Dell Inspiron 1545 review

Dell's Inspiron 1545 is sold exclusively through PC World, so apart from a choice of three lid colours, you won't be able to customise it as you would a laptop bought direct from Dell's site.

It's one of the plainest designs we've seen from Dell; still, when compared with fussier designs such as that of Asus's X59GL it looks smart and workmanlike.

Despite costing less, the Inspiron has a faster processor and it managed to beat the X59GL by quite a margin in our benchmarks. However, in terms of connectivity it loses out as it has no HDMI port, just three USB ports and no modem. It's also the only laptop here with a smaller ExpressCard/34 slot. Battery life is only 16 minutes shorter than Asus's Aspire, but is unimpressive at under two hours.

Like Acer's 5735, it has an unusual 15.6in 1,366x768 display, which is the same 16:9 ratio as an HD TV. Colours are accurate and the backlight is even, but the glossy finish means it's very reflective. The 250GB hard disk is generous at this price.

While the design is plain, the build quality is up to the same standard as the X59GL. We're not huge fans of the keyboard, as key travel isn't as deep as we'd like. We like Dell's placement of the Ctrl key to the left of the Fn key, but we were shocked that you have to press the Fn key to use the numbered function keys, as their main functions are multimedia controls such as volume or brightness. Fortunately, you can select a 'normal' function key mode in the BIOS. The BIOS is a Windows-style affair with plenty of help text that is actually useful for the average user.

The Inspiron 1545 is a good-looking laptop and will suit anyone who is on a tight budget. However Asus's X59GL, though not quite as fast, has a two-year collect-and-return warranty (compared to the 1545's one year), more expansion ports and slightly better battery life. These factors combine to prevent the Inspiron taking the Budget Buy award.