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

Pics + vids plz Also detailed personal review is mandatory in this thread

P.S. I hate you.

 

Try emailing [email protected]

 

I know my big qustion will be whats the temp like under heavy gpu load. If they had heat problems before with smaller GPUs I am scared to see how they are with a bigger GPU.

 

any ideas..
1640 with 4670...
Could this suck even more or what?
rob

 

No way! Well try reseating the ram and see if that does it. If not then pop open the bottom lid (it's very easy to do) and reseat the CPU as well. If the fans and lights still don't turn on after doing this then you've got a dud...great.

 

hard drive spins, everything lights up ..just nothing on screen...

 

Did you try reseating the ram? That can happen if it's not seated properly. Try putting in one module at a time and turning it on. If that fails, the display cable could be loose but you'd have to look at the SXPS 16 manual to figure out how to get to it.

 

unfortunately still at work and have a milestone...
No windows song either after 1 minute

 

You're traveling through another dimension -- a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the Twilight Zone

 

Well on first boot you have to go through setting up Windows so you wouldn't hear it regardless. Try those suggestions when you get off work and see if it works. If not, send it back.

 

Make sure it isn't set up to display on an external monitor or something funky like that? Sounds like a display issue...

 

Use and external monitor and see if you get picture on the monitor.
If you get picture, it's the lcd or lcd cable that's the problem,

Call dell if you have a warranty and the picture works on an external monitor and they will send a tech to replace lcd and lcd cable

 

external monitor works...screen doesnt..BUT i cant get past the windows loading bar from both repair launch and regular vista launch...
any ideas...

 

Run it in safe mode and see what happens.

 

no idea why its working..but i got the external to work..tried to get windows to run but couldnt it would just hang after bar cycled2-3times. Ran diagnostics in the bios for like 30 mins.. and then shut off..out of juice..hokked plug in..and viola ! laptop screen works and is booting into windows..
now im doing all the vista setup..
hmm..ill be keeping an eye on this..
rob

 

Very strange..so pics + divx?

 

hahah im still at work... and a girlfriend waiting for me. display looks great... just installing updated
res is so tight....good size compared to my sony 13.3" may it RIP...

 

Shipped this morning, will be here tomorrow! Can't wait!

 

wow.. only if u could run a 3dmark 05 or 06 or vantage bench..

 

Wow, weird... well the important thing is that it's working! Let us know how it runs

 

Mine shipped out as well! It's set to arrive on Friday according to the rep that just called me to give me the good news! Now we can finally start adding real benchmarks, pics, vids etc to this thread, it should be a lot of fun.

 

downloading 3dmark06 now...Ill try to get some benchmarks going.
The screen and sound rock!

 

How's the heat with the laptop? The older SXPS 16 gets pretty toasty so I'd be curious to know if the new one has improved the cooling design or not.

 

I think what caused the screen issue..not sure if it makes any sense is that i first ran the laptop w/o the plug..then later found out it needs to be plugged in for 12 hours. It says you can still work on it while its charging.
After the screen came up/, and vista loaded there were two issues that came up.
1) brightness control on screen did nothing.
2) Keyboard was not responsive

Ive turned the laptop on/ used for a little bit then off seemed to bring back the brightness control and I adjusted the keyboard repeat in control panel.
From what I can tell all is good.
Now when i got it and was quicklytrying to play with the laptop while at work the base was flat on the desk, letting very little air in from the bottom and yea it got hot especially around trackpad. I later proped up the rear about 1 inch and it made a big difference. Ill try to get a temp monitor on it along with all the other stuff. Currenly im installing maya and downloading so its not that tasked. I did run crysis last night and that was great..
at 1280x 800 and 1920x1080. Will run with fraps later.

All very cool and the size is great combined with the high res screen.
rob

 

Shipping update.

I ordered my SXPS on June 26 with delivery date of July 16. My Dell rep called me today to inform me that the 500g 7200rpm drive I ordered will not be in stock untill next week (13th). So, my order is held up untill then. Man, I was really hoping to get it before this weekend.

 

Did they give you the option to upgrade to SSD and avoid a delay?

 

post some load temps and idle temps if you can!

 

Darn i'm in the same boat as you july 16th... Thing is, this laptop will be my primary computer since i have to travel 2 hours each way just to get some internet time... 8 more days of public transportation

@jackpfree - your 17 inch signature is funny though... i don't have a clue what that's about.. care to give us some stories to ease my waiting?

 

Actually truly speaking this heat issue is totally "HYPED"

Ok it may be getting heated (I ordered mine, will check it out on my own sooner or later), but its certainly not to the amount for what it is hyped.

Here is a contrasting video review. He along with his friend might be a member of this forum too....

But this was worth the watch

Review 1 and Review 2.

