Weighing around 2.5 kg and with dimensions of 357 x 258mm x 38mm (closed), the Vostro 1520 is easy to carry but still has an attractive screen size. The slightly tapered shape of the notebook, with an downward-sloping base, makes for comfortable typing.

Defying the current trend for producing laptops in 16:9 format, the 15.4 inch Vostro 1520 has a 16:10 aspect ratio. While performing office tasks such as word processing or using spreadsheets, you will be grateful for the somewhat taller format. The matt surfaces, the anti-glare screen (though a glossy ‘True Life’ screen is also available) and its businesslike black appearance also match well with its intended use. With an ‘Obsidian Black’ model, the only glossy surfaces are the lid and the strip above the keyboard; they are liable to pick up fingerprints and other marks. If black seems too plain, you can also acquire the Vostro 1520 in ‘Deep Cherry Red’.

The plastic casing is fundamentally sound. The base unit is solid and only gives way very slightly under strong pressure in individual places. Happily this is also true of the area above the disk drive. The underside of the base is furnished with two generous access panels, so that a system upgrade or maintenance work can be carried out relatively easily. However, the perforated covers providing airflow to major system components are a little more sensitive to pressure.

The lid also shows good resistance against pressure and torque. The notebook can be lifted up by one corner of the lid without much twisting or even creaking. However the screen edging is not quite so stable; applying pressure will sometimes cause distortions on the screen.

The hinges are well proportioned, but cannot quite prevent some wobbling of the screen when adjusting the viewing angle. However, the screen is steady at every angle, and the laptop can be opened to almost 180 degrees. When the lid passes below a certain minimum angle it closes automatically. Since there is no locking mechanism, when transporting the notebook you might want to take extra measures to ensure that no objects find their way into the space between the keyboard and the screen.

A quick glance around the case shows the ports on offer. The Vostro 1520 has a good basic set up with four USB ports, a VGA connector and a LAN port. Additionally there is an ExpressCard/54 slot on the left-hand side, allowing you to add functionality.

Some models also include an integrated Dell Wireless 5530 Mini-card for mobile broadband (tri-band HSDPA 7.2/ HSUPA 2.0), but this was not present on our test model.

The test model did include an internal DVD burner. If you happen to be a fan of Blu-ray, you can add it to the Vostro 1520 for the hefty additional price of €320.

The layout of the ports is fine. Those that tend to be permanently filled, like VGA and LAN, are positioned at the back. Pairs of USB 2.0 ports can be found in the middle of the left-hand edge and at the front of the right-hand edge, so both right- and left-handed people are equally well served depending on how they choose to organize things. However, more interesting ports like eSATA, DVI or a docking port are absent.

The Dell Vostro 1520’s performance covers straightforward office and light multimedia use. The base model with Intel Celeron 900 processor (2.20 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 cache) and GMA 4500M HD can only be recommended for less demanding users, since the single core architecture of the CPU quickly reaches the limits of its processing power when multitasking.

Also available are the Intel Core 2 Duo processors, which offer considerably more processing power; the T9550 CPU is the fastest currently available through Dell’s online store. But this incurs an additional cost of €120 compared to a model with a P8700 processor.

For the test model an Intel Core 2 Duo T6570 CPU was chosen, meaning the Vostro 1520 is very well equipped for its future workplace.

Most models (including our test model) rely on Intel’s integrated GMA 4500M HD graphics chipset, which is sufficient for simple office and multimedia uses, in line with the target market.

For those who prefer a dedicated graphics card, Dell offers the Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS graphics card with 256MB video memory. However, this is only a starting point in terms of multimedia graphics hardware, and great processing feats should not be expected from it, though it can handle older 3D games with low to mid-range graphics. Fans of computer gaming will be far better served by Dell’s XPS range, or even the Alienware brand, now owned by Dell.

The Intel GMA 4500M HD supports DirectX 10.0. Current games such as The Sims 3 can run with the graphics on the lowest setting. World of Warcraft or the classic first-person shooter Counter-Strike can also be played with less attractive graphics. An upgrade of the CPU as well as the graphics card would make sense in some circumstances, to get better looking graphics and also improve the picture refresh rate. For further details see our list of which games run smoothly on which graphics cards.

The business-orientated market is well served by the combination in our test model of Intel Dual Core T6570 CPU with 2.10 GHz (800 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 cache) and the integrated Intel GMA 4500M HD. Simple office uses like word processing, spreadsheets and web surfing present no problem, and even simple image manipulation programs run without difficulties on the machine.

The 3GB of RAM is also sufficient for this. DDR2 memory is used and the Vostro 1520 can in theory be upgraded up to 8GB (2 x 4GB) of RAM. Dell offers this option in the online shop, but the extra cost of €490 is very steep. You would also want to upgrade to a 64-Bit operating system if upgrading beyond 4GB. 32-Bit operating systems can cope with up to 4GB of memory, but even then peculiarities of the hardware architecture can lead to inefficient memory usage.

You are also spoilt for choice between different speeds and capacities of hard drive. In the test model we have a 160GB Fujitsu hard drive, model MHZ2160BH with 5400rpm. The HDTune benchmark results for this lie as you would expect in the average range. It is also entirely possible to install a different hard drive in the Vostro 1520, as this can be done without any particular technical knowledge using the access panel on the left-hand side of the base. The same goes for the RAM, which is easily accessible through its own access panel on the underside of the machine.

System Noise

Here, we are again dependent on our subjective impressions since there were no measuring instruments available during testing. In idle mode and with a low system load the Vostro 1520 remained pleasantly quiet and unremarkable. Some users have complained online about an irritating rise and fall in system noise due to a cooling fan, but we did not observe this.

With a heavy system load the fan remains on continuously, but is not unpleasantly loud and does not become an annoyance, partly because of its low-frequency sound.

Temperature

The palm rest area becomes noticeably warm during a heavy system load, with the right side staying cooler than the left, because of the fan on the right-hand side. The surfaces tend to grow warmer in the middle and front areas, and the touchpad too becomes noticeably warm.

Corresponding problem areas can be found on the underside. While the back area stays cool, the laptop seems to warm up most underneath the touchpad.