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

There is, at least in the A10 BIOS. It's the last page, something about CompuTrace (the company that does LoJack for Laptops)? If you enable it, it is permanent. Like, as soon as you move the button to "active" and press enter. You don't even have to Save+Exit the BIOS. It does it right then and there.

I guess so, but I wonder why it isn't automatically enabled, then?

~Ibrahim~

 

First the specs:

1 224-6025 XPS 1640, Intel Core 2 Duo P8800 (2.66GHz/1066MHz FSB/3M L2 Cache)
1 320-8178 Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish XPS 1640
1 311-9487 4GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz 2 Dimm forXPS 1640
1 320-7329 16.0 inch Wide Screen 16:9 1080p FullHD RGBLED LCD W/2.0 MP, XPS 1640
1 330-4424 ATI Mobility RADEON M96XT - 1GB
1 341-8989 500GB 7200RPM Free Fall SensorSeagate Hard Drive
1 420-9319 Microsoft Windows Vista with SP1 Home Premium Edition 64-bit Edition English
1 330-1917 DELL RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP XPS 1640
1 420-6576 DELL WELCOME,Software Dimension/Inspiron
1 420-9100 Dell Dock Consumer
1 463-2282 Dell Owners Manual installed on your system,click on icon after system set-up to access
1 420-6436 Vista, PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
1 420-7938 Dell Connect 2.1
1 421-0092 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
1 421-0323 Windows Live Search,Multiple User Interface
1 421-0187 Dell Support Center Software 64 Bit 2.0
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp 2.0 Basic
1 421-1193 Download Store Links
1 430-2600 Integrated 10/100 Network Card
1 410-1883 ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE
1 313-8387 4X Slot Load Bluray (BDRW) Rewritable Drive (BD Read and and Write)
1 420-8161 Roxio Creator 10 Premiere Blu-Ray, Factory Installed
1 420-9681 PowerDVD DX 8.1 Bluray Playback, True Theatre High Definition
1 313-4783 Integrated High Definition Audio 2.2
1 430-3580 Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11AGNHalf Mini Card w/ My WiFi
1 410-2089 McAfee Sapphire MUI, 24-Month
1 312-0811 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion P Primary Battery, for XPS 1640
1 420-8051 Microsoft Works 9.0, English For Inspiron
1 950-3338 2 Year Limited Warranty
1 993-3488 Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Extended Year(s)
1 993-3487 Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Initial Year
1 986-0561 Third Party At HomeService, 24x7 TechnicalSupport, 1 Year Extended
1 992-4500 Third Party At HomeService, 24x7 TechnicalSupport, Initial Year
1 902-0941 Warranty Support,1 Year Extended
1 960-8710 Warranty Support,Initial Year
1 412-0360 Soft Contracts - Banctec
1 988-7707 2GB DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 FOR SDO/DIM/INS/XPS
1 988-0099 To activate your online backupaccount, go to Start, Programs, DataSafe Online
1 420-9518 DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 2GB
1 430-3206 Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
1 320-0997 Premium FHD WLED Display Obsidian Black, 2.0 MP Webcam
1 420-8223 Dell Video Chat
1 420-9699 Facial Recognition Sensible Vision
1 421-0464 Dell Webcam,1.2
1 310-8628 You have chosen a Windows Vista Premium System
1 330-5122 Intel Centrino 2 Label

$1534 shipped (after some debate and calls)

Now the story, I ordered the system back on September 4th after much debate over the HP HDX, but I saw the screen on this thing and I crapped my proverbial pantaloons. After cleaning myself off, buying my system, and crapping again at the September 26 delvery date, I notices that the EPP was not added to the purchase. I called up dell on the 9th and discussed with several people over 2 hours and they voided the order and rerang it. However, I got a October 8th date. Quite perturbed, I called again, and got a guy that applied hte overnight shipping, and would look into it. I didn't hear anthing back until today, when I was told that the base was out, and won't be in for a couple of days. So, overall, I'm happy I got it for cheap and I guess being out of the bases is the one thing that I can't complain about.

To you's that post here. Thanks for all of the help before I need it. I am ready for this machine, when it comes, and ready to have a little fun.

Till then.

 

Being the type of person who always has to check AFTER a purchase to see if i paid too much or missed a great offer, I went to Dell's site to see what it would cost to build the same machine that i have (SXPS 1640). Fortunately, I still paid less than what it's going for right now, but above all else I notice that Dell isn't offering the Arctic White casing anymore? Anyone know why? The white would have been cool to have (aside from cleaning off dirty fingerprints occassionally) but again, it seemed like Dell only offered that color choice for a limited time...at least from what I gather. Dell's website is screwy, imo, just for the fact that there are several ways to get the same thing, but the prices differ depending on what "route" you take...fortunately for me, i got a kickbutt system for much cheaper than now.

