 2 things I would complain about so far - the glossy black of the inside of the computer are fingerprint heaven. And there is now lock for the lid. I can see where this may pose a problem with catching on something and ripping the hinges.

So far, as I am getting slowly used to Linux- I can say that I am happy with it. I am used to Mac, but this is quick and utilitarian. :P

[Coder68]

Deenpac,

I have the same laptop you have, except no camera or 9 cell battery.

I ordered a stock system except for the Core 2 Duo 2.0, 6 Cell battery and the WLED screen.

Deenpac, can you see if you can figure out how to boot backtrack. I will need this for part of my security training! Thanks!

C68

[KewlEugene]

Has anyone tried Sprint/EVDO on their 15n ?

My 15n is coming on 7/2. Currently I use a Fujitsu P8010 / XP, Sprint/EVDO with Sierra Wireless 595 PCMCIA card. I see many Novatel EX720 Expresscard's on eBay for real cheap and was thinking of buying that for the 15n.

[cattlebaron]

I was about to order the 15n, but then I noticed that they speak of the Wi-Fi card is a mini half card. I get the impression that the Wi-Fi is not built in. Is this true? This is my first laptop, so I need help.

Thanks

[Ginsu_Squirrel]

Can someone post the output of lspci -nnk?

Thanks.

[Coder68]

While I do not have my 15n yet, I can say that the 1545 does not have an express or PCcard slot. At least not the ones at Best Buy.

I have a customer who uses the 1545 with a USB Sprint air card device to get her internet anywhere she is.

I saw a picture of the wifi half card on Dell.com. It looks like an internal only card. As I said above, I saw no place to put any card, other then memory cards like SD, in the 1545's at Best Buy.

I hope this helps.

C68

[Knowle]

I have an N network at home and I thought about getting the regular Inspiron 15 that came with Vista/XP so I'm able to change the wireless card from the Dell Wireless 1397 G to the Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11 Wireless-N Mini Card. Does anyone know if the Intel WiFi Link 5100 will work with Ubuntu out of the box? And does anyone know if the Dell 1397 is broadcom or atheros based?

[midwesterndirt]

My order is supposedly on its way.

FYI, my research has found that the Dual Core Pentium is exactly the same as the Core 2 Duo, only with half the L2 cache. The are both Penryn processors and have the same clock speed. While the extra cache is nice, $50 may not be worth it for someone trying to build an inexpensive notebook. The T4200 gives you the same power and quality as the T6400, but without the Core 2 sticker and the extra cache that you probably won't notice much on a machine like this. I'm not sure if that's already been mentioned, but I thought I would say it anyway.

[cattlebaron]

I was about to order the 15n, but then I noticed that they speak of the Wi-Fi card is a mini half card. I get the impression that the Wi-Fi is not built in. Is this true? This is my first laptop, so I need help.

Thanks


I just spoke to Dell. They assured me that the Wi-Fi is built in. They really don't give much of a description online.

[hfoster]

I am thinking of getting my son (10th grader next September) a laptop for taking notes in class. We are a Macintosh family (4 of 'em in the house right now) but can't justify the price for a Macbook. I don't want to have to deal with Windows and have been looking at Linux options. The Dell Inspiron 15n looks like a good deal at $300USD. I was considering the Dell Mini 12 netbook but understand that its video hardware is not really compatible with standard Ubuntu and I don't want to be dependent on Dell to support a custom version of open source software.

My questions for this forum:
1. I'm guessing that the standard Celeron processor will be more than adequate for Ubuntu, OpenOffice, and web surfing - can anyone confirm that?
2. Given that my son will be using the laptop in several classes through the day, I'm thinking that upgrading to the 9-cell battery might be worth the money. What do you think?
3. I will get the screen upgrade. Are there any other upgrades that I should consider, given the machine's intended usage?
4. What is the learning curve for installing/administering Ubuntu like? I take care of the family's Macs, and developed software on BSD Unix for many years, but have no Linux experience at all.
5. Are there any other things I should know or think about in making this decision?

Thanks so much, this looks like a great forum!

[themrfreeze]

Can someone post the output of lspci -nnk?

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub [8086:2a40] (rev 07)
Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
Kernel modules: intel-agp
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a42] (rev 07)
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a43] (rev 07)
00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:2937] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1a.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 [8086:2938] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1a.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 [8086:2939] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1a.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 [8086:293c] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:293e] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:2940] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 [8086:2942] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 3 [8086:2944] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1c.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 5 [8086:2948] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:2934] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:2935] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:2936] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 [8086:293a] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev 93)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller [8086:2919] (rev 03)
Kernel modules: iTCO_wdt
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller [8086:2929] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: ahci
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller [8086:2930] (rev 03)
Kernel modules: i2c-i801
09:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller [11ab:4354] (rev 13)
Kernel driver in use: sky2
Kernel modules: sky2
0c:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
Kernel driver in use: wl
Kernel modules: wl

[themrfreeze]

I was about to order the 15n, but then I noticed that they speak of the Wi-Fi card is a mini half card. I get the impression that the Wi-Fi is not built in. Is this true? This is my first laptop, so I need help.

Thanks

Well, I'm sitting here in my La-Z-Boy with my new Inspiron 15n, writing this while connected to our 802.11G network. So yes, it has WiFi built-in. :)

I'll also add that I could not get this to work with my old Apple Airport "snow" base station. I figured it might be because the AirPort was 802.11B only, and the card in the Inspiron said it was "G", not "B/G". So I bought a new 802.11G base, and it works just fine.

[Coder68]

themrfreeze,

Are you using WPA2 on that G network?

Thanks,

C68

[themrfreeze]

My questions for this forum:
1. I'm guessing that the standard Celeron processor will be more than adequate for Ubuntu, OpenOffice, and web surfing - can anyone confirm that?

You might want to spring for the dual Pentium option. The Celeron is a low-end processor, and you may end up being disappointed with it. It's kind of like the way the MacBook Air's processor is inferior to the MacBooks, only worse.

2. Given that my son will be using the laptop in several classes through the day, I'm thinking that upgrading to the 9-cell battery might be worth the money. What do you think?

I have the 4-cell battery, and it's only good for 90 minutes or so. A higher capacity battery wouldn't be a bad idea for a student who'll be using the machine on-and-off all day.

3. I will get the screen upgrade. Are there any other upgrades that I should consider, given the machine's intended usage?

I have the "base" screen on mine, and I think it's perfectly fine. It's on-par with the screen on my 2 year old 17" MacBook Pro. As for other upgrades, I think the default 2GB of RAM and 160GB hard drive are plenty.

4. What is the learning curve for installing/administering Ubuntu like? I take care of the family's Macs, and developed software on BSD Unix for many years, but have no Linux experience at all.

I'm a systems admin by trade, and was a Mac user from 1992 until last August when I made the switch (I still use OSX at work and admin 100+ Macs). There's definitely a learning curve to dealing with Linux, as you'll need to delve into the command line more than with OSX. However, Linux is far more customizable than OSX, so things balance out.

I would equate the difference to that of driving an automatic (OSX) vs. a manual transmission (Linux). OSX is generally easier to use, but once you figure out the basics of Linux, you'll probably have more fun with it and won't want to go back. :) Buying the Inspiron with Linux pre-installed makes things a LOT easier though...I installed Ubuntu myself on my first Linux laptop (a Thinkpad), and it took a fair amount of effort to get things working properly.

5. Are there any other things I should know or think about in making this decision?

Yes...it's a worthwhile thing to do (IMHO anyway). You can find software that'll do pretty much everything you need to get done, you'll get all the help you need from this forum, and you'll have paid 1/3 the cost of the cheapest MacBook.

[themrfreeze]

themrfreeze,

Are you using WPA2 on that G network?



Yes I am, though I did need to "unhide" my SSID to get it working.

[juan reyna]

do you guys know if bluetooth works on this laptop using ubuntu

[Knowle]

Ordered mine a few hours ago. Just upgraded to a Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.0GHz, the WLED screen and the 6 cell battery. It's suppose to arrive on or before 7/8.

[Coder68]

Yes I am, though I did need to "unhide" my SSID to get it working.

Security by obscurity is not really good security, but it does add another layer. In otherwords, hiding your SSID only keeps it hidden from people who have no intrest in finding it. (In Securit+ they list that as a security measure.) But anyone who really wants to find any hidden SSID's will be using a tool that can find them.

C68

[themrfreeze]

Security by obscurity is not really good security, but it does add another layer. In otherwords, hiding your SSID only keeps it hidden from people who have no intrest in finding it.

True, but every little bit helps. I have all of the other security options implemented on my wifi network, so unhiding it wasn't really that big of a concern.

Besides, all of the unprotected networks in our neighborhood make easier targets. :)

[bigkahuna]

I'm seriously thinking about getting one of these for my wife. The problem is that she's only used Windoze so I'm not 100% sure she'll take to Linux. I've used Linux (mostly Ubuntu) off and on for a couple years, so I'm not worried about maintaining it for her. I'll also be installing Firefox, Thunderbird, Open Office and Gimp for her, all apps that are Linux native, so that shouldn't be a problem. My questions are these:

1. Has anyone successfully installed XP on this machine? Not that I want to, but if she hates Ubuntu I'll have to install it for her.

2. Any problems playing commercial video DVD's? She uses her computer to play some exercise DVD's and whatever I get her will have to do this also.

Many thanks in advance for your help! :)

[Coder68]

themrfreeze,

Yeah, it does help. Like I said, it adds another layer.

Do you use RADIUS?

bigkahuna,

I have not installed XP but the laptop is a 1545 and you can get drivers for XP and Vista.

C68

[themrfreeze]

themrfreeze,

Yeah, it does help. Like I said, it adds another layer.

Do you use RADIUS?

C68

For three computers? No. :)

[bigkahuna]

Thanks Code68, read your post, talked to the wife and pulled the trigger on the 15n. Dell says it will be delivered 7/14. Cool.

[Coder68]

You are welcome bigkahuna!

Well my 15n is here!!!

After plugging it in, I booted it up and set up then took a spin. I then started the rescue meida and while it was building, I connected to my wireless network. The network kept dropping and reconnecting even though it has 100% signal strength. So I go to take a look and the CD starts to burn. I open the properties of the connection and UBUNTU FROZE! ](*,) I am posting this on my Vista laptop.

I am waiting for the burn to finish (I hope) to see if it comes back to life. (It did not, I had to do a hard restart.) Does Linux have a ctrl-alt-del equvilent? <--- still wondering about this one.

Anyone else get a connect-disconnect every 15 or so seconds on their wifi? (Reboot fixed this, at least so far.)

C68

[delogren]

Yes!

We were out of town last weekend and arrived home on Monday to find that FedEx had attempted a delivery on Saturday. Tuesday, there it was. But that, of course, was the day that the phone line, DSL, and our WIFI went down... So the fun had begun...

That repaired, I finally got to work last night. Given other commitments, progress has been slow, but good. I got Firefox working and hooked to my home page. I got Thunderbird working and was able to send and receive email. But then....

