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

While I agree with what you said, it should also be mentioned that a customer has the right to just as easily return the system with in the return policy (21 days), and reorder it with the new prices, which is why it would be in Dells' best interest to match their own prices, at least with in the return policy period.

Besides, at the time of my order (one week ago) the standard was P8400 where as before the $50 upgradeable P8600 is now standard.

 

My thoughts exactly

 

.. a while back i put in an order for an 1640, but cancelled t because it was delayed for 'possibly' a month.. i figured i could cancel, place a new order at a lower price, and still receive it before or around the same time. The config i originally ordered is about $150 (CDN) less now.

 

does anyone know the brand of HD this lappy has? Well the 320GB 7200 RPM SATA one...

 

Seascrape Momentus 7200.3

 

Thanks, also i see you sig says you ordered you lappy on the 2nd? Have you received it yet? Mine shipped today, i ordered it on the 8th...

 

Yeah it arrived Friday, 13th.

 

Okay just wondering because that would suck if it hasn't already, is it working nice?

 

Yeah, I don't see any problems with it yet.

 

i heard that some of the newer ones have a larger screen distance for the vents and don't get quite is hot, although you have nothing to compare it to does it seem like it's not "too" hot?

 

Hi there.

Just ordered my Dell Studio XPS 16 on Friday, through a great rep who was able to give me an excellent deal. I am Danish, but situated in Spain, so I called the Danish Dell department and will have it sent to family in Denmark.

The system I customised (with a rucksack and Creative Labs Fata1ty Headphones) ended up costing 18,200 Dkr. but the rep was able to shave off a cool 2,200 Dkr so it ended up being a nice round 16,000 which equates to about $ 2,700 USD or £1,900. This is a pretty spiffing deal since things are a tad more expensive in Denmark due to our higher taxes and higher GDPs.
But all in all I'm happy.

The system specs are as follows:

Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit) (Thankfully I was lucky to be able to choose between 32 or 64-bit)
T9600 (2.80Ghz, 6MB, 1066MHz)
16in Truelife 1080p Full HD RGBLED Edge to Edge Display
Integrated 2.0 Mega Pixel Camera with Facial Recognition Software (Software install, no media)
4096MB (2x2048) 1067MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
500GB Serial ATA (5400RPM) (I wanted a 320GB 7200rpm but that option wasn't available)
INTERNAL BLU-RAY ROM COMBO (BLU-RAY, DVD AND CD READ, DVD & CD WRITE) (That's pretty awesome because this came as default)
Additional 9-cell 85W/HR LI-ION
Primary 6-cell 56W/HR LI-ION
Targus Campus Notebook Backpack XL - Compatible with up to 17" screen Laptops
512MB ATI Radeon HD 3670 graphics card
Integrated DVB-T TV tuner and Antenna (this came as default as well)
Europe Dell Bluetooth 370 Card
Intel WiFi Link 5300 (802.11 a/g/n) Half Mini Card European

Ordered on Friday the 13th, the rep said it should arrive at my gran's house around the 26th - 27th which is great by me.

Pictures will follow of course ^_^

 

Just received my SXPS1640. Officially ordered on 9 february and received 16 february. Thats what I call service
So far very satisfied, no BSODs.
I am using it now for an hour on my lap and its very comfortable, no extreme heat or something at all.
The screen is awesome, I'm just tweaking with the DPI, I think its gonna be 96. For a programmer and multitasker like me its perfect.
I have noticed thats the screen is a little bit oversaturated but thats not a problem for me.

Now ive to decide if i wanna keep it or not, i think it will be a yes but how long do i got, whats the return policy?

 

21 days no questions asked.

 

Oke thanks,
Sound seems to be unbalanced, im trying to balance it now. Im pretty sure its because of the subwoofer.

I just did a windows update (all 35 updates) and no BSOD, everything seems fine.

Facial recognition works pretty nice, auto login on Vista and on NBR as well
Only thing now is dat I can't login on https://smartsource.dell.com because the website says: application error

Powerdvd pops up a window that I should update for Blu-ray and indeed, it plays BR

 

does you family like want to adopt me?

please?

 

Hey All!
Followed this thread for like last three months and finally decided to go for Studio XPS 13 .. Did final checkout today and paid everything. Dell India website says it will take 15 days ..

