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

One thing I reckon is ultra portables such as the Studio XPS 13 are much better than netbooks. I had a little dabble on a Sony Vaio P-series the other day jesus is that thing slow even just to open a web browser. It had something like a 1.3 atom processor, I wouldn't even bother with a netbook after that.

Oh and hey jmoose I've seen that neophrene case you got for your XPS 1340 here on a UK website, not a bad price at all and free shipping. Theres two versions of it here

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/9043491/Case-Logic-13-3-Laptop-Sleeve-Black/Product.html

and

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/9042602/Case-Logic-13-3-Laptop-Sleeve-Black/Product.html

It's the best case I have seen, some other sizes there to and in a 16" which may be suitable for a 1640.

 

My SXPS 13 has no rippled leather It's very tight.
Also most laptops do not have the trackpad in the center. It's nicer to have it directly in under the space bar.

I have the 9500 and I am very impressed with it. I can play crysis on almost medium settings with decent frame rate


I'll post some pics of my unboxing soon.

 

okey here ya all go.

 

somebody asked to see the laptop with a 9 cell batter, I am curious also.
Plus I would like to see some stats of battery life and weight
thanx

 

...........christ does no one search the forums before they post honestly.. im sure ill get another warning for this post too but come on.. a gallery view of the 9cell has already been posted.. guess by who? by me...

 

I have a question for you HDTV owners. I have been trying for literally weeks to get this set up on my TV. I'm trying to get both displays to be set up configured independently. It works perfectly with my TV as the main display, but whenever I have my laptop monitor as the main display, it cuts off the picture, even though they are both at the right resolutions (1280 x 800 and 1280 x 720). The things that bugs me is that is works the opposite way I want it to...

 

im going to try and dish with dell to get a rgbled upgrade for free since thats the only thing i want thats different vs the bestbuy ver. gonna call tomorrow yeah forget a netbook unless i can get one for under $200

 

Please tell us how that goes

 

Yeah tell us how it goes. Me? I can't even order either without an indian Dell sales rep trying to rip me off. Looks like I'm going to have to wait a while becuase at the moment theres only 5% off codes available when probably next week or later there will be 10% codes about. I may just order one online without having to deal with Dell sales reps.

It would be good if Dell was in stores over here in the UK, theres only been basic inspiron type models available. I don't want to be paying more than I should be so I'll have to wait. I'm seriously tempted to look again at Sony or something.

 

Make sure you tick "Extend my Windows Desktop onto this monitor" in the displays properties. That way your TV will be the extended monitor.

 

That's good news regarding Crysis.

I'm worried about my card though! The 3dMark06 score seems fine 3500@1280x800 but...I can't get COH to run fluently in 1280x800 with no AA/AF enabled. Shaders and settings are on medium-high. I should think this hybrid SLI plays 2006 games on high details fluently!

Do you think there's an issue with my card? I don't really see a performance increase compared to 8400M GS....

Also what drivers are you using for Crysis?

 

Your card is fine - I'm getting 3500-3600 in 3dmark scores as well but can't play COD4 at 1280x800. He's reporting crysis "fluently" on a 9500 - but fluently means something different to everyone. I can't get COD World at War to run half decent on this card, until I can do that I wouldn't even try crysis.

 

guys I've just got my XPS1340, looks lovely! I got it from DELL Outlet and I have 2 CD's that came with it, one is MS Works and the other is a recovery CD. I am trying to do a fresh reinstall following the bloatware removal guides but I'm not getting the right screens up. I am thinking I don't have mediadirect?? is this the recovery CD as I don't see anything called mediadirect on it? TIA!

 

You don't have all the required backup cd's to perform a clean install. I suggest you write to them entailing all the software you are missing be sent out to you. Don't know why they keep avoiding sending out all the software.

 

whats your config and price from the outlet?

 

P8400 2.26Ghz, 4GB RAM 320GB, WLED, Bluetooth, Wireless, Vista, 6 Cell for £650

 

hmm thats about what a brand new one is state side @ bestbuy for a p8600 im sorry for all you guys overseas!!!

 

I think the guides are old - the Studio XPS series doesn't have media direct. You should have a Windows CD and a driver CD, but as long as you have the Dell Windows CD you can get the drivers off their website (might have to use a different computer at first cause you won't have network drivers).

