===> The Official Studio XPS 1640 Owner's Thread<===

I agree.
Got my replacement yesterday, haven't pushed it too hard but I would describe the "heat" as mild at best, basically warm.
Very very fast.
Going to partition and dual boot Win 7.
Oh, and the screen is incredible (and dustfree so far). This screen blows away any other I have seen for clarity and the sheer color brightness. And I have toned the color saturation down a bit.

It's terrific.

So far...........

 

i cant wait anymore. estimated delivery is on the 10th. its still in production. arghhh

 

You need to install quickset on dell support site that gets it working. I just recently installed Windows 7 and its way awesome. If you have any questions I may be able to answer them.

Also I did delete my other partion. more room.

 

I am going with the Cryo Lx since the fans are three, and they are in the back so the gpu and cpu dan will help. I have read that the metal also helps cool. Its your choice man. I have basically the same set up like you so I guess we will see. The Cryo LX though from amazon is sold out at the moment lol...

 

Found this issue getting more annoying as I type more...is it possible to disable the track pad while I'm typing? I'm finding i inadvertantly swipe the pad while typing and it throws everything off.

 

Hey guys,

So I noticed today that when I look from the side of my RGB screen (1080p), I can actually see shades of green and red. Is it supposed to be like that or is something wrong with my screen? Everything seems to be fine from up front.

Thanks!

 

I had Dell send me a new laptop to hopefully resolve the problem, however the new one i received today doesnt seem to be much better.

Does anyone else have this problem? or is that just how the laptop is mean to be?

 

I agree--Win7 is fantastic. I deleted the partition as well and freed that space on my 128GB SSD. This thing was fast before on start and shutdown, and now it smokes anything I've ever seen since a clean install and Win7. However, I still can't figure out how to get the volume graphic back. If you could help with that, all would be right with my 1640 world.

 

hey just wondering, the actual volume controls work right? its just the on screen display that doesn't show up?

 

I had to reinstall the IDT Audio but, yes, the volume controls worked.

 

I had the same issue. You can fix this plus using an external mouse and changing a setting in the touchpad configuration to disable the touchpad when an external mouse is plugged in.

 

I am not being sarcastic, but (i'm sure u tried it), push it harder, it was happening to me on another hp laptop. And I was dead sure it was a problem. My cousin just pushed it in, and apparently there was another 'plastic click' step for it to get secured.

hope that helps

ps: I don't have a 1640, but I am in the market for it

 

Has anybody noticed the skyrogketing prices of the 1640 batteries at dell.com?? It wasn't a month ago that the 9-cell was $79 (I meant to order 2 of them, but procrastinated), then a week later, when I did get around it, they were $89, and now they are an astonishing $179 for the same battery!

I thought for sure the $79 was a mistake...I mean, what 9-cell battery is $79, but they sure took a jump in the past weeks!!

 

and they're frackin $229 on dell.ca.

 

No drivers. But, since it charges my iPhone (just tried it again to verify) when turned off, drivers are not relevant.

I do need to use the original charging cable, though. I have yet to get it to charge with a clone cable. And, FWIW, it doesn't seem to go into charge mode until the battery is at 97%. Keep in mind I've only tried it a few times, but every time, the battery needs to dip below 97%.

 

I suppose they're making up for the losses of selling them for $79!

 

hey guys and gals, its been a long time since i've dropped by here. My XPS 1640 is still running perfectly since the day it arrived. One question though...

I'm going out of town for a few days and want to take my 1640 and external HDD with some movies on it. When at home I usually copy the movie file onto a thumb drive and play through my ps3. I don't want to lug the ps3 with me. But I do have an HDMI cable, and know that there is an HDTV where I am going. What is the process of getting both audio and video to play through the TV from my computer using HDMI?

Thank you in advance!

 

Just plug an HDMI cable into the laptop to an HDMI in on the TV. Then set the laptop to display on an external monitor.

 

Forgive my ignorance; what's the powershare port?

 

A USB port that allows you to draw power from it while your laptop is off.

 

Thanks One more thing to swing me to the SXPS fence.

 

i don't know about the volume because it doesn't show up on mine. Though i do like it better since when i am gaming it doesn't exit the game just cuz i changed the volume. I tryed syntax and quickset twice...but still no luck.

 

haha yeah i saw the new price its really lame. lucky i did order the better battery which i am happy about cuz i doubt i would pay the extra 100 dollars for a 9 -cell battery

 

Thanks that worked, and sound is working as well. I do have two questions though...

When i switch over to the TV as my monitor do i want use dual desktops so both the computer and tv are showing the same thing, or just let the TV be the monitor and the computer go black?

and lastly, when i connect via HDMI, the computer desktop (and movie) do not fill up the entire TV display. I have about a 1" black border on all four sides. Is there anyway to avoid this or is just the difference in resolutions and something i'll need to live with?

 

If I install Windows 7 in the main partition and leave the recovery partition alone, will I still be able to later restore Vista to it's factory original state?

 

seriously now, doesn't anyone have pictures of the xps 16 with the 15.6" screen or know of another website (link please) where they can be found?

 

I just ordered my new Studio XPS 16"!!!!

I got the extended warranty because of my EPP discount.
Total before tax was: $2190 CAD

I am very excited as this will be my first "decked out" laptop. The wait game begins.

Yet again you guys have helped me make a purchase decision on a laptop, thanks everyone at notebookreview.

 

any tips where to get 9-cell battery for around the old price (up to $100)?

 

congrats! youll love the screen!

