Phasing out m1530 for 1540?

I've seen the recent commotion about the 9-cell battery missing from the m1530 configuration page. Just today, as I was looking at the m1530 again, I noticed that I could not get WUXGA on any of the configurations. I know that these may both simply be coincidences as the parts are out of stock, but do you think this is part of the slow death of the m1530, meaning that the XPS 1540 is coming soon?

 

The M1530 is surely being phased out.
This doesn't mean we're getting a new XPS though, I don't think we're going to see XPS anymore, it's been replaced with the Studio XPS line instead.

 

I hadn't even heard anything on a 1540, just what Hep had stated above!


Cin

 

The Studio XPS 1640 is the replacement for the XPS M1530. It's relatively close in size- 16.0" (16:9 aspect ratio) vs. 15.4" (16:10 aspect ratio). The Studio XPS 1340 replaces the XPS M1330, although it remains a 13.3" with the traditional 16:10 aspect ratio.

Recently, the Inspiron 1525 was replaced by the 1545 (and made the move from a 15.4" 16:10 to 15.6" 16:9). That leaves the Studio 15 (1537) as the lone 15.4" available. It's replacement, the 1555 has already been introduced in some foreign markets.

 

That does not seem to bode well for WUXGA on 15" screens. I don't like the battery life or the heat of the 1640, and I was really hoping that there would be a good 15" option from Dell.

 

The future of WUXGA seems to be 1920x1080 (16:9) instead of 1920x1200 (16:10). The Studio XPS 16 offers the choice of 1366x768 or 1920x1080. The 1920x1080 is actually and RGB LED display with a $250 price tag!

FYI- Dell still makes two 15.4" with WUXGA display options- the Latitude E6500 and Precision M4400- LINK

 

I actually don't mind the 1080p HD (though it is expensive). The problem with the business notebooks is that they don't come with a Blu-Ray option, which is very expensive to add after the fact (and why wouldn't you get Blu-Ray if you have 1080p HD?). If the 1640 is in fact the defacto replacement for the m1530, then I hope that the Studio 1555 will come with 1080p HD because right now in the Australian and New Zealand markets, it only has the cheap HD+ (1366x768 a.k.a. HD-). If not, there's always Lenovo!

 

Looks like Dell are more actively phasing out the m1530 now. Aside from the 9-cell battery disappearing and the higher-res screen disappearing, I noticed the lower res screen has also gone now and it's no longer linked in the drop-down menu on the website (in the US at least).

If anyone prefers the m1530 to the newer SXPS 16 it might be a good time to jump on it!

 

Which Lenovo would fit the bill? I'm disappointed that the Y650 (U.S. version, at least) is only 1366x768 and doesn't offer a Blu-Ray option. There is a Y730 with WUXGA display and Blu-Ray, but that's all I'm aware of...other than the W500 and W700, but they're prohibitively expensive with WUXGA and Blu-Ray.