Dell Sudio XPS 1645

Has anybody ordered one yet?

 

Of course they have.

 

Any delivery dates or more info iaTa?

(Dell don't have it on the UK site and probably won't for a month or so...)

 

Towards the end of October.

What info do you want to know - most is available on dell.com.

 

doesn't find if it has back light keyboard?

 

Sorry totally missed it...

Preliminary Ship Date: 10/28/2009

I was kinda expecting a "XPS 1645 owners lounge" to have gone up, but I guess that is why it hasn't.

 

soon to come

 

I just ordered one today. The person I spoke with said it would be delivered by October 8th.

 

I ordered mine on the Sept. 25th and mine says in production. No info on when the expected ship date is. When I was configuring mine, it said Oct. 24th I believe. I hope it arrives soon. But I will not hold my breath.

This will be my first Dell. I mainly build my computers (desktops) and have bought mac's. When I needed something to upgrade to a larger resolution screen from my 13in macbook, I was not going to spend 2500 for a 17in laptop. When I was looking at other manufactures, the XPS was suggested to be a competitor to the macbook pro. I heard the i7 XPS's were coming and waited until they were announced to configure mine. I got a really sweet deal for a fully loaded laptop. About $1000 cheaper than the basic 17in macbook pro.

I am mainly a linux person, so I will be dual booting the laptop. Windows 7 looks promising. I am running it now and testing it out. Microsoft has come a long way with this release. I was not a fan of Windows Vista!

- Garrett

My config:

XPS 16
Color: Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish
CPU: Intel i7 720
Hard Drive: 500GB 7200rpm
Memory: 4GB DDR3 1333
Screen: 16in RGB LED
Video Card: ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4670 1GB
Optical Drive: 4x Blu-ray burner
Other Options: Bluetooth, 9 Cell Battery...

 

Yeah my estimated delivery date is November 2nd, and that's what it says when I call the order status number and check the website. But I ordered over the phone (in an effort to get a discount on something - didnt work haha), and the sales rep said it should be delivered by the 8th. I don't know how accurate that date is, but I'm optimistic it'll be the right one.

 

You'd think for a premium laptop they'd spend the extra $5 and give you gigabit ethernet... Though I configured one for the heck of it and for $1500 USD, you can get a pretty slick machine.

 

The XPS does come with gigabit ethernet. It is a typo on their config website.

- Garrett

 

Oh...they've changed the model number to 1645? That just doesn't sound as cool....

I think if your date is listed in the middle of October, it's a mistake. Core 2 Duo SXPS 16 systems ship then, but AFAIK all i7 SXPS 16 systems ship at the *end* of October.

I'm wondering if I could ask them to go ahead and install Windows 7 on it.

~Ibrahim~

 

Yeah if someone finds out if they can install Windows 7 that would be good to know... Or if they can't install it, atleast ship the upgrade with it, it's bad enough having to wait a month for the laptop, but then also having to wait a month or two to receive the upgrade to 7 would suck.

Does anyone know if the 4670's Dell is using has DDR2, DDR3, or GDDR3 memory. I'm assuming DDR3, it better be atleast that since the system RAM is DDR3. I'd hope for GDDR3, would really help but doubtful.

 

Graphic cards don't use DDR2/DDR3. DDR2/DDR3 are SYSTEM memory specificatons.

GPUs only use GDDRx. It's GDDR3. The names sound similar, but GPU memory is vastly different than system memory.

~Ibrahim~

P.S. Called Dell: they said no on installing Windows 7 because our systems are being built with Vista....it'd take 20 minutes to put in a system image disk and do it which would save me hours...but, of course, they may not have made the Windows 7 image by then. I'm going to call again closer to October 22nd...

 

Mobile video cards DO use DDR2 and DDR3, I understand it is system memory, but it is also a lot cheaper than video memory. I believe the following link makes my point (View memory types):
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4670.13881.0.html

So I do believe my question is valid.

 

My estimated delivery date just changed to 10/26/09. Gotta love that overnight.

 

Whoever gets theirs first I'd be curious to know what the battery life and performance (games) numbers are like. I'm really considering getting one myself but those 2 are what I'm curious about as well as how the heat is being managed since many people seem to complain about that.

 

I thought NBC was confusing system memory being borrwed by the graphic card, but even ATI confirms it:

"GDDR3/DDR3/DDR2 memory interface (depending on model)"

I'm almost positive it uses GDDR3.

~Ibrahim~

 

That's good to know. Is this confirmed somewhere or by anyone who actually owns it and has used gigabit ethernet on it?

 

Never used it, but it showed up as a Broadcom 10/100/1000 adapter in Device Manager.

~Ibrahim~

 

On the Dell website where it shows you the features of the laptop and it lists the ports under the picture, it says 10/100/1000 ethernet port.

