m1530: 9-cell battery gone?

Hi all,

I was just about to pull the trigger on a m1530 via dell.com (US) but found I am no longer able to configure it with a 9-cell battery. I know I can easily buy the battery separately - but I was wondering what the likely reasons for this option disappearing are - could this mean they have stopped making 9-cells (maybe EOL for m1530)? Wouldn't they normally just delay the ship date if the component was due to come back later?

Side note: as an alternative, I'm considering the SXPS 16 - does anyone have both a SXPS 16 and m1530 and can comment on the size/weight difference?

Thanks,

Adam

 

Hey Adam,

Dell will sometimes remove items from the configurations page when they are out of stock or when they simply stop ordering those parts ( for example the white color on the m1530... or the pink one )

anyways, the m1530 is a good machine, but it has an old design, and old hardware. and when it comes to technology, hardware that has been around for 2 years IS old hardware

so i would recommend you look at the sxps 16, it features the new centrino 2 processor, much faster RAM, new design, Faster ATI GPU, and backlit keyboard. not to mention its an overall SEXY machine!
and it is a bit bigger than the m1530, but by no means less portable! 16 means you get a larger screen

so if you have the money, go for the sxps 16!

 

Hi Koer,

Thanks for the reply. The SXPS 16 is quite tempting - the negatives that are holding me back are: poor battery life, runs quite hot, shiny so gets dirty quickly, cost*. With all that said, I like the look and specs quite a lot.

*I can get a fully equipped m1530 for ~US$1400 (with 25% discount) whereas a SXPS 16 is >$2k for a high-end version. While I know the m1530 is "old technology", I'm not sure I will really notice it that much (perhaps slight performance boost with the newer CPUs and memory speeds?).

How much better is the Radeon HD3670 compared with the GeForce 8600M GT?

Adam

 

any clue as to when this option will be back?

 

You might want to call and check with a Rep, and see if they might have an idea on when they will be back in stock. I'm not sure if they they will be able to tell you but they may be able to give you an idea, at least


McCin'

 

The SXPS sure does lovely on the press pics. But I am not so sure how it looks in real life being all smudgy after some use. The M1530 is great in that respect I think. The brushed alu doesn't show fingerprints and if you manage to get it dirty you can wipe it clean very easily.

And yes, 2 years is a long time in hardware land, but I don't think you will notice much performance difference. You are not going to notice the difference between a T9500 and a T9600 (the max for M1530 and XPS16) in real life and the Centrino 1 vs 2 platform won't make much difference imho.

Btw, the 9 cell is great: I easily run 3.5 hours on it with WiFi and Bluetooth on and brightness turned up from the default. If you are careful, you can go beyond 4 hours!

 

This isn't an easy decision - I was starting to lean toward the SXPS 16 but I completely agree with everything you just said, doh!

I saw the SPXS 13 in BestBuy and it had fingerprints all over it - the demo M1530 was a bit beat up but it still looked half decent.

I also agree the Centrino platform is really not going to make a huge performance diff. I'm still wondering about the video card though - from reading the forums it seems they are approx. the same but in benchmarks it looks like the newer radeon wins out (but not by a huge amount?).

Btw, do you have the geforce 9600m gt in your m1530? Which CPU? Just trying to work out if my proposed configuration will get similar battery life with the 9-cell (which is still missing grr!).

 

I don't know exactly how much the video cards differ. I have the 8600M GT in it, a T9300 CPU and a 7200rpm HDD. In everyday use it's blazing fast and I can run some games pretty decently. I am not a hardcore gamer, but HL2 Episode 2 (my fav), BioShock and Far Cry 2 all work perfectly with settings at high and the native resolution of 1680x1050 (ok, Far Cry 2 struggles a bit if I turn everything way up).

IMO, whatever you do, get a 7200rpm drive (or a SSD is you have plenty to spare Hard disk speed has much, much more impact in the performance experience of your laptop as the difference between say a T9300 of T9500 CPU.

Good luck with your choice!

 

Yep I planned on getting a 7200 hdd, IMO one of the more commonly missed upgrades for laptop buyers.

For anyone else that was wondering where the 9-cell battery went - I called Dell and they were zero help. They just tried selling me on the laptop and said "inventory is always changing". It really doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me because you can buy the battery as an accessory (for close to $200 though) separately still.

 

Hey kamarge,

well if you dont really need the backlit keyboard ( only reason i would buy the sxps 16 lol ) then the xps m1530 is more than perfect for you.

The ATI on the sxps 16 is faster than the 8600gt, but only by a bit, but you can easily overclock your GPU and get very nice performance increases.

i have the 9 cell battery. and i gotta tell you, im quite annoyed by it, my uber slim laptop looks and feels bulky and heavy, and it barely makes for 2 hours of battery life while surfing the web and having your screen at 80%... not to mention you cant really use a cooler with the 9 cell battery, witch is recommended if you overclock...

so i would go with the 6 cell battery, and then buy the 9 cell if you need more battery life, and btw the car adapter is a life saver!!! worth every penny

 

Strange, I am from Holland and on the Dutch Dell site you can still configure the 9 cell for a €70,- premium (when I orded, it was free).

 

Koer, are you talking about an m1530 with 9 cell? And it only lasts 2 hours? That seems kind of low

Well up until last week I could also configure it with a 9 cell, just not anymore <doh>

 

2 hours is low....Mine lasts at least 4 hours.
I just did a config' on the US site..the 6 cell is only still availi'

Cin

 

2 hours IS low for a 6 cel+ m1530

dont worry, the 9cell will be back for config.... (its available as a parts accessory)... dell usually takes parts that are in short supply off the config... so that if anyone orders via the parts accessory catalog, they pay thru the roof, but a new buyer cant get it

 

Thanks for the info. You don't think they are moving toward end-of-life for the m1530 instead do you? Ideally I want this laptop with a 9-cell but it would suck if I waited only to have the whole laptop pulled

Another strange thing I noticed: I wanted to get the Intel Wireless N card, but for some reason it's only available if you configure the m1530 with Vista 32-bit, once you switch to Vista 64 it disappears

Am I still ok to configure it with Vista 32, then request the Vista 64 DVD's from Dell and do the reinstall myself?

Thanks!

 

Hi All,

I have a M1530 with T9500 CPU & 500GB HDD and I can tell you that the screen, keyboard, trackpad, webcam and fingerprint sensor are good but the battery life is poor even with a 9 cell battery.

I have 4GB of 800MHz DDR2 but the RAM index is only 5.0. I figure this is due to the old Centrino 1 chipset. A friend just bought a HP entertainment lappy with full HD res and a P8600/2.4 GHz Centrino2 CPU and I can tell you that it is way faster than the M1530 which is slow by comparison. The HP even has better graphics capability, so I think that Dell is joking when they market the XPS as a gaming platform - the M1530 is definitely old hat and I would not recommend it. Especially as it runs so hot and the CPU fan is constantly running up and down.

I will keep it for now as I paid AUD$1,800 for it and they sell on eBay now for under $1,000 used so better get some use out of it before upgrading. Will a get another XPS? Not unless they are massively improved.

Hope this helps.