Got my M1530 last night

I got my M1530 last night. I'm pretty impressed so far, but the speakers are really, really a weak link on this laptop. My old laptop (bare bones MSI MS-1029) had bad speakers, I thought, but the M1530's are weaker and tinnier sounding than those. I was hoping they'd be loud enough to watch DVD's (some of which are really quiet) but I'll probably have to use my external speakers or headphones. It's such a great package I don't understand why Dell would underdeliver on this aspect . . .

The laptop is light for its size and that makes me happy. The 64GB SSD is great and the laptop is almost completely silent and boots quickly. Of course the default install from Dell only leaves about 31GB of free space so I may reinstall, though it doesn't appear that there's really that much bloat from Dell (anyone, am I wrong?).

The WUXGA is extreme to say the least. The default font size, while clear and legible, is not for daily use. After bumping up to 120dpi I'm pretty happy with that.

So, after only a few hours with it, I'm thinking I'll keep it but will be putting it through its paces so I can make a good decision before the 21 days are up. ASUS also has some nice products out there though more expensive.

 

Well, I wouldn't think there is a lot that you can 'remove' while reinstalling and get back 'space'. AFAIK, Dell these day' comes with pretty much no 'bloatware', if don't consider roxio to be the same for example!! I would suggest getting an external hdd.

Good luck and cheer. Have fun.

 

use acessibility in internet option.

 

Can you explain?

In FireFox I just bumped up the minimum font size a bit to something legible, in addition to the 120dpi and all is well. I don't use IE.

 

well, firefox has advanced font option too.

 

Awesome laptop! You're bang on about the speakers, but for what the XPS packs in and it's lightweight, I guess it's a sacrifice I don't mind at all.

 

I don't get it, are you saying the OS and whatever software is included takes up over 200GB? I have 250GB coming on mine. My dimension PC from dell only had 5GB loaded on the d drive but most of the 300GB free on the c drive. I don't understand what could possibly take up 2 to 3 hundred gig of space? what size is your HD? I hope you are being sarcastic, when waiting for mine to come I am over thinking everything and worrying over every complaint I read. I hope they get mine through the boxing stage today, I don't understand what happens during this stage that takes so long.

Good luck on your 1530 though, and if the speakers are the only issue I will be very very happy with mine!!!

 

No, I have the 64GB solid-state drive, so I went into it not expecting to have a ton of extra space which is fine for how I'll use it. But, I didn't expect Vista Home Premium to take up so much space. I haven't even looked at tweaking system restore and stuff like that but I'm pretty sure I can regain 5GB with a little effort. I may still to a clean install for my own satisfaction that nothing I don't want is installed on there, but most of the Dell stuff looks pretty useful at this point.

 

Vista certainly doesn't save space. If your primary source of storage is the 64gb drive, then you are better off going with a barebones XP installation. The 64gb ssd drive is intended to function with increased performance but obviously extra storage is not an option. I think it is assumed that if you're using a 64gb ssd drive you have some type of network storage, external hard drive, or usb key as your source for data storage.

 

I have plenty of network storage and external drives so I'll be fine for archiving photos, etc. All my music lives on my desktop/media server so I'm not too worried. Capture NX and Visual Studio 2008 will be the big apps I'll install, although I'm iffy on VS2008 and whether I'll use it.

 

can you tell us what SSD Dell uses on their laptops? Is it MLC/SLC, is it SATAI/SATAII, and manufacturer/

 

I don't have it at work with me so I'll try to look when I get home tonight. I probably won't crack the case open to find out (still within 21 days) but will report anything I can find in device mgr.

 

The SSD drive is a Samsung SSD RBX Series 6 according to Device Manager. From what I've read this is a 2nd generation SSD.

OK, I've installed the latest ALPS driver for my touchpad and frankly it still sort of sucks. Sometimes on web pages it just hangs for a few seconds like it doesn't sense my input. Any ideas?

 

Well, I hate to say it but I'm starting to lean towards sending this laptop back. There's nothing defective about it, but the touchpad frankly is sub-par and the speakers are worse than sub-par. Really it's almost a nice package but my first laptop (about 10 years ago) had an Alps touchpad and I remember how much it sucked. This exhibits some of the same issues, and I just don't want to deal with this long-term. The keyboard is the best I've had on a laptop, and the SSD is awesome from a quietness/coolness aspect. This is a 3-4 year computer for me and I can't live with the primary input (touchpad) being so flaky. I probably won't send it back until next week as I'm going out of town (without it) tomorrow so any advice or ideas of ways to tweak the touchpad problems are appreciated.

 

Hey....Congrat's on your new 1530!

Enjoy....that's what I say! It's such a great lappy
Oh, welcome to the 1530 family!


Cin

 

Well, the new alps touchpad driver has been good, with more scrolling functions and features. As for you not feeling the touchpad to be responsive, have you tried playing around with the touchpad settings, like sensitivity, speed, etc.?

You could try the synaptics drivers too... Initially I had them and they were also nice. Thats an option you have.

As for speakers, yes, its not the best laptop speakers on the market, but at the same time imho, its not 'all that bad' either... And for sure, I wouldn't send this laptop back just because the speakers are tinny. Also for the touchpad I would try to see if it can be better with different drivers and play around with the settings before even thinking about sending it back. If you meant, you want to send this back and go for a brand new replacement, then you should remember all XPS 1530 come with the same speakers and touchpad material, drivers.. so I don't know how things will be different for you, unless the speakers and touchpad you have now in this laptop are 'really bad'.....

 

No, if I send it back it would either be for a different Dell that offers the Synaptics (I can live with the speakers) or a different brand if I can't find something I like at Dell.

I did get the touchpad drivers working a bit better with the just released x64 version. I found that by setting the scroll area to wide it is more responsive. I've used a Cirque Touchpad mouse (very old school) on my desktop at work for years which works flawlessly and is ultra-responsive so I'm a bit spoiled. Sending it back is a PITA so I'm hoping to get used to the small problems with this laptop.