 

Hopefully it is using GDDR3.

I ordered through the EPP, looks like my date changed from the estimated delivery of October 30th to November 3rd now... I just should ignore it for like the next 3 weeks, lol... Would just like to have my hands on it. I sold my old laptop so just have my desktop now which isn't very convenient.

I'm just also incredibly curious as to how this laptop will perform with the 4670 video card and i7 processor. (I opted for the lower 1.6 Ghz, didn't feel the 1.73 had a justified cost)

 

Yes it uses GDDR3. My GPUZ says my HD 4670 does.

 

Ok since we have some people in here who are waiting for their M1645s to arrive, let me ask you a question. I posted a thread in the order status sub forum but it may be more relevant here. When I check the order status webpage it says "in production" but when I call the 800 number it says "order is being processed." It's been like that since I ordered, which was three days ago. Is it the same for everyone else? I called and spoke to a rep and she said the laptop was in production, but it's still weird that the webpage and phone service aren't agreeing with each other.

 

Just ordered mine today... says Ship Date will be 11/03/2009. Im wondering if going with the SSD was a good idea.. what do you guys think?


Heres the build:

Studio XPS 16 Notebook
Intel ® Core ™ i7 720QM 1.6GHz (2.8 GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
HD+ Widescreen 15.6 inch WLED LCD (1680x945) W/2.0 MP
ATI Mobility RADEON® HD 4670 – 1GB
256GB Solid State Drive
Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish with Leather
Slot Load Blu -ray Disc (DVD/CD read/write + BD read)
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi MB

 

I went with the SSD also. No, it's not an Intel, but whatever. And 8GB of RAM? That's like $700 isn't it? Ha I can't say anything though since I spent $350 on the i7 820 despite reading that I probably won't see that much of an improvement. It's my laptop and I'll waste my money however I want, tyvm.

 

I figured the extra ram would be worth it.. I had a "promotional credit" from my last laptop which dell screwed up.. so it works out i only had to pay an extra 200$. Whats the deal with the windows 7 upgrade anyways.. will they mail us a disk or will we have to download it? im excited now.. can hardly wait till it arrives.

 

Here is some information on it:
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/global/products/landing/en/us/windows-7-consumer?c=us&l=en&s=dhs

I think the DVD gets mailed to you sometime after the 22nd.

 

Does anyone know if Win7 is slower through an upgrade than a clean install? I remember reading that if you upgraded XP to Vista, your system would be slower than if you did a clean install of Vista.

I would do a clean install, but Dell is horrible about letting you download programs again, like the DVD player (with Blu-ray playback), the Facial Recognition thing, the Dell DataSafe Local (impossible to download, says Dell).

I also couldn't justify the extra $350 for the i7-820QM for 133MHz stock increase/200Mhz Turbo increase. You get 2MB more of cache, though, too.

~Ibrahim~

 

Hello,

I wanted to ask if anyone knows when will 1645 appear in the UK (if at all?)? And is it possible to order it from the USA and get it shipped to the UK (price is lower in USA too)

Thanks for answers

 

Well I had a Toshiba laptop (A305 Base Config) that I just sold to my brother. I had Vista Home Premium 64 Bit on it and for the last 4 or 5 months I was running Windows 7 RC 1, which I had used the upgrade feature to move to instead of clean installing.

Everything through the upgrade worked great and I noticed slightly increased performance. I miss that laptop, can't wait for my Studio XPS 16 though.

Also, on my parts list, I see that they say they include some kind of software recovery disc, is that a disc for all the applications or a full system restore disc? (I assume they give you a system restore disc, don't know if they give you a seperate one too though? I know that's how Toshiba did it, I had one disc that was a system restore, and it was really cool. As I used it before I sold it to put it back to Vista they gave you the options to do just a clean install of Vista, or their modified Toshiba factory install (which did all apps as well). But they also gave you a CD with just all the extra applications on it, was very convenient.)

This will be my first Dell, I've always steered clear of them in the past, but it was between Dell and Toshiba and Toshiba missed me by a day. I had a really nice configuration but then when I went to order it I was informed the deal that was running was over (there was NO indication of any discount or deal on their website). I only found this out because when I re-configed it the price was $300 more, so I called Toshiba and the rep explained it. I told him I'd have to go else where if they wouldn't give me the price as it wasn't worth what they were asking, which was more than my i7 config through Dell. So now I'm getting a Dell... Which made one of my co-workers exlaim "Dude, you're gettin' a Dell!" Haven't heard that in a while, made me sad, lol.

Though it sounds like these are pretty good machines, just afraid of the heat issues. My old Toshiba only got warm, but it was just fine using on my lap, the touch pad did get hot while gaming but I usually used a mouse, which I plan to do with the SXPS as well.

