What to buy: Studio XPS 1640 or XPS M1530

I honestly cannot make my mind up on what laptop to go for. I am actually agononizing over this and any help would be greatly appreciated. What would you guys do?

This is my XPS M1530 SPEC:

• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.50 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 6 MB L2 cache)
• Vista® Home Premium SP1- English
• 4 Year Premium Warranty Support
• L15.4" Widescreen WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT Display with TrueLife™
• 4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
• 500GB Serial ATA (5400RPM) Hard Drive
• NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 8600M GT with 256MB
• Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load drive
• 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)
• Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth + Bluetooth Mouse
• Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-Card - Europe Duo Processors

The Studio XPS 1640

• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40Ghz, 3MB, 1066MHz)
• Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1(32 BIT)
• 4 Year Premium Warranty Support
• 16" (inch) Truelife 1080p Full HD RGBLED Edge to Edge Display
• 4096MB 1067MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM
• 320GB Free Fall Sensor (7200RPM) Hard Drive
• 512MB ATI® Radeon™ HD 3670 graphics card
• DVD+/-RW (DVD & CD read and write)
• Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery
• Integrated DVB-T TV Tuner and Antenna
• Dell Wireless 5530 Mobile Broadband
• Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module
• Intel WiFi Link 5100 (802.11 a/b/g/n 1X2) 1/2 MiniCard

I will be mainly using for design and video editing with occasional game play and music creation.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

I assume the first specs you quoted are for the 1530 (you labeled them both as the SXPS 1640).

I would recommend going with the studio xps. The M1530 uses outdated tech (DDR2, last-gen intel processor, last gen nvidia graphics...)
Unless you're saving a substantial amount by buying the 1530, so with the 1640.

 

As I won't be having a Blueray Drive is there any need to have the 16" (inch) Truelife 1080p Full HD RGBLED Edge to Edge Display - It's at a £199 premium, - or will the 16" (inch) Truelife 720p HD WLED Edge to Edge Display be suffice for webdesign and some movie editing?

 

720p is enough for web design and movie editing... though 1080p means that u get more workspace... (can open windows up, but the pixels would be small)

 

The XPS 16 does have the latest gen tech. DDR3 etc. FSB of the CPU is much higher also. I think the 1530 looks better though.
One small thing is the HDD speed also. there are 7,200 rpm 500gb HDD's out there. Don't know if they are offering them on the 1530

 

I do like the 1530 but here in the UK there is no LED screen option.

 

I would seriously think twice about getting the 1900x1200 resolution if it was not the RGBLED technology. I'm very pleased with my 1530 with the LED 1440x900 screen, but I would like more, which is why I ordered the sxps last week. I mainly do a lot of web application programming and I teach programming classes. The 1530 does decent job at playing CoD and Halo II and really fine at WoW. It doesn't do as well with GoW though.

You'll really strain your eyes with the 1900x1200 TFT resolution though.

You can pick up that XPS 1530 for around $900-1000 in the Outlet center if you're patient enough (that's how I got mine). The sxps will have a longer life to it though since it is using later technology and has a faster FSB.

 

McCool,

What spec did you go for?

 

I went with the sxps 16 with the RGBLED screen. I love the look of the 1440x900 on my 1530, but I need more real-estate to work with.

I had a Gen 1 XPS laptop and the 1900x1200 gave me the real-estate screen-wise, but after a while, the TFT was a real eye strainer for me.

Here are the full specs for the one I'll be getting in the next day or so:
XPS 1640, Intel Core 2 Duo T9550(2.66GHz/1066Mhz FSB/6M L2 Cache)
Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish with Leather XPS 1640
4GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz 2 Dimm forXPS 1640
16.0 inch Wide Screen 16:9 1080p FullHD RGBLED LCD W/2.0 MP, XPS 1640
ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3670 - 512MB
256GB Dell High Performance Solid State Hard Drive, 2.5MM
Microsoft Windows Vista with SP1 Home Premium Edition 64-bit Edition English
DELL RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP XPS 1640
DELL WELCOME,Software Dimension/Inspiron
Dell Dock Consumer
Dell Owners Manual installed on your system,click on icon after system set-up to access
Vista, PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
Dell Connect 2.1
DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
Windows Live Search,Multiple User Interface
ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE
8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive for XPS1640
Roxio 10.2 DE
Cyberlink PowerDVD DX 8.2 for DVD
Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0
Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11AGN Half Mini Card
McAfee SecurityCenter 15-month
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion P Primary Battery, for XPS 1640
2 Year Limited Warranty
Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Extended Year(s)
Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Initial Year
Third Party At HomeService, 24x7 TechnicalSupport, 1 Year Extended
Third Party At HomeService, 24x7 TechnicalSupport, Initial Year
Warranty Support,1 Year Extended
Warranty Support,Initial Year
Soft Contracts - Banctec
2GB DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 FOR SDO/DIM/INS/XPS
To activate your online backupaccount, go to Start, Programs, DataSafe Online
DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 2GB FOR DIM/INS/XPS
S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks
Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
Premium HD WLED Display Obsidian Black, Leather 2.0 MP Webcam
Dell Video Chat
Dell WebCam Central 1.0 XPS 1640
Facial Recognition Sensible Vision
Intel Centrino 2 Label

 

Without a doubt... the XPS 1530. I just dig the looks. And for some unknown reason... I just don't see the point of a 16" lappy. It's just too unconventional for it's own good.