Despite of all the Hype about the BSOD screen and The Sound Problems i stil decided to go on wid it coz it was the sexiest available 13" model here in India!

 

Too add...that's 21 days from date of *invoice*

Cin

 

Does that mean the actual invoice I receive when it arrives to my house, or the day the invoice was created, at the time of purchase?

 

Invoice is created on the same day they ship it, so it's in between what you said.

 

Just now a 1-pixel wide vertical purple line appeared on the left side of my 1640 RGBLED screen for about a minute and disappeared. I hope nothing is gonna go wrong with this screen eventually . . .

 

That means the date you are *factually* invoiced for your laptop. Usually before it ships. So, yes..that is when the *return/replacement clock start's ticking for you*

Please see this link (taken directly from Dell's site) on the return policy:
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/dells_sat_policy?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs


Cin

 

does anyone know how long after your package ships when the tracking number/info becomes available? Also what company is shipping these?

 

Usually, you will get it once it leaves Dell's hands, and the carrier has it & it's scanned in. Dell is now (at least in my area) shipping with FedEx.

You can call a Dell Rep, and they can physically give you the tracking number, also.

Cin

 

Sometimes it takes until the following morning to get an actual tracking number. I received mine by Fedex as well (TX, US). Fedex seems to be lagging in tracking updates, too. When I was checking it was always 6 - 24 hours behind what was actually going on.

 

Okay, mine shipped yesterday morning and it says on the Dell website "tracking information temporarily unavailable" for the last 24 hours, i'm hoping i'll recieve the info soon!

 

hey guys, I see that there is a way to know in what phase of production our laptop in. But I don't know how to do it, I went to dell page but I just saw it is in production, there is nothing indicating what phase it is actually in. Can you guys please show me how to do it?

 

I'm not sure, i tried to figure this out as well, i know if you call they can tell you!

 

Hi Sergeh,

Mine was shipped from Dell on Feb 13 with an estimated delivery tomorrow but I don't think tomorrow is my day.

My purolator online tracking shows only one scan done on Feb 14 at 18:30 pm and the status says "In transit in USA". Also underneath it says "U.S.A. GROUND LINEHAUL"

I called Purolator and I was told that information won't be updated until it crosses Canada, that it is still in USA and he said that I will be lucky if I receive it by the end of this week. He said it was shipped from Tennessee and that Dell is often off with their delivery dates, especially to Canada because if I lived in USA then yes it probably would be delivered tomorrow but it takes much longer for Canada, and it has to cross customs etc. which hasn't happened yet.

I know that you were told similar from Purolator, but contrary to what you were told by them, that same day you received an automated message to expect your delivery the following day, which happened. I checked my voice messages and I do not have my much awaited Purolator msg. The day is not over yet though! However, I have never received an automated message from Purolator before delivery, including 2 recent shipments from dell for other items. I am freaking out!

Since you also live in Montreal, how many days did it take since shipment notification from dell, to purolator tracking scan to delivery? Was this on track with your estimated delivery date from Dell?

Thanks!

 

Call this number, it will give you more detail: (800) 433-9014 enter in your order #

Production subphase in order:
(kitting - I don't know if they still use this one.)
build - varies wildly from 2 - 4 days usually, but can be much longer.
test - usually a day or less
boxing - mass shipping from China to US (1 - 3 days including weekends)

This is US info, btw. probably the same for Canada

 

Mine was shipped on the 10th in the am and I received it on the 13th also in the am.

Don't listen to purolator, they don't seem to know what's going on with their deliveries...

It was the first time I ordered from Dell so I don't know whether or not Purolator usually calls you but in my case they did. I actually missed the first call and they called right away a second time (they didn't leave a message the first time) Check if you have a missed call from a 1-800 number.

My advice is, stop thinking about it and when you least expect it you'll receive a call

 

Does anyone know how I can tweak the (red) color settings a little bit? When I go for example to www.ajax.nl it is very obvious that the red color is too saturated / bright.
Maybe someone has an excellent profile in catalyst control center? I haven't found the ideal config yet...

