m1530.. paranoid?

My m1530 was shipped 12/8 I believe, and if so, then my 21 day return policy ends tomorrow. I love the laptop so far though I've only been using it for three days [Christmas present.] Yet, I have one problem. I feel like the screen is slightly grainy. It really bothers me on white pages, like NBR. I have a samsung, I don't know if I'm just being paranoid or if I should ask for a replacement. I also kind of regret not getting the higher end graphic card and better processor. Yet Sims 2 runs wonderfully, which is the only game I'll play so I'm not too worried about the graphic card. I do wish the computer itself ran a little faster though. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

Return it and get what you want!

 

umm if its grainy ask for a new one...theres not much u can do about crappy processor and GPU...they wont upgrade it for u or anything unless u just return it and order all over again...if the screen is grainy just ask for a new one and stop worrying lol

 

If you can, return it for your money back and reorder either the T7250 or T7500 processors. Should be a pretty big difference. If you're sure Sims 2 is the only game you'll play, then you might as well stick with the 8400GS for better battery life over the 8600GT.

 

Lol, I'm a big worrier, I literally worry about everything.


Is it possible to have the processor upgraded on my own? Though I'd have to have someone else do it for me, I know nothing about taking apart computers.

About the grainy screen, I don't know if I'm just thinking about it too much. I don't know if every screen is like this. Like I said, it only bothers me on white pages.


Does anyone who owns an m1530 experience any grain?

 

I'm going to seriously consider that. The other thing is that if I do reorder, I need to stay within the 1300 price range, because my parents dont want payments over 40 a month.

And I'm also extremely impatient, and the wait of sending the laptop back and reordering another would drive me insane.

 

Yikes!
Is T5250 that bad? When I had a T2300 on my M90, it wasn't so bad. And now it's running Mythdora like a champ. Maybe I should've upgraded my processor too? :'(

 

Well, no it's a lot faster than my desktop was. Sometimes things take longer to load than I thought it would, and I just think of how I could have gotten something better.

I don't think you have to worry, it's actually pretty fast. I'm really nit-picking the system i think.

 

1.5 is fine if ur gaming or surfing the web...its not so good if ur like doing heavy video encoding

 

The other thing that worries me is that I need this to last me through college. [I'm a junior in high school now, so thats 5 years ]. And I know it will pretty much be obsolete by then, but I still want to be able to run most things and still have the computer run fast by then.


Also when I was typing this, many keys I have to press over again because they didnt show up, kind of annoying but I can live with it.

And, often I have to press the left touchpad button several times for it to click on something.

 

Your CPU should be more than fast enough that this shouldn't be happening... I have the T7500, and even when throttled down to 1.0GHz this doesn't happen to me. How many processes do you have running?

 

Apparently, 82

I'm only running AIM, internet explorer,and a trend micro PC scan though

 

I opted out of the TrendMicro suite, so I'm not familiar with it, but I will say that I have encountered antivirus/firewall programs that have brought systems to a grinding halt (I'm looking at you CA). So, it's note entirely out of the question that TrendMicro could be slowing your computer down that much. If it's something that bothers you, I guess you could try doing a clean Vista install...

 

I would also be appreciative of any feedback from current Dell notebook users on this point. I'm considering purchasing a M1530 and my student budget and generally fairly basic demands mean I don't plan to have to re-enter the market anytime soon.

What kind of longetivity should we be able to expect from a M1530 system? I don't care if or when it will be obsolete (let's face it, that's almost straight away in the modern notebook market!), but how long I can expect to hammer away on my Dell before it packs it in, in your opinion?

This sounds like your fingers getting used to the feel of the new keyboard/touchpad. I've noticed it on almost every new laptop I've ever used.

 

I would do that, but I don' have faith in my computer skills to get all the necessary drivers and programs back. I also don't really want to reinstall programs again.

I'm thinking about returning and reordering. I configured one that I think would be perfect, no regrets:

Tuxedo Black
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1440x900) & 2MP Camera
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
Speed: 160GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Free Fall Sensor
Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
6-cell Primary Battery and 9 -cell additional Lithium Ion Battery
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition
I feel like this laptop would be more likely to last future technology upgrades.

Total cost with tax would be: $1,651[USD] or $50/month.

I may be able to convince my parents to do this, and I'll just give them an extra 10 dollars each month if it's too much for them.

 

Well, I started using mine on Christmas day and it died today, so about 4 days?

Just kidding, I'm pretty sure I was just unlucky enough to get a bad one. In my experience, if the laptop is generally taken pretty good care of it can last a really long time. My last laptop before the 1530 was a Latitude C600, and it still works perfectly fine other than the battery. I actually still have a Gateway laptop with a Pentium II 300MHz that continues to operate without any problems. Given the build quality of the 1530 compared to those 2, I personally don't have any worries about its longevity.

 

You could save so much money by upgrading the RAM yourself...you can get a 2GB from newegg for $40. If you order the laptop with 1GB of RAM, that will give you 2.5GB when you upgrade. Don't worry about your computer skills, RAM is one of the easiest things to upgrade, and there's a howto video on youtube.

