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

An update on shipping.

01/26: Ordered, EPP over the phone
02/13: Original estimated arrival date

...

01-30: Processing until around 4pm and then directly to 'shipped' with Fedex
02-02: Fedex arrival date (because of the free next business day shipping)

It is strange that I never saw a 'testing' or 'boxing' stage. But I definitely will not complain, the original eta was 18 days, the actual eta is 1 week. After visiting my 1640 on the Order Status page for 4 days, like a father visiting his baby in the intensive care, it is rather refreshing to now be tracking the box on the fedex site.

There is a possibility that if all goes well with the machine when it arrives monday that I'll be so busy getting work done that I wont report back for a while. But after I have had some time on the machine I will try to give feedback regardless.

 

As far as accessories, I called a sales guy yesterday who told me they have sleeves but they aren't for sale yet. He said the sleeve and 9 cell battery should be available in 4-6 weeks. Also he said there isn't yet a remote since the system is so new, but that in the coming months there will be more 'accessories' available. This will probably include the tv tuner we see on the UK site.

I put off buying a sleeve for it until the Dell brand one comes out. I imagine in the beginning they will sell it and later it will probably come free with the machines like the 1330 and 1530 had.

Did any of you guys get the finger print wipe cloth with your 1640s?

 

I ordered mine 1 day after yours (1/27) and now its only in testing (for 1 day already)....this is so unfair. jk

 

I ordered on the 26th and am still in "Production". Est. shipping is 2/12. I fully speced out except for 320 hdd.

 

haha im sorry, i hope yours delivers quickly! i read an informative article about how the dell is manufactured, from delivery of parts by airplane, to the construction and testing phases. i cant remember where i read it. but in the meantime, maybe this dell factory tour by michael dell will help you pass the time until your ships: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEhNkzdKyrw

 

India, Ordered on Jan 16th 2009, EDD was 2nd Feb 2009, Delivered on 29th Jan 2009
Canada, 11 jan 2009, delivered
Denmark, 13 jan 2009, production
Spain, 16 jan 2009, production
UK, 24 Jan 2009, production
Canada, 21 Jan 2009, delivered on Jan 30
Germany, 13 jan 2009, production
Canada, 16 Jan 2009, delivered on Jan 29

 

The computer is already in BELTSVILLE, MD! That's (according to gmaps) 13 miles from my friend's house!!
Guess he'll get it today!

 

ehheheheh
I know EXACTLY what you mean metroline... An considering that I've been getting updates from the FedEx site through out the night (the last one 4:24AM!), I guess those guys make a pretty good job.
I just hope they don't toss my computer and leave.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtNaLenV3n4&feature=related

 

Hey... I'm still waiting a couple of months to order my SXPS... now is available here at Puerto Rico site ... =)

But...I'm waiting until they get out of the mayor bugs,,,like the BR which I really want it...and the sound problem. Also I'm waiting for the sleeves and the 9 batt cell.. If only they offer the 9 battery cell I would be ordering in a couple of days.

Well I've been waiting since july 08 so I'm not complaining... =)

Ohh and also I'm waiting to see if they offers a midnight blue option would be very very nice...

 

Question...

It's the Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9600 (6MB cache/2.8GHz/1066Mhz FSB) considered at Centrino 2 chip???

Because I'm thinking to add this at my future sxps 16

 

i ordered mine the same day and it's still in production

 

it only says production it won't tell me which phase of production though

 

you need to call in and ask, if you check the website, it'll only tell you either in production or shipped, not the step-by-step details. good luck

 

i have yet to find a Canadian number

 

So has anyone had major hiccups with downgrading from Vista to XP on their 1640? And do I REALLY need to get Vista Ulimate so my license will be valid on XP?

