Users Voice Their Opinions About the Dell XPS M1330

The Dell XPS M1330 has been out since July of 2007 and has been on ourmost popular laptop list since about that time too. The XPS M1330 has been the source of much chatter inthe Dell forum, and for the most part people are very happy and rave about their M1330. Of course there are lots of small complaints and questions about the XPS M1330 there, but what would a forum be without such things!

For those that don't know, the XPS M1330 is a 13.3" widescreen laptop from Dell that has the option of an LED backlit screen, SSD storage, Nvidia 8400m dedicated graphics, four color options,and a speedy Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Dell recently added Wireless USB as an option as well. Basically, the XPS M1330 is a premium portable laptop from Dell that they offer the latest and greatest components in. It is also highly configurable so that you can tweak it out to being a $2,000+ laptop, or keep things reasonable at around $999.

We wrote ourfull review of the XPS M1330 back in July, but what are people saying now? We dip into our user opinion pool for the XPS M1330 to find out. The opinions chosen here are based on the value of the information (in our opinion) to our readers. We're not picking only the positive opinions or negative. For the record, the overall positive rating is 72% while negative rating is at 28%.

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Great notebook except for Vista

Rating: 9/10

Pros: Lightweight and just the right size. Love the sleeve it comes with. Fits in my backpack with cords, USB hub, wallet and all the other junk I carry. Fingerprint reader makes life easier. I like the touchpad as it is easy to scroll any direction. I use the 4 cell battery when I know I will have power and use the 9 cell battery when unsure. Love the WiFi finder. This is the first computer I've ever owned I didn't build myself and am pleased with most everything. Was very impressed no bloatware was added. Haven't needed service yet, so not able to comment on Dell customer service. Initial problem with ordering, but those were resolved.

Cons: Bit of a jiggle when using the 9 cell battery, but battery life is good. Otherwise, build was excellent. Need to find a replacement for McAfee Security Center, but can't use Zone Alarm Pro because of Vista.

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Great laptopat a fair price

Rating: 8/10

Pros: Great size for portability. Nice design overall. Nothing wrong with build quality on my unit.

Cons: Could have relocated one of the headphone jacks to the side for hooking up external speakers.

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Very Satisfied, Great Thing to Show Off

Rating: 9/10

Pros: Came earlier than expected! Product came in 6 days and now I'm the happiest camper ever! Everything works well and is very fast. I got the 3gb of ram, 2.2ghz, 128mb graphics card and the 7200rpm 160gb hard drive. everything works great, love the earphones addition, and that stylish owner's manual in a leather bound book. Also the extra notebook cover is a true plus! fits very snug!

Cons: the media card is a bit of a tight fit, either i dont know how to put it in correctly or what but it's a hassle putting it in and popping it back out, but I think im getting used to it.

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Looks good, goes fast, suspect build quality, Vista is useless, service is ok

Rating: 5/10

Pros: Looks nice, great screen, nice keyboard, light enough for travel, quick enough for most desktop apps, reasonable-to-good service.

Cons: Huge problems with Vista from day-1, many hardware problems too such as freezing when coming out of sleep or when enabling WiFi. Dell replaced the motherboard but the problem has not been solved - so they're sending me a replacement (I really wanted my money back but they refused!). When it was working my gripes were more limited: gets very hot, 6-cell battery doesn't last long, not all panels fit well together and it just feels too flimsy.

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Excellent Portable

Rating: 9/10

Pros: Portable Stylish Bright LED Screen Built-in camera Does not get excessively hot Built-in CD/DVD drive unlike other ultra-portables Built-in wireless card to match your mobile service Comes w/ lots of goodies like a leather portfolio, slip cover & earbuds * Excellent machine that has worked well for me so far. I was worried after reading a lot of initial complaints people had @ launch {mostly about build quality} but it appears Dell has worked them out. After coming from 3 12" Latitude notebooks, I do not regret this switch.