 

Hi, glad to join club . I've been using my SXPS 16 for 3 months now, and there is not even a little problem, great machine (beside its heat, but undervolting solved it)

 

If only you were on Windows 7, I think it is soo much easier. but that is my opinion.

The 1" screen is because of resolution, so either the computer can't support the full length of the tv screen or make it higher resolution, I get that a lot on Windows 7, where I make my resolution smaller and instead of using more pixels the screen gets smaller :/

 

Doesn't really matter what you do with the laptop display...I tend to shut mine off not only to conserce some energy but also because I find the display distracting when I watch a movie on the big screen. As for the fill issue, right click the desktop and select the Catalyst Control Center...somewhere in there you'll find an over/underscan setting....adjust this to get the image to fill your screen

 

I bought the sxps a while back when they still had a 720p option. I got it on dell outlet GREAT price so it worked for me (16in 720 WLED) is very nice!
With that said I am sure the RGBLED 16 is even better.

What I don't get is dell putting a 15.6 on a 16 inch even at 1080p it seems strange .

 

I have to say, given the notebooks that I am currently in possession of (see my sig), that after using my SXPS 16 for the most part over the last couple of weeks, then this weekend switching to my HP HDX18t (w/1080p) while working onsite for the weekend, I find my HP HDX18t display far better than the Dell RGBLED screen.

Two things that I dislike about the Dell--first, that the screen has a "hue" to it...whites are not true white. Can't put my finger on it, but it's not true. Second--black text doesn't look truly black. It's like the RGB pixels are off a bit, and the outline of text looks rainbowy (is that a word?).

Fired up my HDX18t after a couple of weeks of only SXPS use and that display is beautiful Pure white, great colors, and sharp, black text.

Not dissing the XPS 16, just giving my opinion of the RGBLED display. I wonder what the non-RGBLED 1080p display looks like???

 

Anyone know what happened to the SSD options?

I did a quick search here but didn't come up with anything....

TIA

 

Hey everyone! Finally ordered my SXPS 16 today. Was originally planning to get Studio 15 but decided to get this instead after the 4670 video card was released in uk. Here is my configuration:


Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9600(2.80Ghz, 1066MHz, 6MB)

4096MB 1067MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]

Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard

1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 4670 graphics card

500GB (7,200rpm) Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive

Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 (64 BIT) - English

INTERNAL BLU-RAY ROM COMBO (BLU-RAY, DVD AND CD READ, DVD & CD WRITE) SLOT LOAD DRIVE WITH SOFTWARE

Intel WiFi Link 5300 Half Mini Card (802.11 a/g/n) (Centrino)

1Yr Premium Warranty Support

Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module

Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery

2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera with Facial Recognition Software

Integrated DVB-T TV Tuner and Antenna (MLK base)

Wireless Label (Intel Wireless Cards) - Core 2 Duo

Black Leather back cover : 16" (inch) Truelife 1080p Full HD RGBLED Edge to Edge Display

Final price was £1093 after the EPP and 5% Coupon discount.

 

I disagree, having used them both. The RGB screen however MUST be tweaked and adjusted, unlike the HP which was pretty usable out of the box. The RGB screen is TOO bright and colorful, almost cartoonish. The Gamma is way too high. After adjusting the Catalyst settings with mine I have got the whites pretty good, blacks very black and the colors are vivid but not over the top. Out of the box the Dell will sear your retinas...

 

and the "colorful" black text? If you look at your desktop icons, is the text perfectly black and sharp, or are there color fringes around the text?

I'll play around with the Catalyst settings and see how good I can get it.

Thanks.

 

Quite a difference! Like going out to by a FORD and end up buying a BMW!

 

rainbow fringing on text is pretty big issue, but it probably would have been brought up numerous times if it was a widespread problem.

 

So, are you suggesting that my RGBLED display is bad, or all of them are like that and only a few complain about it or are bothered by it?

 

im not sure, i havnt received mine yet so i cant say for sure. but from the screens that ive seen in person and all the crap ive read online, that has never been brought up.

if it infact is like that on mine, ill be pretty pissed of, dont think i can live with a thing like that.

 

I have to be honest, I don't see that rainbow text effect.
Play around with the catalyst software, it is infinitely adjustable.
I found decreasing the gamma right away boosts the contrast and makes blacks blacker. But the text is pretty small at this resolution so any rainbowing would have been a real big issue as Vin mentioned, especially the way this RGB screen has been nitpicked over.

 

Realizing that no two displays are identical, can you post your Catalyst settings for me to use as a starting point?

Thanks!

 

At work now, will try this evening.
There has been a lot of posts about this here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=382939

 

Anyone?? lol

 

lol...don;t tell me they're about to update their SSD options...typical...just after I returned my first XPS 16 to wait for the 4670, and ordered a replacement today, and now this? I hope not!

 

The SSD options have been down for a couple of weeks now, so I don't know what's going on...

 

is anyone else having issues with the cursor randomly skipping while typing? i know i haven't been brushing against the touchpad but every few lines my cursor skips either out of the txt box or to a previous line without any input from me. anybody know how to deal with this issue?

 

Hi all... first post... Ordered my XPS 1640 few days ago... in production now...

I got The T9550 with 4GB DDR3 and RGBLED screen, 500GB 7200 RPM HDD, bluetooth, Intel 5300 WiFi N....

I saw that some were asking why the invoice showed RGBLED (part 320-7329) and WLED (part 320-0997) at the bottom of the invoice. I asked a Dell rep and he said that the WLED part is the actual plastic housing that encompasses the screen and also includes with webcam. The RGBLED part is only the screen itself, which goes inside of the WLED part... confusing eh?