===> The Official Studio XPS 1640 + ATi 4670 GPU Owner's Thread<===

I ordered a 9 cell battery back in feb 2009 when i placed my original studio 16 order.. I used it about 3-5 times within a 2week span... i had to return my xps 16 because of various problems and didnt reorder untill 7/6/2009 (should be here within 3-5 days)


My question is....will my 9 cell battery still work after not using it for months? will i see it draining quicker?

Thanks

 

yES IT WILL WORK..

Plug in the battery..(dont start Laptop)

Let the battery charge.. and then start after some initial 1 hour of charge

 

I picked this up from the outlet earlier;

Studio XPS 16 (1640) Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (3MB cache/2.4GHz/1066Mhz FSB) w/2.0MP Integrated Webcam

4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz (2 DIMMs)
500 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670
Obsidian Black with Leather Accent
Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module

$907 out the door w/ CA tax and state fees.

 

Sweet thanks for the info mhatrey

 

Wow man....is that straight from the outlet or with negotiation/discount?

Does anyone know of any outlet coupons right now?

Joe

 

It should work just fine, maybe draining a bit quicker indeed though. Where was the battery stored? If it was a cold environment your battery should be ok.

On my system, the order was placed on the 11th, and right now it is still listed as "in Production"; how come? Seems like Dell's really bad with the whole delivery part...

 

I've been sitting on the site for about 3 days now trying to see how often 4670's come up. Ive seen about 3-4 units per day. most are 9600's w/ bluray and are ~1400 pre discount. I saw a t7350 this morning w/ 4gb and the 1gb Radeon for 969 - I'm glad I held off. I got my coupon email ( new coupons started today ) and I applied my 15% off to the $979 price in the outlet bringing it to $820. I bought w/ DPA so it dropped 3% more. w/ a $16 CA state fee it was $907 out the door. About what I paid for my M1530 Product RED a few yrs ago. I'm stoked to get it, w/ free Next Day shipping I should have it Tuesday. Oh, and It was a previously ordered new unit, not a refurb or scratch/dent - so it's 100% new, i'll be 1st owner.

 

Can you give me a pointer on how to obtain the 15% discount coupon?

 

Dell always send's these coupons out in pairs. One for you and one for a friend... here's my "for a friend" code. Enjoy.


486X2$3Z0LKW3H

 

Only for outlet PCs

I have one if you need PM me

 

15% off outlet coupon valid until 07/29: 8096341566G0LC

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=58339052176&topic=7233

 

OK I just ran into some problems trying to set up my dual boot. long story short, I deleted my Debian partition through vista's repartitioning tool but then when I rebooted I got GRUB errors because the partition was missing, etc.

I wanted to do a clean install anyway but I decided to do windows 7 RC. I'm on it right now but I noticed that the eject touchbutton isn't working. any help wih this? EDIT: I just rebooted and now it works.

Also where do you download the facial recognition software that came with the laptop?

 

Probably a disc of misc apps that came w/ the unit.

 

It only came with McAffee, vista, and dell drivers discs.

 

you didnt get any powerdvd or Dell misc cd's? Very odd.

 

Neither did I...

 

My steal of a deal has just shipped. Not bad considering I only ordered a few hours ago!

Edit: I've just remembered the XPS 1640 doesn't have an S/PDIF optical or coaxial output. Not good as my Denon A/V receiver does not have any HDMI ports. So it's analogue jack plugs to RCA connectors or an HDMI to S/PDIF splitter for me. Why do you do these silly things Dell?

 

Dell ships all refub within one day

 

U.S. Dell.com now offering the WLED vs the RGBLED 1080p screen for a reduced cost of I believe $175.

 

24 hours later, still sitting in Nashville with a tracking number (since Wednesday evening) and it hasn't moved. ?????

 

You received a white card with a website on it for the download store with your computer. On that site you can download Fast Access, PowerDVD, Dell Webcam and Roxio 3 times a piece.