 

building phase they say esd changed from 02/11 to 02/10

 

Here are some Dell Canada Numbers:
These numbers are only availi' Monday - Friday....
http://support.dell.com/support/top...pport/dellcare/en/byphone_ord?c=ca&l=en&s=gen

Order Status Page:
http://ausoladcacm.us.dell.com/ostatus/index.asp?language=E

The Dell Contact Us page:
http://support.dell.com/support/top...e/en/contact_us?~ck=ln&c=ca&l=en&lnki=0&s=gen

Hopefully, that helps!~

Cin

 

Hey folks,
still holding off due to problems I'm reading about here, but I cant wait too long.
Sounds like there are issues, some significant enough that Dell has to address them immediately, like the sound issue, missing software and light leakage which seems directly related to the heat vent. I think this laptop is still in my future, but I think for now I'll go to their outlet for a 1530 refurb. Unless I start seeing some real success stories here very soon. Cin, since you seem to be the linkmaster, is there a thread about buying refurbs from Dell outet, and does anyone know if EPP can be applied to the outlet? Anyone advise against this? I see some really good "looking" deals, but never dealt with the outlet before.

 

The Outlet is a great place to order from, you get great deals, about the same as you would be buying new.

You cannot use EPP at the Outlet, there are usually coupons that come out for the Outlet. You can also sign up for them at the Dell Outlet Site.

I don't want to go off topic from what this thread is for, that has happened alot as of late.

So, here are some links for the info on the Dell Outlet, and if you need more information..it would probably be best to start your own thread in the Dell Main forum regarding refurb's!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=347230
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=345861
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=317819
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=341198
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=309847

This is where Coupon Codes & Deals for the Outlet are posted:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=12

Hope that helps!

Cin

 

The outlet items come with the same service as brand new ones, i.e., return policy, warranty, customer service, etc.

The outlet items claim to have gone through the manufacturing phase a second time to insure that everything is functioning as new.

Different from what Dell claims, I have had a m1330 that came with a dead media control bar, a m1530 that was dead right out of the box (dead motherboard), m1530s that had loose parts, bad parts, etc.

The outlet items will not come with some accessories, i.e. the sleeve for the XPS (very rarely they do).

Of course, I have returned all those without trouble (one was even 7 days after the 21-day policy, and they still granted me a full refund and shipping label); For one of those, a complete exchange for a brand new one was offered but that one came with a few problems of its own, so I returned that one as well.

EPP does not work with the outlet. Sometimes there are coupons, though, like a couple days ago there was a 20% off on all XPS outlet laptops or something.

I keep a close watch on the outlet, but find no good deals. All the m1530s that are half decent cost about $900 including shipping.

For about 300 more (base config of 1640), you can get:::
New/faster/cooler processor (montevina vs. mostly merom ewww)
G/DDR3 memory, 64-bit OP (that can actually use 4GB of RAM...DDR3 RAM!!!)
better v-card, better screen (std hi-def LED),
better wi-fi card (Intel 5100 vs. crappy Dell card),
better HD (refurb m1530 start with with 120GB 5400 ewww),
better spreaker,
back-lit keyboard,
gester-touchpad,
new sexy design.

Oh, and it is brand new.

 

Concering the sound issue. Although I have permanently returned mine, I thought that I would share the email that I received this morning.

I replied:

 

Mine had already shipped with A05 even...though unfortunatly I've never tested the sound since I haven't gotten that far. I suppose I could if someone tells me what to look for and the best way to test (if I could just throw a DVD in...not a Blu Ray though, since...yeah )

 

Just try to play any music. You should be able to tell that the sound is higher from the right side, if yours has the same issue.

 

Well, just a quick update on my system. So far I've found Dell support to be excellent. While my system tag did not work on the dell website to access my "online download library" or something like that, I did do a full system restore with the backup partition that took all of 5 minutes!

I contacted Dell support thru their website's Dell Chat function and had a rep within a minute who I explained my problem to. Took about 10-15 minutes total, and I did this while still working at work - much easier than being on the phone to support!