 

Yeah thats how they ship systems over here in the UK now just with the windows cd and a "utilities" cd with the drivers on.

At one point Dell didn't even ship the OS cd with new systems only having a recovery partition until lots of customers complained about it now for the last say 3 years inew systems have come with the above a Dell windows OS cd and utilities cd but of coarse you can get the latest from the Dell website.

I havent heard of this media direct until I saw it mentioned on this forum.

and yes we get shafted in the UK compared to the same spec in the US.

 

Hey all I got the notebook working well with my TV now, yet I don't know how I did it. Also for those geeting the "Bluetooth Stack can not be started error," there was a newer bluetooth driver that has seemed to fix my problems so far.

 

Is anyone else having major issues with the new official 1340 Nvidia drivers posted onto the Dell site a few days ago (178.98)?

I've tried a totally clean install in Safe Mode, and they don't seem to pick up on both of the graphics cards (i.e. in device manager I end up with just a 9500m - the other card shows a warning icon, and nothing happens when I switch power modes). I've rolled back the drivers to 178.86, and all is good again).

Am I alone in having these things blow up on me?

 

They are working fine for me.

 

No, I have the exact same problem. Can't seem to get them to install even on a clean install of Windows. I thought it was just me, guess not.

N

 

Pillowshot: did you install over the original drivers, or did you uninstall them first - in other words, how did you get 'em working?!

 

I just ran the package with the ones I currently had installed.. It said it would need to uninstall the ones currently there, so I let it, restarted and the installer ran at startup and installed the drivers normally.

 

Thanks - I must have a haunted 1340... I've just tried the same (third time lucky?), and the new drivers do not attempt to uninstall the old ones... were you running 178.86 before the upgrade?

 

I don't remember the exact version number, but I was running the latest version prior to these new ones.

 

Question to you all, has anyone actually managed to keep the keyboard lit all the time? It's on a timer and the backlight goes off after a while, it's very annoying.

I've removed all the bloatware and addons from Dell that came with the laptop. Is there some software or setting that would allow me to keep the backlight enabled 100% of the time?

 

You must have quickset installed. Go to the Program Files folder and under Dell/Quickset is a program called BacklitKB.exe

Run this and configure the keyboard backlight as you wish.

 

Thanks for the tip pillow, worked perfectly, my kb is now permanently lit.

Regarding drivers, I tested every version that's available to try and push my 9500M GE to the max. I'm currently using NVIDIA beta desktop drivers 185.66. I find them vastly superior to 17x.xx and 182.xx in terms of performance (not 3dmark score). The 185.65+ have a new architecture and a new control panel that finally installs correctly. These drivers also offer some per-game optimisations in Fallout 3, COH, COD 5 and a few other titles for 10-20% increased performance.

The only difficiulty is cracking the inf to get the drivers to install. I managed to do it and I'm happy, even though the crack is not perfect and I have to remember to shut down the system every time in Power Save mode. Otherwise on restart the drivers reinstall themselves . The Pros at laptopvideo2go will surely resolve this problem soon and come up with a modded inf.

TIP: It's very important to tick the box that says Remove Driver Files before uninstalling your device. Otherwise the old driver remains and it won't be possible to install the new one correctly.

 

Any ideas on a quick way to remove internet explorer from my XPS 1340 DELL machine without having to clean it all as I do't like the DELLism's it has like MSN toolbar etc etc. I cannot see it in "remove programs"

 

Hey Spartan82, did you try with section3 or section6? section6 is working fine.
Since section6 is for hybrids.

%NVIDIA_DEV.06E8.01% = Section006, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_06E8

NVIDIA_DEV.06E8.01 = "NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GE"


%NVIDIA_DEV.0866.01% = Section006, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0866

NVIDIA_DEV.0866.01 = "NVIDIA GeForce 9400M"

 

Are you guys going to change the dell wireless 1515 to intel wireless 5300? Can i change that? does that compatible to my SXPS13? Will it affect the warranty if i open the laptop?

