Dell XPS M1330 Review

Cool. But I am worried about what you said. It sounds like dell only has 3 M1330 to share around all the media. I mean what the hell, we have only seen 3 real reviews, and now they need you system back to give to CNBC? Shouldn't they have atleast 1 or 2 production systems made by now?

For PHPBB once I wrote an Acronym mod, that automatically put tool tips on acronyms so people could mouse over and see what it meant. That would be perfect if you could find something like that for this forum. Then when you hover over WXGA the actual resolution would pop up.

 

Hehe, I guess as a designer/printer I always look at photos with a very critical eye. The pictures are fine, just if we had high res shots on some of the detail pieces we could zoom in and look around.

 

Great Review!
I don't really find the slanting of the notebook to be a turn off like others have.
In fact, it looks to be a great design when it comes to typing and would help a lot to ease the process.

 

Only that batttery IDLE with the 9 cell? eh?

 

anyone knows if it would be possible to replace the HDD with SSD on your own?
and same question about RAM.

Too bad Dell will sell this babies with Vista, I'd rather had XP on it.

 

If I buy this 1330 with Vista Home Premium (32 bit obviously) installed, is there a way for me to only pay the upgrade fees for upgrading/switching to 64 bit? Or do I just have to go out and buy my own 64 bit copy with no discount etc..

 

If you check the owner's manual for the XPS m1330:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xpsM1330/en/om/index.htm

You'll see them giving you a detailed guide on the procedures for removing the Hard Drive. It's only a matter of removing the screws and pop the Hard Drive out.

If the SSD is similarly sized, then installation should be just as easy.

 

This would be useful but one has to be careful about WXGA - it covers both 1280 x 800 and 1280 x 768. I went from the former to the latter in one on my upgrades and severely missed those 32 rows of pixels.

John

 

Pretty. This would definitely be the machine I'd get if I were into 13". How sturdy is it?

BTW, Andrew, when are you going to write a review for the MBP?

 

The M1330 is remarkably sturdy and well built. You'd have a hard time finding a better built 13-inch notebook that is still as thin and light.

As for an official MacBook Pro review, we'll review one as soon as Apple sends us one to review like every other manufacturer.

For whatever reason Apple will not send us review units. The last MacBook we officially reviewed here was one that we purchased ourselves at an Apple Store ... something we're not likely to do again.

 

should I get my M1330 soon (also considering cancelling it and going for the much cheaper Vostro 1400).. I'll do some comparisons with my friend's macbook.

 

Walter Mossberg (from the WSJ) has a mini review of the m1330 today. He says a reboot took 4 minutes. Andrew or Jerry, did you notice that the boot time was this painfully slow? I mean that sounds like a really terrible load time...

 

Walt Mossberg is in the pocket of Steve Jobs. They see the XPS M1330 as a direct competitor to the Macbook and Macbook Pro product lines (plus future products?).

I have listened to some of his review on the net and it's quite pathetic sometimes.

But that being said, did you notice any slow boot problems? LOL

 

Even though Apples can run Windows now I just don't see the M1330 as a direct competitor to the MacBook. I still delineate between an Apple and a PC and I don't have a particularly high opinion of the MacBook because of the IGP. If you want to step into the Apple world, the MacBook is a good choice but that's it. The M1330 I see as an example of a very good higher-end ultra-portable laptop PC with PC being the operative word. Now I could see Apple's rumoured 12" MacBook Pro being the M1330's competitor since they would both be higher-end products, likely with similar capabilities. Other than being an Apple, I don't think the MacBook has what it takes to directly compete against the M1330.

 

Others have commented about Mr. Mossberg's credibility and I won't flame a fellow journalist.

What I will say is that we never experienced such painfully slow boot times with our M1330. The slowest reboot (following numerous Windows updates and driver installations) took somewhere around one minute ... probably less but I didn't time it.

I've seen strange errors with other systems where reboot takes several minutes, but we did not experience this with the M1330.

 

I'm just saying the average person (me) can't fully comprehend certain things the same way you guys can. I just mentioned the screen comment as an example, I didn't mean to imply that the way you do reviews is flawed because it most certainly isn't (if it was I wouldn't be visiting this site). You guys are the experts and I am not , when you look at the review/write it you see the "the screen is amazing" comment and subconsciously know that means its better than laptop X/Y/Z's screen, while when I look at that comment I have no idea what to think other than "oh , cool". I also just mentioned the two subsets of the screen category, contrast ratio and brightness, as an example of what to include to help the average person understand, as spec sheets hardly ever give specific monitor details.