 

I have a question that has probably been answered but I can't find the exact info I'm looking for so I'll ask again.
I am going to order a studio 16 and I am perplexed as to what screen to get.
I current have 2 laptops with 15.4 screens, one is 1440x900 and the other is 1680x1050. I like the 1050 screen res better but the 900 is fine too. I've never had a 16.9 screen before so I'm not sure which to get, the 900p or 1080p? I've seen 15.4's at 1900x1200 and it is way too small for me. I play some games, surf the web, and do some work on it, not movies often at all. Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for the help!

 

I had the 720p and I sold it for a couple of reasons. The main being that the RGBLED is that much better than the WLED plus the resolution on the WLED sucks. A blind man could read it.

 

Benintm -

Dell just starting offering the Studio XPS 16 with a 1600x900 option as well as the 1920x1080. Previously it was either 1366x720 or 1920x1080.

If you are really into the best quality, sounds like the 1920 is for you. I've read enough complaints about 1920 being too small for people, and used 1280x800 for so long, that I know the 1366x or 1600x is the best fit for me personally.

Joe

 

My new 1640 just arrived.

One word.

Stunning.

 

I ordered the Zalman NC2000 yesterday from directcanada.com, expecting it to get here around the same time as my laptop (next Monday)... but it's somehow right here, right now. Amazing.

I will make sure to give my thoughts on both the XPS and the Zalman when I have them both up and running.

 

Hey Joker,

Assuming you still have windows 7 installed, could you install the catalyst 9.7s (came out yesterday), and test your SF4 performance again?

 

Bought @ 10am Yesterday, Got mine today. OMG, build quality is amazing. more to come...

 

Mine sat in Tennessee 24 hours, finally left Tennessee YESTERDAY and 24 hours later (for some reason) is sitting in INDIANAPOLIS today, and I am in New York... So much for the 2nd day air option.

 

Went to price out the build I want via Dell Home & EPP sites and

1) 256gb SSD no longer shows as an option. wonder if they are out of stock or are switching to the new Intel G2 drives ?

2) 16.0" RGBLED 1080p screen does not always show as an option. There is a 15.6" WLED 1080p option instead for a lot less money. As the RGBLED screen is unique to the SXPS16 I hope they aren't phasing it out for a cheaper alternative. Screen is not upgradeable and, since you look at it constantly, a "must have" option.

As an aside, why does Dell offer the P9600 only in the SXPS13 and the T9550 in the SXPS16 ? Processors are identical except the P has better silicon, achieving same performance with lower current and voltage resulting in a significantly lower TDP (25w versus 35w). Given the heat issues many report with the SXPS16, I'd gladly pay the small premium for the P9600 over the T9550. The P8600 & P8700 are of course offered but have half the cache and slower clock, and I generally avoid chips with fractional multipliers like the P8700 (9.5).

 

Well, Burnout Paradise runs @ 1366x768 on all High in 5.1 surround sound very nicely. Street fighter 4 runs @ 1366x768 No AA @ 60FPS solid. I can run it @ 720p w/ 2xAA @ 55fps.

Very happy w/ what this machine can do w/o putting a 9550 or 9600 in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q5pUeFi-PE

 

just ordered my studio xps 16!!!!

p8600 2.4 ghz core 2
320 gb 7.2k HD
HD4670 1GB
RGB LED screen
5300 wirless
4gb ram

total 1300CAD + tax.

estimated delivery is on august 10th, hope it comes before that!

wow just noticed the price/spec difference on dell.ca. if i hadn't gotten my quote on Wednesday i think i would have paid much more. (pay upgrades for leather, ram, processor etc)

 

just a question, how good are the effects of undervolting the sxps 16?

 

Hi!

Let me introduce my self, I'm from Guatemala, I'm a developer and of course I like to play games occasionally, this laptop its a replacement for my OOLLDDDDDDD!! HP Pavilion zt3000 (about 5 years old) and very exited!

