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

I'm rather content with the current graphics setup in the SXPS 13. The 210 + 102 would be a lack luster performer

 

I used to get some weird audio crackles every once in a while, but it stopped when I went into Device Manager and disabled the a-band on the wireless card. I had read about that somewhere on these forums.

 

Can anyone recommend a good bag and notebook cooler for the SXPS 13? There's a ton of stuff on Newegg, but nothing has amazing reviews.

 

I've been happy with my Rosewill backpack/case though I'm not sure that's what you had in mind.

 

I bought a Dell XPS 1340 studio laptop three months ago, it has not worked since I had it and I have spent three month dealing with the call centre in India, despite supposedly having next day business support. I have reinstalled everything twice, the first time it worked for a week and then stopped just as I had spent hours loading programs and documents to get it ready to take away for work. So I had to resort to yet another re- install and again just as I got it working it froze.

I am constantly travelling and have had to resort to my old laptop. The service I have received makes me feel I am operating on a parallel universe, and I was wondering if senior people at Dell know how bad the service is. I have spent hours and hours on this, and not once have I had an apology or any indication that anyone understands or gives a da** I feel sorry for the junior staff in the call centre, because the processes they are working to seem dysfunctional. So my complaints do not include the poor man who has tried to help. At the end of every conversation he parrots “Thank you for choosing Dell Computers”. His mental health is probably suffering as much as mine.

Last week I thought I had reached the depths when the courier was supposed to pick up my laptop for seven days; I delayed a flight to wait in all day as they wouldn’t give me a time, and then the courier “City Link” walked off without taking my laptop having shouted at me because I asked for a receipt. Or some proof that they had taken it. After more mad phone calls, someone came to pick it up.

And today I got it back from the same rude man who literally threw it at me……. And then I opened the box…….And they have surpassed themselves, how could any one be that awful, mind numbingly utterly awful, it is life sapping. I can’t go on. I feel weak, I feel sick, I am turning into a gibbering wreck. Just do your self a favour and buy from someone else.

If you value your mental health – don’t buy a Dell. If you go to work – don’t buy a Dell. If you need to able to use your computer – don’t buy a Dell. If you need to rely on your computer – don’t buy a Dell. If you have a reasonable expectation of sane customer service – don’t buy a dell. If you wanted to love your computer – don’t, just don’t buy a Dell. I am despairing to the point of chewing my arm off.

 

I never did this before, I wanted to know how exactly do you upgrade your bios on your laptop?

I was planning to get the a08 on my SXPS 13

ty

 

Dont Give Up and to calm down - look at the Flaming Dragon's Tom Cruise Monologue on you tube with your xps 13. oops sorry you can't.
To be more serious, there are way for your "if well founded" complaints to reach the appropriate level at Dell and then receive the appropriate support. Try the consumerist.com or browse the dell forums here.

 

While running on both AC and battery, simply run the executable as an administrator. Expect to restart the computer afterwards. That said, A08 was removed by Dell from their website so there may be problems with it. That said, I haven't downgraded back to A07 yet nor have I noticed any differences from A07.

 

.
I've seen a good laptop bag on Ebay...brandname was Zeroshock.

 

I just got SXPS 13 last week, and I made a BIG mistake. I hope someone can help me. I thought it came with hd image dvd or something, and without looking through the dvd's that came with, I wiped out my HD and installed windows 7. Now I need to go back. The window dvd it came with was Vista 64-bit, but when I installed the OS and downloaded all the drivers but certain software it doesn't have (e.g. web cam software). Is there a way for me to buy or get the hd image of SXPS 13? Thank you very much.

 

You should be able to download the web cam software from some place. Did you delete the recovery partition as well?

 

Is there an official way of installing the OEM Windows on this machine without the bloatware?
I mean is there a clean OEM installation disk included with Dell laptops like the Studio XPS 13 or another way to create a clean installation disk. Or the only option is to remove the bloatware from the already installed operating system?

If there's no change since then I will use this guide: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157838

 

Run the reinstall disc i think, no dell software is included on that one as far as i know.

 

Sounds horrible. What country are you in? City Link is a UK courier, right? Why not just demand an immediate refund? You are entitled to do so.

 

ya unwittingly i deleted the recovery partition. anyways, thanks for the advice everyone. looks like there's no way.

