SXPS 13 for College - Good Deal?

So yea... you know the drill. Need a laptop for college. With some various discounts and such I think I've found one. I have some questions at the end if any are willing to answer as well! Thanks!

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SYSTEM COLOR Obsidian Black with Leather Accent

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8600 (3MB cache/2.4GHz/1066Mhz FSB)

OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-bit

OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 - Word, Excel + PowerPoint

WARRANTY AND SERVICE 4 yr In-home Svs after remote diagnosis+Your Tech Team+Complete Care+LoJack edit

HD DISPLAY Edge-to-Edge 13.3" HD WXGA Slim WLED LCD with 1.3 Megapixel Camera

MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1067MHz (2 Dimms)

HARD DRIVE 500GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive

INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)

VIDEO CARD NVIDIA® GeForce® 9500M - 256MB

WIRELESS CARDS Dell Wireless 1510 802.11n Half Mini-Card edit

BATTERY Additional 9-Cell Battery

SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.0

BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)

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Final Price: $2,205 (Damn 4 year warranty's!)

+7% discount (Dell University) = $2,050

-$750 (Some program is giving me $750 refund for a laptop)=

FINAL, Final Price: $1,300

So some quick questions:

1)Should I jump on this deal?

2) I'm a big media fan and I heard the LED screen is a beauty when watching DvDs, streams, etc. However, as a college student I'm also going to be in bright rooms all day. Is the glare that big of a deal? Should I just stick with the normal screen?

3) HEAT?! I'm buying a 9 cell along with the standard 6 cell to stand the laptop up so it doesn't heat as much, since I heard heat is a huge problem from some (others have told me it's not so bad, you know the deal). Can anybody with a 9 cell on the XPS13 tell me if it makes a difference? If I undervolt and update the BIOS, heat won't be much of a problem, correct?

4) One last question. If there's a college graduate out there, did you need your warranty at all throughout those 4 years?

Thanks for reading. I would appreciate even the slightest answer to any of these questions! Thanks again!

 

LED screen without a doubt. I've had my SXPS for about a week and it's the first glossy screen I have owned. I was worried about all the references to glare in reviews but to be honest it's not a problem at all, even in well lit rooms like lecture theatres. I don't spend much time looking at my own face.

The LED backlight is really, really bright. At max brightness this really helps to prevent reflections. Get the LED.

Haven't had the time to undervolt and take other heat minimising measures yet but I find that using the "balanced" power scheme keeps things at an acceptable level. It's certainly not a cool machine but if you're doing college work, taking notes etc, this isn't going to strain the CPU and GPU and cause massive amount of heat.

This has been my experience but I know others have had terrible heat problems so I guess it depends on your machine. The BIOS isn't really a proper fix but what it does do is keep the fan running most of the time. The fan at normal level is audible but probably ok in a quiet room but when it revs up that could be disturbing in class. Adjusting the power scheme should help prevent this.

The 9-cell will also help purely because any space between the machine and the surface it is sitting on will help heat dissipate better

I got a Latitude D600 when I started college with a 3yr accidental damage warranty from Dell. During those 3 years I had the mobo replaced and went through at least one LCD. Now knowing that any component will be replaced immediately on site does make you a bit careless. Most of that was party damage. That level of cover from Dell was very expensive, at least at the time. It might be worth checking if you can insure the machine separately at lower cost

I would recommend that you get a quality sleeve to protect your machine if you're going to be throwing it into your backpack and bringing it to lectures. I bought one from http://www.sfbags.com and it really is an awesome product. It will be custom made to fit your SXPS and I find it much more useful than a laptop bag because you can throw the machine in any kind of bag and it will be nicely protected. Looks great too. They are kind of expensive on the other hand but mine has lasted for years.

 

Seems like a pretty good deal.

I recently graduated - and also worked tech support for three of my four years. I didn't use the same machine all four years of school though, my old Gateway 400SD was getting a bit unreliable near the end, so I upgraded to an XPS 1530 for my last year and a half. The warranty is excellent, though I never used it for a major hardware failure. I had my screen replaced twice for graininess, and my palmrest and battery replaced once. They ship the part to a local tech, who does a housecall. Very convenient, and minimizes your downtime should the computer suffer a serious failure.

I also purchased both 6 and 9 cell batteries. I ended up only using the 6-cell, because it lasts long enough. Looking back, I'd have been perfectly fine just getting the 9-cell.