I installed GCC. "hello.c" compiled without complaint and it created an a.out file. Fine. Typing "a.out" on the command line produced a "not found" message. So I typed "./a.out". That produced a "not executable" message. So I did a "sudo chmod 777 a.out". That seemed to work. But then typing "./a.out" produced something about how bash can't execute a binary file.....

What am I missing here?

Or should I be asking this on another forum in this group?

--del

[Coder68]

Del,

I think that you will want to post that in a programming or some other thread. This thread is about the 15n in general terms.

Good luck,

C68

[Coder68]

bigkahuna,

I just played one of my Firefly DVD''s on my 15n and it plays just fine in Power DVD.

Also, about XP and Vista, during a chat with a rep they also told me you could put them on the 15n using the 1545 drivers.

This post was via the 15n! :popcorn:

I just did a check for updates, and it says there are 801 updates!! Did anyone else have this many right after first boot???

C68

[RedRat]

Coder68
As to ctrl-alt-del, the equivalent in Ubuntu is ctrl-alt-backspace.

As to the 804 updates, which version came with the 15n, it sounds like your machine came with either 8.04 or 8.10. That would be about right for 8.04 or so.

[ericmc783]

I am interested in ordering one of these. Thanks for the reports and continued updates all!

[delogren]

Dang! I'm lovin' this thing!

This post is from the new 15N!

Tonight I got the Firefox "favorites" list, and the Thunderbird email address book transferred to Ubuntu!

So, hello world from my 15N!

Now if I could just get a.out to run...

--del

[Coder68]

RedRat,

Thanks for the info on ctrl-alt-backspace. The 15n ships with 8.10 currently, and that is what I have. I got all the updates but I get warning each time I run the update manager.

W: GPG error: http://ppa.launchpad.net intrepid Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 8B9FBE5158B3AFA9

I uunderstand PKI so I understand why the error is happening in terms of PKI. What I don't know is why there is no public key for this site.

Any thoughts?

C68

[delogren]

It keeps geting better....

This afternoon I brought the 15n out on the shady side of the house and fired it up. I wanted to see whether the bright display was worth the money. Yes! This thing is much better than my wife's Toshiba.

But... Out here in all the noise. I can barely hear the audio coming from web sites. I've got the volume maxed out every where I can find. Am I missing something? Or am I gonna have to break down and buy an amp?

--del

[Coder68]

Sound is one of the common complaints for the Inspiron series. My only suggestion is headphones or external speakers.

C68

[ericmc783]

Have you tinkered with the Alsa settings in the terminal?

[Benboom]

Now the preliminary shipping date on these is 7/14. I guess you just figure that whenever you order it it's going to take between two and three weeks; is that typical of Dell?

[Secrest]

I thought I saw this the other day but searched and can't find it. If I order the 15n and want to upgrade the wireless G to N myself, could I do that? If so, does anyone know how it's done?

[Coder68]

The only wy of getting wireless n on this laptop would be to either tear apart the laptop and put in a half n card (If that is even possible) or

Get a USB wireless adapter.

C68

[midwesterndirt]

I finally received mine and here are my impressions after a week or so of use:

PROS:

-Installs and runs Ubuntu 9.04 with no problems
-Good value for the money.
-Decent battery life (with the 6-cell anyway)
-Bright screen (almost too bright, but you can dim it easily)
-Sturdy, high quality keyboard.
-SD card slot on the front (haven't really tested yet)
-Small power supply (hopefully this is a good thing and will not cause power problems later in its life)

CONS:
-It's way too shiny. HP really fueled this trend in recent years and it needs to stop. Shiny black laptops are meant as eye candy for Best Buy shoppers, but it's a terrible idea. This thing gets really dirty, and fast. Make sure to keep a soft cloth around if you want it stay clean.
-The touchpad is barely recessed at all, making it somewhat difficult to find it with your finger when you're looking at the screen.
-Wifi signal seems to be a bit weaker than on other laptops
-Audio ports are on the front. I don't know why some manufacturers do this, but it's a really stupid place to put them.
-While somewhat sturdy, some parts feel cheap/loose, like the disc drive and the whole top half, which I could probably break in half with my bare hands.
-Intel graphics seem to struggle with full screen video and compiz, as they are choppy and slow. I saw a thread here in the forums about this with solutions, so I may try that.

OTHER:
-Interestingly, functions key roles have been swapped. Normally, you need to hold a function activation key, and then the "F" keys to do things like dime the screen, adjust volume, toggle wifi, etc. On this model, those secondary functions are now the primary for these keys, and you must hold down an activation key to use the "F" keys. While this seems like a good idea, because I think many notebook owners would use the laptop-specific functions more frequently, I have noticed that theses keys being accidentally typed will cause unexpected fluctuations in screen brightness and volume. My wife accidentally turned off the wifi and couldn't figure out why she couldn't connect to our wireless router. I don't know if this is a problem for most people, but I suspect not.
-The screen has an odd aspect ratio, which is much higher than most people are used to. 1366x768 is an odd size and results in a very wide screen. It's not really a problem, just something to note as it takes some getting used to.
-Power connector is not circular. I've never seen one that is polygonal, but here it is. Not a con, but it still a little loose from the notebook, so I'm not sure what the motivation was to make it like this.

That's all I can think of for now. My wife really seems to like it though, so I think the average user would, too.

[superm1]

I finally received mine and here are my impressions after a week or so of use:

PROS:

-Installs and runs Ubuntu 9.04 with no problems
-Good value for the money.
-Decent battery life (with the 6-cell anyway)
-Bright screen (almost too bright, but you can dim it easily)
-Sturdy, high quality keyboard.
-SD card slot on the front (haven't really tested yet)
-Small power supply (hopefully this is a good thing and will not cause power problems later in its life)

CONS:
-It's way too shiny. HP really fueled this trend in recent years and it needs to stop. Shiny black laptops are meant as eye candy for Best Buy shoppers, but it's a terrible idea. This thing gets really dirty, and fast. Make sure to keep a soft cloth around if you want it stay clean.
-The touchpad is barely recessed at all, making it somewhat difficult to find it with your finger when you're looking at the screen.
-Wifi signal seems to be a bit weaker than on other laptops
-Audio ports are on the front. I don't know why some manufacturers do this, but it's a really stupid place to put them.
-While somewhat sturdy, some parts feel cheap/loose, like the disc drive and the whole top half, which I could probably break in half with my bare hands.
-Intel graphics seem to struggle with full screen video and compiz, as they are choppy and slow. I saw a thread here in the forums about this with solutions, so I may try that.

OTHER:
-Interestingly, functions key roles have been swapped. Normally, you need to hold a function activation key, and then the "F" keys to do things like dime the screen, adjust volume, toggle wifi, etc. On this model, those secondary functions are now the primary for these keys, and you must hold down an activation key to use the "F" keys. While this seems like a good idea, because I think many notebook owners would use the laptop-specific functions more frequently, I have noticed that theses keys being accidentally typed will cause unexpected fluctuations in screen brightness and volume. My wife accidentally turned off the wifi and couldn't figure out why she couldn't connect to our wireless router. I don't know if this is a problem for most people, but I suspect not.

Totally configurable in the BIOS


-The screen has an odd aspect ratio, which is much higher than most people are used to. 1366x768 is an odd size and results in a very wide screen. It's not really a problem, just something to note as it takes some getting used to.
-Power connector is not circular. I've never seen one that is polygonal, but here it is. Not a con, but it still a little loose from the notebook, so I'm not sure what the motivation was to make it like this.

You can still use the circular plugs and any other legacy plugs from Dell laptops on it.

[RedRat]

The 1366x768 dimension is the HD wide screen 16:9 ratio. Obviously intended for watching HD programs maybe??? Your review makes me very tempted to buy one.

[cattlebaron]

I finally received mine and here are my impressions after a week or so of use:

PROS:

-Installs and runs Ubuntu 9.04 with no problems
-Good value for the money.
-Decent battery life (with the 6-cell anyway)
-Bright screen (almost too bright, but you can dim it easily)
-Sturdy, high quality keyboard.
-SD card slot on the front (haven't really tested yet)
-Small power supply (hopefully this is a good thing and will not cause power problems later in its life)

CONS:
-It's way too shiny. HP really fueled this trend in recent years and it needs to stop. Shiny black laptops are meant as eye candy for Best Buy shoppers, but it's a terrible idea. This thing gets really dirty, and fast. Make sure to keep a soft cloth around if you want it stay clean.
-The touchpad is barely recessed at all, making it somewhat difficult to find it with your finger when you're looking at the screen.
-Wifi signal seems to be a bit weaker than on other laptops
-Audio ports are on the front. I don't know why some manufacturers do this, but it's a really stupid place to put them.
-While somewhat sturdy, some parts feel cheap/loose, like the disc drive and the whole top half, which I could probably break in half with my bare hands.
-Intel graphics seem to struggle with full screen video and compiz, as they are choppy and slow. I saw a thread here in the forums about this with solutions, so I may try that.

OTHER:
-Interestingly, functions key roles have been swapped. Normally, you need to hold a function activation key, and then the "F" keys to do things like dime the screen, adjust volume, toggle wifi, etc. On this model, those secondary functions are now the primary for these keys, and you must hold down an activation key to use the "F" keys. While this seems like a good idea, because I think many notebook owners would use the laptop-specific functions more frequently, I have noticed that theses keys being accidentally typed will cause unexpected fluctuations in screen brightness and volume. My wife accidentally turned off the wifi and couldn't figure out why she couldn't connect to our wireless router. I don't know if this is a problem for most people, but I suspect not.
-The screen has an odd aspect ratio, which is much higher than most people are used to. 1366x768 is an odd size and results in a very wide screen. It's not really a problem, just something to note as it takes some getting used to.
-Power connector is not circular. I've never seen one that is polygonal, but here it is. Not a con, but it still a little loose from the notebook, so I'm not sure what the motivation was to make it like this.

That's all I can think of for now. My wife really seems to like it though, so I think the average user would, too.


Did you actually receive a 15n, or a 1545? My order now reads 1545. I don't know if there is a difference. I tried to call Dell, but, after an hour of being passed around, I gave up. Besides that, I don't speak Swaheli. On top of all that, my order was shipped to Florida, rather than Texas.

I have made my last online purchase from Dell.

[cattlebaron]

Dang! I'm lovin' this thing!

This post is from the new 15N!

Tonight I got the Firefox "favorites" list, and the Thunderbird email address book transferred to Ubuntu!

So, hello world from my 15N!

Now if I could just get a.out to run...

--del
Did you actually receive the 15n? It looks like Dell has changed my order to 1545.

[midwesterndirt]

Totally configurable in the BIOS

You can still use the circular plugs and any other legacy plugs from Dell laptops on it.

These weren't cons, but regardless of how you can get around them, they are still really weird defaults.

The 1366x768 dimension is the HD wide screen 16:9 ratio. Obviously intended for watching HD programs maybe??? Your review makes me very tempted to buy one.

I only say it's weird because I've never seen it before on a laptop, but then again, I don't go out buying laptops every few months, so I wouldn't really know. HD videos do look perfectly scaled on the screen, but they are choppy.