 

The only thing I don't like about the SXPX is the high gloss finish but it seems most manufacturers go for this option these days.

 

the SXPS 16 is a much better buy, only a little bit more and you get the "newest" laptop proccesor line pretty much and newer parts in general, and most of the time, newer=better, except for DirectX10 and Vista, those were worst for the most part, but they run good on the XPS 16, i duel boot with xp because Crysis runs A LOT better (when played with the exact same settings including DX9)

 

Another factor you might want to consider is battery life.

I've read on other websites that the Studio XPS 16's battery life is quite weak, in comparison to the XPS M1530's mere 6-cell battery. You'd get alot more road power with the XPS M1530, and I personally think the 16" screen drains alot of the Studio XPS's power.

 

hoodomoo: Is the shiny surface around the touchpad a big messy fingerprint magnet?

steelroots7xe: Yea battery life is something else to consider although I am not on the road a whole lot these days.

 

Personally I'd buy the M1530,much nicer looking imo,smaller,lighter,better battery life from what has been reported.
The 1640 RGB is a good thing if your very fussy about colour quality,I don't care for 16:9 myself,but that may not bother you.
As for being a newer chipset......I couldn't even notice the difference between my new and old notebook without running a benchmark,they had the same 2.4GHZ speed [upgraded current to 3.06] so I wouldn't be making the decision purely on that.
DDR3 is such a non-issue in the overall scheme of thing's,it's not even worth mentioning imo.

Reading the review on this site left me with a distinctive "meh" feeling about the SXPS 1640,as did the notebookcheck review,although they rated them with the same overall score. http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-Studio-XPS-16-Notebook.14431.0.html they said the graphical performance was around the same as the 1530's 8600GT which isn't exactly what I'd be looking for from a more expensive,larger,heavier notebook with supposedly better component's.


my 2cent's. and best of luck with whatever you get.

 

I have XPS 1530 with T9300 and 128SSD 4GB incredible performance for a laptop I LOVE IT

 

boricha,

It still bugs me that in the UK I cannot get the LED Backlit 1440x900. I spoke to the Europe based Dell and they said it's just not available here. We have access to either '15.4" UltraSharp™ Widescreen WSXGA+ (1680x1050) TFT Display with TrueLife™' or the '15.4" Widescreen WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT Display with TrueLife™' on the higher end of the scale. I may well go for the WSXGA+ as I think the WUXGA will cause eye strain. Why no LED here though?

Is the 128 SSD much better than a conventional drive? I was looking at a 130gb 7200 standard drive.

Many thanks

 

Well, I'm sitting here with the 1530 and the 1640 side by side (woohoo, the sxps just came in!). The 1640, although an inch wider, is actually slightly thinner at the front and shorter in height by at least 1/2 inch with the screens at vertical. Th 1640 seems like it's about a pound heavier. I might be tempted to break out the 1530 on an airplane, but would only consider doing so with the 1640 if I was flying first class.

My 1530 has a WLED 1440x900 and the 1640 has the RGBLED 1900x1090. The 1530's screen is brighter, but the 1640 is just freakin gorgeous. I did have to tone down the red by about 30% on the 1640; but I really did not realize I had to do so until I had both screens side by side. Your mileage is bound to vary...

I do a LOT of programming in Visual Studio and usually have one or two VMs running when I work. The 1640 with the rgbled screen will be much better suited for this, although I've been able to pull this off with the 1530.

If I were to configure my 1530 on Dell right now, it would come to about $1800, but I purchased it as certified refurbished in the outlet for about $1050. At that price, I think it is a better buy than the cheapest 1640 and I know I could easily get two years of use out of it.

My 1530 will play WoW on it's recommended settings for the 1530 at 75+ fps. I can turn up all the settings except a few to full and still get 45+ fps, even in Ironforge. I won't know about WoW on the 1640 for a while since it takes so darn long to install and patch. The 1640 I ordered came with the 256GB Samsung SSD and it really would not be fair to compare the two systems against each other! (BTW if anyone reading this has gone from Vista 32 to Vista 64 and has experience transferring WOW, I'd appreciate any hints

For me, if I only had about $1000 to work with and a little patience, I would go for the 1530 tripped out with the WLED in the Outlet center. Since I spend 10-12 hours a day on computers, the 1640 is worth every penny of the $2100 I paid for it.