She sent a followup email and shipped out both Bluray and Rixio to me. The discs arrived in 3 days yesterday, that was fast! Was crazy busy at work, but I finally installed the software this morning. btw, my disc is labelled "For Reinstalling Cyberlink PowerDVD DX8.1 Software for Blu-ray Playback"

So I installed it, ran the "update now" option after it loaded. Installed a new version and now my machine plays all my Bluray discs and it looks awesome on my 1920x1080 RGBLED screen.

I haven't noticed the audio issue, but then I'm not a sound buff so it probably won't be an issue for me. I'm going to love the HDMI out since I'll be connecting this system to the Flat screen and 5.1 sound system in my living room.

Although in the initial pictures I remember seeing on the dell website seemed to include a remote, my system did not come with a remote. Nor was it listed in the invoice or the choices for customization so I wasnt really surprised. One aspect that was unexpected was that I thought the 8 in 1 card reader would include a slot large enough for Compact Flash cards, but unfortunately it's only large enough for SD cards and smaller. The 1394 jack is for the mini type of plug and it's cool that there are 2 headset jacks - apparently you can hook it up to a 5.1 system w/ that and the mic jack.

I love the touch controls up top and the backlit keyboard. Even the external power has a cool blue light on the plug into the laptop so you know when it's actually receiving power.

Now it's off to play Left 4 Dead on my wireless G connection which is smooth as butter.
And the laptop is great for work too, especially now that I have blu ray working =)

 

My Left Speaker is lower and squeaks.

 

So I wanted to give you all an update on my experience with the 1640 after having it for one full day.

Firstly... I didn't get any of the BSOD's or any other errors that people were talking about. Just lucky I guess but it has been 100% stable for me so far. Haven't done anything intensive other than install all the programs and such that I use but so far so good.

The screen resolution (FullHD) is a little small, I'm used to this resolution but on my 24" desktop LCD. Not terrible though, I still have good eyes luckily.

The heat issue isn't nearly as bad as I was made to believe. The palmrest area and the trackpad do get warm, but not warm enough to make my palms sweat or anything.

The sound problem isn't really noticeable to me, however I was a little disappointed at the quality of the sound. In the review it was written that it has excellent sound but I'm already yearning for some external speakers.

Other than that it is awesome! Haven't tested out the Blu-Ray yet, or played any games, but I'm pretty much in love already so I don't think I could be spoiled at this point.

------------------------------------
XPS 1640 : P8600 : 4GB DDR3 : 320GB 7200rpm HD : 1080p RGBLED LCD : ATI 3670 512MB : Blu-Ray Reader : Bluetooth

 

Excellent! Glad to hear that you were able to get the correct program. Let us know how the gaming goes.

I never had any problem with heat doing regular tasks. But once I tried gaming it got a tad uncomfortable on the palm rests and the touchpad was even hotter.

 

Talked to my friend, and he said that it was delivered this afternoon!
I told him about the problems, and he will check it out.
He told me that there were no headphones... Are yours missing too??

 

Definately a balanced sound issue.

I'm running stock Vista drivers and I have the same issues as the Dell drivers. So I really don't think it's a software issue. Highly doubt a bios update would fix it but you never know.

I suggest anyone wanting to watch movies or listen to music using the stock speakers hold off from getting this machine until Dell addresses it.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do, I'll start by giving Dell a call monday. Everyone else should as well. Worst case scenario they'll be taking our laptops back to fix some audio hardware.

 

Yeah, I noticed the same thing and the only drivers I've installed has been the one to fix my more pressing problem. I'll give them a call all the same, but I adjusted the speakers balance as a temporary fix.

 

Ya, same here. I am using the stock drivers that install with Windows 7. I'm surprised that none of the reviews mentioned this sound imbalance issue.

 

I ran the Dell diagnostics utility and it has the same issue. The diagnostic bypasses the OS and audio drivers so it has to be a hardware issue.

We all need to contact dell so they can get a fix out a soon as possible.

 

Sorry to repost this, but some may not have seen this. Hopefully, Dell will correct this for those of you that are concerned with the sound issue.