Did you actually receive a 15n, or a 1545? My order now reads 1545. I don't know if there is a difference. I tried to call Dell, but, after an hour of being passed around, I gave up. Besides that, I don't speak Swaheli. On top of all that, my order was shipped to Florida, rather than Texas.

I have made my last online purchase from Dell.

My order said 1545, as well. It's the same model basically. Differences, of course, being Ubuntu, lower available specs and a weird "n series" sticker below the keyboard.

[Coder68]

The 15n is the 1545... per a chat I had with Dell.

Pros:

- Good value for the money
- Very bright screen.
- Screen quality is fantastic
- Solid and very nice keyboard
- 3 hours 20 minutes of life on a 6 cell battery
- Comes with Ubuntu but XP, Vista and Windows 7 can be installed
- Comes with 2 gigs, plenty for Ubuntu
- Card reader
- Wireless is way better then my Gateway

Cons:

- Piano black finish - knew it, dealing with it
- WEAK speakers - use haedphones
- Mic and headphone connction is in the front - buy a right angle adapter
- No CAPS lock indicatorFine until you use Vi - found a program to show the caps status
- Toucpad is to touchy. While typing if you bump the touch pad it will cause your window to lose focus and wreird keyboard jumps. I HATE that but it is happening less now that I am aware of it.
- Top USB next to power ismostly unusable when plugged in. - Anything wider then a mouse plug


Neutral:

- 16:9 screen All the manufactures are going this way to save on the cost of LCD screens.
- Few or no laptop cases fit this laptop correctly - 15.4 to tight, 17 is to big
- Function keys are not the defualt (Press Fn to get them to work.)
- Better graphics card would handle full screen graphics better
- No screen latch
- No hard drive activity light
- slow pointer movement - speed it up to suit you
- Power adapter is on the side - Makes it hard to use in your lap, in a chair, a when you have to plug it in. Better then sticking straight out the back in a corner... into my knee.

Over all the cons are minor, so the pros greatly outway the cons. This is a great laptop and I highly reccommend it. :p

C68

[RedRat]

I believe that the "n" sticker and ID of a 15n is that is Dell's designation for Linux series of computers shipped with Ubuntu.

[timblack]

I really wanted to buy one of these, but I looked at its windows-based sibling at BestBuy tonight and was stunned and dismayed to find the audio out in the front. :shock: I've decided this is a dealbreaker for me, as it probably is for anyone who plans to hook this thing up to external speakers. Who wants a wire wrapped all the way around the laptop? Also, holding it in your lap with headphones plugged in could be pretty jabby, even with a right angle connector.

It seems like there is plenty of room on either sides of this laptop for another audio jack. I'll keep telling myself that the placement was caused by EMC issues and it wasn't just aesthetics.

Great deal, though, otherwise.

[OooBuntuRox]

Did you actually receive the 15n? It looks like Dell has changed my order to 1545.


I ordered the 15n and have 1545 listed on the invoice. It has an "N" sticker on it. I suspect that N merely stands for something like "NON-Windows model", "No-Charge" Operating System, or "No-Support OS". My guess is that all the Laptop chassis in the 15xx series are the same basic chassis. Watch what happens when you do an upgrade, parts search on the dell site. Muliple models are listed as being compatible with the part.

[OooBuntuRox]

Hello everyone,

I need help with the 15n wireless security setup. Am using a lynksys router. If this questions is too advanced, does anyone have a link to the forum for the 15n in the wireless forum here? I am still stumbling around this site so pointers, directions to, roadsigns, seeing-eye dogs, are appreciated!

I can connect without security. I am trying to configure WPA2 Personal with TKIP & AES.

THANKS! OooBuntuRox:guitar:

[OooBuntuRox]

I really wanted to buy one of these, but I looked at its windows-based sibling at BestBuy tonight and was stunned and dismayed to find the audio out in the front. :shock: I've decided this is a dealbreaker for me, as it probably is for anyone who plans to hook this thing up to external speakers. Who wants a wire wrapped all the way around the laptop? Also, holding it in your lap with headphones plugged in could be pretty jabby, even with a right angle connector.

It seems like there is plenty of room on either sides of this laptop for another audio jack. I'll keep telling myself that the placement was caused by EMC issues and it wasn't just aesthetics.

Great deal, though, otherwise.

Prior to the 15n I'd been using a USB headset and love it! ...But haven't tried the audio (usb headset) on the 15n yet. I'm guessing it will be fine for me. I think that in general, laptops have a long way to go before they could truly replace a desktop. Even on a desktop, if you want real sound, you might as well use your soundcard audio-out or line-out to an audio-in jack on a real stereo. A sound card simply won't beat a full blown stereo. A low end stereo will cost about the same as a good sound card and out-perform it by far.

[Coder68]

Timeblack,

You can spend $4 - $5 on a right angle adapter for your headphones.



OooBuntuRox,

If you create your key on the router first, do this first, then the steps under these.

1. Log into your router and find the page for your wireless security
2. Change the settings to use WPA2 with AES (It's not realy AES)
3.Type your key for WPA2 - If this is your key creation stage - make it a crazy random key

If you are going to create your key on the 15n, do this first then do the steps above

1. Click on your wireless networks icon in Ubuntu panel
2. Click on your network to connect to your network
3. You will get a prompt for your key and security type
4. Type in your key, choose the security type WPA2 and connect. If this is your key creation stage - make it a crazy random key
5. Once connected, right click on the network icon and choose edit connections
6. Click on the wireless tab
7. Highlight your network
8. Click edit
9. Put a check in the connect automaticaly box
10. Click on the wireless security tab
11. Paste in your password if need be
12. Click OK and close the other windows

I always save my key to a text file on a jumpdrive so I can easily pate it into any PC that I need to. Just delete the file when you are done.

Hope this helps.

C68

[OooBuntuRox]

Coder68,

Thanks for the speedy reply. I will check out your suggestions (as soon as possible) and post with progress/ questions as may be. :D

OooBuntuRox

[KewlEugene]

ordered the 15n on 6/15, EDD 7/2. DELL built it ahead of schedule, sent fedex, received sat 6/27, but i wasn't home, fedex doesn't deliver here on mon, so got it got the 15n today tue 6/30.

the box is marked "Dell" on the outside. the 15n looks nice, the touch pad moves the pointer slow. gotta figger out how to make pointer move faster. the LED screen is very bright like my Fuji P8010 Winpuke/XP. the 15n weighs 2x that of my P8010, wow.

now i have stopped trying out the 15n, because i'm waiting on an Sprint EVDO/3G Expresscard to the internet which will arrive later this week. i do not have wifi/adsl/cable to an isp, nor a peer trunk to the internet.

i have plenty of other stuff to do for now. will report further on the 15n later this week.

[fred.warren]

Dell is evil and charges tax on shipping!!! Is that even legal??

Depends on the state. I live in Oregon...no tax. In California if you charge your cost for shipping...no tax. If you charge more than your cost...you must charge tax.

48 other states..48 other ways to do it.

[ericmc783]

Ohio..... 6% sales tax. :mad:

[Coder68]

Look closer, and you will see the put sales tax on the shipping too!

At least they did on mine.

No other big internet site I shop at does this. Not Amazon or Newegg. If it was law in Indiana, I would think they would too.

C68

[cattlebaron]

I got mine today. It has 1545 on the bottom of the laptop and a big n below the keyboard.

I bought an extra hard drive, because I have some programs that I have to use while I am learning how to use ubuntu. Big problem: when I tried to install XP, I got the "blue screen of death". I'll see if I can find a forum somewhere that will help me with this.

[cattlebaron]

Look closer, and you will see the put sales tax on the shipping too!

At least they did on mine.

No other big internet site I shop at does this. Not Amazon or Newegg. If it was law in Indiana, I would think they would too.

C68


If they have a storefront in a state, then they have to charge sales tax. I know that they charge sales tax on shipping, but I'm not sure that it is legal. If I have time tomorrow, I'll call the Comptroller's Office and find out.

What really chaps me though, is the $39 they charged for shipping. They actually paid about $5.

[Halberd]

I got my Inspiron 15n about a week ago. I ordered the default model, except upgrading to a 9 cell battery, a webcam, and a Core 2 Duo. Overall I am happy with the purchase. However...

Today I upgraded from 8.10 to 9.04 (using the graphical upgrade method) and now suspend no longer works (it used to). When clicking suspend from the shutdown menu, the screen will fade and go black, but then it will immediately take me to the screen to unlock my session. A similar thing happens with hibernate. If I do sudo pm-suspend from the console, the command exits immediately with no output and no effect. The same happens for sudo pm-hibernate.

dell-desktop:~ halberd$ pm-is-supported --suspend ; echo $?
0
dell-desktop:~ halberd$ pm-is-supported --hibernate ; echo $?
0According to this both suspend and hibernate seem to be supported, except they don't work.

After upgrading to 9.04 I also did a sudo apt-get dist-upgrade, which upgraded my kernel.

dell-desktop:~ halberd$ uname -r
2.6.28-13-generic
The pm config directory /etc/pm/config.d/ has one file, 00sleep_module, which consists of nothing but comments.

The relevant portion of /var/log/pm-suspend.log:


(successful other things) ...
/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/01PulseAudio suspend suspend: success.
/etc/pm/sleep.d/07-stop-play.sh suspend suspend: kill: 4: Usage: kill [-s sigspec | -signum | -sigspec] [pid | job]... or
kill -l [exitstatus]
Returned exit code 2.
Thu Jul 2 05:35:29 EDT 2009: Inhibit found, will not perform suspend
Thu Jul 2 05:35:29 EDT 2009: Running hooks for resume
/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/01PulseAudio resume suspend: success.
... (successful resume)
The contents of /etc/pm/sleep.d/07-stop-play.sh:

#!/bin/sh
pid=`ps aux | awk '/PCM4\/pcm/ && !/awk/ {print $2}'`
#echo $pid
kill -14 $pid
The $pid in that case is blank. I'm not sure what I need to do to fix it.

I don't know what other diagnostics could be relevant.

[Halberd]

Hi,

I have 9.04 on my 15n and hibernate and suspend work fine. HOWEVER, if you do an upgrade hibernate will not work. The problem is the video player that dell provides. If you uninstall that then hibernate does work. I posted about this and some else checked it and got the same result. There are lots of other video viewing packages available for ubuntu. If you have problems with certain formats look into the restricted extras package. In addition on the dell video cd other codecs are included as separate packages (double-click them to install them).

I got the brigher screen option and it works great (v. bright). Bright and glossy.

Enjoy!

S.
Thanks a bunch! It's working now.

[superm1]

I got my Inspiron 15n about a week ago. I ordered the default model, except upgrading to a 9 cell battery, a webcam, and a Core 2 Duo. Overall I am happy with the purchase. However...