 

It seems the white casing was arriving with black imprints on it from the sleeve. Two people here had to return their systems because of it. It probably prompted Dell to discontinue it for now.

 

Ooooh, Blu-ray burner! Score!

~Ibrahim~

 

Especially when I ordered it as the EPP had a flat discount instead of a percentage. Also, I got more discount as they had a deal on the screen when I got it.

 

Black imprints? That's not good. you would think Dell would have shipped the white laptops with a white sleeve...keep it sharp and the same.

Dell obviously had a great idea...shame it didn't pan out, but then again that makes me wonder how Sony gets away with it when it comes to their white laptops...of course, perhaps they don't use those sexy sleeves. lol

 

Sorry guys, I'm jumping ship. The new HP Envy 15.6" will be out on Oct. 16th. Core i7, HD 4830, dual HDD slots, 1" thin.

http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/envy/discover_15.html

It was fun. See ya.

 

Any word on pricing for this temple to the gods?

 

Starting at $1,799. Seems to be a good deal seeing as the SXPS is pretty high priced anyway.

 

Got my service tag fixed today, on the phone with dell now regarding getting a new power adapter for my 1640. Gonna try for a bag or mouse or something. This was a rather unpleasant experience to say the least. The tag was "lost" according to the rep I spoke to.

So anyone else on here make sure to call and get it fixed.

 

Question one of many to follow I am sure.

I just received my XPS 1640. It is sitting next to me charging! I noticed on the left side between the ethernet & VGA port it is solid plastic. From reading here and seeing pictures on the dell site, isn't there normally a connection there for a TV Tuner antenna or something??

When I ordered the laptop, I had no need for one nor did I expect one. I am just wondering why it isn't there. FYI, I live in Canada so that might make a difference.

 

Looks like a sweet laptop. I'd probably pick it over an SXPS as well. Though it's coming out in Oct which is pretty late already. Might as well wait until Jan for the DX 11 parts.

 

How does that even make sense? A smaller and thinner laptop is expected to cool an i7, HD4830, and dual hard drives???? How does that even fit? The bottom of the laptop better be a huge fan. But ti does look very very sexy...

 

From HP, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's required to use a laptop cooling pad with it or you void the warranty.

 

I guess I'm not exactly the most unbiased person to say this, but no matter the Envy, I'd still go SXPS:

1) RGBLED screen: I don't see it mentioned on the specs. Only 60% color gamut? Anandtech measured the SXPS 16's RGBLED's at 118%.
2) Blu-ray burner (only +$35 now over standard Blu-Ray)
3) Backlit keyboard: Don't see it mentioned anywhere either.

Price, overall, too.

@siress

I just saw that movie, Inglorious Basterds. "May I pull out my own pipe?" LOL

Well, watch out with that statement: bit of a generalization there, no? I'm not going to say the six-letter word (banfoy)......but.

~Ibrahim~

 

Fanboy? for Dell? I would happily knock on the office door off Dell's CEO and run away, leaving a bag of my flaming behind. That said, if I ever have to recommend a computer manufacture to anyone, it's Dell. (Imagine how I feel about a company like Compaq)

Also, only +$35?! Rage. 'course I did get in on the 256GB SSD...so

 

No, I love Dell, too. Best support I've ever had (don't take this personally, I know others have had different experiences). But I just think saying that the Envy will have a worthless warranty and overheat because it's made by HP is taking it a bit too far. In reality, the Envy series is actually done by Voodoo.

Haha. I'd gladly fork over $35 for a burner now, but I guess I'll just have to "settle" with ROM.

~Ibrahim~

 

I'm not gonna lie... If I had a couple hundred dollars I would definitely buy the Envy. I like the aluminum and black look. And the power, but it will definitely overheat madly... if so then no...

 

If you guys want to see the ultimate laptop, check this out: http://www.xoticpcforums.com/showthread.php?p=18558

I'll be selling my Asus and buying that when it's released in late october. It has the sexiness of the SXPS and the power and cooling of a Clevo..mmmmm drool.

 

Hello all!

Been lurking around these boards for a couple months now trying to soak up all the wisdom and experience I can (unfortunately, this coupled with classes and caffeine has resulted in a mild form of insomnia; I'm getting better though. **twitch** Really, I am). So far, it has certainly been an enlightening experience as to the CS of Dell. Back when my family got our first Dell, a desktop, 5 years ago we had no problems with tech support or customer service in general. What happened? On a brighter note, from personal experience the techs on Dell Chat seem to have a better grasp of what's going on than the ones on the phone (conversations with Dell Chat was usually around midnight as well if it matters).