I saw that you picked the Audigy HD software, I'm not really sure how useful that is. It might just be a waste of money.

Other than that, looks like it'll be a great setup. The T7500 + 8600GT will be plenty fast enough for a couple years as long as you aren't a hardcore gamer. I was more than satisfied with the performance.

 

Thanks for that. Response 1 is pretty reassuring. Any further comments would be warmly welcomed by both myself and cconant1833, of course.

 

I believe this is package deal they have on dell website. If you choose BEST configured system, you get very good speced system for value. I doubt he can remove the 3GB member options.

 

All of that stuff came standard with the 699 off deal. I only upgraded the screen, battery, and changed harddrive from 250 to 160 7200, because i wont need 250GB, and 7200 is faster I've heard.

 

why dont you get the last on on the list for $1399.99 http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=DYCWHN3&s=dhs

Tuxedo Black
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch LCD (1280x800) & 2.0 MP Camera
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
Size: 250GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition
My Software & Accessories
Trend Micro Internet Security 15-months
No Microsoft Office
My Service
3Yr In-Home Service, Parts Labor, 24x7 Phone Support
1Yr LoJack for Laptops Theft Protection (CD Shipped Separately)
Included 10GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Year
6 Months Risk-Free Trial AOL Advantage Internet Access
Also Includes
Windows Vista™ Premium
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor

 

I think he did...
He just added more options.

 

ok sorry i see that you were looking at that

 

Ah, right. I completely forgot about that deal.

 

So, I'm thinking my best option is to return this laptop because of the screen. And then order a new laptop with the specs I listed earlier.

By the way, I also really like the warranty on the one I configured, I was worried about having only a year since I need this to last five.

Is this what you guys would advise as the way to go?

Thanks

 

I think it's the way to go for 1530. With the exception of RAM and the hard drive (I have 4GB/160GB 5400) it's the same specs as mine, and I was pleasantly surprised by its performance. You won't be playing the latest games on high or probably even medium in 5 years, but I think the laptop will last.

 

Alright, I'll talk to my parents about it in the morning. I know I will be the one making the calls though, so what number would I be calling? I know XPS support is the best, but I'm not sure if I'd call them for returning a system.

I have no idea how returning a system works with dell, any advice is appreciated.


Thanks for all the fast replies and helpful answers :]

 

I just talked to my mom about it and she reminded me that her DPA has a total of 1500. I'm not sure what to do now, tax raises the price 115. Are there any other kinds of discounts I could apply to the system?

And also how does returning and reordering a system work? I would really like to get the new laptop as soon as possible.

Thanks

 

You could look at this deal and select most needed options, like CPU and GPU and upgrade other parts later. It also comes with 3 year warrenty.

 

I tried configuring that but had to drop the processor from 2.2 to 2.0 and get a smaller hard drive. Yet I could get the other deal with 2.2 and 160GB for only about 80 more.

I'm really confused on what to do here, part of me is thinking that this is too much work and I should just be happy with what I have. Yet, another part of me thinks about how I need this to last me and the price is so good.

Do you think if I ordered on the phone, I could find some way for them to drop the price 100 so I could order it? I'm getting desperate.

I keep going back and forth on ordering a new one or keeping this one.

 

If you add the same memory and the Hard drive the price comes out to be much higher. Plan to spend around $200 later to upgrade Ram and HD at newegg, and ebay off the parts you pull from this. Also subtract Trend Micro Security.

Below come to be 1472

COLOR Tuxedo Black edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition edit
LCD AND CAMERA High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1440x900) & 2MP Camera edit
MEMORY 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms) edit
HARD DRIVE Size: 120GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write) edit
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT edit
WIRELESS CARDS Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card edit
BLUETOOTH OPTIONS Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate) edit
BATTERY OPTIONS 6-cell Primary Battery and 9 -cell additional Lithium Ion Battery edit
SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.0 edit
My Software & Accessories
ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE No Security edit
PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD edit
Dell Recommends
Need Excel, Word and Powerpoint? Upgrade to Microsoft Office H&S 2007 today.
Upgrade to Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 - Word, Excel + PowerPoint [add $149 or $4/month1]


My Service
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 3Yr In-Home Service, Parts Labor, 24x7 Phone Support edit
ACCIDENT AND THEFT PROTECTION Add Accidental Damage and LoJack Theft Protection to 3Yr Warr. edit
DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP Included 10GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Year edit
DIAL-UP INTERNET ACCESS No ISP requested edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Dell Printer Driver Windows Vista™ Premium
Software - Adobe Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Processor Branding Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Miscellaneous Warranty Special

 

IMHO, it seems you won't be happy and will be constantly worried if you do not return your laptop and get the new one. If you'll be using it as your main computer than you don't want to be reminded of your mistake by not getting the one you think is "best" for you. Also, have more confidence in yourself and dig up the information you can find easily (ex. of course you could order on the phone and get a better deal, it's about chance and how YOU handle it). Anyways, best of luck on your decision; I'm going to order the M1530 soon too. And don't perceive this as an attack or anything of that sort, just some general advice from my perspective .