Today I upgraded from 8.10 to 9.04 (using the graphical upgrade method) and now suspend no longer works (it used to). When clicking suspend from the shutdown menu, the screen will fade and go black, but then it will immediately take me to the screen to unlock my session. A similar thing happens with hibernate. If I do sudo pm-suspend from the console, the command exits immediately with no output and no effect. The same happens for sudo pm-hibernate.

dell-desktop:~ halberd$ pm-is-supported --suspend ; echo $?
0
dell-desktop:~ halberd$ pm-is-supported --hibernate ; echo $?
0According to this both suspend and hibernate seem to be supported, except they don't work.

After upgrading to 9.04 I also did a sudo apt-get dist-upgrade, which upgraded my kernel.

dell-desktop:~ halberd$ uname -r
2.6.28-13-generic
The pm config directory /etc/pm/config.d/ has one file, 00sleep_module, which consists of nothing but comments.

The relevant portion of /var/log/pm-suspend.log:


(successful other things) ...
/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/01PulseAudio suspend suspend: success.
/etc/pm/sleep.d/07-stop-play.sh suspend suspend: kill: 4: Usage: kill [-s sigspec | -signum | -sigspec] [pid | job]... or
kill -l [exitstatus]
Returned exit code 2.
Thu Jul 2 05:35:29 EDT 2009: Inhibit found, will not perform suspend
Thu Jul 2 05:35:29 EDT 2009: Running hooks for resume
/usr/lib/pm-utils/sleep.d/01PulseAudio resume suspend: success.
... (successful resume)
The contents of /etc/pm/sleep.d/07-stop-play.sh:

#!/bin/sh
pid=`ps aux | awk '/PCM4\/pcm/ && !/awk/ {print $2}'`
#echo $pid
kill -14 $pid
The $pid in that case is blank. I'm not sure what I need to do to fix it.

I don't know what other diagnostics could be relevant.
There is a bug with that script that only affects 9.04 and later. You can remove the script for now and suspend should start working.

[OooBuntuRox]

Coder68,

You Really came through. Am up and running right now! The first time I tried the instructions, it failed. I finally reset the router to factory defaults and started from the beginning. For others, I might suggest adding a step 4 to part one. It would be reboot the router after saving the router settings (cycle the router power off then back on again).

Now that I understand this portion, I can explore/ test the other router options one at a time.

Thanks again! OoobuntuRox :guitar:

...



OooBuntuRox,

If you create your key on the router first, do this first, then the steps under these.

1. Log into your router and find the page for your wireless security
2. Change the settings to use WPA2 with AES (It's not realy AES)
3.Type your key for WPA2 - If this is your key creation stage - make it a crazy random key

If you are going to create your key on the 15n, do this first then do the steps above

1. Click on your wireless networks icon in Ubuntu panel
2. Click on your network to connect to your network
3. You will get a prompt for your key and security type
4. Type in your key, choose the security type WPA2 and connect. If this is your key creation stage - make it a crazy random key
5. Once connected, right click on the network icon and choose edit connections
6. Click on the wireless tab
7. Highlight your network
8. Click edit
9. Put a check in the connect automaticaly box
10. Click on the wireless security tab
11. Paste in your password if need be
12. Click OK and close the other windows

I always save my key to a text file on a jumpdrive so I can easily pate it into any PC that I need to. Just delete the file when you are done.

Hope this helps.

C68

[Coder68]

OoobuntuRox,

Glad I could help.

If you reset your router, make sure you change the defaultl log in password!!

C68

[OooBuntuRox]

Coder68,

Good point. I was on top of it. Next is to setup a hardware specific policy...

But if you have any thoughts on the best choice of open source to flash a WRT54 I'd surely appreciate it. I've seen 3 different bios versions listed for it. (Of course, I WILL backup the original first). ;)

Thanks again!
OooBuntuRox :guitar:


OoobuntuRox,

Glad I could help.

If you reset your router, make sure you change the defaultl log in password!!

C68

[themrfreeze]

Look closer, and you will see the put sales tax on the shipping too!

At least they did on mine.

No other big internet site I shop at does this.


Depends on how much the company wants to comply with each state's sales tax laws. Here in NY, shipping is considered a service, and services are taxable. NY also requires ANY company selling items over the Internet to charge NY sales tax. Amazon caved into the demand and now does it, but NewEgg, which initially started doing it, soon told NY to eff off and stopped. NY has no legal recourse to enforce it, and if they take NewEgg to court, the law would be ruled unconstitutional.

I guess that Dell, which sells so much stuff to every state, doesn't want to risk it. They charged me sales tax on the laptop AND on shipping. They called it "IVA", and I have no idea what that means.

[Knowle]

Maaan my shipping date kind of got pushed back. I ordered it on June 22 and it was originally suppose to be shipped on or by the July 8th. Yesterday I got an email saying my order had been delayed and my "revised estimated delivery date" is now july 14th. Then I got another email today saying it had been shipped so I dunno what's going on. :<

[w4ett]

Maaan my shipping date kind of got pushed back. I ordered it on June 22 and it was originally suppose to be shipped on or by the July 8th. Yesterday I got an email saying my order had been delayed and my "revised estimated delivery date" is now july 14th. Then I got another email today saying it had been shipped so I dunno what's going on. :<

Mine did the same thing....Estimated Shipping Date was Revised from July 3 to the 14th and then re-revised to the 24th...I received it on the 2nd and was advised by email that it was shipped on the 3rd??? What's up with that? Nice no-frills laptop...Glad I ordered it.

[KewlEugene]

O.K. I'v been using the 15n for a few days now. I was waiting on a Sprint EX720 EVDO Expresscard to hookup to the internet, but I found a wireless access point to use so here I am.

I installed Truecrypt very easily. I booted a Live CD and used dd_rescue to make a backup.

I found 802.11 wireless access a bit clumsy to use on Ubuntu. Found some threads on this forum to help me out. Ubuntu really needs a wireless connection manager like Win has.

I found a thread which describs a MB/s USB driver for EVDO and will try that out as soon as the EVDO card arrives later this week.

Next I will try installing Wine and try and run Maple, Nikon Digital stuff, and Photoshop CS; install LAMP.

This 15n is a real treat. It's great.

[lostthetrail]

Thanks to everyone for the great information. I have been pondering buying a 15n.

A few quick questions for anyone who has one:

Does stock wifi card (1397) require the ndiswrapper or are there native drivers for it?

Has anyone tested the performance of their 1397 in Ubuntu vs. Windows?

Keep up the great flow of information everyone!

[delogren]

Thanks to everyone for the great information. I have been pondering buying a 15n.

A few quick questions for anyone who has one:

Does stock wifi card (1397) require the ndiswrapper or are there native drivers for it?

Has anyone tested the performance of their 1397 in Ubuntu vs. Windows?

Keep up the great flow of information everyone!


I don't know about an an ndiswrapper. My 15n has no windows partition. But, the moment I fired it up, it found the household 2-Wire Wi-Fi router and I was on-line...

--del

[lostthetrail]

Does stock wifi card (1397) require the ndiswrapper or are there native drivers for it?


Turns out the Dell 1397 is the Broadcom 4312. The BCM4312 has a native linux driver.

Hazah! That made my day. My order is going in tonight.

Thanks everyone!

[rgb1701]

I just had a terrible experience with Dell and the ordering process for the Inspiron 15n.

I have been researching notebooks for the past several months as a present for my wife's birthday in August. Any notebook considered had to be fully supported natively with Linux drivers (video GPU, wifi chip, sound, etc).

I discovered the Inspiron 15n a few days ago while researching the slew of $299 eMachines and Acer notebooks being offered by Staples, Microcenter, and online vendors.

The Inspiron 15n appeared perfect- Ubuntu preloaded with all the hardware supported out of the box.

So yesterday morning, I researched and configured a 15n at the first link if you Google "dell inspiron 15n"



I was out of town on dialup internet access, and wanted to research it some more, so I waited until this morning to officially place the order.

I went to the same link above, and configured the following, after about an hour of tweaking, adding/subtracting features:

SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Inspiron 15n Qty 1
Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache), Ubuntu
Desktop Edition version 8.10
Unit Price $409.00
Catalog Number: 29 DNCWZL1
Module Description Show Details
Inspiron 15n Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
Operating System Ubuntu Desktop Edition version 8.10
System Color Jet Black
Memory 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz
LCD Panel Bright, glossy widescreen 15.6 WLED display (1366x76
Video Card Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
Hard Drive 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Network Integrated 10/100 Network Card
Combo or DVD+RW Drive 8X CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Sound High Definition Audio 2.0
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card
Camera Module Integrated 1.3 MP Webcam
Battery Options 6-cell battery
Hardware Support Services 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service
Bluetooth Option Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth Internal (2.1)

Sub total:$409.00
7% EPP discount -$28.63
Shipping & Handling $29.00
Tax $24.57
Total 1 $433.94

So far, so good. I added the above configuration to my Cart, and began checkout with no issues.

I decided to finish the order via phone in order to get an additional 7% discount via the corporate EPP program. I called 866-257-4711 and was connected to a service rep, Ernesto.

Ernesto took my personal info and connected to my Cart from the website and confirmed my configuration with no issues. Ernesto then took my address and credit card info for payment, and placed me on hold to wait for an order confirmation.

I was on hold for about 30 minutes with no response, so I decided to hang up and call the Employee Purchase number 866-257-4711 again.

I was connected to Jake, who called up my order info and told me it was still processing, and that Ernesto would call me. After another call to the 866 number and a couple of hours, Ernesto returned my call and said the order was canceled and I would have to go to the website and make a new configuration. Here is what I get now:

SYSTEM COLOR Jet Black
PROCESSOR Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Ubuntu Desktop Edition version 8.10 with 30 days of Starter support
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service edit
HD DISPLAY Bright, glossy widescreen 15.6 WLED display (1366x768 _)
MEMORY 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz
HARD DRIVE 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
VIDEO CARD Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
WIRELESS CARDS Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth Internal (2.1)
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Integrated 1.3 MP Webcam
BATTERY OPTIONS 6-cell battery edit
SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.0

for $544 plus another ~$60 for shipping and tax for a total of about $600!?

I feel scammed- the Inspiron 15n was listed with the options I configured first above for over 24 hours on a major, global retailer site, and they won't honor the configuration or price with an alternative.

I printed all the config screens and cart info to PDF's for the record.

I don't know if I could recommend Dell at this time...

[superm1]

I just had a teriible experience with Dell and the ordering process for the Inspiron 15n.

I have been researching notebooks for the past several months as a present for my wife's birthday in August. Any notebook considered had to be fully supported natively with Linux drivers (video GPU, wifi chip, sound, etc).

I discovered the Inspiron 15n a few days ago while researching the slew of $299 eMachines and Acer notebooks being offered by Staples, Microcenter, and online verndors.

The Inspiron 15n appeared perfect- Ubuntu preloaded with all the hardware supported out of the box.

So yesterday morning, I researched and configured a 15n at

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?CS=19&kc=6VAFF&oc=dncwzl1&dgc=CJ&cid=24471&lid=566643&acd=10495476-1260291-

I was out of town on dialup internet access, and wanted to research it some more, so I waited until this morning to officially place the order.