Anyway, on to my story. I currently have an XPS M1710 which I bought at the end of its life cycle a few months before the M1730s became available (couldn't wait - needed a laptop for college). I wanted a system powerful enough to play games at near-max to max settings at native resolution for at least another year with a large screen as I expected I wouldn't really be taking it to class, and I must say I got everything I wanted. It's been two years, and I can still run most games at high settings and at least 1440x900. The only tarnish on the system's reputation has been the video card frying twice so far, resulting in Dell replacing the video card 2x, mobo, fans, heatsink, and LCD once each. The first time around it took the tech on the phone over two hours having me run through diagnostics that I told them I had already run along with trying different drivers, BIOS upgrade, etc. Using Dell Chat the second time? 10 minutes, most of which was confirming my info (name, e-mail, address, etc.). Bravo, Dell Chat. Bravo.

Now comes the rather interesting situation that those of us who still have [working] M1710s are in: Whenever this card gives out (still going strong right now **knock on wood**), I am faced with two possible paths i.e. the M1730/m17x (if no 1730s available) and this SXPS 1640. I realize the former would be a moderate to large performance upgrade, but I have not found any gaming benchmarks with this machine at high resolutions (>= 1440x900), let alone 1080p (its supposed native res). May I humbly ask for guidance from the collective? Does anyone have a link/their own benchmarks? I looked through the first few pages of this thread and only found Crysis at 720p (I've never played it, so I can't compare) and synthetic benches.

My system: M1710 T7400 C2D @ 2.16 GHz, 4 GB DDR2, 7950 GTX, 80 GB 7200 RPM HD.
Most played games & playable settings:
Fallout 3: 1680x1050 All High 2x AA normally yields around 30-35 fps average, 60 max, ~15 min in a couple areas
CnC 3: Max settings w/ max AA @ 1200p, constant 30 fps
Supreme Commander Forged Alliance (VERY CPU intensive): Max settings w/4x AA @ 1200p except Shadows on low yields 20-30 fps until the unit count climbs to over 500 on the screen
Sins of a Solar Empire (with extreme mod): Max settings w/max AA @ 1200p, consistent 30 fps (only occasionally dips because I have it installed on an external HD)
TES IV: Oblivion: Max settings w/4x AA @ 1200p yields 40-60 fps indoors/cities and 20-35 fps outdoors

Cheers

 

well thats when all the core i7 laptops come out..Clarksfield and Capella will be out in the fall..Im sure the XPS will be updated as well..HP isnt special..

And you sold your XPS prior to get that ASUS. And Im sure when something else comes out 2 months later you'll sell your Clevo for that..Sounds like a giant waste of time to me. Have fun with that!

 

There's always something better down the pipe obviously but at some point you have to jump in and buy when you need a laptop. If you can constantly wait two three months for the next great leap forward, you don't actually need a laptop you are buying a toy. Which is fine, but you'll end up always wishing you had just waited a little longer for that new wonder processor right around the corner.

As for HP, in my experience (2 returned HPDX18) BAD quality control and worse build quality. All plastic creaky parts and not even close in the screen quality to the RGBLED. The XPS16 is wayyyyy ahead in build quality.

Unless your Joker, who just keeps trading up but has to be losing some money everytime.

 

I know the Zalman NC-2000's been recommended as the cooler of choice, but what about a carry-around portable alternative, as although I could probably get away with fitting the Zalman in my backpack, I'd prefer something more discreet, any ideas?

Also, for peeps this side of the pond, UK, you managed to register your service tag with Microsoft for the Windows 7 upgrade, as Dell tells me I'll have to wait till the 22nd of October, that's why I can't yet?

 

nope cant register coz my service tag doesnt work lol, will contact dell soon

 

Guys, quit bashing, Joker. You know you would do the same if you had the money, lol!

And the time, too. I'm moving to a laptop from my main desktop and I'm having to take so much time transferring tweaks, custom programs, etc.

~Ibrahim~

 

I'm using the Targus Stow-n-Go chillmat which is a portable cooler, USB quiet fan. It's rectangular in shape and props up the back of the laptop. This has helped tremendously and I use it b/c I do not have a dedicated desk and I take my Laptop to work. In it's name, it's made for travel. Youtube has videos on it and you can google it. I recommend it. It isn't as good as the zalman and it's half the price, $25.00 but keeps lappy cool..although hand rest stays hot.

 

Anyone knows why Dell is not releasing the new BIOS (A10) yet? It has been a while since laptops are already been shipped with the new version.

