Dell Inspiron E1405

If you like the idea of owning a fast and full-featured notebook that can travel with you, the Dell Inspiron E1405 is a very good choice. This Media Center laptop packs a speedy dual-core processor, a huge hard drive, and the most robust instant-on functionality you'll find anywhere, plus next-generation 802.11n Wi-Fi. It lacks the more powerful discrete graphics of the E1505, but the E1405 has all of the right ingredients to deliver a top-notch Windows Vista experience.

 

This thin-and-light doesn't break new ground in the design department, sporting the same silver-with-white-trim look that has adorned Dell Inspirons for well over a year. Actually, the E1405 isn't all that thin and light compared with other systems in its class; the chassis is a bit bulky and tips the scales at six pounds, although that's due in part to the long-lasting nine-cell battery Dell included with our configuration. The system starts at 5.3 pounds, but even with the larger battery, we had no problems using this notebook on a crowded bus.

 

Watching our Two for the Money DVD was a pleasure on the very sharp and bright 14.1-inch WXGA display. That high resolution makes fonts and icons appear a little small but not enough to impede productivity. An S-Video port makes outputting this notebook's signal to a TV easy. For a notebook this size, the two speakers up front delivered a surprising amount of volume when we streamed Internet radio. You could easily fill a small room with sound.

 

Underneath the glossy panel is a full-sized keyboard that was comfortable to use even for extended periods. We like the dedicated vertical and horizontal scrolling areas on the touchpad, but the touchpad buttons felt a little too mushy.

 

With four USB 2.0 ports at your disposal, you can plug in a lot of peripherals at once—that is, provided they're not too thick; Dell inconveniently stacked these ports on top of one another on the right and back sides of the system. We're also not fans of the ExpressCard slot. Yes, there are a handful of devices on the market that support the standard, but PC Card-based accessories (like cellular broadband modems) are still far more pervasive and less expensive. Digital photographers will appreciate the 5-in-1 media card reader, though.  

 

Dell lines the front of the E1405 with a row of multimedia buttons, which are convenient for controlling volume and playback. Pressing the MediaDirect button to the far right of this row launches the Media Center menu when the notebook is turned on. If you want to be able to watch and record your favorite shows using Media Center, an $84 upgrade will get you both an external TV tuner and a remote control.

 

When the notebook is powered down, pressing the Media Direct button fires up Dell's MediaDirect menu within ten seconds. From there you can not only play music, photos, and DVDs, but you can also view PowerPoint documents and your Outlook calendar and contacts. No other notebook's instant-on functionality comes close.

 

Thanks to its 2-GHz Core 2 Duo processor, the E1405 plowed through our MobileMark 2005 productivity benchmark, delivering an above-average score of 253. If you spring for the nine-cell battery (included in this configuration), you'll get close to all-day endurance; the system lasted an impressive 7 hours and 12 minutes on a charge. Graphics are not the E1405's strong suit, as Intel's integrated solution turned in a below-average 3DMark03 score of 1,668. Still, with 1GB of RAM on board, you'll be able to take full advantage of Windows Vista's slick Aero interface.

 

Our configuration also came with the Dell Wireless 1500 card, which uses the draft 802.11n standard to deliver fast data rates, but only when paired with a compatible router. (Dell sells the Netgear RangeMax NEXT Draft 802.11n Wireless Router for $130, but you can find it cheaper elsewhere.) On our tests with a standard 802.11g router, the E1405 didn't set any speed records, notching 10.8 and 7.6 Mbps of throughput from 15 and 50 feet, respectively.

 

In addition to Dell's MediaDirect software, the E1405 is bundled with Microsoft Works 8, Corel Photo Center (trial version), Sonic RecordNow, Sonic MyDVD, and CyberLink PowerDVD to get the most out of the 8X DVD burner. You can also get a free Express Upgrade from Media Center to Windows Vista Home Premium. Dell throws in a 15-month security subscription to help protect your system and backs it with a one-year limited warranty, mail-in service, and hardware warranty support.

 

While the design is getting a bit stale, the Dell Inspiron E1405 delivers the performance users on the go are looking for, along with lots of endurance. The MediaDirect functionality and multimedia controls are icing on the cake.