I went to the same link above, and configured the following, after about an hour of tweaking, adding/subtracting features:

SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Inspiron 15n Qty 1
Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache), Ubuntu
Desktop Edition version 8.10
Unit Price $409.00
Catalog Number: 29 DNCWZL1
Module Description Show Details
Inspiron 15n Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
Operating System Ubuntu Desktop Edition version 8.10
System Color Jet Black
Memory 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz
LCD Panel Bright, glossy widescreen 15.6 WLED display (1366x768)
Video Card Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
Hard Drive 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Network Integrated 10/100 Network Card
Combo or DVD+RW Drive 8X CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Sound High Definition Audio 2.0
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card
Camera Module Integrated 1.3 MP Webcam
Battery Options 6-cell battery
Hardware Support Services 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service
Bluetooth Option Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth Internal (2.1)

Sub total:$409.00
Shipping & Handling $29.00
Tax $26.28
Total 1 $464.28

So far, so good. I added the above configuration to my Cart, and began checkout with no issues.

I decided to finish the order via phone in order to get an additional 7% discount via the corporate EPP program. I called 866-257-4711 and was connected to a service rep, Ernesto.

Ernesto took my personal info and connected to my Cart from the website and confirmed my configuration with no issues. Ernesto then took my address and credit card info for payment, and placed me on hold to wait for an order confirmation.

I was on hold for about 30 minutes with no response, so I decided to hang up and call the Employee Purchase number 866-257-4711 again.

I was connected to Jake, who called up my order info and told me it was still processing, and that Ernesto woul call me. After another call to the 866 number and a coule of hours, Ernesto returned my call and said the order was cancelled and I would have to go to the website and make a new configuration. Here is what I get now:

SYSTEM COLOR Jet Black edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Ubuntu Desktop Edition version 8.10 with 30 days of Starter support edit
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service edit
HD DISPLAY Bright, glossy widescreen 15.6 WLED display (1366x768) edit
MEMORY 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz edit
HARD DRIVE 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) edit
VIDEO CARD Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive) edit
WIRELESS CARDS Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card edit
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth Internal (2.1) edit
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Integrated 1.3 MP Webcam edit
BATTERY OPTIONS 6-cell battery edit
SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.0

for $544 plus another ~$60 for shipping and tax for a total of about $600!?

I feel scammed- the Inspiron 15n was listed with the options I configured first above for over 24 hours on a major, global retailer site, and they claim it was in error and/or won't honor the configuration or price with an alternative.

I don't know if I could recommend Dell at this time...
Um just glancing through your order, you have 1GB extra memory and a 250 rather than 160gb hard drive. I think those definitely warrant a more expensive system do they not?

[rgb1701]

Um just glancing through your order, you have 1GB extra memory and a 250 rather than 160gb hard drive. I think those definitely warrant a more expensive system do they not?

Yes, but it's not what I ordered, and the market value of the difference in those trivial-to-upgrade components is no where near what Dell is charging.

$13.50 for 1GB DDR2 notebook memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148165

and about $10 more for a 250GB hard drive vs 160GB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150380+1309721217&QksAutoSuggestion=&Configurator=&Subcategory=380&description=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150380+1309729183&QksAutoSuggestion=&Configurator=&Subcategory=380&description=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

So, $23.50 worth of upgrades is equal to $140 ($604-$464), how?

I feel I was bait-and-switched.

[delogren]

Anyone tried to run Google Earth?

Got my mostly plain-vanilla 15n a week or so ago, and I'm lovin' it! Today I started looking at installing Google Earth on it, but found a post on a web site somewhere that reported the Linux version of GE was too slow to be useful.

I don't want to spend the time to install it if it isn't gonna work.

Is anyone running it?

--del

[themrfreeze]

Yes, but it's not what I ordered, and the market value of the difference in those trivial-to-upgrade components is no where near what Dell is charging.

So, $23.50 worth of upgrades is equal to $140 ($604-$464), how?


Have you ever custom configured a computer before? All manufacturers charge WELL above the "market value" for RAM & hard drives. It's an easy way for them to make money from people who don't know any better.

I always order the least amount of RAM/HD, then upgrade them myself once I have the machine. Not only is it cheaper than what the manufacturer charges, but I also get the extra RAM/HD to use for other things.

[aysiu]

Whoa! They just jacked up the base price from US$299 to US$479... and the Celeron processor option is gone, and the minimum RAM you can get is 3 GB.

[Knowle]

I got my 15n today around 11:30am. Made my recovery cd, charged it up and got 803 updates. Now I'm upgrading to jaunty. It's been running off battery for over 2hrs 30mins so far. Right now its at 59.0% and says it has 1hr 45mins left. This is on the 6 cell. This is my first laptop and my first dedicated linux computer. I love it. :D

[bigkahuna]

I ordered a base system (Celeron cpu plus bright screen) on 6/24 when the estimated delivery date was 7/4. After my order was processed the delivery date got pushed back to 7/14. I just got an email last night saying delivery has now been postponed until 7/24. Now I checked, and aysiu is right, the configuration I ordered is no longer available. I'm guessing Dell is having serious problems getting some of the components to build these machines and/or underestimated the demand for a cheap Linux notebook. At any rate, it doesn't cost me anything to wait and I'd be hard pressed to find another notebook for $324 ($299 plus $25 for the bright screen option).

[rgb1701]

Have you ever custom configured a computer before? All manufacturers charge WELL above the "market value" for RAM & hard drives. It's an easy way for them to make money from people who don't know any better.

I always order the least amount of RAM/HD, then upgrade them myself once I have the machine. Not only is it cheaper than what the manufacturer charges, but I also get the extra RAM/HD to use for other things.

Yes, I've custom configured PC's on sites like Dell before. Yes, I use the same strategy to configure a PC, also aware of the markup on simple items like hard drives and RAM.

The principle Dell violated is that I placed the order in good faith, configuring the same system/options/price several times over two days from separate computers using their config wizard (i.e. the configuration I specified and its price wasn't a one time "fluke"), gave them my credit card info, and then Dell proceeded to change the base price and options between the time they took my credit card info and generating an order confirmation number.

This isn't 1999 when it was common for podunk, rinky-dink web vendors to do the bait and switch and "mistaken price" scam all too often.

A world class, well run company would have replied:

"We're sorry, sir, the configuration you ordered is no longer available (due to parts supply, etc). We apologize for not updating our ordering system in a timely fashion after confirming your order and taking your credit card info. Since we value your business, we will make an exception and honor the price with the RAM and hard drive upgrades." Or similar. If they take a loss on my one sale- WHO CARES! Chalk it up to a marketing/good will expense. The website was updated for future orders, so it's not like an ongoing loss.

The problem is, anyone can configure a PC/notebook from Dell, put it in their cart, complete the transaction with their credit card info, and THEN be told, on the whim of Dell, that they can't have it, maybe simply because Dell wants to upsell you to something else and doesn't feel like honoring the deal they made in good faith. That's the principle here.

[rgb1701]

Whoa! They just jacked up the base price from US$299 to US$479... and the Celeron processor option is gone, and the minimum RAM you can get is 3 GB.

Yes- this happened exactly between the time my order was verbally confirmed/accepted with my credit card info, and before they gave me an order confirmation number.

[Bubbatech]

I only have Google Earth on my Ubuntu desktop and it runs fine for me with the exception that all Panaramio images are not viewable.

[ericmc783]

Whoa! They just jacked up the base price from US$299 to US$479... and the Celeron processor option is gone, and the minimum RAM you can get is 3 GB.

I'm pretty sure that the "base package" they were offering before had only 1GB of ram. If so, that's definately one of the reasons for the price change

[bigkahuna]

I'm pretty sure that the "base package" they were offering before had only 1GB of ram. If so, that's definately one of the reasons for the price change

Nope, the base system for $299 included 2 GB of RAM. I doubled checked my order to make sure, and that's what is included. Guess what else I found? Just like everyone else that ordered one of these recently, I got an email yesterday saying my system's delivery date was delayed. Today I got another email saying it shipped. Dell's automated emailing system needs a bit of an overhaul I'd say. ;)

[mcg28]

SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Inspiron 15n Qty 1
Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache), Ubuntu
Desktop Edition version 8.10
Unit Price $409.00
Catalog Number: 29 DNCWZL1
Module Description Show Details
Inspiron 15n Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
Operating System Ubuntu Desktop Edition version 8.10
System Color Jet Black
Memory 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz
LCD Panel Bright, glossy widescreen 15.6 WLED display (1366x76
Video Card Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
Hard Drive 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Network Integrated 10/100 Network Card
Combo or DVD+RW Drive 8X CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Sound High Definition Audio 2.0
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card
Camera Module Integrated 1.3 MP Webcam
Battery Options 6-cell battery
Hardware Support Services 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service
Bluetooth Option Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth Internal (2.1)



SYSTEM COLOR Jet Black
PROCESSOR Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Ubuntu Desktop Edition version 8.10 with 30 days of Starter support
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service edit
HD DISPLAY Bright, glossy widescreen 15.6 WLED display (1366x768 _)
MEMORY 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz
HARD DRIVE 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
VIDEO CARD Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
WIRELESS CARDS Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth Internal (2.1)
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Integrated 1.3 MP Webcam
BATTERY OPTIONS 6-cell battery edit
SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.0

for $544 plus another ~$60 for shipping and tax for a total of about $600!?

I feel scammed- the Inspiron 15n was listed with the options I configured first above for over 24 hours on a major, global retailer site, and they won't honor the configuration or price with an alternative.

I printed all the config screens and cart info to PDF's for the record.

I don't know if I could recommend Dell at this time...

It looks to me like the biggest price difference would be the
30 days of starter support. I found an old configuration page where
that costs $65 extra. 2G to 3G RAM costs $50. 160G to 250G HD costs
$30

[rgb1701]

It looks to me like the biggest price difference would be the
30 days of starter support. I found an old configuration page where
that costs $65 extra. 2G to 3G RAM costs $50. 160G to 250G HD costs
$30

I don't need the 30 days support, and they eliminated the Ubuntu option without it after they took my credit card info. The RAM and hard disk rip offs have already been discussed- the retail market value of the RAM and hard disk differences is about $23, and Dell obviously pays much less than that if anyone can get those updates for $23.50 from newegg.

[rgb1701]

I'm glad I got skunked by Dell- it appears the Compaq Presario CQ60Z is a better machine for about the same money I would have gotten the 15N for, with EPP corporate partner discount also.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=Everyday+computing&series_name=CQ60Z_series

Here is a fully configured CQ60Z for $455 before ~6% EPP discount-

Operating system Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic with Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
Processor AMD Athlon(TM) X2 Dual-Core Processor for Notebook PCs QL-65 (2.1GHz, 1MB L2 Cache)
Memory FREE Upgrade to 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) from 1GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Hard drive 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G
Display 15.6" diagonal High Definition HP Brightview Display 1366x768
Primary optical drive LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
Personalization Microphone + Webcam
Networking Wireless-G Card
Keyboard HP Color Matching Keyboard
Primary battery 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Adapter 65W Adapter

If you don't need the webcam, it's even less. This machine has a better GPU (Nvidia 8200) and adds lightscribe to the DVD-RW (not something I use often, but do use for special projects). The only issue I have is the screen is not LED, but another battery would compensate. I prefer AMD CPU's to Intel, too.