The strange thing is that when I played a pink noise tone (all frequencies played at the same level) the level each speaker produced was 107db at 50% volume with the SPL meter directly on the grille.

When a midrange tone was played, (I used a 1 khz tone as a reference), the left speaker was 8 db lower. (107 db for the left and 115 db for the right).

I wrote to IDT audio and Dell but Dell couldn't give me an answer to why this is. IDT did not reply.

I have since returned the laptop. It sure is a shame because it sure was a beautiful laptop. Hopefully, the venting issue will not become a problem.

Good Luck,
Thraak

 

"Centrino" is just a marketing term-there's no such thing as a Centrino CPU. But these systems do qualify for the 'Centrino 2' badge.

I just double checked for you guys, so you've got more info about all this. I tried a CD, and a DVD, and in both cases it was VERY obvious that the sound was mostly coming from the right speaker. In fact, I would have thought it only had a single speaker if I didn't stick my ear right next to the left one.

For me personally, I don't think this would be too huge of an issue, as I wouldn't want to use the internal speakers for anything serious anyway, as they're mediocre (ie normal for a laptop). Although...hmm...on the DVD, I'm not sure but I think I may have been missing important stuff since the left is basically not present. So maybe it does matter.

At least since they all apparently do this you guys can maybe figure out better what's going on.

For me, what was FAR more important is it sounded just fine through the headphone jack. No crackling, no hissing, no static-just sounded nice and clean. For me that matters a lot more because out of the home I'd have to use headphones, and that way you can plug in speakers too and have them sound good.

I've heard 2 Dell laptops with terrible crackly sound, and one that sounded okay/...and then this one sounds fine too, so I'm glad it falls into the 'okay' camp.

I think for me, if this thing fixed the vent placement, and got rid of the ATi graphics (and if Dell could ship out the right software...) this would be a pretty great laptop. That vent placement though is just like the audio issue-it blows my mind no one caught that!

You're in the U.S.? Myself and others in the U.S. just keep getting 'For DVD' PowerDVD discs Never did get them to give me the right discs.

I actually bothered writing back to the support person when she wrote me, just confirming that I did get the discs, but they didn't include a version of PowerDVD that supports Blu Ray. She told me to contact tech support to "download the right drivers". It's like no, this isn't a driver issue, there's no software on it that can play them.

But...I didn't bother doing anything more, because I need to send it back anyway because of the deformed bottom issue, and even if I didn't, and even if they did send me the right discs this time, over half my return period would be used up before I'd be able to actually test the system out.

But actually it would be worse than that, because I've already gone through three Dell people who don't get that the software has to actually support Blu Ray playback, so odds are my fourth would be the same way.

 

I'm not, given that no one noticed that opening the screen blocks the system's vent :laugh: If they don't notice something that basic, how are they going to know that a CD plays sound out of both speakers? :laugh:

Oh well

 

when i ordered my dell over the phone they said they charged my credit card. now my dell is shipped and almost here, its been a week but dell has never billed my account. it shows as paid on the dell invoice summary page, has anyone else had a delay in billing? its throwing off my account balance. i hope its a giant error and dell never bills me, that would be wonderful

 

Hmm...well now that would make me keep this system :laugh: Honestly I wouldn't put it past them.

Weird. I called my CC company and their automated thing says I owe...well it's like they're charging me $1000 for the system, except it doesn't actually list it. Hmm...this may be weird when I get my statement.

 

Yeah, US west coast. I only contacted only one support person via the chat function, told them that my version of the software would not play blu-ray and I stupidly uninstalled it.
But yah, they sent me some working software so that's pretty awesome.

Well, I hope there's a downloadable fix for the audio problem although it doesn't really bother me.

 

If it's a hardware issue, then definitely not, although if it is a problem that affects a large amount of users, they'd probably go around and fix it. It's not a big problem for me, even one speaker could destroy my old 1505.

 

That is odd. Did they originally get the pre-authorization from your CC? They usually do that after you order to verify you have the funds availi'.

