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

well that sounds okay i guess, i do a lot of CG work and i have a monitor with 1920 x 1200 so i typically run GIMP and Blender side by side but i think i can deal with just 1 app... it's laptop after all!

 

So, what is the battery life then?

The battery life in my parents brand new XPS 1530 is amazing, lasting a good 4 hours or so. Then again when we watch movies on it, it's movies from the HDD and now a DVD in the drive which may have an affect? I suppose running a DVD from the drive would shorten the length of battery time.

 

You just need to carry something around that can prop up the back of the laptop, then the temperature drops a good 20C or more.

 

lasts anywhere between 1 hour and a half to 2 hours depending on usage. I could probably get it to last more than 2 hours by putting it in power saver mode and not touching for an hour or 2...

 

Yea I could get like 2 hrs from the six cell battery on internet and Office usage, and that was cut in half by gaming or watching a movie. I got the nine cell battery as soon as I saw it available to order. Now I get from one and a half to three hours, depending on usage type.

 

I was wondering has anybody else had problems with their wireless card on the sxps16, I have an Intel 5300. It seems occasionally after coming out of sleep it won't turn on, also occasionally if the laptops been on for about 4 or 5 hours and i then try to turn on the wireless only the bluetooth will turn on. Just trying to find out if this a specific isolated problem or if others are having this problem also.

Thanks,
Ian

 

Well well well Sergeh, I did not take your advice. Infact, I thought real hard about it, so much so that the law of attraction resulted in a pre-recorded Purolator voice msg (800#) informing me it will be delivered tomorrow the 18th between 9 - 5 pm.

Did Namlas15 get his/her delivery today?

 

BooYahhhhh! I just got home form work (6:30PM), and boom, there it was, just staring at me as though we were destined to be together.

I will toy around with this for a little while before I do a monster review w/ pictures for everyone. So far I have one question;

I though the P8600 was a Centrino 2 processor. All I see is the original centrino label.

Shouldn't it have the centrino 2 label

 

mine is supposed to arrive today though thursday... so do you need a signature then? Also my tracking info says "information temporarily not available" and it's been saying this since it shipped on sunday? Has anyone else had this prob?

 

it is a centrino 2 processor...
call up dell and ask them to send you a centrino 2 sticker

its really easy to apply

 

Well from what I've researched, the issue with the Intel Wifi 5100 Card is with a Windows Update for Windows Defender. I went in the registry and the Startup folder and stopped everything from running at Windows startup except Facial software, sidebar and McAfee. Now it seems to be ok so far.

 

Does anyone else take all the stickers off their laptop? (except for the Windows and mac stuff, of course)

 

I left my laptop in sleep for about 6 hours today and when the computer started again, the wireless card was still connected and working fine. I do have Windows 7 installed, so maybe it was only with Vista.

 

Nope..I don't...until they decide they are coming off, with or w/out my approval!

I figure, as long as they don't get in the way with what I am doing, they can just remain as is.


Cin

 

what's wrong with my order?
I called yesterday and the automatic machine told me that my system was in building stage. And then today I tried to check on it again and they said that it's in kitting stage
is it ok? Or are they having a problem with my order that they need to rebuild it

 

Woah..it's ok..!

If there was a problem with your order, you would receive an e-mail advising you that the ESD had been shipped out, etc.

Wait until Wednesday morning, then call a Dell Rep to see exactly where you are in the production process. Also, check Automated dial in the AM, to see if the system updated overnight.

There might be something wrong with the system, and it's not updating correctly. You never know. Be happy it didn't move back into preproduction.

I think, your order is fine!

Cin

 

Heh, interesting. I saw a post about this on some swedish hardware forums today as well. DELL out of stickers?

 

LOL well for the law of attraction to be effective you usually need to "throw" your thought to the universe and forget about it, it always comes back. By the way you can call me Serge, sergeh is just my username.