While I don't like paying for a Vista license, my plan would be to refuse the EULA at startup and get a refund for Vista from HP

http://equiliberate.org/?q=node/3

http://www.techeaven.com/2007/05/10/windows-vista-oem-refund/

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/31503651/windows-vista-refund-poli.aspx

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=389590

then install Ubuntu myself.

If all goes right, I should have a loaded, dual core notebook with Linux friendly Nvidia graphics for well under $399 :D

(i.e. just a few dollars more than those $299 eMachines/Acer/Dell single core lowball notebooks)

[tld72]

I decided to finish the order via phone in order to get an additional 7% discount via the corporate EPP program. I called 866-257-4711 and was connected to a service rep, Ernesto.



Linux/Ubuntu (BRAND)Newbie here. Hopefully I can get a lot of info from these forums. I ordered the 15n on June 26, supposed to be here tomorrow according to fedex. I am getting really excited, hoping to retire my windows pc soon. Anyways, I too tried to order this through my corporate EPP program. It was nowhere to be found on the site. I could navigate right to the 15n when not going through the corporate portal, but it was nowhere to be found when trying to apply the EPP. I tried all sorts of different ways to get there, but no luck. Are there certain restrictions that Dell can apply on EPP purchases, i.e. not allowing certain configurations to be ordered? That was my assumption as to why I couldn't find it. If so, then perhaps this may have contributed to your problems? Good luck with your new computer.

[Knowle]

I just double checked myself, tld72. I know I was able to do it when I ordered mine around the end of June. When I checked now the only PC it shows me under the Open Source/PCs w/ Ubuntu category is the Mini 10v. Then if I do the same thing without using my company's URL it displays the Mini 10v, Inspiron 15n and the XPS M1330n. Looks like the discontinued the desktop they were offering as well to all customers. :/

[Bakumaru]

Wow, I can't believe my luck. I've been considering ordering one of these for a week, but hadn't pulled the trigger on it yet. I finally decided to place an order less than 48 hours ago, and now I see they've jacked up the price by $200. Even got the bright screen for free, which wasn't an option a week ago.

I guess they figured they were selling too much for too little.

[audiomason]

They hiked the price after I had saved my shopping cart. I came back to the Dell site to find my cart gone and the base price jacked up $215, 172%!!! :mad:

I'm looking for another adequately sized/decently priced linux laptop to buy now. Any suggestions?

[rgb1701]

Wow, I can't believe my luck. I've been considering ordering one of these for a week, but hadn't pulled the trigger on it yet. I finally decided to place an order less than 48 hours ago, and now I see they've jacked up the price by $200. Even got the bright screen for free, which wasn't an option a week ago.

I guess they figured they were selling too much for too little.

No, they weren't. See the HP CQ60Z in my post above- better machine for about the same price before the Dell price hike, except for the LED screen.

[rgb1701]

They hiked the price after I had saved my shopping cart. I came back to the Dell site to find my cart gone and the base price jacked up $215, 172%!!! :mad:

I'm looking for another adequately sized/decently priced linux laptop to buy now. Any suggestions?

HP/Compaq CG60Z

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=Everyday+computing&series_name=CQ60Z_series

Better machine than the 15N (again, except for the LED screen), much lower price than the current 15N price, and if you get a refund on the included Vista

http://equiliberate.org/?q=node/3

http://www.techeaven.com/2007/05/10/windows-vista-oem-refund/

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/31503651/windows-vista-refund-poli.aspx

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=389590

your end price should handily beat anything else available for a dual core/Nvidia based laptop. Nvidia video is hands down the best option for Linux.

Pay particular attention to this site re: Vista refund-

http://www.techeaven.com/2007/05/10/windows-vista-oem-refund/

as it advocates the Vista refund from a non-Linux perspective, i.e. disgruntled XP users that don't want Vista and want that money back. Vista actually made it *easier* to get the EULA- entitled refund vs XP, since even Windows fanbois wanted the Vista refund!

Trivial to install Ubuntu yourself.

[rgb1701]

Linux/Ubuntu (BRAND)Newbie here. Hopefully I can get a lot of info from these forums. I ordered the 15n on June 26, supposed to be here tomorrow according to fedex. I am getting really excited, hoping to retire my windows pc soon. Anyways, I too tried to order this through my corporate EPP program. It was nowhere to be found on the site. I could navigate right to the 15n when not going through the corporate portal, but it was nowhere to be found when trying to apply the EPP. I tried all sorts of different ways to get there, but no luck. Are there certain restrictions that Dell can apply on EPP purchases, i.e. not allowing certain configurations to be ordered? That was my assumption as to why I couldn't find it. If so, then perhaps this may have contributed to your problems? Good luck with your new computer.

I'm done with Dell-

The HP EPP site configured the CQ60Z, a laptop superior to the 15N, without issue

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=Everyday+computing&series_name=CQ60Z_series

Similar configured CQ60Z's are far less money than the 15N, with better Nvidia GPU while supporting AMD CPU's (you don't want an OS monopoly, so why would you want a CPU monopoly?)

[bigkahuna]

@rgb1701 - if I were in your shoes, I'd likely come to the same decision. Looks like tid72 and I are two of the last people to get the 15n special deal (mine is also supposed to be delivered tomorrow). I had originally planned on getting a netbook, but the $299 deal was just too good to pass up. At $400+ there are better deals and machines out there. I've also had very good luck with nVidia and AMD cpu's, it wasn't until I got a Mac that I started using Intel and ATI again.

[rgb1701]

@rgb1701 - if I were in your shoes, I'd likely come to the same decision. Looks like tid72 and I are two of the last people to get the 15n special deal (mine is also supposed to be delivered tomorrow). I had originally planned on getting a netbook, but the $299 deal was just too good to pass up. At $400+ there are better deals and machines out there. I've also had very good luck with nVidia and AMD cpu's, it wasn't until I got a Mac that I started using Intel and ATI again.

I laugh at the "$299" figure- by the time a few important features are added (like a dual core CPU and integrated webcam), plus tax and shipping, the 15N kept coming up around $400 anyways. People see the "2" in "$299" and think they're getting something for "less than $300!"- the oldest sales/advertising psychology trick in the book.

I would never buy a $299+ computer without a dual core CPU.

Again, assuming you get your legally entitled Vista refund, it appears there are far better laptop deals out there.

Many of us would question the credibility of anyone who recommends a Linux computer with anything other than an NVidia GPU (when the choice is available- Intel video is an OK alternative, with ATI if you have no other choice).

...and that $299 didn't include ~$60 in shipping and tax.

[rgb1701]

They hiked the price after I had saved my shopping cart. I came back to the Dell site to find my cart gone and the base price jacked up $215, 172%!!! :mad:


I think a class action is in order re: this practice of changing the price/options *after* they are placed in your cart.

What would you do if you placed a laptop in the box at (brick and mortar) Walmart in your (physical) shopping cart, shopped around the store for another hour or so, wheeled on over to the checkout lanes, and when you got to the checkout counter, the price came up higher on the cash register vs the price tag on the laptop box? We all know the answer- you get the laptop for the price on the shelf/box.


Further, what if Walmart workers approached your shopping cart without asking you, took the laptop out of the box, and swapped the RAM, hard drive, etc, out, and re-marked the price on the box in your basket, raising the price to reflect the changes they made against your will? You don't even need to answer.

IMO, there is ZERO difference with online shopping carts.

[ericmc783]

I went to the Dell website to get some clarification, and yes, they did indeed jack up the price for a base package, but I'm wondering if the features of the new base package justify the price change.

Either way, it is definitely strange that they would do that.

[rgb1701]

Here is the EPP price on the Compaq CQ60Z I configured a minute ago-

Operating system Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic with Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
Processor AMD Athlon(TM) X2 Dual-Core Processor for Notebook PCs QL-65 (2.1GHz, 1MB L2 Cache)
Memory FREE Upgrade to 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) from 1GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Hard drive 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G
Display 15.6" diagonal High Definition HP Brightview Display 1366x768
Primary optical drive LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
Microphone + Webcam
Networking Wireless-G Card
Keyboard HP Color Matching Keyboard
Primary battery 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Adapter 65W Adapter

Total: $421.69


The 8200M-G on the CQ60Z supports VDPAU-
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/VDPAU

The inclusion of the Nvidia 8200M-G makes this laptop VASTLY superior to the 15N and other non-NVidia/VDPAU laptops.

This means when you play 720p or 1080p video on the CQ60Z, your CPU usage will be next to nothing, i.e. no frame drops, skipping, etc. In fact, with the 8200M-G and VDPAU, you could make due with the Sempron CPU, but I think for 30 bucks, the dual core X2 CPU is worth it for general use and video encoding/editing and high res photo editing jobs.

With VDPAU, you could play a 1080p wmv/mkv while transcoding a DVD for a portable or editing video, plus encoding a CD to MP3, without even a hiccup in the 1080p video. You can't do that on most Intel/ATI video based laptops.

I doubt you could play 1080p video on the 15N with the lowest CPU options (single core or T4200). No, the included LCD's aren't 1920x1080, but you could pump 1080p video out the VGA port to a projector/panel.

[rgb1701]

I'm wondering if the features of the new base package justify the price change.

.

No, they don't. The Dell 15N is now a poor value and poor choice. Discovering the Compaq CQ60Z with its Nvidia 8200M-G Linux VDPAU capable GPU, apparently, the 15N was *never* a great Linux value.

[rgb1701]

Here is the EPP pricing on a Compaq CQ60Z configured closer to the original $299 Dell 15N:

Operating system Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic with Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
Processor AMD Sempron(TM) Processor for Notebook PCs SI-42 (2.1GHz, 512KB L2 Cache)
Memory FREE Upgrade to 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) from 1GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Hard drive 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G
Display 15.6" diagonal High Definition HP Brightview Display 1366x768
Primary optical drive LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
Personalization Microphone Only
Networking Wireless-G Card
Keyboard HP Color Matching Keyboard
Primary battery 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Adapter 65W Adapter

Total: $369.99

The $299 Dell 15N only had a 4 cell battery and a slower CPU, so the prices are effectively equivalent.

The 8200M-G GPU is worth the $69 even *without* the 6 cell battery, lightscribe and other improvements.

This config with the Sempron will run circles around the 15N (even dual core 15N's) for HD video playback.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_vdpau_gpu&num=1

Subtract the $50-$100 Vista refund and Ubuntu self-install, and it's a no brainer. Heck, it's a no brainer *without* the Vista refund ;)

...and buying a Vista notebook and demanding your Vista refund from the notebook vendor is at least as good as buying an Ubuntu pre-install from the Linux principle perspective, IMO.

[bigkahuna]

Heh, I'm almost disappointed in my new purchase even before I got it! Oh well, there's still one absolute "truth" in computers, no matter what you buy it's already obsolete by the time you get it! ;)

[ericmc783]

No, they don't.