Who know's maybe it will show up on Monday (start of Bus. week).

One time, I paid by CC for a purchase online..and at first it showed the pending charge...Then it dropped off. So a few days later I thought maybe they didn't charge me after all. 72 hours later, sure enough...the charge appeared.




Cin

 

last monday when i ordered it the pending charge appeared. then it disappeared and hasnt come back. more than likely it will reappear as charge monday like you mentioned.

in the meantime im shopping for sleeves. i saw the built ny cargo sleeve at staples today and loved it. im waiting til i get my computer so i can see if it fits the 15" medium size.

 

Yeah, unfortunately...the charges will always reappear..once all the *check and balances* come into play.

The Cargo sleeve..is that the one with a few exterior pockets? That's a nice one...Built' is great band for NB sleeves! Good color choices, also!


Cin

 

I don't think this url has been posted: [I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzv52oSbA80

 

Has anyone got the Downloadstore.dell.com/media working? I upgraded from Home Premium to Vista X64 and now I am not able to find the softwares (not provided in Disks).

Software that were installed and missing - Fast Access Face recognition and Power DVD.

 

Confirmed the unbalanced speakers issue today after trying real hard to find this. Here's the deal...

This may not be a dealbreaker for the casual user. If I didn't read this thread, I'd have never noticed in the first place. My wife used my lappie a lot today (listened to several CD's, movies, etc) and never complained about the audio. Same deal as how some people are very anal about CPU fan noise, HDD noise etc while other's do not notice such things at all.

Am I sending mine back? Hell no. I can completely live with the audio and I don't notice it while gaming or watching internet TV. Now if my $1500 5.1 living room audio system was unbalanced, that would be another story altogether.

And another note, once u get used to this LED screen, u won't be able to go back to regular LCD notebooks!

 

What do you mean you upgraded from Home Premium to Vista x64? The 1640 only ships with 64-bit Vista, at least in the United States. (Personally, right now if I were given the option, I'd probably rather have the 32-bit version, but there's basically nothing left that ships with that.)

Regarding that online thing, I was finally able to yesterday-took days of just retrying over and over. There were only three things on it. I think Roxio, that face thing, and something else. I know PowerDVD was NOT on there (I though I'd look if maybe the version for Blu Ray was listed, but nothing was on there). I'd just contact them and ask for discs, which they really should be including anyway.

There's all LCD. I love LED lighting too though. That's really restricted my choices in notebooks, because I refuse to get a florescent screen. I haven't bought a new TV either for the same reason.

 

LED screens can be nice but I don't know why they didn't offer this model with an option to not get the extra glossy and hence super reflective extra panel on the screen.

I mean, I guess I know why. This is target at multimedia (as they label it) users for movies, light gaming, etc. Although it can be used for productivity from a component standpoint, you can't really sit outside with this in the bright light or sun and see anything.

It's what I hated about the HP HDX series as well which is targeted at the same audience albeit better DDR3 9600M graphics card for gaming...

I don't remember if the original XPS line has options for the glossy panel and without it but I hope if they keep the real XPS line alive and refresh it with i7, they offer both. I know see they only offer the 'glossy' version.

I wish Lenovo, since they are always rated best laptop and best support for laptops, would come out with ONE model that has a nice graphics card. I know it would cost a lot from them but then no GLOSSY option for those of us who need it for business as well as fun.

 

In the UK you can choose either 32-bit or 64-bit, and the Studio XPS 16 actually originally had only a 32-bit option for a week or so.

 

I haven't ordered my sxps yet because some of you said it had heat issues.
And I have heard the opposite from other reliable sources. So don't give much heed to some of your opinions.
I am going to order a sxps 16 and if it does have issues dell will let me return it and I won't be angry at dell.

 

I'll wait and see if the audio unbalance is an issue for me; the only time i use internal speakers are for YouTube (and other streaming video), skype, etc. Im not going to music or expect a home theatre experience on my PC for any extended period of time.