Return of the M1330...

... I've been playing with an XPS M1330 that I've recently received back from a two-week repair turnaround.

I found it a few weeks ago while sorting through some stuff in storage: It's actually not that uncommon for me to run across old gear I've forgotten about, but the XPS M1330 was a particularly ill-starred machine in my lineup, back in late 2007. Problems after problems after problems, much of which has been documented about here by others. I think across my four machines, I had the entire list of every problem that you guys here had with the 1330. So in a state of extreme disgust, I got rid of all of mine, or so I thought.

Anyway, I figured I had nothing to lose since the machine was still under warranty and I might get a replacement out of it. So after a marathon three-hour call in which I explained every single issue I had with it in minute detail, I suggested that rather than send a Dell engineer along, that it went in for diagnostics and that I didn't want to see it until the problems were fixed.

I was pretty certain they wouldn't be able to do much, since back in '07 the other machines were also replaced and repaired on-site several times and exhibited the same problems. I even had a replacement Latitude spec lined up.

Then I got the M1330 back. Ruler-straight, totally solid keyboard. Blemishless screen with no lighting defects. tight panel fits. Responsive trackpad.


It's...

... perfect.


I can't quite believe it. It is noisier than I'd like, but with an 8400M I guess that's not going to change. Apart from that, there is nothing wrong with the machine. I'm flabbergasted. After two years they finally get it right What a pity, as I'm now reminded that it's actually a really nice machine - if they got the build right.

Well, guess I should stick Windows 7 on it and use it a bit. There's still every chance it'll conk out before the warranty's up

 

When it comes to dealing with Dell, you must have the patience of a saint. If it were me, I'd have asked for a SXPS 13 as a replacement long ago.

I still like my M1330, but now that I think back, since I can't game on the 8400M GS anyway, I should've just saved myself $500 and gone with my second choice - a white Macbook.

 

I'm not sure why you would want to torture yourself even more than an M1330, but I guess that's your prerogative.

 

The way I see it, both are equally torturous, but one form of torture is cheaper than the other

It's a shame there were so few 13.3" choices back in 2007. Had there been something like the HP Envy or Asus F6ve back then, I'd definitely have gone with that instead.

 

Well- there were plenty of 1280 x 800 X3100 machines around then - and around that price, even the X3100'd M1330 would have been a better build-quality / post-purchase-'issue' bet than the Macbook. I can ditch specific models of Windows machines or even manufacturers when they let me down because I have a choice: Having a partial commitment to Apple, all I can do in their case is to buy the latest machine and hope that's even a little better.

There's more now in the way of the thirteen-incher, but I wasn't exactly stuck for choices back then either. I picked up the M1330 as a cheaper-to-buy-in-multiples, and potentially better-looking machine inbetween Sony SZ generations. Even with this 'perfect' M1330, I'd definitely say even the lowest-end SZ of a comparable generation would have been a much nicer machine.

 

An update. It's been through two repairs since the post(s) were made. I've had it up to here, and it has been disposed of - and I don't mean in a selling way, but in a major slanging match with Dell tech support then telling my useless account manager (who's always around when I'm placing an order but never when I have order problems) to **** off and giving it to someone else who wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a **** computer and a good one sort of way.

HP gets my next (at least) three year's worth of Windows-based business-computing orders, unless of course they pull an M1330 on me...

 

Wow, 2 (more) repairs in just over a month? Was your M1330 even functional during any time in October? Can't blame you for finally losing it and spazzing at Dell.

By the way, HP has many M1330's of their own. Many of their laptops suffer from chronic overheating problems. Here's a testimonial from a couple days ago:

Sounds just like Dell to me. In fact, you could replace every reference to "HP" in that post with "Dell" and nobody would even notice

 

Perhaps. My negative issues with Dell in terms of machines is actually pretty much limited to the M1330 in particular, and to a much lesser extent with other members of the XPS range - however, the issues have been doozies. And besides, these weren't some midrange dv - they were the range flagships of the day.

The problem with the M1330's has been ongoing since I bought them back in '07. I just gave up on them after a few months due to the fact that at least one of my machines had been pretty much replaced inside and out and there were still outstanding problems despite many fixes. Now, an isolated issue isn't a problem usually, and generally speaking I find Dell's professional gear an excellent balance of reliability, cost and support. So while this saga has been extremely annoying, it's something that I wouldn't hold against Dell...

... if it were not for the behaviour of the account managers. This is really the crux of why I'm switching companies, although there is an element of the Z800 being a nicer machine than the T7500, and the Proliants being very competitive as well.