Do you, or anyone else, remember what kind of processor the original $250 base-package got you? (although it is a moot point now). Just out of curiosity.

[Bakumaru]

No, they weren't. See the HP CQ60Z in my post above- better machine for about the same price before the Dell price hike, except for the LED screen.

I got the 2ghz T4200, 2GB, bright screen, and a 6 cell battery for $425 including shipping and tax. That $455 for the CQ60Z is before shipping and tax are added. Knock off $50 for Vista and you're at $405, or $41 more than my subtotal of $364. How much did you pay for shipping and tax?

I'll admit the HP's graphics will be better than Intel integrated stuff, but you are paying more for it so that is to be expected. I don't expect to be playing many 3d games on it so it's not worth the extra money to me.

[rgb1701]

I got the 2ghz T4200, 2GB, bright screen, and a 6 cell battery for $425 including shipping and tax. That $455 for the CQ60Z is before shipping and tax are added. Knock off $50 for Vista and you're at $405, or $41 more than my subtotal of $364. How much did you pay for shipping and tax?

I'll admit the HP's graphics will be better than Intel integrated stuff, but you are paying more for it so that is to be expected. I don't expect to be playing many 3d games on it so it's not worth the extra money to me.

We can assume your price was *before* price hike, i.e. before the current prices for the 15N and CQ60Z?

Does yours have a webcam? If not, then the difference is now only $41 -$25 = $16

Yes, if gaming and especially HD video is not important to you, then the CQ60Z's 8200MG GPU probably won't matter much to you. If HD video is important to you, then the 8200M-G GPU is VERY important and worth the paltry difference.

Also, Nvidia driver support for Linux is considered superior to Intels and ATI's.

...there are always free shipping deals or coupons, and if you have a tax exempt number (nonprofit, school, etc), then the tax is moot...

[rgb1701]

Do you, or anyone else, remember what kind of processor the original $250 base-package got you? (although it is a moot point now). Just out of curiosity.

A single core mobile Celeron. And the old base price for the 15N was $299 before ~$50 shipping/tax (depending on state), not $250.

[aysiu]

They just jacked up the base price again. But this time I don't think the base features have been improved any.

[Bakumaru]

We can assume your price was *before* price hike, i.e. before the current prices for the 15N and CQ60Z? Did yours have a webcam?

Yes, if gaming and especially HD video is not important to you, then the CQ60Z's 8200MG GPU probably won't matter much to you. If HD video is important to you, then the 8200M-G GPU is VERY important and worth the paltry difference.

Also, Nvidia driver support for Linux is considered superior to Intels and ATI's.

...there are always free shipping deals or coupons, and if you have a tax exempt number (nonprofit, school, etc), then the tax is moot...

No, no webcam. HD video isn't very important to me either, but the 4500HD supports HD video acceleration, hence the name. If I ever need it at least it's there.

It's all moot since Dell raised the price, but I still think the overall package was a good deal for people who just want a decent affordable machine that isn't a netbook.

[bigkahuna]

Do you, or anyone else, remember what kind of processor the original $250 base-package got you? (although it is a moot point now). Just out of curiosity.

Inspiron 1545, Intel Celeron 585, 2.16GHz, 667Mhz, 1M L2 Cache

Copied and pasted directly from my order. Base price was $299.

[tld72]

My 15n arrived today. I upgraded to a webcam, T4200 processor, and WLED screen. Price (after 3% discount for using Dell credit) came to $401.58 + about $55 tax/shipping. I'm extremely happy with it so far. Now I just have to upgrade my linux abilities. Was up and surfing the net within 3-4 minutes after logging in. Looks like I made it just under the wire, before the Dell bailout package went into effect! One quick question... on my wife's MacBook, you can scroll down webpages with 2 fingers on pad. How do you simulate that with the Dell? Thanks.

[superm1]

My 15n arrived today. I upgraded to a webcam, T4200 processor, and WLED screen. Price (after 3% discount for using Dell credit) came to $401.58 + about $55 tax/shipping. I'm extremely happy with it so far. Now I just have to upgrade my linux abilities. Was up and surfing the net within 3-4 minutes after logging in. Looks like I made it just under the wire, before the Dell bailout package went into effect! One quick question... on my wife's MacBook, you can scroll down webpages with 2 fingers on pad. How do you simulate that with the Dell? Thanks.
One finger on the far right side of the touchpad.

[JUSTINBEAIRD]

This makes me sad i was saving up for the Inspiron 15n now it seams they jacked the price way up from $299 to $514

im going to cry :(


the windows ones are cheaper :( :(

did microsoft threaten dell?

[lnxnut]

lol, that is a good question. Wouldn't surprise me. I've had this one going on a month now and I've got to say I have paid over $500 at Wal-Mart for notebook computers that were not close to the 15n in quality, performance, or anything, especially the keys. Guess I just got a steal but I would have to say still well worth it.

[bigkahuna]

I received my 15n a couple hours ago (earlier than the estimated 7/14 date!). In a word, my wife loves it! All I've done so far was to create an account for her and set up the WIFI connection, both were relatively painless (the Wifi set up is a bit weird, but I address this later). I tried a couple websites and playing a DVD and everything works. I'm happy with my under $374 purchase (including shipping and tax).

A couple bits:

- I paid the extra $25 for the "bright" screen option and it most definitely is BRIGHT! One of the first things I did was to turn the brightness down a couple clicks. If I were to do it again I'd have just gotten the standard screen.

- The Celeron CPU is plenty fast enough for what my wife will be doing. Playback of HULU videos at full screen show a bit of lag, but still not bad for the price. DVD playback is fine.

- As others have noted, the speakers sound like crap, especially at full volume. Not an issue for me, but might be for some.

- For a 15" machine it's thinner and lighter than my Vostro and the power supply is half the size.

A couple Ubuntu issues popped up:

- Even though I set up the Wifi with password, whenever I first start the machine it's apparently not using the saved password to log in. A pop up window appears and after I click OK it logs in properly. Anyone else experience this and have a fix?

- For some odd reason sound playback for both the DVD and web Flash players wasn't working when I first rebooted the machine. I spent several minutes checking all the settings before shutting the machine down and restarting. The second time I tried the sound suddenly started working. This is no longer an issue, but doesn't help the "initial user experience".

As for the price, I doubt if it would be worth spending over $500 for this machine, but at under $400 I'm happy. Just the same, I can absolutely guarantee that there will be an even better deal out there next week or next month. It's just the way the computer industry is. :)

[superm1]

<snip>
- Even though I set up the Wifi with password, whenever I first start the machine it's apparently not using the saved password to log in. A pop up window appears and after I click OK it logs in properly. Anyone else experience this and have a fix?

Caused by using automatic login.

[themrfreeze]

Take this for what it's worth, but I've been in the computer industry for 20+ years now, and have seen more than my fair share of laptops. Given some of the absolute junk Compaq (and HP) have created in the past, you'd have to put a gun to my head to make me buy one.

I'm absolutely no Dell fanboy, but the 15n *is* a good deal. It sucks that Dell just raised the prices, but if you check the small business division (which always has lower prices than the other divisions, INCLUDING the education division), you'll find that you can configure an Inspiron 15 there for $419 with the dual Pentium processor, 2GB of RAM, and 160GB hard drive. There shouldn't be anything preventing you from ordering one either...I've ordered from that division before and never had a problem. Just download the Dell Ubuntu disk, and you're all set.

[rgb1701]

Take this for what it's worth, but I've been in the computer industry for 20+ years now, and have seen more than my fair share of laptops. Given some of the absolute junk Compaq (and HP) have created in the past, you'd have to put a gun to my head to make me buy one.

I'm absolutely no Dell fanboy, but the 15n *is* a good deal. It sucks that Dell just raised the prices, but if you check the small business division (which always has lower prices than the other divisions, INCLUDING the education division), you'll find that you can configure an Inspiron 15 there for $419 with the dual Pentium processor, 2GB of RAM, and 160GB hard drive. There shouldn't be anything preventing you from ordering one either...I've ordered from that division before and never had a problem. Just download the Dell Ubuntu disk, and you're all set.

Good call on the Small Business division website at Dell.

While I would have agreed with you re: HP quality during and immediately after the Carly Fiorina years of HP, once the damage of the Fiorina years was fixed, which took a few years after she left, things have GREATLY improved at HP/Compaq. While perhaps not back to their pre-Fiorina standards, I think everyone agrees their product quality has improved.

Again, the Compaq CQ60Z's Nvidia 8200MG GPU is well worth the difference in price, if any (depending on final configuration).

[rgb1701]

This makes me sad i was saving up for the Inspiron 15n now it seams they jacked the price way up from $299 to $514

im going to cry :(


the windows ones are cheaper :( :(

did microsoft threaten dell?

I have no doubt :(

[rgb1701]

Take this for what it's worth, but I've been in the computer industry for 20+ years now, and have seen more than my fair share of laptops. Given some of the absolute junk Compaq (and HP) have created in the past, you'd have to put a gun to my head to make me buy one.

I'm absolutely no Dell fanboy, but the 15n *is* a good deal. It sucks that Dell just raised the prices, but if you check the small business division (which always has lower prices than the other divisions, INCLUDING the education division), you'll find that you can configure an Inspiron 15 there for $419 with the dual Pentium processor, 2GB of RAM, and 160GB hard drive. There shouldn't be anything preventing you from ordering one either...I've ordered from that division before and never had a problem. Just download the Dell Ubuntu disk, and you're all set.

I configured laptops with equivalent specs (as close as possible) from Hp and Dell. I used the Dell Small Business site for the 15N, and the Home site for the Compaq CQ60Z:

Dell 15N $419

PROCESSOR Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic Edition SP1
WARRANTY & SERVICE 1 Yr Ltd Warranty, 1 Yr Mail-in Service, and 1 Yr Tech Support
PRODUCTIVITY No Microsoft Office
SECURITY Norton Internet Security 2008 (only 30 Day Protection)
SYSTEM COLOR Jet Black
LCD PANEL AND WEBCAM Bright, glossy widescreen 15.6 WLED display (1366x768
MEMORY 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz
HARD DRIVE 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
VIDEO CARD Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
WI-FI WIRELESS CARD Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card
SOUND OPTION High Definition Audio 2.0
INTEGRATED WEBCAM No Webcam Option

Compaq CQ60N $429

Operating system Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic with Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
Processor AMD Athlon(TM) X2 Dual-Core Processor for Notebook PCs QL-65 (2.1GHz, 1MB L2 Cache)
Memory FREE Upgrade to 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) from 1GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Hard drive 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G
Display 15.6" diagonal High Definition HP Brightview Display (1366x768
Primary optical drive LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
Personalization Microphone Only
Networking Wireless-G Card
Keyboard HP Color Matching Keyboard
Primary battery 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Adapter 65W Adapter
Productivity software Microsoft(R) Works 9.0

The Lightscribe feature alone is worth the $10 extra, not even counting the VASTLY superior video chip in the CQ60Z. NO ONE would recommend Intel or ATI video over VDPAU capable Nvidia GPU's for Linux with a straight face.

Shipping and tax are equivalent on each, so we can't count those.