Cons: Few minor complaints but nothing to get upset over: * The metallic keyboard/wrist pads do get cold in the winter, however, the laptop itself never gets overly hot when on my lap * The 9 cell battery sits in the back & raises the keyboard to an incline that helps w/ ventilation, however, I found the ports to be less obtrusive when they were placed in the back of the machine instead of the side * The touch sensitive buttons are pretty cool but a little slow to respond * It took me forever to register my fingerprints & it still takes several swipes before it will accept one - it is A LOT quicker to just type my password in * Would have been nice if it was compatible w/ the D-Family docking stations (like the m1710 was) * The 65 watt charger is rather slow; there is no 90 watt option like the Latitudes * The slot load drive is loud - which would not be so bad if it only happened when I used it but every time I turn on my laptop or even open the lid from Sleep Mode, it makes a noise * There is some light 'clicking' noises - not sure if it is the processor or what but it is audible

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right concept but less than perfect execution

Pros: delivers on the promise of powerful components in a light and nice box, the screen (colours, movies look great), the machine feels durable enough and not too flimsy, keyboard is nice to type on

Cons: design: vertical viewing angle could be a bit better, touch snensitive multimedia control buttons are inconvenient, build quality: keyboard in the area of enter key does submerge a bit when hitting enter a bit harder and has no firm foundation there, 1 bad pixel (at the very top corner) bought M1330 as the replacement for my 4year old IBM Thinkpad T40p with the highest expectations and cannot say that I am absolutely thrilled.

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This is just a sampling of opinions, you can view our XPS M1330 opinions page for more.

For those of you that watched the Super Bowl this year, you may have noticed a few Dell advertisements on the TV. One of those ads was for the XPS M1330 RED edition. The ad included a young man leaving his home tostrut down the street toward a coffee shopand use his XPS M1330. Along the way he has his rear end slapped by a traffic cop, getssurrounded by adoring fans, and is randomly kissed by a hot looking blonde girl. So does this happen to any other XPS M1330 owners out there? I'd think about buying one myself if this is all true...

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Very nice; seems to be a good representation of buyers. 28% being negative reviews- doesnt surprise me with the sticklers we have here on NBR!

I have been very pleased with mine, and I will be a returning Dell customer in a year or two.

 

Great review, Andrew. Speaking from personal experience I would be one of those contributing to the negative reviews just because I have to exchange my M1330 three times to get a satisfactory quality laptop . Bad luck? To be honest, my last m1330 isn't that acceptable either (the case is not properly screwed together but at least all the hardware seems to work fine). Well, the good news is that I was able to return my laptop and get a full refund after contacting Dell head office. For me, Dell have great designs and excellent customer service but lacks build quality (esp. XPS 1330). I would wait until they improve their quality in future then decide whether to consider Dell for my future purchases.

 

Nice , I love the wireless USB concept and id definatly buy that internal addon , to be able to enter my room and have my printer , Memory stick , External hard drives ect ect already attached would be brilliant.

Is it available to the UK???

 

wow seems lyk dells dun it this tym around
they made a sexy looking laptop without many hitches if any!!

i have to say tht ad is real tempting!! Wow!!!

 

First time I saw the add...funny. Although the reaction was nowhere similar, I have had alot of people comment and ask to see the laptop because of the colour as well as the low footprint appearance it has as it sits on the desk.

Ive owned well over 10 laptops past years and enjoy this one much more than the others. The reasoning is, not only because of the design and simplicity of the way it is, but also, moving it to a 64 bit environment with 4Gb ram was a very enjoyable task. Remembering back when I first did this, I can still here the echos of others warning me how much I would regret it because of the difficulty finding drivers and hardware conflicts.

All in all, my PCMark05 benchmark is 6224 which is absolutley phenomenal for a 4lb laptop.

 

Yep, defintly a good laptop. If my current sony would breakdown all of sudden (touch wood ), then I would buy the XPS m1330. Thats the only decent Dell laptop imo - miles ahead of its poor brother which is the XPS m1530 which really only has its GPU to shout about.

 

I think it's a solid design.

It's 1 of the 2 laptops I'm considering buying right now.

I'm looking at the m1330, and right now I'm waiting on news about the Gateway C-141XL Tablet.

 

Very timely post! I'm less than 48 hours from clicking submit and buying one for myself. I love all the feedback from owners and tips from others here on nbr. I'm still a little hesitant about the size (13 inches seams a bit on the small side), but many good folks on the forums have assured me that it's an easy transition.

 

Some people are super picky and see faults with it, for the most part it's a great laptop and I wouldn't hesitate in recommending it to someone. If you're unhappy, Dell customer service has been pretty good in my experience.