I hope you didn't take my comment in the wrong way I was trying to add constructive criticism. Its hard to convey exactly what I'm trying to say so the next time I do a review I guess i'll have to show you what I mean.

 

hi, jerry and andrew, did you guys make a mistake when qouting the weight with a 6 cell in the beginning of your review? I was under the assumption that you have had access to a 4 cell and a 9 cell but did not have a 6 cell.

but if true, being only 4lb flat with a 6 cell is really good imo.

thanks

 

Well for us know, because we care a lot about speed and specs etc. But a lot of consumers do not care too much if its OSX or Windows, Core 2 or Pentium, they just want something that looks cool.They go into best buy and look at the case, open the cd tray, and say looks cool.

Dell is clearly going after the people who want a Mac because it looks cool more than anything else. In that respect I, and due to the size, I think that Dell is going after the Mac market here.

 

Well all I know is that very few people got an iPhone pre-release for a review. David Poage (I can not spell it) and Mossberg were two of them. And it just so happens that they give it a great review, and most other Apple products. As well as many soft ball interviews with Jobs.

Just saying keep that in mind with his reviews, he might be impartial but personally I feel he is a little biased.

 

We had the 6 and 9.

 

It's my understanding that weight with 4-cell = 3.97lbs, 6-cell = 4.2~4.3, and 9-cell = 4.5~4.6.

 

Now...is that weight with LED or LCD as there is a weight difference there. Also Im curious how it would be further reduced with the solid state drive as that is also significantly lighter...

Anyone an idea??? 4 cell with LED and the solid state??

 

I believe 3.97lbs is the minimum configurable weight. I would guess the LCD weight difference is around 0.1lbs. The SSD would be even less of a weight difference.

 

Does anyone know what affect on heat and battery life going to a 7200 spin rate hard drive on the 1330 would have?

 

i think i read 3.87 as the weight for 4 cell with led screen, not sure

 

Andrew Brian or Jerry do you guys think the M1330 will be as comfortable to use on an airplane's limited seating space as the M1220? i remember reading a recent article on this site about how great it was to have the M1220 form factor on an airplane. The M1330 might weigh less, but it seem to be noticeably bigger footprint.

also, does the brightness adjustment have dedicated buttons? or do you do it via the Fn key + up/down arrow?

thanks

 

Regarding the heat of a 7200rpm harddrive...several reviews of these harddrives mention no appreciable difference to 5400rpm drives, so I'm hoping this is the case. I ordered the 200 GB Hitachi 7200 rpm with my unit

 

Airplane seating space is always at a premium. However, if you didn't have a problem using the M1220 you should be fine with the M1330.

The brightness adjustment was a Fn key combo with the up and down arrows.

 

If you read 3.87 and then we throw in the solid state drive which would reduce it by another .09 lb I could be not far off the 3 3/4 lb laptop mark and for a 13 inch monitor???

Like it.

 

cool thanks for the quick response (i did misspell the model name, its m1210 instead of m1220)

 

hi flamenko i seen ur thread on the dell forum about the cpu whine on the m1210.
I understand that u just bought a new m1330 with the 50% coupon but how do u know whether if the whine problem will not be on the m1330?? Have u asked the dell ppl specifically about this? Thank yo very much

I was gonna post on the dell forum but i have forgotten my password
sorry about this

 

I have spoken with Dell Level 2 Customer Care reps; they are the people who physically take units apart to try and figure things out. This access to these people has become available to me as I assisted them in trying to figure out the squeal problem, over the phone, in past months.

There apparently was no sign of the squealing in initial testing of the Santa Rosa platform...and remember the key word is apparently. I believe, through conversation with several Dell personnel, that the m1330 will phase out the m1210because of this. Remember now, the M1210 is not available any further for Cdn consumer sales.

This 'squealing' has been a problem at one point or another with several computer manufacturers and its not specific to laptops nor is it specific to the Core 2 Duo processor. Yahoo it and you will find tons of info regarding the Mac/Apple problems as well as HP off hand that I can remember...and it dates back to 1995 in Dell forums if you dig hard.