Neither was configured with webcam, which adds $25 to either laptop.

The CQ60Z has a 6 cell battery, while the Dell 15N above only has a 4 cell. Adding the 6 cell to the 15N would put it over the CQ60Z's cost, but the WLED screen on the 15N compensates for the lower power capacity of the 4 cell, so I call this one a wash.

Unless there is documented proof of poorer quality on the CQ60Z vs the 15N, the CQ60Z appears to be the better choice.

Given the stock parts and common factories laptops from all makers come from, I find it hard to believe there is now significant build quality differences among the common brand names.

The biggest factor is who can you get your Vista refund from the easiest, Dell or HP? ;)

[themrfreeze]

All I'll say is that I have three users in my department who bought HP laptops recently, and they've all been a nightmare. HP's support has also been poor. As for Compaq, the company I used to work for rolled out about 450 Compaq laptops to a national sales force. They had a 100% defect rate due to design faults, and *all* of them had to be recalled and replaced with a different brand.

On the flip side, we have a lot of Dells around. Admittedly more desktops than laptops, but outside of their lousy pricing system, I have no major complaints. They work pretty well, and service has been good.

Again, I'm no Dell fanboy, but from my perspective as a systems admin who provides desktop support, there's no comparison. Even with the weaker graphics system, I'd take the Dell.

[rgb1701]

All I'll say is that I have three users in my department who bought HP laptops recently, and they've all been a nightmare. HP's support has also been poor. As for Compaq, the company I used to work for rolled out about 450 Compaq laptops to a national sales force. They had a 100% defect rate due to design faults, and *all* of them had to be recalled and replaced with a different brand.

On the flip side, we have a lot of Dells around. Admittedly more desktops than laptops, but outside of their lousy pricing system, I have no major complaints. They work pretty well, and service has been good.

Again, I'm no Dell fanboy, but from my perspective as a systems admin who provides desktop support, there's no comparison. Even with the weaker graphics system, I'd take the Dell.

Yes, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence either way.

I admit that a coworker's HP notebook he purchased about 3 years ago has been a lemon. But it was a different model line with ATI graphics and preloaded with XP.

I think things have improved since then- I'll ask my niece how her Compaq notebook is holding up, purchased about 2 or 3 years ago.

We need to look at JD Power- style warranty/customer satisfaction data to really do an objective comparison of Dell vs Compaq/HP.

[rgb1701]

I spoke with my niece this afternoon, and her ~2.5 year old Compaq (XP preload) and ~6 month old HP notebooks (Vista preload) are fine, no issues- and she's not very careful with her's, being an undergrad at a major university.

The HP laptop is a higher end model with touchscreen/tablet screen.

I am convinced there are no significant build quality differences between random Dell and HP/Compaq laptops, though there can always be design issues with specific models and/or production runs from any manufacturer.

Just Google agaisnt Dell 15N and Compaq CQ60Z to research specific issues or trends.

[bigkahuna]

We're on day two with our new 15n and have a question:

Sometimes when I use the touchpad (normal single finger movement to move the cursor) it changes workspaces. This is really aggravating, I'll move the cursor to click on something and -whoops!- it changes to the other workspace. How do I fix this? Is there a secret shortcut to change workspaces that I don't know about and am accidentally triggering? I looked at the help docs (lame!) and through the preferences and didn't find anything. Can anyone help?

[tld72]

We're on day two with our new 15n and have a question:

Sometimes when I use the touchpad (normal single finger movement to move the cursor) it changes workspaces. This is really aggravating, I'll move the cursor to click on something and -whoops!- it changes to the other workspace. How do I fix this? Is there a secret shortcut to change workspaces that I don't know about and am accidentally triggering? I looked at the help docs (lame!) and through the preferences and didn't find anything. Can anyone help?
I'm on day 2 also, but I think I have this one figured out. It kept doing it to me too, and I believe it has to do with scrolling. The far right side of the touch pad acts as a scroll in web pages (thanks to superm1 for pointing that out to me!), and it seems to switch your workspace as well. Hope this helps! I also ended up turning the 'enable mouse clicks with touch pad' off in the preferences. That was causing me all sorts of problems. Touch pad seems real sensitive (even after playing with settings) compared to macs.

[bigkahuna]

Yeah, I turned off "vertical scrolling" in the touch pad settings. Hope that fixes it. I also read that if you maximize your application windows that also helps.

So you came from a Mac also, huh? I've got an iMac and MacBook Pro that I use for work but couldn't afford another Mac notebook. For about half the price of a used G4 MacBook, I got my wife a new Dell running Ubuntu, can't beat that! ;) So far the 15n seems to work fine (with the already noted minor exceptions).

[OooBuntuRox]

I Was just looking through the Dell website... Can't find any trace of the 15n for $299. Like I posted a few weeks ago on this site "Get em while they last". and further projected that when the new windows was realeased (win 7) that the price would most likely jump back up to about $500.

It appears to have happened. The only Ubuntu machine i could find for $299 was a NetBook !!! I believe it had an Atom processor... NO THANKS!!! Not for $299. Perhaps for $150 but not for $299! Oh I did find a Ubuntu Laptop (features bumped up a little) but it had a base price around $515.

Those who have a 15n, enjoy! Those who have not, search elsewhere. Other Vendors have offers in the range of $299 for laptops similar to the 15n. If Ya snooze, sometimes you loose.

OoobuntuRox:guitar:

[rgb1701]

It appears to have happened. The only Ubuntu machine i could find for $299 was a NetBook !!! I believe it had an Atom processor... NO THANKS!!! Not for $299. Perhaps for $150 but not for $299!
OoobuntuRox:guitar:

I agree re: vastly overpriced netbooks, from most companies/vendors.

IMO, Netbooks should *start* at $199 retail and max out around $300-$350, possibly less with Linux.

One good option for an Atom Linux Netbook is geeks.com

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=EEEPC900A-WFBB01-R&cat=NBB

Only $179 for a 1.6Ghz/1GB Linux netbook.

Yes, they are refurbs, but I've had great luck with geeks.com for over 8 years- their "refurbs" are often indistinguishable from new.

But my "dream" netbook would be a $199 10" 1280x720/768 screen, low power dual core CPU (or single core 2Ghz+ to meet cost), and most importantly, Nvidia VDPAU enabled GPU- enough of this Intel UMA crap, with known issues on Linux for simple Flash video playback. Similar ports and features of current best-in-class netbooks- 3+ USB ports, SD card reader, VGA out, wifi b/g, bluetooth optional for added cost, LED backlit screen, Ethernet port, and a real hardware modem (other Linux compatible softmodem) and phone jack- I often go places with nothing more than dialup.

[OooBuntuRox]

Have you seen the ads offering a "Free NetBook" (or deeply discounted NetBooks) with a service commitment through an ISP ( 1-2 years so far)? Seems like a good deal to me. Quite honestly, I would have picked a NetBook over the 15n IF the netbook had been a more reasonable price. But some of the Netbooks cost MORE than the 15n cost. It was a no brainer for me. I was able to grab it with WLED, dual core and 6 cell batt-pack at just over$400 all costs inclusive.

Dell Also had a Ubuntu desktop for about $387 with an LCD monitor included! Of course, that is no longer listed. I wish I had snapped one up before they disappeared. I actually noticed the 15n price increases when I went to the site to order the desktop.... That's what I get for snoozin on that deal!

OooBuntuRox :guitar:


I agree re: vastly overpriced netbooks, from most companies/vendors.

IMO, Netbooks should *start* at $199 retail and max out around $300-$350, possibly less with Linux.

One good option for an Atom Linux Netbook is geeks.com

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=EEEPC900A-WFBB01-R&cat=NBB

Only $179 for a 1.6Ghz/1GB Linux netbook.

Yes, they are refurbs, but I've had great luck with geeks.com for over 8 years- their "refurbs" are often indistinguishable from new.

But my "dream" netbook would be a $199 10" 1280x720/768 screen, low power dual core CPU (or single core 2Ghz+ to meet cost), and most importantly, Nvidia VDPAU enabled GPU- enough of this Intel UMA crap, with known issues on Linux for simple Flash video playback. Similar ports and features of current best-in-class netbooks- 3+ USB ports, SD card reader, VGA out, wifi b/g, bluetooth optional for added cost, LED backlit screen, Ethernet port, and a real hardware modem (other Linux compatible softmodem) and phone jack- I often go places with nothing more than dialup.

[w4ett]

Glad I bought my 15Ns when I did....Both were gifts for my college and Army bound kids....Sigh....never thought I would be pining for another one for me.

Still... www.TigerDirect.com is a good source for markdowns, many with free shipping too. Recently they were featuring a Lenovo with Celeron @ 2Ghz, 160 Gb Hd and 2 Gb Ram (Basically the same specs as the 15N for $319 shipped, no Tax. And yes, I know this includes the windows tax, but I just shred the included disks :P Just sign up for their deals and pounce on the one that suits you...

Also another good place to look is to sign up for the Ebay Daily Deal. You get four featured deals, sometimes this includes laptops, all with free shipping.

Don't mean to sound like I'm advertising, but I'm a frugal old geezer, and in this day and age, you can't afford to waste any money.

By the way this is the finished 15N Desktop on my Daughter's Machine:
http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv258/w4ett/Screenshot.png

[RedRat]

Well judging from the run on the 15N from people here, it would appear that Dell had marked it at a very enticing price, maybe a loss leader. So it was natural that they would shove the price up, they know a good thing when they see it. Once sales drop off on the 15N they will probably drop the price again.

I was seriously thinking of buying one but then didn't. To utter that famous human phrase: "I wish I hadda..."

[OooBuntuRox]

... And yes, I know this includes the windows tax, but I just shred the included disks :P Just sign up for their deals and pounce on the one that suits you...



HooRah !!!! :lolflag: ):P

PS: An old time favorite: http://ubuntuforums.org/customavatars/avatar301518_6.gif

[OooBuntuRox]

...
Only $179 for a 1.6Ghz/1GB Linux netbook.

Yes, they are refurbs, but I've had great luck with geeks.com for over 8 years- their "refurbs" are often indistinguishable from new.
.

Yeah, I heard that many refurbs are simply a means for companies to reduce inventory when there are overabundances. That comment came from a distrubtutor who was stocking items in a retail outlet.

[w4ett]

HooRah !!!! :lolflag: ):P

PS: An old time favorite: http://ubuntuforums.org/customavatars/avatar301518_6.gif

Benny has been my avatar for a couple of years now.....He was a master. RIP Benny [-o<. My favorite is Professor Peach in the Italian Job....the last of the great vaudeville masters. \\:D/

[w4ett]

Yeah, I heard that many refurbs are simply a means for companies to reduce inventory when there are overabundances. That comment came from a distrubtutor who was stocking items in a retail outlet.

Agreed..I have a friend at Lenovo that assures me that 80% + of refurb units are totally new...the inventory is N.O.S. (New Old Stock) units that have been sitting in the supply chain (mostly at Mfg's warehouse, sealed in the box). This economy has provided some great opportunities for finding a deal. :popcorn: