--->The Official Studio XPS 1340 Owner's Thread<---

Are there any 'official'ish reviews on this yet? All I see in the previous pages are problems about this computer...

 

Guys, both screens are LCD.
One is CCFL and the other is WLED.

 

I know that but he was implying that his wasn't the LED so I'm curious to see what made him think that...

 

All these reviews were already posted on this thread, nothing new. I had them bookmarked, so here you go:

NotebookCheck:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-Studio-XPS-13-Notebook.14081.0.html

PCMarket (translated from Chinese)
http://translate.google.com/transla...ad.php?tid=1498&extra=page%3D1&sl=zh-CN&tl=en

T3chline:
http://www.reviews.t3chline.com/

CNET (UK):
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39030092,49300957-1,00.htm

PC World (Australia):
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/notebooks/dell/studio_xps_13/276789?image=39222

Binary Turf (India):
http://www.binaryturf.com/dell-studio-xps-13-review/

CyberIndian Tech (India)
http://www.cyberindian.net/2009/02/03/dell-studio-xps-13-notebook/

NotebookCheck (preliminary preview):
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-Studio-XPS-13-XPS-16-Hands-On-Test.14064.0.html

 

That's normal and expected. It's a new model, and all new models initially have their share of issues.

 

New 1340 laptop owner here. For the most part, I am very happy with it. It's got a very beautiful look to it, responds promptly and everything. I don't have problems with its video playback capabilities. For those who do, maybe it's because your display is in high resolution and DVD resolution doesn't match the splendor of your desktop display?

Problems
It IS a fingerprint, finger grease magnet. This is my biggest gripe right now. In addition to that, after only a week of use, my most used keys are showing signs of wear. I have been looking online for keyboard covers, but no luck - the laptop is too new! What have you guys done to protect your keyboard?

Secondly, there is a dark blemish on the screen when it's powered off. Is this common with such dell laptop screens? I'm a bit worried that perhaps I'm putting too much pressure on it when placing it in my backpack, even with protective, cushioned covers.

Third: Since this is my first laptop, the disc player emits a very loud groan when playing. Is this normal? I've heard from at least one other XPS owner that it is.

Fourth: If I do want to upgrade this comp, in what ways can I do so? I wish there was an option for 8 gigs of ram, since I was going to get that instead of 4, but the video card display for the non-studio XPS machines would have been crappier.

Thanks!

 

Yep - hopes so too The replacent arrives wednesday, which means I have it less than a week after I made the reqest to Dell.. Nice Actually I get the new one the day before they pick up the bended one - great service.

 

Here are my notes of issues&features of the various components, from my first day of use. In this, I tried to take a look at the things that were reported to be problems by others. A mini-review of sorts. I'll say it up front: I don't find any of the mentioned issues to be very serious - this laptop is a keeper. It's quite a step up from older generation laptops. For my testing I stuck with the stock vista install from dell.

• Chassis
  The 4 rubber feet magnify the slightest of desk tilt - the whole laptop wobbles on my desk but not if I rotate it 90 degrees away from me. When it wobbles it's pretty bad; it can't take pressure at the palm rest. A penny under one of the rubber feet does balance it out. Never had this problem with a laptop before.
  
• Chipset/system
  System locked up hard during first vista boot, at "please wait while windows checks your computer's performance." screen. Thankfully that was my only hang so far. A02 firmware.
  DPC Latency checker shows 3000us spikes
  System suspends and wakes up from suspend fine
  CPU Fan does not even run when system is idle in 68F room, comes on pretty quiet (quieter than my last 2 laptops) when system is a little busy. Heat problem is overrated at least with the 9400m graphics only: when I put my cold fingers by the vent it's not enough heat to even warm them My sonoma vintage laptop was much better as a hand warmer.
  
• Display
  LED display is nice, brighter than my dell 2405
  Glossy screen leads to a bit too much reflection during daylight but I can get over it
  Hardware id for the led display is: SEC5441
• Disk drive
  128GB SSD drive, model is samsung SSD RBX
  Nvidia's sata controller read speed test: burst: 166.3, sustained: 55.0
  Under linux, drive shows up as ata7 instead of ata8, no NCQ.
  Under linux, hdparm -t shows burst read speed of about 97MB/sec.
• SATA controller, ESATA
  Tested sata 150 drive in thermaltake max4 active enclosure - hotplugging and bootup with disk attached both work fine. Shows up as "Serial ATA Generation 1 - 1.5G" disk under nforce sata controller. 'safely remove hardware' was unable to stop the sata disk once mounted, even when I manually removed the drive letters for the disks first.
  
  Tested sata300 drive in rosewill esata enclosure that works at sata300 - hotplug and bootup with disk attached both worked fine. Shows up as "Serial ATA Generation 2 - 3G". Does successfully stop with 'safely remove hardware'.
• Touchpad
  A bit too small (2.5"Wx1.5"H touch surface), makes me glad I bought a bluetooth mouse for this laptop
  Touchpad does support gestures such as squeeze&expand in internet explorer
• Speakers
  Max volume is not very loud. I can still just hear the optical drive over the movie at max volume from a couple feet away.
• Optical drive
  Model is HL-DT-ST GS20N.
  Disk insert&eject is quite noisy but that's what I've experienced before with slot loading optical drives. Drive's sound level is normal for DVD playback at 1x.
  Plays dvd+r,cd-rw media just fine
• wi-fi
  Dell 1515 is atheros 802.11n; pairs fine with WPA2 encryption with my 802.11g access point
• bluetooth
  Broadcom based. Pairs fine with my logitech mouse, no driver even required for basic 3 button+scroll wheel functions.
• keyboard
  Nice soft keytouch with good tactile feedback; home keys (f&j) are notched for touch typing ease

Guess it's time to repartition the disk for multiple OSes.

 

Thanks a lot, bcc!

 

Thanks a bunch, I probably will order mine tomorrow!

Okay, this is going to sound stupid because I'm almost certain you need some connections or something to do this, but how does somebody get EPP login info?

 

Can anyone confirm that the SXPS 13 supports two-finger scrolling?

Try this:

http://code.google.com/p/two-finger-scroll/

The use of multi-touch may be a dealbreaker for me as I LOVE the ease of use of the Macbook trackpad.

I am also dissapointed that the SXPS trackpads are tiny.

 

This works perfectly! I tried it on my HP and now i'm scrolling using two fingers just like on the Macs.
And you have a bunch of other options too like using two-finger tap as right click.

 

Thank you.

I know it sounds stupid, but I really dig this scrolling option to the point I have made it a top priority on my next laptop.

Right now I am deciding between:

Lenovo u330
Lenovo y450
Macbook
Dell SXPS 13

 

That code relies on Synaptics touchpads, which are used on nearly every notebook made, including the MacBook.

 

So this will 100% work with the SXPS 13?

 

I have the exact same issue; I will be calling dell tomorrow about it, and will be wanting a non-wobble replacement

 

I've written a fairly comprehensive review for anyone interested.

 

Could be wrong, but I believe the upcoming Inspiron Mini 10 is the first Dell notebook to use a buttonless multitouch trackpad. Guessing it that goes over well we'll see it on more and more Notebooks from Dell (maybe on a refresh of the Studio XPS 13 in a year or so?).

 

Thanks a lot!

 

In my case I can't connect to *ANY* networks. I can't even find any networks. Its "like I have no antenna or something."

Strange how 5 tech support remote assistance calls, one in-home, and its a sales guy who says "well why didn't someone offer to fix that or replace the system?"


Still no tracking numbers or anything on my replacement system though

 

Maybe you switched off the wireless receiver. I know it doesn't have a hardware switch, but is there a keys combination to toggle the wireless On and Off?

 

check the wifi swith on or off on your computer. if it is turned on , the bluetooth and wifi light will lighting on front panel. (in my case ,my bluetooth lighting but wifi do not, I am asking for change my computer now).

ofcause check you hardware and driver first,and ensure there is not any trouble in hareware list, and you can turn on you quickset ,see if the swith controled the wifi or not.

 

I called them today and set up an exchange as well. I'm also trying to get them to upgrade my processor from the P9500 to the 9600 since the 9500 is no longer on the site. I might pay extra for the 256GB SSD as well...we'll see.

 

Yes the "wireless control" hot-key right above F7 turns both wi-fi&bluetooth on&off as its default behavior.

I assume someone has also looked under the cover to confirm that the 1515 card has both antenna plugs attached (the black one and the white one).

 

The 128GB SSD isn't as fast as a lot of other models coming down the pipe. I wouldn't pay 2X for the 256GB unless it is faster than the 128GB. I know there is a thread about a newer 256GB SSD drive from samsung, but has it been verified to be the one shipping for this notebook?

 

Are they sending you a new laptop or a replacement rubberleg?

 

They're sending me a new one completely for the uneven legs. Granted, mine also has other problems like the light indicator that doesn't work and stuff like that. I'm installing Microsoft office on my laptop now and it's as quiet as night--no more whirring sounds of hard drives =). I must say, though, it is taking forever to install...I hope that's not how slow the drive is all the time.

 

Hm, true but I don't want to pay a premium for those SSDs. They probably won't be available for cheap for another 2 or so years, by which time I might have a new laptop anyway.

 

I'm on number two and it's broken as well. The first one came with either an LCD or video card issue. The left hand side of the screen (about 1/8th of it) was unusable with rainbow vertical lines on it. So they sent me the one I'm on now, which looks fine, but crashes 5 times a day!!! So now I'm going to try one last time...maybe 3rd times a charm??!!

So, my question is...is the 9600 really going to be that much of a noticeable difference from the 9500, because I'm sure they're going to try to stick me with the 9500, but at this point, I'm about ready to just say take it back and KEEP IT!! ARRRGGHHHH! Watch, the next one I'll get will be perfect everywhere else, and it'll have wobbly legs

Thanks for the help!

 

No, I didn't switch it off. In fact, they had me toggle that about 20 or 30 times in their "troubleshooting". LOL

 

Yeah the tech guy opened it up, removed the old card, and reconnected the antenna.

No dice.

He was actually pretty puzzled as to why it didn't work. He reinstalled windows, loading up bare bones services etc. to rule out driver issues / conflicts.

What irked me about the whole thing is how Dell initially refused to fix it. They told me to return it and exchange for a DIFFERENT model.

 

This is soo much better then the side scrolling. Using it now and disabled the dell touchpad scrolling. Thanks for the link ^^

 

That's great turn around on a new replacement!

Just think 2 more days!

Yes, you did get great service on this one!

Cin

 

does anybody else's sxps 13 sound cut out every time you get an instant message. Whenever i get an instant message on either messenger or skype my sound will cut out and make a quiet beeping noise, only sound nothing else. It happens every time I get a message from a window that is minimized.

 

So my order finally shipped according to dell.ca as of February 13th, however, I have not received any emails confirming that, nor have I received a tracking number. How can I obtain a tracking number?????

 

What operating system, 32 or 64-bit, what sound drivers, Windows native or manufacturer's?

 

my SXPS 13 has startup problems. it would go to the BSOD like 10% of the times, but i dont mind it. Is it worth returning it and getting the Intel Core 2 Duo P9600 (6MB cache/2.66GHz/1066Mhz FSB) ? right now i have P9500, 2.53GHz

 

Hey folks I'm just curious about the media control box that shows up on-screen when the touch strip is used, you know the volume, mute etc.. Does yours show up every time you push the controls? Mine shows up sometimes and other times it doesn't show up no matter how many times I push the controls. I've tried to figure out a pattern but it just seems to work randomly. The controls always work but I just can't see them on-screen all the time. Reinstalling Dell quickset doesn't change anything.

 

Just some info for ppl out there:

I ran superPi to 2 mio digits on 44 sec. (P9500 CPU)

Then I tried playing CoD 5- World at war... but to be playable I had to play at 800x600 resolution with shadows off, no AA and low on the rest.
A little bit dissapointing

 

How so? The Studio XPS line is in no way intended or designed to be playing next generation games, and it was an unfortunate purchase if you thought it was.

 

I knew that, I just expected a bit higher than 800x600.

Edit - 3Dmark06 score: 3566

 

Good to hear they did some troubleshooting on the hardware at least. Unless they're doing something wrong with the drivers, or you live next to a military base which is jamming wi-fi, I guess the problem with your laptop is pretty low level and I'd expect a replacement to fix it.

 

i have 64 bit windows 7 I installed the IDT audio drivers from the dell driver cd

 

So I found that my notebook's wobble only would go away on surfaces that had a slight pitch towards the front. Ie on most surfaces the notebook would wobble and it started really bugging me.

I managed to fix this by removing the left rear cap on the bottom of the notebook (the one with just 1 screw), and inserting 4 layers of electrical tape under the cap. That pushes the rubber foot up just enough to balance everything out.

Beats the heck out of an RMA I think.

Removing rear cap instructions:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/sxl13/en/sm/hingecap.htm#wp1223477

 

Have you tried with native Windows drivers (i.e. uninstall the IDT audio drivers)? I found that in many cases Windows support for devices is better than original manufacturer's.

 

Are you using 9400 + 9200 SLI, or just 9400?

My m1330 with 128MB of 8400m GS can even run WAW at the 1024 resolution, with other effects all off of course. Since the 9400 is a bit better, with a boost from everything having higher FSB with the new DDR3 stuff, I would expect that the 1340 with just the integrated vcard alone should do at least the same?

And if you have 9400 + 9200, you should at least be able to run WAW with 1280 x 800... maybe you forgot to turn SLI on...

 

I finally pulled the trigger and ordered my 1340 this past Saturday (Happy Valentine's Day to me ). Used EPP and got the free LCD upgrade. ESD is 2/23/09 so I am keeping my fingers crossed that actually happens...as long as I have it before my business trip in March, I will be happy.

So far it's been helpful reading the tips and advice from everyone on here...already planning on doing a clean install following the instructions someone posted on these boards. I'm excited, this will be my first laptop!

 

Congrats!!!

 

Hmm, in the windows task bar it says that both gfx are enabled.. and in the in-game options, i toogled *Dual graphic cards* to 'Yes'.

The 3dmark score of 3566 fits what the rest have been reporting for 9400+9200.