 

And what' wrong with that? It's my money to blow. I change cars every two years too. What do you guys think of that Clevo? The cooling on that thing is awesome and the design is pretty sweet too.

 

Hey, The Todd does what the Todd does to get the chicks.

 

High five!

 

Ah, I hope you have better luck than me , let us know, and if you do; I'm not going to be impressed being fed the Bull .

Thanks, will deffo consider that one. Also, I looked under the lappy, for the 1st time , today; and have got to ask, wouldn't the lappy keep cooler if the actual cut-out section of the vents was larger?

Got to sort out some cooling pronto, as my in-game characters start break dancing minutes into the game, down to the heat I expect!

 

I'll check out the SXPS once it's updated. I'll wait for reviews on the Envy, then make my decision.

Unless Dell comes out with dual HDD slots and quad memory slots (lol) I'll probably go with the HP, unless it's quality is reported as crap. I like the non-glossy, non-black (fingerprint, dust). Also I don't like the speaker grills that collect dust.

 

Hey, how's your ?

 

My acid reflux? It's better now thanks for asking.

 

Great so is it a bad time to order? I ordered an xps 16 last week with the 25% off + 7% student discount. Think they're going to change gpus soon?

 

gpus? nope, i'm pretty sure the 4670 for sxps16 won't be upgraded this year, if it will ever..

 

I wouldn't be so sure. HD5000 series is supposed to debut in a few weeks(late September, Octoberish) and, surprisingly, ATI is supposed to release the Mobility HD5000's at the same time. I'd love to see nVidia try that, lol!

All rumors, but it's from DigiTimes who have been rather reliable.

~Ibrahim~

 

I hope so. I'm waiting until late October to order so if more info is out then, great. I'll be keeping an eye on the SXPS 16 still, but if they only update the CPU, I'll probably go with the HP Envy.

 

How is the 4830 suppose to be?

 

Not that much better than a 4670, its just a tad better than a GTS 150M/8800M GTS, so nothing spectacular.

 

It has twice the shaders of the HD4670.

~Ibrahim~

 

I am new to this forum. I bought my Dell xps 1640+ATi 4670 GPU with RGBLED screen today.
I have not used a XPS before.
I have a few questions.
Q1 -->On normal usage there is good amount heat generated.Is this ok. I am just running a Firefox window.
Dell support suggested BIOS update of A08 when i tried to install the pc prompted me saying that i have a newer A10.
I do not have any cooling pad or fan.
Q2 -->I increased the font size to larger (120 DPI).But still i find some sites really small on the browser.
Any solutions for this.
Q3 -->And When I tried to play a normal dvdrip file the colors were not great and it looked as if the video quality is bad. Apparently those videos use to look great on my older laptop.
I observed the same when i played a HD video on youtube in full screen.
I guess there is some display setting that i must change to make these work fine.But I am not really sure about that.
Also any recommended/suggested software and tweaks are welcome.
Thanks.
edited.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amo5V5hgE1k ducati HD 1080p
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ5U8suTUw0 Dark Knight trailer

Watched these two videos and they looked awesome )

 

Q1 - Use a laptop cooler, undervolt your CPU and apply AS5 to your CPU and GPU.

Q2 - Use NoSquint Firefox addon.

Q3 - http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5254110&postcount=137

 

do most of you use http://forum.notebookreview.com/show...&postcount=137 ? Is that the one that most people think looks right?

 

link doesnt work

 

correction: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5254110&postcount=137

 

Has anyone fallen victim to screen damage as a result of screen flex on the 1640?

I have the RGBLED screen and I find it rather disconcerting that the screen flexes to the degree it does. I don't intend to purposely flex the display to failure but after opening the laptop off center the other day I was surprised how far the one edge lifted up before I corrected my finger placement (for fear of damaging).

I'm just wondering what would be a safe limit before failure... I was trying to find a manufacturer's diagram or exploded view so I could see the internals to give me a best estimate, but I can't seem to find one.

Do LED backlit screens flex more? I would presume the CCFL's (much like my Inspiron 9400 and the XPS 17 series) have to have more rigid displays to protect the tubes.

 

thanks for the reply..
I did the changes mentioned in http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5254110&postcount=137 this page.
Now i find the screen to be more brighter and that red color now looks more like rose/pink.
And how to use the software Eye one match 3 which that instruction set had asked to download and install.
excuse me if the questions sounded dumb..

 

Hello All,

Have any of you managed to successfully install the "creative soundblaster" software? It is from the executable "CREATIVE-LABS_SOUND-BLASTER-_A00_R213242". The installer starts but quits right away.
Administrator, running as 'in different' OS environments, and safe-mode do not work. It acts the same under both 32 and 64 bit.

Any solutions? I am out of ideas.