 

I've just been trying out the 'pinch zoom' facility on my XPS 1340. Unsurprisingly, It has changed my desktop icon sizes. However I now want to set the zoom to its default value - presumably 100%. I cannot find any way to do this in the Dell Touchpad program. How do I do this?
Thanks
Geoff

 

On the outlet, when they say 256mb GeForce NB9M-GE, does that refer to the 9500M?

Also, what type of 9500M is it? G, GE, etc?

 

9500m GE ( 9400m + 9200m in hybrid SLI )

 

i was having some pretty decent problems with mine such as heat and the lack of sound issue haha so they sent a guy out, replaced the motherboard, heatsink but he forgot to bring the fan, so now when i turn the laptop on the fan that is currently in there that he thinks is malfunctioning is now running full blast the second i turn the computer on and doesnt slow down, so hes coming back tomorrow. but now that ive had this done my keys beep when i type sometimes, the right battery light doesnt work, i cant use the Fn key then up or down to change the brightness settings and his 'fixing' of the sound issue has resulted in me having one working and one non working speaker..........

 

Does anyone know what the part number for the Verizon 5720 card is for the 1340?

I found this on Dell's website - verizon 5720

But, the picture is for a sprint card so the P/N on screen is no help. I have been thinking about adding one from ebay or somewhere cheaper but want to make sure I get the right one.

Anyone know?

 

I just ordered a Studio XPS 13 from the outlet and was wondering whats the latest with Windows 7 on those with the SLi configuration. I use Windows 7 on my M1330 and I'd love to keep using it on my SXPS13!

 

After I figured out that I had to uninstall the drivers and let it fall back to standard VGA before installing them again- d'oh,noob move to overwrite ,was able to get 7 to see the 9500 as it would in Vista. Worked good for the few days I had the pc. Had to return it due to personal issues,but did work for me. Still had to change the mode with power options, but it did work. Now if only someone will see if the Intel 5300 half mini works in it,cuz the Dell 1515 (Atheros) would not go N speeds at all for me, in 7.

 

hey guys,
i bought a xps 1340 and i changed operation system for xp. everything is working perfectly but there's only one problem-it doesnt detect the internal microphone so i can not use msn or skype. the camera is working but not the microphone. can anyone help??!!!!!!!
thanks a lot in advance.

 

Did you even give Vista a shot before switching to XP? It really isn't bad and just has bad press from people using it on inadequate hardware. A Studio XPS 13 is WAY more than what you need to make Vista run smooth.

 

The biggest issue is why the heck is anyone using msn or skype? That's 1999 technology at its worst.

 

you may be right, but i still want to be able to use my microphone

 

The microphone will work fine under Vista.

 

lol whats so bad about MSN?

 

I just got a Studio XPS 1340, I was just wondering if anyone else has noticed that their Left Mouse Button doesn't always work with drag & drop and will release prematurely. Am I alone in this or has someone else noticed this as well?

 

Skype is amazing.

MSN Messenger is still an amazing client for IM.

 

My Story (which needs help):
I recently got the BSOD which almost everybody with this laptop had experienced. I tried to update my BIOS with no help at all so everything was all messed up to the part where safe mode couldnt even be started. After 12 hours talking to this man (who sounded like he was from another country) from Dell Support, he led me in circles trying to to help me fix my computer, after i got that IRQL_NOT_EQUAL_OR_LESS thing, if that is how it is spelled.

He told me to uninstall a bootload of stuff which did no help at all...
So he finally told me to format and reinstall windows. I did that, and i reinstalled all my drivers and crap.

now my questions:

1. After reinstalling windows, what do i do next? people keep saying things about these partitions and stuff and im not the brightest asian in the bunch (if you believe any stereotypical theories).
2. I cant seem to get my webcam working even though i have all the drivers. is there anyway to fix this? Dell gave me no hope at all, it was just installing the SAME EXACT software over and over again. I even installed the ones on my disk that came with the laptop. How do i fix this?
3. And is it just me, or is the laptop much cooler after the BIOS update?
4. And where do i re download the facial recognition software...?


PS: 64-BIT windows Vista
-----------------------------------------------
STUDIO XPS 1340
everything standard
cept the bluetooth and hard drive...

works pretty great...

 

Partitioning is how you split up your one hard drive into many different ones. It doesn't really matter if you do this, and you tend to do this before you install your operation system anyway.

Webcam... are you using XP or Vista?