The other day I just went to a local dealer having SXPS 16. Laptop was indeed running there for quite a long time with "normal" H264 movie played. After a while I checked the bottom of laptop.. and I really didnt feel the pinch of heat.. (Agreed the movie was not a Blu-ray). But still.. people are just over reacting ... (May be I can prove them wrong to myself.. Waiting sucks I know.. 29th July..)

lets see how it turns out to.. Hopefully Joker can provide us the real update soon

 

I am haveing the same issue. I ordered on June 30th and its due on July 16th as well thanks to the 500 7200rpm hard drive. It would be nice if they would allow us to just upgrade to the SSD to adoid the delay.

 

I just put a call in to my rep about the option to upgrade to SSD. Had to leave a message, hopefully she will return my call soon.

 

p8700, 4670 4 gig, 320 7200 rpm
3dmark06 =6649
vista windows experinece of 5.4
hows that compare?
rob

 

8k short of what my desktop scored, not bad for a laptop though thats not 3" thick

 

What component got the lowest score?

 

@hardtoanger

my 17 inch laptop story, to pass the time

i was going to turn 13, my dad asked me "do you want a laptop for your birthday" since he had me set up with some Pentium 4 crap desktop or something, so im like sure.

He asked me do i want a laptop with a big screen and tell him not really, i dont care that much but somehow he convinced me to get a 17 inch laptop since he has bad eyes and thinks 13.3" laptops are the smallest things in the world and when, in fact, they are not.

so i get my laptop with almost no choice on my part since i didnt know anything about computers now, and in a high school where everyone has a mac, im the odd one in a crowd

 

Oh nice! I go out of town for a week and laptop I wanted got a videocard upgrade! That was the one weakness in my eyes at least on the 1640...

Anyway I have a couple questions...How come on certain configurations a 500gig 7200rpm HDD is available and on others it is not? Also, when I build through the dell site and coupon listed on the first post, it won't let me continue w/o choosing a Bluetooth module..But when I go through EPP or dell university, I can add to cart w/o a Bluetooth module...

Are these issues contingent upon the coupons, like you only get the discounts if you include certain features? And is this also why certain features aren't offered because I clicked on a coupon with a pre-configured build?

One would think Dell would just list all of its options for that category but they don't...I'm really confused..

 

Looks like you are in the ballpark, for example Notebookcheck lists a 3DMark06 of 6995. I would have thought the Vista WE Index would have pegged to 5.9.

 

It's best to learn early in life so I'll give you a valuable lesson (for free): Don't do what the herd does.

 

i think im going to get a mac next, gotta try out OS X atleast once and hey, maybe ill like it better

 

doing what the herd does isn't necessarily a bad decision~ i mean mac's pricepoints are lowering, so apple's not price gouching as bad as they used to.. Plus the MBP's casing are pretty spiffy..

 

I looked at the Best Buy version earlier today (with the 3670)...it had a score of 5.2 or 5.3. Processor was the lowest score.

 

Which processor did it have?

 

Is it possible to upgrade the GPU passed a 4670? I want this laptop to be able to play any game at medium settings the next few years.

 

4670 will be the best this laptop ever gets (and not upgradeable), this should be good enough for most as it is a top tier 2 mobile GPU.

 

Crysis on 1640/p8700/4670/320-7200rpm

1920x1080 - Very high- 7-9 fps at game beach start

1280x800 - high - 22-25 fps at game beach start

numbers based using fraps.

rob

 

Looks like Crysis will need to be run at 1024x768 for smooth gameplay. I'm going to run this HP DV7 (with 4650 GPU and 2.0 ghz cpu) through a loop of 3dmark06 to see how it compares to your score.

 

Just ordered mine, so excited! Here's the specs:

Intel C2D P8700
4GB DDR3
1080p FullHD RGBLED LCD
ATI 4670
320GB 7200 RPM
Home Premium 64-bit
BluRay Combo Drive
Intel WiFi Link 5300
Norton Internet Security 15-Month
6-cell + 9-cell
3 Year Limited Warranty + Complete Care
Bluetooth

Came in just under $1700 through EPP (specifically delluniversity)

Dell says it'll be here by the 27th at the latest... I can't wait!

 

crysis
1024x768
very high = 19-22
high = 30-35

 

Here's my 3DMark06 results with the DV7 + 4650 GPU/2.0 GHz CPU:

6133 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score
2314
SM 3.0 Score
2952
CPU Score
1769



Your numbers for high are actually reaching GTX 260M numbers noted on notebookcheck.com I still think the numbers can be higher though with proper tweaking of the game and catalyst control center.

 

Just thought I'd pass this along... I ordered 1640 with 500GB drive and T9550 processor on June 27th and was given a estimated delivery date of 7/17. I knew from past experience that Dell always pads the delivery date, so when a week and a half went by and no Dell, I started searching to see what the delay was from and ran across this thread.

I gave Dell a call asking if I could switch to the SSD drive to speed up the order, and it turns out the 500GB drive and the T9550 processor are holding up my order. The rep told me the only way to change the order was to cancel it, and reorder (with no guarantee in improving the delivery time). When I said I wanted to cancel anyway and reorder, he offered next day shipping for free. Now my delivery date has been moved from 7/17 to 7/14. We'll see....