My Studio XPS 16 its already shipped and it will be delivered on July 28th by Fedex Ground service, unfortunately I will be able to put my hands on until August 10th, these are the specs of my laptop:

* XPS 1640, Intel Core 2 Duo T9550(2.66GHz/1066Mhz FSB/6M L2 Cache)
* Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish with Leather XPS 1640
* 4GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz 2 Dimm forXPS 1640
* 16.0 inch Wide Screen 16:9 1080p FullHD RGBLED LCD W/2.0 MP, XPS 1640
* ATI Mobility RADEON M96XT - 1GB
* 500GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
* Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Ultimate 64-bit Edition English
* 4X Slot Load Bluray (BDRW) Rewritable Drive (BD Read and and Write)
* Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB(Panzer) Application 1.0
* Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11AGNHalf Mini Card w/ My WiFi
* 3 Year Limited Warranty
* CompleteCare Accidental DamageProtection, Inspiron, 3 Year
* Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
* ExpressCard Media Remote for Bluetooth-enabled Laptop
* 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Additional Battery, Cus Kit for XPS 1640

I need some advice from you, I need to change the hard drive of the laptop, as you can see its a 500GB of 5400RPM, I need one that runs at 7200RPM,

I thinking on this one http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Momentus-7200-4-ST9500420AS-Mobile/dp/B002GPGP60/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1248470987&sr=8-1 What do you think? Its OK, or should I look for something else?

Thanks!

 

Call of Duty WAW runnin like a champ too.

Is there a newer driver package out there available, or should we be concerned with that?

 

Hi,

I'm waiting for mine, too; should be here tomorrow. (T9550)
I've got the same prob, the 7200 rpm wasn't available.

Check this link : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148374

This is the seagate momentum, but $10 cheaper on newegg.

If anybody has tested it, or has a better one..... let us know !!

 

So finally in Guam...Typing on my friends 12" Alu Powerbook...I love this thing...His new 2.8ghz 17" macbook pro is crashing every 10 minutes and takes literally 15 minutes to start up...dealing with his mac the past few days has made me 100x more anxious to get my xps 16..

Anyway I noticed a few things as I am keeping track of the sales Dell has just in case it gets really cheap before it ships because I may want to cancel and reorder..prices look to be about the same. dell seems to change the base price and discounts a lot to make it seem you are getting a deal but it really ends up being the same price. I just configured my build again to see if there was a price change with the new "$458" off..Nope same price in the end..

Two new things I noticed about the XPS now. I see there is a new 900p screen option. Well someone asked earliar about the screen size being 15.4. Well it looks like if you order the 900p you get the 15.4" screen and if you order the 1080p screen you get 16.0 screen. Also the black leader trim is now a $40 upgrade.. What is up with that? Now it comes stock all glossy black..I kinda wish they had that option before..I dont dislike the leather but I think its a little gaudy. I would have chosen to not get the leather...

Anything else change with the laptop in the week I've been gone?

 

Hey guys...I need everyone's help here. I juz got my Studio XPS 16 with the ati 4670 1GB GPU. The problem is that the system I ordered is the HD Screen one with 1080p.

The resolution seems to be too high and the font is too small to read. If I lower the resolution the next available option is 1280x1024. I wanna find out if there actually is no resolution option between 1920x1080 and 1280x1024. Am I the only one who has this problem or anyone here has the same thing?

I had ordered the xps 16 with ati 3670 and HD screen resolution earlier and on that system I could go down to 1330x768. So why isnt that option available in this system?

 

just adjust the DPI settings to make the font bigger. http://www.lawfirmsoftware.com/support/change_dpi_settings_vista.htm

 

And then graphics will look like crap.

Just a fair warning because someone here will go ahead and change the DPI settings and, sure enough, will come back to these forums and post a new thread asking why their graphics on web pages, etc look all blocky/pixelated. lol

I know because this has happened quite a few times....

