Dell XPS M1210 Review with 1.66GHz Core Duo Processor Review (pics, specs)

Overview and Introduction:

The notebook being reviewed hereis a Dell XPS m1210.It is considered an ultraportable with a 12.1" screen. However, this notebook hascreated a new class of notebooks due to the power it has behind it via a Core Duo processor and nVidia Go 7400 cardin a small size package.

Dell XPS M1210 (view large image)

Specs for the XPS m1210 as configured:

• Intel Core Duo Processor T2300E (1.66GHz/667MHz FSB)
• 12 inch Wide-screen WXGA Display with TrueLife
• 2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm
• 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400 TurboCache
• 60GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
• Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem8X DVD+/-RW Drive
• Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy
• Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
• 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
• Windows XP PRO SP2 w/ install cd

Reasons for Buying:

I always try to keep up to date with thenewest technology and notebooks. I recently purchashed an HP dv5000t.Two months after thismy work employerpurchased us notebooks. I basically got to pick and build this m1210 system tosuit my needs. I decided on this notebook because of the size and amount of power you get.

Where and How Purchased:

We got these m1210 notebooks for the given configuration for about $1,600 eachfrom our business department at Dell Direct, ordered over the phone.

Build & Design:

Dell XPS M1210 (view large image)

The base of them1210 is very solid. Everything is easy to accesssuch as thememory, hard drive andbattery. The extended battery sticks out ofthe back (but not the bottom) about 1-inch. The screen itself is very flexible if you try flexing it from the top corners. The hinges keep the screen in place and it hardly wobbles if you push on the screen while it's open.

Top view of M1210 with battery sticking out (view large image)

Underside view of M1210 (view large image)

Screen:

XPS M1210 screen (view large image)

The screen is a 12 inch widescreen WXGA display with TrueLife (glossy finish). The resolution is 1280 x 800. The overall look of the notebook is sleek and very attractive. The screen is a nice size, but Ithink it would be slightly better if it were 13.3" and given the amount of bezel room around the screen it seems there might be enough from for this. The screen is image is clean, bright and crisp. There is no fading or white leaks around the edges of the screen. The screen came with no dead pixels.

Speakers:

The speakers are as expected for an ultraportable notebook, nothing terribly special. They are very loud however, all you hear is loud treble from them. They are located just under the screen, see pictures below for this. I recommend getting some external speakers or headphones for better audio quality.

Processor and Performance:

The Intel Core Duo Processor T2300E (1.66GHz/667MHz FSB) is just a great chip. I am still impressed with the performance of these low power chips. With 2GB of memory this system hauls. It loads Windows up in about 36 secs. Now that Dell woke up gave us the fastest memory and hard drives available for notebooks, ultraportables can step up to the big boys. The system loads Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Office with ease. I haven't had a chance to play any games as this notebook is intended for work. I am sure it's very similar to my HP dv5000t because it's basically the same system specs with a little bit more power.

Benchmarks:

Here's how the Q2010stacked up in PCMark05 results against other notebooks. This result considers system performance as a whole (processor, graphics card, hard drive).

Super Pi

Notebook	Time
Dell XPS M1210(1.66GHz Core Duo / Intel T2300E)	1m 27s
Dell Inspiron e1705 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 12s
Lenovo Z61m (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 16s
IBM ThinkPad T43 (1.86 GHz Pentium M)	1m 45s
IBM ThinkPad Z60m(2.0 GHz Pentium M)	1m 36s
Fujitsu LifeBook N3510 (1.73 GHz Pentium M)	1m 48s
Dell Inspiron 6000D (1.6 GHz Pentium M)	1m 52s
Dell Inspiron 600M (1.6 GHz Pentium M)	2m 10s
HP Pavilion dv4000(1.86 GHz Pentium M)	1m 39s
Asus V6Va(Pentium M 1.86 GHz)	1m 46s
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.0GHz Core Duo)	1m 18s

3DMark05:

An unremarkable 3DMark05 score, which should make little difference to those who eschew notebook gaming:

Notebook	3DMark 05 Results
Dell XPS M1210(1.66GHz Core Duo / Intel T2300E, nVidia Go 7400)	2,050 3D Marks
HP dv8000t (2.00 GHz Core Duo,nVidia Go7400)	2,005 3D Marks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60 Nvidia GeForce Go7800 GTX)	7,0783DMarks
Dell Inspiron e1705 (2.0GHz Intel T2500, ATI X1400)	1,791 3D Marks
Asus V6Va (2.13 GHz Pentium M, ATI Radeon Mobility x700 128 MB)	2,530 3D Marks
Fujitsu n6410(1.66 GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400 128MB)	2,2733DMarks
Dell XPS M1210 (2.16 GHz Core Duo, nVidia Go 7400 256MB)	2,090 3D Marks
Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi(2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 256MB)	4,157 3DMarks

HD Tune Results

(view large image)

HD Tach Results

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Heat and Noise:

The DVD drive vibrates a lot when it's under heavy read load. It's not that annoying. Heat level is about what you can expect from a notebook. The bottom, more so towards the back of the notebook is where most of the heat is. It's going to keep your legs warm if you're relaxing with it on the sofa watching TV. The fan blows hot air out the left side of the notebook. There is no heat on the palm rest at all. The fan appears to be mostlyquiet in use.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

M1210 keyboard and touchpad view (view large image)

The keyboard on this system is great, the keys are "clicky" which is great. The size of the keyboard is great, I can type without a problem on this. In fact, it's a lot like the HP dv5000t keyboard in regard to size aspect. The keyboard does not flex unless you have a lead weightfinger and push on the keys really hard. The touchpad works great, however the mouse buttons are weird. They have a soft push feel to them. I am just not used to it yet but it works great.