 

If I got that deal, then I'd have to add in about 115 for tax making the price over 1500. I also don't think I would be able to buy the other things of ebay for a longgg time. I'm currently paying for a trip and all of my money goes towards that until June, then I'm making all my payments on my laptop. [Parents are making them until then as Christmas present.] So I have no extra money to buy upgradable parts.

I see what you're saying, and I agree, I don't think I will be happy if I don't order another one. I'll probably sleep on this tonight and decide what to do tomorrow.

Is it a lengthy process to do a return/reorder?

 

To afford the system you want, can you get a student discount? Or if you have any family members that work at a large corp, sometimes you can use their EPP (Employee Purchase Program) discount. If you can use either of those discounts, you need to call and place your order because the higher res screen wasn't available through the EPP site a couple of days ago but a CS rep can get it ordered with either of those screens.

To return your current system you just call the main dell number and choose "returns". Usually they will offer you $100 or so to keep the one you have. It usually takes a few days for the system you are returning to get credited back to your DPA. If your moms acct is maxed out from the system you have now you'll probably have to wait until her account gets credited to order the new one. Other than that the return process is pretty easy. They give you a RMA number to write on the box and they make arrangements for the carrier to pick it up. The last time I had to return one the CS rep said I would have to pay for the return shipping but it was never deducted from my credit.

 

I also have slight paranoia also...

Since I have gotten my laptop I have loved it. However, there is one small thing that has been bothering the crap out of me for the past day or so. The keyboard has a slight hump in the middle. It functions correctly, but since its a new expensive toy its just bother some to me I also noticed some sort of adhesive right at the top middle of the keyboard running from under the black portion under the f8 key. The f8 key just gets slightly stuck to the it when its pressed.


Should I just keep it or should I talk to dell and see what I can do to fix it or get it replaced to keep me 100% happy?

 

I'm trying to figure out where I can see if my dad would qualify for EPP. He works at a high school, if that means anything. I'm in high school but I think for the education discount you have to be in college?

I can't find a link to dells EPP.


EDIT: My 100th post!!

 

So, once again I've changed my mind. I haven't been giving this laptop enough credit, it's really great. I've decided that I'm just going to keep this one and then in about a year in and a half sell it to probably my sister and buy a new laptop for college.

That way I'll have better technology and my sister could get a cheap year old laptop.

 

I have the same issue. Initally I thought that its only in my head, but after reading your comment i'm convinced that my screen also has an issue. This issue is really visisble on white pages.

 

Hallo cconant1833, hallo zeeta6

I'm from Germany and I want to buy an XPS M1530. Now I read about grainy Displays again. Which glossy wildscreen 15.4 Size do you have?

 

That is typical of almost every Dell notebook I have had(9300, XPS2, M1710) You can try and call and request an LG screen. Because the 1530's are new, no one really knows what part number these new LG's will carry.

 

1280x800

I talked to a tech on chat yesterday and I have a replacement screen coming. I'll let you guys know how that goes. Hopefully the problem will be fixed.

 

Its a shame really,to ruin an otherwise excellent laptop design with poor quality LCD Panels :>(

 

Well good luck with the panel replacement.

 

Thank you!

 

ya, good luck. I'm changing the whole system though. I don't want to bother with getting it fixed when its bad from box.

 

I'm kind of confused here...

I ordered the 120GB hard drive and when I go to computer it says I only have:
63.1GB of 99.2GB free. I didn't do a fresh vista install because I didn't trust myself with drivers and redownloading files. The biggest thing I have on my computer is the sims2 with a couple expansions which I believe should only be about 5 or 6 GB if that. I have about 200 songs and maybe 50 pictures. I dont see how all this could take up 30 GB. I have the option of compressing my C drive, what does this do? And would it really be helpful? What programs can I delete? I don't know what is bloatware and what I need to keep. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Oh and what happened to the other 21GB I ordered?

I know that there are a lot of threads like this floating around, but I'm not very tech savvy and It confuses me. Thanks again.

 

Dell takes a portion of HDD to store the recovery files, (windows and its components.etc) I think that explains the 20 gig missing. as for the bloatware, take a screenshot of the installed program incontrol panel nad post it here, we'll help u out to decide which ones you dont need....

 

how did u get to this 400$ off deal? think its possible to get that with the student member discount? (12% off)

 

Okay I took a picture of the programs, thanks for helping. :]

EDIT: Also as you can see on the bottom right next to the time, my connection is marked with an X, but I have an internet cable plugged in and internet is functining perfectly. It does the same thing when I connect to a wireless. This has only happened today though, and I haven't restarted it since which could fix the problem. Just wondering if this is normal or not.

 

Ya Magicrice, you can get the discount. I'm lookin at gettin the 1530 next month. Went through my college's computer store site to get on Dell's. You get the 12% discount if you get the 3 or 4 year warranty (nice coincidence that the $669 discounted deal includes it huh?). I managed to make a $2,818.00 laptop $1,891.12 with all the discounts they had. I might even get the 4 year for $80 more and use the $70 gift card to get that sound blaster x-fi card for $66 ;-P

Edit: Oh ya, if you want the 1680x1050 display other people have mentioned all you have to do is call and get it changed.