 

If someone with similar specs to my 1640 and the 4670 could do some tests for me it would be greatly appreciated. I would really like to know if the 500 for the new motherboard would be worth it.

Empire ToTal War
Res 1280 x 720
Settings All Medium , Shadows Lowest

Command And Conquer Red Alert 3
Res 1280 x 720
Settings All Highest no AA

Left 4 Dead
Res 1280 x 720
Settings All High no AA

Killing Floor
Res 1280 x 720
Settings All High No AA

 

That website doesn't seem to be working, I tried it in firefox and IE but nothing happens when I click the green "register computer" button after logging in. I think it's supposed to install some kind of activeX thing but it doesn't work.

 

I had to use IE to get it to work, but had no issues. You can call them and get them to send them to you. I had uploaded them a few times for people but I'm not sure if they're still there. Try going to 2shared.com and searching for Facial Recognition. I think I kept a copy of them when I backed up my PC before I sold it. I'll look when I get home and PM if you if I did.

 

Anyone else find the default power cable way too short? I switched mine out for my old HP tablet notebook's and now it's far better. I can actually sit in a place comfortably without having to worry about the cord coming out of the outlet because I've moved more than 2 feet away from it.

 

L4d I forgot to turn off AA so i had it set to max

min 5 max 105 average 41.41

I had everything else turned up. filtering 16x etc. shadows high all textures models high.

Min Max Avg
11 122 55.045

dropping AA filtering and shader down.


game would run smooth and then have these random slow downs... either getting to hot or just crap drivers.

 

Its not getting to hot i get them to and so do many of my friends. It has something to do with the game i guess but thank you

 

Then wat is the other option? This is ...I mean why dont the ati 4670 drivers support more resolutions. Wat can I do to get the 1330x768 resolution on my ati 4670?

 

Well, I received my 1640 yesterday. They said they sent it overnight, but they sent it standard FedEx Home Delivery. It would have been here Friday like it was supposed to if they had fulfilled their end of the deal, and I would have been able to go out of town like I was planning this weekend, but instead I had to stay and wait for a laptop.

I have been using it since yesterday at noon, and have only one significant problem and a few qualms about build quality.

Build quality:

• Keyboard Bows and Flexes a Bit Near Top Left
• F3 key looks slightly off kilter and feels odd to the touch - pretty sure it will be the first key to break
• Why is it so glossy? I used the palm rest to pick a piece of popcorn out of my teeth.

The big problem though - My wireless radios - ALL OF THEM - suddenly stopped working 4 times since it got here. To get them back I have to rub my finger over the wifi toggle to turn it off, and then again to turn it back on.

Seriously hoping this is a software thing. I am going to try reinstalling Windows instead of just removing the bloatware. I was surprised that there was not as much as I had thought there would be!

Thank you Dell for not putting AOL on this time. I hate you as a company, but I love that choice. Now just train your sales reps so they know how your supply chain works.

 

Hey everyone, I've been reading through these forums for a while now and I figured that I'd finally register now that I received my XPS 16. I just received it a few days ago (came 3 or so business days earlier than expected) and I absolutely love it. The screen is beautiful, the build quality is good, and pretty soon I'll be loading up Crysis: Warhead to see how the 4670 performs. It's definitely a finger print magnet but that's easily remedied my wiping it down with a microfibre cloth and so no complaints there.

After reading through the forums and reviews online, I was a bit worried about it getting really hot but so far my temperatures seem very low, even before I undervolted. I get idle temps of 35C and 38C for the CPU cores and the HDD respectively and about 51C/43C at full load (simulated by Orthos). before undervolting, my CPU cores only reached 62C.. Did I just get really lucky or is everyone else experiencing similar temperatures?

 

Speaking of registering, all of you folks who recently bought Dell systems that qualify for free Windows7 Win7 upgrades, you need to complete the registration process in order to qualify. Here's the site:
https://win7.dell.com/
Cheers!