 

I agree. Everyone should just relax! Try not to think about the brand new 16" ultrawide 16:9 aspect ratio with 1080p HD support & optional RGB-LED for brighter and more vivid colors, with premium design with genuine leather accents, anodized aluminum, edge-to-edge display and backlit keyboard equipped with latest Centrino 2 platform for blazing fast performance, amazing battery life and go anywhere wireless connectivity and premium ATI 512MB graphics delivers incredibly lifelike videos, movies and gaming.

This thing better arrive tomorrow or I'll flip

 

I buffed my screen down with fine steel wool and denatured alcohol.

 

pff.. thats too much effort. I used a hammer.

 

That's easy for you to say (re: stop thinking about it) since you already have yours in front of you! You are probably viewing this right now on your nice new laptop that was ordered 3 days after mine was, and arrived last week! It's cool though - mine will hopefully arrive sometime this year!

FYI - No Purolator msg, no 800 number on call display. No xps 1640 in hand

 

thanks for that. This is much more accurate than the web thing

 

Installed Crysis demo today... 1024 x 768 runs with everything on high, AA off. Pretty smooth most of the time. the 1366 res. runs fine with most settings to Medium, I had texture, particles, and something else on High, and it ran fine as well.

I ran Crysis using dx10, supposedly if you run it using dx9, the performance is much improved. Also, I suppose if I used winxp, or maybe even win7, performance would increase as well?

 

That's reassuring of the GPU. Did you get a fps average or anything?

 

Mine arrived this morning. The video card works! Did all the same things and it hasn't glitched. I did have one BSOD when installing a recommended Windows update. Had to do a restore and start over with setup. Haven't done anything except critical updates for now.

This one still gets too hot for the left hand on the palm rest and in front of the trackpad. I was hoping the bad video card in my last one was responsible for some of the heat. It works great for regular browsing and light applications. But after 2 hours of Wow it feels like a hot iron.

They didn't make any changes in the lid/vent. This one has even less space between the screen and vent.

P8400*WLED*Basic system with no upgrades.

 

Same thing i did, is the screen too "big" for the resolution? Can you run 2 apps side by side?

 

I don't know about amazing but mine barely lasts 2 hours

 

Lol you're right I am viewing this with my SXPS 16 right now and trust me I know how you're feeling but when the day I decided not to think about it is the day I got my call

 

Today was the first day I carried my laptop around and it kind of became a hassle more than anything...

I have to admit that I walk on average an hour and a half per day, if not more, the thing was killing my shoulder at the end of the day!!!

It does get too hot for no reason, I don't know if because it was already too hot in the room where I was but my hands got really warm after half an hour or so of light web surfing... I still love it though, just wish there was a way to keep it cooler, walking around with a laptop cooler is not an option..

 

well in that case you might want to file a complaint to dells' website advertising department, because i pulled that whole text from Studio XPS website [ http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-studio-xps-16?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs]

Oh and by the way, has anyone noticed that the standard price for a Studio XPS 16 w/ P8600 has now jumped $20 from $1,199to $1,219?

 

i just saw that...
weird

well...good thing i bought through bestbuy
paid $1,099+tax and shipping for a laptop that would cost around $1,450+tax and shipping from dell

i <3 bestbuy

 

You can have 2 Word docs at 75% side by side. Browsing is hard to do side by side since most sites are 800 px wide or more.

When i multi-task i change the window sizes so that there is overlap between windows.. this allows me to swap apps just by clicking on the overlap part.

imo, 1366x786 is not enough rez for a 16 inch display.. esp. on a laptop where the working distance is closer

 

they gave me 20 bucks discount when I ordered my system. I think they are trying to get that expense back =))

 

Ridiculous. The only thing amazing about the battery life is after all this time and claimed advancements in power efficiency, how short it is. In that aspect, it is amazing, and the fact that we put up with it being so sh!tty.

 

I concur...

 

I love the resolution. I rarely open apps side by side so that wasn't an issue for me. I use full screen for everything on my 1720 with 1920 x 1200! I discovered that the higher resolution is a waste of real estate for me.

So I bought the 1640 for my husband and he won't use it. He doesn't like the heat on the palm rest. He used to have a 1505 that did the same thing and he refuses to use another laptop that heats up. Now I've just got to decide if I want to keep it or let my son buy it.