 

Where are you from?
I backuped my recovery partion, but thats a swedish one, dont know if you can use it that much

 

You can always borrow someone else copy of windows and install it on the machine with your license given by Dell. That way you don't have all the bloatware when you reinstall.

 

Dell ALWAYS provides an OEM OS DVD. So just use that - no activation required!

 

Holy crap this thread is huge.

I read here a little bit before buying my third dell and i think it helped my decision.

Ive had my XPS about 2 months now and I think its holding up okay..
The surface of the outside has a few nicks and marks but hey.

I dont have the un-even pad issue.
I did have an issue with the Slot load DVD drive, had it replaced 3 times in 3 weeks. Dell have obviously figured this was a problem as my lastest drive is a different brand
(you can see my post on the dell fourms here.. http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19274647/19485671.aspx#19485671 )


I think I am now starting to see a Heat lockup issue with it however (few random lockups that just cant be explained, especially if i leave the lappy alone)... having recently installed ubuntu i lost my bootloader to allow fanio.sys to work (stupid vista 64) so a few questions.

Does anyone have any apps they can reccomend specificly for the xps 1340 ie, like i8kfangui (but works on more sensors?)

I found an app to blackout the screen when just listening to MP3's via BT etc...
pretty cool. grab it here.
http://www.redmondpie.com/turn-off-your-notebook-lcd-with-one-click/
under 100k too so its a winner for me.

But has anyone found anything I can control the media keys with... the PWM dimming function irritates the crap out of me (i can see the flicker) and Id almost want to black them out with a texta at times!

all I need to do now if find a cheap 3g card and a 9 cell battery.

 

I love my 3weeks old xps 13. After applying some thermal compound between the pad and the GPU I've managed to cool down the GPU to 50 degrees Celsius in idle and i'm planning to apply soon the diamond one to replace the thermal pad (I don't know if I should put a copper pad too). Also the P8600 is at around 37-40 idle.
What I don't like is that I cannot use the 5300 wireless card and I have 2 of them... )

 

Once you open up the notebook the pads are bad. You've broken the seal if you've opened it up and applied the thermal paste. What you should do is remove the pads, clean the heatsink, GPU, and CPU with rubbing alcohol, and then apply IC Diamond brand thermal grease. Put a small pea sized dot on the CPU and GPU, and then put the heatsink back on. Thermal pads aren't meant to be put on, opened, and put back on, and they DO NOT work in combination with thermal grease.

 

As I saw is better to put more than less ICD. Also, it will fill the gap between the heatsink and GPU?

Also, what battery life should I get on wireless with the 9 cell battery in power saver mode? Windows is showing 5h and battery meter 7h30. Witch one is more accurate?

 

No, you actually want to use just a dab of ICD, because if you use too much, the thermal grease loses it's effectiveness. The point is to use just enough so that there is a VERY thin layer between the heatsink and GPU or CPU. The purpose of the thermal grease is only to aid in the transfer of heat from the CPU/GPU to the heatsink. Applying too much just traps heat in the thermal grease. There shouldn't be a gap between the heatsink and GPU, unless you didn't tighten the heatsink down enough.

 

Does anybody tested the Street Fighter 4 Benchmark on StudioXPS using only 9400M?

If not, can anybody check if SF4 is playable on the basic 9400M?

Here´s the link:
http://hotfile.com/dl/6660612/45b3edc/Zenikal_y_D0NV1T0_Benchmark.zip.html


Its a big file, but you can watch 3 matchs in various scenarios and check scores and FPS.

Thank you in advance

 

I'm downloading it right now. I'll come back later

 

Thank you Kirkus! My score on current desktop is a shame: C with 40 average FPS

 

Well...I have bad news for you

In 3dmark06 I have 2140. All tests are in Win 7

 

God Damn It

 

Just posting again my battery wear level!

Well, LOL, it decreased now, my battery is really f*cked up....last time it was 25% now its 13%.....its wicked......

Cheers

Nano

 

I got 3750 with the 9500, so the hybrid really gives slightly better gaming performance.

 

The 9500 doesn't really do well with the SF4 benchmark either...

 

That's a good game for XBOX

 

Are we doing the same here as we did with the M1330??? Last year I purchased a small copper piece and replaced the blue pad between the heatsink and gpu with it. At that time, we were applying a bit of arctic circle 3 on both sides of the metal square before placing it on,

Is this the same with the SXPS 13??? Wondering because I am awaiting an exchange and just may remove the copper from the M1330 if thats the case.