 

I'm satisfied with mine with the exception of:

1. Sparkly screen - not Dell's fault
2. CPU whine - not Dell's fault
3. Screen is too flimsy and should be reinforced

#3 is the only thing that needed fixing since the others are out of their control.

 

I saw this laptop at the BB store. It look nice.

I might wait 1 yr and get the Latitude E series for the 13.3".

 

The BB retail store configuration is pretty lame IMO. Build one to order online for cheaper, and get a better setup.

 

Yeh, thats what actually pushed me away from buying one. But now looking, it isn't that bad imo.
Here, see this vid (NBR made it ) - CLICKY To me, size difference isn't huge at all.

Hope that helps,
Jam.

 

what the guy didn't notice in the commercial was that the girl who kissed him switched his laptop with a book on how not to carry your laptop wrapped in aluminum foil.

 

What??????

 

Andrew - Thanks to you and the notebookreview.com regulars for sharing your impressions on the M1330. We are taking all the feedback, distilling it and applying it to next generation products now. We were excited to deliver the M1330 and the M1530 -- and have only set the bar higher for the next round of products. Keep those reveiws, blogs and comments coming!

 

Fix those damn rubbish LCD/CCFL screens Dell!!!

 

Right. I sense a Dell-bot.

 

I would be all about the M1330 if it wasn't for the existence of the Sony SZ. The SZ is lighter, just as much power, beautiful build quality (minus the keyboard perhaps), great screen, speed/stamina switch for the best of both graphics worlds... The M1330 looks great, but I don't think I could justify getting one over an SZ6 or SZ7. Two cents from someone interested in a 13" portable in the near future.

 

the sz is nice; no doubt about it. in my case, it would be overkill for me to buy it, tho if i did have money to burn, i'd get one

 

The only think better about the XPS m1330 is that is has a HDMI output while the Sony SZ doesn't. The XPS m1330 also offers much better value for money. The keyboard on both laptops is also personal preference. Other than that, the Sony SZ is better in pretty much everything else, like you've noted out.

 

Grainy screens are not Dell's fault? What?

 

Already established differences between the Sony and the Dell....

1. The Dell has a better configuration, in that, it has a larger number of available options compared to the Sony;

2. The Dell is a much more affordable system than the Sony;

3. The Dell has HDMI;

4. The Dell has much better warranty services and far superior proven customer support which has been shown several times on NBR.

 

It isn't a design flaw that Dell can fix. They can stop sending out the grainy screens but we all know they won't.

 

According to some users who have used both systems the 128MB dedicated 8400GS graphics card in the M1330 is noticeably better than the 64MB dedicated card that is in the SZ.

The SZ yes it does offer dual graphics but if an extra 20 or so minutes battery life is not your primary concern then it is not really an issue.

The M1330 with its HDMI port and infra red remote is more of a media orientated notebook than the SZ is.

I also think that the M1330 looks better but looks are a matter of ones taste.

As for the weight issue 3.95lbs for the premium SZ or 4.2lbs M1330 the difference is an non issue for me.

Where i live anyway the SZ is nearly £500 more expensive for the same specs.

Now is not the probably the best time to buy an M1330 as in most countries the Penryn
processor is still not being used it is good that Sony are offering the Penryn
processors now. Also the graphics card in the M1330 (and the SZ) should be due a refresh in the next few months I think also.

I bought my M1330 in July and got it delivered in September and i have been really happy with it. Everybody who see's it really likes it also. It is a really lovely laptop. It does not surprise me at all that most people are happy with their M1330 notebooks in this survey. You know what they say about those who are not happy shouting the loudest.

 

I've been pondering a M1330 to replace my 710m for a few months now, but have been holding off since the 710m is still working and I'm wary of a follow up.

For Canada the Penryn's are now available, but with news of Intel's next Centrino chipset debuting in May, I'm wondering if I should just hold off for the M1330 successor, if any. How long do notebook designs usually last?

 

You'll end up waiting forever mate. By the end of the year, the next gen mobile chips will be released. The XPS m1330 is a good notebook and it will be hard to improve it.

 

I personally like the Sony's "overall" style a bit better but with the XPS, it's really coming close.

In Canada, I would take the XPS, the Sony is at least $200 more expensive with an 8100 vs. a 9300 processor in the XPS.