In the end, I dont know and wont know until Ive had the system and put it through its paces for awhile. Its a chance we take with every system we buy.

Im just extremely happy Dell stepped up their support of me and did this. Would you be if it were you?

 

yeah, but i think it would suck big time if the m1330 turns out to have the same problem as well. btw u can still order the m1210 thru the dell.ca website in the small business section. thanks for your reply anyway and good luck with your m1330!! Don't forget to post and tell us what u think of it once u got ur hands on it

 

I Really wanted to know the "real world" battery life!

While surfing and do some Word without bluetooth et not at the highest brightness... With the 6cell (if possible) but first with the 9cell!!!

We talk about an "almost" ultraportable and the unique things we know is the idle autonomy without battery saving option and dvd battery life...

Who care?!

 

I must admit, I'm a bit surprised people don't like the inclined shape. I know that when I've sat down at a desk to use my laptop, I always feel a bit awkward since the keyboard is parallel with the desk, resulting in somewhat weird wrist positions.

 

Sorry Jerry, I forgot

 

I guess you have a point...I ought to try it first in person before forming opinions...

 

Realize what you are asking. The tests Andrew ran only required him to adjust a few settings and then leave the laptop to run the test itself. What you are asking is for Andrew to sit down and spend 3-6 hours straight on the device. I don't know how much free time you have everday in your life, but most "normal" people have a life outside of laptop testing they have to attend to.

 

For the purpose of photo editing, no gaming and DVD,would integrated X3100 solution be enough to support dual monitor (13.3" + external 24" monitor 1920 x 1200)?

 

Ok. Well that sounds much better. I've actually never read Mossberg before, so that is good to know...Thanks

 

I was curious to know whether the finger print reader is "windows only" or if you can prevent system startup and/or hd access with it.

Could the reviewers comment on that?

 

Yep, i know... Battery life test are boring...
I only hope the review will be actualize after some user feedbacks because it is an very important spec for me. I wait for that before buying...

BTW, yes, I have a lot of free time, I'm in holydays.. So if you want to send me the laptop... I could test it...

 

I believe the Fingerprint reader can be set in the BIOS to request for Fingerprint first before accessing your notebook.
Thus, formatting the computer will not be possible without the appropriate Fingerprint.

 

If I'm reading this correctly... the 1330 5400RPM 160GB is able to edge out a 7200RPM 80GB drive in HDTune? Also, how is the wifi reception on this thing? I heard that Dell upgraded the built-in Antennas for their Inspiron and XPS lines to make them closer in quality/performance to the Latitude line?

 

Well, so far only Andrew and Jerry (and perhaps Brian and Greg) have had a m1330 in their possession.. All the rest of us have to go by is the dell manual... and that certainly gives me this information... I've known laptop makes underquote the weight/dimensions, never overquote them, so I think it's safe to assume that it is at least 2.66 inches thick with the 9 cell...

That's due to perpendicular recording employed on the 160GB HDDs... The 250GB 5400 RPM drives should be even faster.... perhaps at par with the 160GB 7200RPM drives....

 

I think 1.87 and 2.66" are the "depth" of the battery. Not the thickness.

And it would say that the 9cell "steps back" by a 0.8" (or 2cm) lenght. Make the computer mesure 32x(22+2) cm...

But, i hope that the m1330 isn't 7cm thick

(sorry for the uncertain "step back" but my english is not perfect at all...)

 

The battery life seems a bit on the low side, but on the other hand, it _is_ a T7xxx, which is inherently more power hungry than the U7xxx series.

On a more important note, how come no note is made of the HDMI port besides "it exists"? It would be great to see whether it can hook up in DVI mode to an LCD and drive it at native resolution (Dell sort of confirmed that it would work, but it doesn't discuss it in the specs) - as that is, in any case, my primary deciding factor in whether to get this or not - VGA sucks!

-pN

 

Important information for those ordering a Dell XPS 1330...as of right now at 11 AM, the preliminary ship date is at SEPTEMBER 5th. No joke. So those of you who are going off to college like me should take this into consideration and decide whether or not you want to have it shipped there instead of your home.

 

Guess it was good that I ordered mine 3 days after it was release, on the 29 June.
I think my estimated delivery date of 17 Jul would be delay though, it is already the 14 of Jul and my laptop is still in the manufacturing stage...

 

Are you in the US? What were your machine specs? That is really early for a ship date.