Input and Output Ports:

• IEEE 1394 integrated port
• 4 USB 2.0 (Universal Serial Bus) compliant 4-pin connectors
• RJ45 Ethernet port
• RJ11 Modem port
• Video: 15-pin monitor connector
• S-Video: 7-pin mini-DIN connector
• Component Video and S/PDIF digital audio out
• 5-in-1 removable memory card reader
• Audio jacks: Stereo headphones/speakers miniconnector (same as line-out), microphone miniconnector
• ExpressCard 54

Back side view of M1210 ports (battery in the middle) (view large image)

Right side view of ports on the M1210 (view large image)

Left side view of ports on the M1210 (view large image)

Wireless:

This system has an Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g mini card (54Mbps), it works great, my house is only about 1,000 sq.ft, but it works inside and on the backyard patio as well. Bluetooth and EVDOare available built-in, but I did't add these options. There is no infrared port.

Battery:

I always opt for the extended batteries when I buy laptops. This one lasted me 6hrs with the screen dimmed down 2 settings. I am very happy with these numbers. With a little bit more power tweaking I bet I can get closer to 7hrs.

Operating System and Software:

I have WindowsXP professional with SP2 on the m1210. All thenecessary software CDswere included, even a Dell Windows install CD. All the software that came with the computer was trash, except the MacAfee anti-virus/firewall.

Customer Support:

I have not had to deal with support on this product. However we did order over the phone with our business dell rep, and got a great price!

Conclusion:

This is the best ultraportable notebook to date hands down!

Pros

• Its small, very fast, and lightweight.
• It can play games.
• Keyboard and mouse rock
• Battery life of 6hrs+
• Good HD choices size/speed in build process.
• Fast DDR2 memory.

Cons

• Lack of good software pre-installed with the system.
• Price is high.
• Blue lights on front, maybe they eat battery life!
• It's been really hard to find anything bad to say about this notebook.

 

I like that notebook.

 

I recieved my unit yesterday from costco.com and it is awesome. they even included the recovery cd's which were not mentioned on costco's site. i had a dv5000t before this and the m1210 is so much better in build, performance, etc. the 7400 performs better than the one in the dv5000t. on the hp it had trouble playing halo at medium to high settings. the m1210 has no problems on highest settings.

 

Very nice review ~ wish my company got me this instead of the 9400/E1705 but can't complain about the GPU though.

 

Nice review. I'm looking forward to getting my M1210. It shipped out yesterday. With the 30% coupon i found, plus 12% stackable EPP... it was a good deal ($1248.00 shipped).

 

I was just wondering how much does the unit weigh with the 9-cell installed?

 

nice review, lots of greats

 

too bad the screen wasnt bigger...its hard to play games on a 12.1 inch

 

Yeah would've been great if Dell squeezed in a 26" Apple Cinema Display into a 12.1" sized notebook

 

Thank you for this review, mhx. It looks like you picked a nice system for your work.

I noticed that the PCMark05 results appear to have been dropped during editing. Please restore them to the review. Thanks.

 

that is some great battery life. do you think the voltage drop from the t2300 to the t2300e had a big affect on the battery time?

 

The T2300E consumes the same amount of power as the T2300. Link: Confirmed: Intel Core Duo T2300E Has 31W TDP.

 

Agreed on the blue lights being a con. what was dell thinking?

 

The lights in front of the M1210 probably don't consume that much power... maybe someone should test battery life with them on and off... you can shut the lights of in the BIOS.

 

where can i get coupons for this laptop!? 30%?!?

 

eBay has them for about 2-3 dollars each with shipping. They are only good through today though.

 

Wait a minute.. thought I replied to this thread yesterday. Anyway, I'm just wondering. How much of dedicated video RAM does the GeForce Go 7400 have? 64MB or 128MB? Might be getting a M1210 this September.

 

I really wouldnt worry about the blue lights eating your battery. Im 99.99999% sure they're LED's, which use next to no power.

cy007 the 7400 has 64MB's of dedicated VRAM.

I ordered mine last tuesday, im hoping for it before the end of this week, I should get it soon, as I ordered it through a private Dell certified distributer, and they get priority on their stuff.

 

64 meg dedicated ram, 192 Vram.

 

Hi,
Nice review. thank you.
However, I was wondering how much noise it makes with the fan on and how is the heat level.
Thank you again
Best regards
ingolf

 

if u are a mobile gamers, xps m1210 is not for u. but even you can play games with the 7400. but only prob u have is, it is a 12 inch screen. for me 12 inch is not a problem.

xps m1710 is costly but suites ur gaming.

 

Hi people.

I've just registered - first thread

Well I've been searching around the Internet for two days or so now reading through all the reviews and comments I can find about the M1210, cause I really want to get it.

BIG question - how long does the battery last??

I've read quite a lot of reviews that say about 4:30hrs, but this review claimed 6+ hours?

So much I want to ask or say but I'll try and cut it down.

Basically I want a fast, small and long lasting (battery) laptop.

I've currently have a Acer Aspire 5672WLMI, with all the settings turned down and screen brightness (lowest), Wi-Fi ON - I only managed 1:40mins! Crap or what!!!

How much does the 7400GO affect the battery?

I really can't decide to go for the discrete graphics card or not.

Please help me out since you guys already have the m1210.

Many many thanks!

Joe

 

in this review, the reviewer was using the extended battery, not the regular battery that comes with it. it probably has 4.5 hours for normal battery, 6 hrs for extended.

 

Thanks for the reply - are you a m1210 owner?