1530 Recommendations

I am looking at purchasing an XPS 1530 within the next week and would like to get a suggestion or recommendation for those that might own one.

Specifically I am looking to get a SSD the 128GB version and the LED 1440x900 res screen. Does anyone know which version of SSD the 128GB drive is? And are there any known issues with both the drive and screen? I've just started a bit of research into the XPS notebooks and based on a coupon I think this might be a good purchase for me. (I think it's about 700$ total off).

Specifically the model of SSD on the xps 1530 what should I expect life and write speeds to look like with moderate to heavy daily use?

 

hey Domin,

im afraid i dont have any of those 2 elements on my xps, but i can tell you that the LED screen is recommended by everyone who has it, its a BIG YES YES

as for the SSD, i can tell you that i have a 7,200 RPM one and its REALLY FAST, so i could almost be sure that you wont be dissapointed with the SSD ( if capacity is no issue of course )

be sure to post the specs before you purchase it, so we can at least give some recomendations

Cheers!

 

It will probably lasts at least 5 years. Nobody has experience of real world usage yet since it is relatively new. Ofcourse if you do the calculation, it will outlasts you.

 

These are the exact specs I'm considering. To bring down the price though I'd either get the 7200RPM 250GB drive OR drop the warranty coverage.

SYSTEM COLOR - Midnight Blue
PROCESSOR - Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB, 3MB Cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM - Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1
PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE - No Microsoft Office
WARRANTY AND SERVICE - DellCare Value 3yr warranty
LCD AND CAMERA - High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LED LCD (1440x900) & 2.0 M
MEMORY - 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
HARD DRIVE - Ultra Performance: 128GB Solid State Drive
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE - Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
VIDEO CARD - 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
WIRELESS CARDS - Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
BLUETOOTH - Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
BATTERY OPTIONS - 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
SOUND OPTIONS - High Definition Audio 2.0
FINGERPRINT SCANNER - Finger Print Reader XPS M1530

 

That above config comes out to 1435 before shipping with a 30% off coupon. Wish I had more off, but I can't find anything better. Additionally, should I wait, will there be a better deal coming up with christmas?

Edit: $1,516.50 after tax.


I could also do a similar configuration, get 4GB memory instead of the 3 and get a free Magellan 1400 GPS as a black friday deal between now and the third. VERY VERY tempting to get that, but have to get the last 500$ together much quicker than I had planned

 

Also would anyone recommend going with the 64bit version over the 32bit? I don't want to be in a place stuck using the 64bit and not being able to access some apps. (Very few I'd imagine)

 

very similar to mine... in my opinion i would go with the 7200 RPM HD, but thats just me, everything else seems nice, and if you can afford to get the 4gigs, i recommend it, since it will make your laptop more future proof.

i have the 64bit vista on mine, it has a slight performance boost, and i havent seen a single program that cant run due to the 64bit os, and those that simply cant run have walkarrounds.

 

It really doesn't matter about the 64bit and 32bit, unless you have more than 3GB of RAM. Then it DOES matter.

Also, I go with the 7200rpm drive to save money. SSDs are great and all, but they just aren't *there* yet, IMO.

 

I would choose the 500gb HD. Even though it's only 5400RPM it should suffice plus you get lots of space for storage.

 

Storage isn't really a concern. I have a 250Gig mini portable that I take with me everywhere plus at home I have a desktop PC with a 200gig maindrive and a 500gig storage drive. Then there is my Media center which has 3TB in a parity array. Storage isn't really a concern

Also all my files are accessible outside my network via FTP and the PC's themselves are accessible via either RDP or encrypted VNC :>

 

Just opinions here.. I would go for the 7200rpm drive. I've worked on the SSD drives, they're not any snappier on a 32 bit system, but of course if you have the cash, it's more fall resistant. Although prices on SSD's are dropping by the hour.

64 bit is better than 32 bit but again, I use 4gb of ram and when I had 64 bit, I didn't see my system respond any better than on 32 bit utilizing less than 4gb. I was forced to go back to 32 bit because of my express card dock not being 64 bit compatible. At this stage SSD and 64 bit are headed in the right direction but the performance gains just aren't there yet.

 

I'm thinking more and more of going with the hdd to save the money and possibly put my money into other upgrades. Like I said prior though I gotta get the price up above 1699 to get the decent deal.

 

i purchased my XPS 1530 today. I went with roughly the following config:

3GB memory (not an issue, I can upgrade to 4gigs myself for free)
250 GB 7200 RPM drive
T8300 Processor

The rest was pretty much standard, I also got the blue color

 

Hey congrats man!!! thats a very nice setup, the blue color is misterious, since it will sometimes appear to be black, and sometimes sort of grey... but facing the light directly it gets a cool blue color

Cheers!

 

I'm tryign to get ahold of sales right now though to see if they'll tack on the free Magellen offer, if not I'm going to have to cancel and reorder >_<

FINALLY found that coupon offer.

 

Haha, I remember when I ordered my M1530 I spent so much time haggling to get a good deal. I remember I ended up getting a so-so deal, but they threw in a nice pair of Sony headphones for me, so all was well.