The biggest thing you'll have to worry about is data loss, so back your stuff up. I'd say that it always strikes at the worst time possible, but there isn't any convenient time for such things to happen during school. I really recommend setting aside some money for an external drive. Most schools provide a pittance of network-accessible storage, but won't give you enough space to store movies, pictures, music, and software. I've seen plenty of dead computers brought in (mostly Macbooks, heh heh). If you take good care of it, it should last you all four years and then some. If you plan on not being terribly mobile, perhaps consider getting a cooling pad for your primary desk. That will help with the heat.

 

Appears to be a good deal! I've been pondering the XPS 13 for a bit of time now, and if I were taking classes I would also consider this one.

It's a good lappy for a 13"!


Cin

 

Thank you so much for your answers guys. I think I'm pretty much set on this laptop. Thanks again!

 

That's not too bad of a price. Personally I wouldn't get the "Your Tech Team" option if it adds to price but I suppose it might be useful for some. I haven't had the need to use warranty on my SXPS yet but I have on my Dimension (Motherboard, keyboard/mice, and printer were replaced) as has a relative of mine on their Inspiron (Complete horizontal lines of pixels were failing on the monitor after ~1.5 years). The on-site support and extended warranties can be quite useful.

For me the heat isn't a problem. I rarely use the laptop directly on my lap. If I'm not at a desk I usually place it on something else on top of my lap (e.g. on top of a text book which also elevates it and prevents the exhaust vent from blowing directly onto me) though I'd say the laptop is still definitely usable for extended periods so long as on a "power saver" mode is enabled (and the 9200M GS is disabled).

 

Could you give more details on the $750 refund?

I am in school and would like to know

 

Code:

OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 - Word, Excel + PowerPoint

if you can remove this, do so... you can get openoffice for free, or your school probably sells this cheaper or straight from microsoft for 60 here... only for students though

same with the warranty... 4 yr warranty is enough... complete care if you want... your tech team is useless IMO if you know enough tech, or have a friend who knows, or you know how to reinstall windows and don't go messing around with RAID and stuyy

 

$1300 for a machine that will be obsolete in 18 months and will also get knocked around quite a bit isn't too bad. But I'd also be looking at machines that cost around $700- and expect to replace it every 24 months or so without spending the premium for a 4 year warranty. Your end cost after 4 years will be the same or less depending on whether or not you actually have to replace the laptop.

Don't bother buying MSFT office right away. See if free OpenOffice does what you need. Office can be bought in most campus bookstores for $65 or so.

Yes, you can get machines spec'd like your Dell for $700 (and less). Careful shopping will find you 'better' machines in terms of screen and hard drive.

 

I'd be interested in seeing a new machine for $700 with a P8600, LED monitor, or Nvidia 9500M GE. If you meant from Dell Outlet then yes that is true but I'm not sure I would trust the machines equally and reliability becomes an issue as well. I'd like Dell Outlet if the upgrade to a 2 year warranty wasn't that high.

 

Unfortunately, I don't think you can get it. I attended this program for a few months and now they're giving me a $750 refund on any Dell laptop I buy. ;[

Ah I'm an idiot. I was able to to remove parts of the 4 year warranty, now it covers Complete Care and Accidental Damage.

I also removed the Microsoft Office. I guess I'll just buy a cheaper version on campus or use the website you gave me, thanks!

So now the final price after all the discounts is: $950. Sounds good, thanks again guys. And thanks for your input Sepho and News.

 

Heh, now THAT is a good price. Now you got a better deal than mine XD (though mine is still slightly higher spec'ed).

 

Thanks for being specific

 

Consider an Intel card instead of the Dell re-branded version. People here have reported issues with Dell's cards, ranging from poor performance, to preventing the computer from sleeping properly.

 

Which part of the system are you talking about? Unfortunately I'm not that tech-savvy ;[


P.S: I'm pretty much set on buying this laptop, just wondering: Does anyone know if updates are coming to soon or should I just buy it now? I don't want to buy it and then regret not waiting a little longer.

 

If you want the 1340..now, I say you go for it!

If you wait..you might not get it at this price again for a while..and you never know with Dell.

I did this once, before I purchased my 1530..and lost out on a good deal!

Do what you feel is best! You know what you want to do!




Cin

 

If it was the 1640 I'd say wait. I don't see them adding anything major to the 1330 any time soon though. The only thing new they've added since release is a new color, a TV Tuner, and lower end options (i.e. slower hard drives and stock CPUs).

 

The wireless card you listed.
WIRELESS CARDS Dell Wireless 1510 802.11n Half Mini-Card

Beyond that, looks like a fine configuration for the price, so go for it.