 

There's another thread floating around here somewhere close that addresses that. Basically everyone was able to get everything downloaded again through the smartsource.dell.com site. I don't know about the datasafe local thing though.


And does anyone else's billing and shipping information say "N/A" on the order status page? Mine has said that since October 1, when I ordered.

 

I ordered mine on Sept. 25th and mine just updated the other day to reflect a delivery date of Oct. 26th. For a week my order would say N/A. So yours should update at some point.

- Garrett

Sorry I misread your question. Just woke up... Yes, mine does say N/A for my shipping information.

 

Mine said that too and arrived perfectly, so don't worry. Check your purchase's e-mail confirmation too see shipping info.

 

ikjadoon: yeas, clean install is MUCH faster than upgrade, besides if you upgrade, all the crap bloatware and useless stuff would remain, it's much better to start over with clean state especially if you have a crap-loaded vista.

more info: http://blogs.technet.com/chris_hernandez/archive/2009/09/02/windows-7-upgrade-performance.aspx

 

AHHH just got the "in production" status change today... interestingly my shipping date went from 3/11/09 to 26/10/09.... what do you make of this? will this change often?

 

@byran505

Right. Dell gave me that site to download all the stuff: every single time I tried getting it to work, it would show up blank. We never figured it out.

@scorpeeon

That link seems to tell me the time to upgrade from Vista to 7, but it seems to be lacking any performance numbers? I mean, I'll wait hours on end for it to upgrade if that's what it takes, but end-performance is what I care about. Like, will my programs load slower because I did an upgrade versus a clean install (ignoring any effects from bloatware)? Will I boot up slower because I'm using an upgrade install versus a full install (again, ignoring the bloatware on the upgrade).

I'm now on October 29th for a estimated delivery date. I wonder if this will be like my old order which came in a week and half early.

~Ibrahim~

 

Well I canceled my order today and placed another one. I started second-guessing myself on choosing to pay $350 for the 820 and the another $350 for the SSD. So I'm going to take the money I saved there and buy an Intel or Indilinx SSD from Newegg and swap it in the laptop. I'll probably use the 500GB HDD it comes with as an external for backups. I know people are happy with their Samsung SSDs, and maybe it's just me being paranoid, but I don't want to end up with a performance-degraded SSD when I can get one that will certainly not have that problem. Not saying that the Samsung would have been terrible, but if I'm spending that much money, I definitely want something that will give me no trouble for a few years.

And I am so sorry to anyone who tries to cancel and order over the phone. Took the better part of an hour to get it canceled. I don't think I've ever been transferred so many times before. Well whatever, it's done now. Though unfortunately I can't get in touch with the guy who placed my order. I forgot to ask for free next day shipping like my first order had and he won't answer his phone . So November 6th for me! I'll be in school away from home till Friday anyway so I guess the faster shipping option wouldn't have done much good anyway.

 

ikjadoon: i don't know this but i think it's possible that it would be slower too. if u want to make sure to have a fast and working win 7, i'd definitely do a clean install. upgrade might work too, but i wouldn't risk it, it's always better to have a clean os.

 

Should of stayed with samsung ssd! intel and samsung are the most reliable ssd's out right now. Only the big difference is that dell is actually offering you a great price for a really good ssd that size!!!!

 

Maybe. But after reading that anandtech article that compared performance of several ssd's both new and used, it seemed to make more sense to go with an intel or indilinx.

 

my corei7 studio xps has been confirmed, but the parts needed hasn't arrived to the factory yet. it's almost a week now

 

How do you know? Did you call the number that tells you what stage of production your laptop is in? (kitting, build, testing, boxing...)

 

Mine says 10/26/2009 too, I guess most of them start shipping that day. Can anyone who ordered the RGBLED screen on the 1645 confirm the part number for me?

Mine says it's a "320-8335 Premium FHD WLED Display, Obsidian Black, 2.0 MP Webcam " I contacted Dell and asked them if that was the RGBLED screen and they said yes but I was having a hard time following the girl's accent and I'm not 100% sure that I got my message across

 

Yeah mine says

320-8335 Premium FHD WLED Display, Obsidian Black, 2.0 MP Webcam

Seems like a couple of days ago it said RGB, but I don't remember.

 

320-8341 16.0 inch Wide Screen 16:9 1080p Full HD RGBLED LCD, W/2.0 MP, XPS 1645


That's what my order confirmation page says. ETD is also 10-26

 

Any chance one can return a 1640 for a 1645? laptop is barely a month old...im pissed :<

 

Mine says:

320-8332 16.0 inch Wide Screen 16:9 1080p Full HD RGBLED LCD, W/2.0 MP, XPS 1645

I ordered mine on the 25th of Sept. Mine has a delivery date of 10/26. I hope it arrives sooner! That would be a real treat.

- Garrett

 

I wonder why our part numbers differ, even though it seems as if they are the same part.