L502x User Review(s) - Please Contribute :)

I'm curious what everyone loves about their L502x..And I know love can be blinding sometimes so try hard to include something you wish was better.

Loves:
- 1080p; a thing of beauty
- i7 CPU
- Great at playing games when I need a break from life (gt540m)

Things that could be better:
- I would like it to smile every so often because it deserves to enjoy it self too!
- Being able to skip the bios down-volt to play games without crashing.

 

I only just got my L502x last week, sohere's my 2 cents thus far:

Loves:
The BRGLED screen:
with the calibration profile ( in this post), this thing is really great. The colours are not as natural as an IPS screen, but unless you're a photographer, this does not matter much. The colours make blurays and games shine. I have the Transformers Collectors Edition bluray set, and the reds and blues on Optimus Prime really, REALLY stand out. It makes ridiculously over-the-top action scenes such as Transformers look great. The blacks could be blacker (even the WLED on my old 1645 were darker), but I guess that is the fault of the LED backlighting.

The speakers:
for a laptop, these are among the best. I don't know what the best may be, but these seem to be pretty close (subjectively of course ). They are not the loudest, but who really needs that volume when you are right up to the machine when in use. They handle deep bass quite well without the crackle and vibrations from the subwoofer, and can handle the highs quite well too. With the Maxxaudio software, highs and mids can be artificially pronounced pretty well without introducing hiss or static.

The heat exhaust vent is not blocked:
If you came from a Studio XPS 16, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Don't think I need to explain this one much.

Likes:
The size of the touchpad:
the touchpad itself is not as stellar as some other ones, but I really appreciate the size of this thing. I hate it when manufacturers give you a tiny touchpad so that you're forced to either increase the sensitivity or to abuse the touchpad so as to move the mouse from edge to edge.

The keyboard:
This one is entirely personal preference, but I like how this keyboard does not have that hard, tactile "click". Many chiclet keyboards (and Lenovo's standard ThinkPad kbs) have a solid click that indicates the keyboard registering the down stroke. WHile this is usually a sign of pretty great durability, I just don't like that added noise when I type. I'm, unfortunately, a loud typer. People have glared at me when I'm typing at my top speed (such as writing email or reports). If you add the extra clickity-clackity of such keyboards, it gets annoying very quickly, even to me. This softer keyboard is much appreciated by neighbours and people who share a room with me. (My Vostro 3350 has a louder keyboard than this one, yet has the exact same keyboard layout. I wonder if the backlit keyboards are naturally "quieter" than the non-backlit ones?)

The LCD panel is recessed into the lid:
The Studio XPS 16 has a completely flat LCD screen - flat as it is flush with the bezel. Where as most LCDs are recessed (just like the XPS15). This prevents the keyboard from scratching and leaving oil/residue on the LCD screen.

Dislikes:
Certain hardware functions are "FN-key" combos instead of having their own dedicated button:
Stuff like volume control and media keys (play, pause, ff, rwd) should have their own dedicated keys, rather than be a Fn+Key combo. These buttons could be just to the left of the power button. Many multimedia laptops have these dedicated buttons, even the older Studio XPS, so why not this one?

GPU (540) is a bit weak:
I've finally gotten a chance to install a couple of games on this machine. Even with the overclocking (800/1600/1000) it feels like it struggles a bit more in games than the ATI 5730 (OC'd). Games like Ghost Recon Online I'm only getting 15fps with Medium/1080p and 25fps Low/1366x768. I had much better with the ATI card.

The HDMI port doesn't extend (without a bit of tweaking):
This isn't a show stopper by anymeans, but this seems silly that you cannot extend your display over HDMI. My Studio XPS had this functionality, AND a full size DisplayPort; again, why not this XPS 15 (unless this is entirely Optimus' fault)?

Build quality:
This thing isn't bad by any means, but Dell's had better builds before. Even their Inspirons of ye olde were of better quality than this new XPS. And to think that the XPS is their "flagship" non-Alienware, non-business oriented product. I guess even money-makers like Dell weren't able to avoid the recent economic times (/sarcasm)

Give me my VGA back, dammit:
I understand the HDMI and DisplayPort are basically the future, but dammit, I want my VGA port back. It takes a lot of work to convert an existing 4-monitor setup from one machine to another. And wehn VGA is out of the question, lots of re-cabling and arranging (and grumbling and swearing and threatening certain engineers' families) ensues.

Hates:
Thickness/size:
This thing is thick. My Studio XPS was thinner than this thing and that is greatly appreciated when you consider that it's pretty much a desktop replacement. I understand that they need to accommodate for heat production from the CPU/GPU, but I've still seen better. Then again, this thing doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and a kidney, compared to other manufacturers.

Dis/Assembly:
Could they have made this thing more annoying to disassemle and re-assemble? For this reason alone I have not removed the mesh directly below the fan. This would normally be one of the easiest things to do to reduce temperatures, but disassembling this thing seems like it would be really really tedious. I'll have to wait until I want to re-paste before I wander in there.

 

I like:
The display is awesome. Really. Crystal clear and almost bright enough to require sunglasses.
The sound is impressive for a laptop.

I dislike:
16:9 screen. It's great for movies. Not so great for work.
Can't use WWAN slot for mSATA
Can't add on WWAN card, since the antenna is missing.
The design isn't exactly my first choice. Really.
That I didn't opt for the 9-cell battery
Slightly weird fan at times.