 

There is definitely a similar cooling pad, but I don't know of anyone actually doing the copper mod. It might help, but I think it's less necessary than it was in the 1330.

 

Im a bit frustrated...systems on hold and I hear its because of ssd availability...

 

Oh noze...Les, I hope it ships soon for you...Is there a backorder on the SSD? Like the 256??


Cin

 

Wow It's Les What are the specs of your soon to be new baby?

 

HCW OH MY GOD!!!!!! I just had flashbacks Mobil, Al guy. How you doing anyway? Watch it...Cin's in charge now eheheheh.

Specs here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4981064#post4981064

 

Oh YOU!

Here are my specs! Sorry, I didn't ask if you wanted to see them, Les..I will just force you to looky!



(you know you want to) lulz.

Cin

 

I am jealous....you got the 256gb ssd. Oh well I cannot complain now can I. Technically, my last Dell purchase was my M1210 5 years ago which was exchanged and upgraded for the M1330 and then that now being exchanged and upgraded for this...

I will have a 64Gb Samsung (Dell) ssd up for sale soon though if anyones interested. Oooops can I say that eheheh???

 

Yeah, the 256 SDD is supposed to be pretty good on the the 1340!

No complaining...you got yourself a nice lappy!!! Any updates?


Cin

 

Oki il join this bg Thread About my new Lapy Studio xps 13

Here is my spec
|Dell Studio XPS 13|P8600|4GB DDR3|9500m |1280x800 |320GB |Bluetooth|6 Cell Battery|

I recived it from three days now

first thing i noticed in it was the heat its kinda hot than my older lap acer aspire 3680
then after checking every function of the laptop i liked the facial recognition its awesome feature in the laptop yes some times its not able to recognize me but ilike it

the hot media key this one is not yet good some times its work pefect and other not work well i read about it in dell community and found it in all laptops not only mine its related to vista driver wish dell update it soon
third thing i noticed today its the side of the laptop the lighting side its projecting in one side than the other i think its may fall or some thing while deliver to me

oh also before forgot does any one know how to know ifthe laptop battery full charged while the laptop shutdown

ijust noticed it today while palying in my laptop its ice feature you have to know it your self

today i bought redalert 3 and ill recive it soon ill try it in my laptop and will let you know how the game going on in the new pc

over all iliked this laptop bit heavy than expected but still awesome and lovely

 

What other PC notebook have the same chipset as this XPS 13?

 

I guess the 13" Macbook Pro. Can't argue with the 9400M-best IGP out there.

 

yes macbook pro 13 have the same

 

I recently installed a new hard drive in my xps 13 and after installing all the newest drivers, my audio crackles and breaks up about every 30 seconds. It's really annoying. Any suggestions?

 

Oh, the audio latency problem. Try the thread for that:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5008344

Also, if Dell is to be believed, they are near to solving that with some kind of bios/video update. Hope it does soon:

Re: Studio XPS 13" Audio Popping/Slow-Motion
26 Jun 2009 03:50PM
Update.

It looks like we have a fix on the horizon. I am unclear on whether the fix will be a combination of BIOS and video driver updates, or simply one or the other. I have asked for details that I can share regarding an expected date and a description of enhancements. I will post back as soon as I have information I can share. Thanks for your patience.

Anyone having lockup issues- seperate issue from the audio latency- you should be able resolve that issue with BIOS rev A07. A08 has been pulled as of this time. I am not sure if the next version will be named A08 again, or A09. At any rate, once that new version is posted, I would update to it first.

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19260011.aspx?PageIndex=4

 

Thanks! It seems like the problem is gone when I switch off the WLAN. I'm certain this is some type of driver issue because my XPS did not do this before I re-installed vista.

 

You guys got me worrying about the new system Im getting......and Im the veteran here.

Hey, atleast I got them to up my 128Gb ssd to a 256gb ssd for the delay eheheh.

 

Ok...I don't know what to think about the battery life anymore...
With the 9 cell I cannot go further than 4.5h with wifi on, screen at 1/3 and power saver. I saw reports about 6.5h. How? I only have the 9400 video card.
Other thing will be...is there a place to buy a motherboard with the SLI card?

Thank you

Later edit: I've noticed something with my screen...well...with the "glass". I think that the keyboard is making a line on it when closed....just in the middle of it
What can I do about this? Dell warranty? Or something easier maybe...?