I bet you can't wait for it now

I'm thinking of removing my Intel sticker, it was put on crooked which kinds of irrates me lol

 

it must be so because i just got off the phone w/ dell and the rep said that they do not have any centrino 2 labels. =/

 

the stickers are crap, there is no reason to have stickers on the machine.
normally stickers preserve this 'nice spot' on the computer that doesnt age with the rest of it. and when they finally get so ugly and wore down you take them off and the part underneath doesnt match the rest.

with this series sticker they are metal so they were super easy to remove. when you pull it off, use the removed sticker to dab at and remove the adhesive.

 

just got my first BSOD got it after resuming the laptop from sleep. Don't know if it's because the battery was really low before I woke it up...

 

I just got my first BSOD after installing 16updates all at once. I probably could have avoided it, but whatever, so far i've managed to remove most of the bloat ware, all that is left is to test the machine by running the crysis demo

 

I didn't get any BSOD while installing the updates (installed everything at once)

I didn't have any bloatware either, well except for Dell Dock (first thing I removed). What bloatware do you have?

 

I had the same problem with my 5100. I read it had to do with one of the Windows updates for Windows Defender. I went into the Startup folder and the registry and stopped all startup programs except face recognition, sidebar, McAfee and Quickset(?) (The one that lets you use the Fn key for F! and F3 and shows the on screen displays for brightness and keyboard backlighting). I was online all night, and I didn't get kicked off and go to limited connectivity. I will have to see if it is still ok tonight.

 

I had the same problem with my 5100. I read it had to do with one of the Windows updates for Windows Defender. I went into the Startup folder and the registry and stopped all startup programs except face recognition, sidebar, McAfee and Quickset(?) (The one that lets you use the Fn key for F! and F3 and shows the on screen displays for brightness and keyboard backlighting). I was online all night, and I didn't get kicked off and go to limited connectivity. I will have to see if it is still ok tonight.

 

I have a few questions. This heat that's been reported by many users, how bad is it? Would you burn your wrist after playing a while? I've seen some of you have been playing WoW, on what kind of resolution are you playing (is it smooth with max details too?), and how hot and uncomfortable does it get?

I'd also like it if someone could confirm about the face recognition software and the other discs that doesn't seem to come with the computer. If you format your disk, is it completely impossible to reinstall these apps?

 

Awesome, apparently my SXPS is arriving Friday 20th February. I think that's pretty good since I ordered it on Friday 13th Feb.

 

Well, I got my SXPS yesterday. I haven't really had too much time to mess with it. So far though, I'm satisfied.

Cosmetically, everything seems to be put together well. It is a good looking laptop. Of course, just like everyone said, it is a fingerprint magnet. But I think we all knew that when we were placing our orders, and we still did it anyway.

I'm not 1/2 as tech savy as most of the people that post in here, so I can't really give the greatest review. I just know it seemed to run a lot faster that my previous laptop (which is a 2 year old HP). I have not yet gotten any of the BSODs reported by many people (keeping my fingers crossed there), and I have installed all my Windows updates. I have NOT went & tried updating any drivers yet though.

It does seem to run a bit hot down where my palms rest, just like so many have complained about. I don't like that, but I'm going to get a notebook cooler for it. I think that will take care of the problem.

Also, just like many have already mentioned, my speakers are out of balance. I really only care about sound when watching DvDs and playing my video games. And I'll be using headphones for that, so I figure I'll just set the balance for that.

Another thing I seem to be having problems with is PowerDvD. It won't play any of my DvDs. It thinks that every DvD I try to play is from another region. I don't know why. I live here in the 'USA. Canada' region and that's what I have it set to. But EVERY DvD I try to play, I ge the stupid out of region messages. These are DvDs that I bought from right here at my local Wal-Mart. Weird. Anyone else having this issue?

I'm not going to go and spend any extra money on paying for any of the 'Region Killer' software. At worst, I'll live with it. I can still play my DvDs through Media Center anyway. So it's really not that big of a deal to me.

So overall, in the little bit that I've been able to mess with it, I think it's a pretty good system. I am hoping to get some time this weekend to install WoW on it. I'm really anxious to see how well it runs that.

As far as I'm concerned, if it runs WoW and plays DvDs well, and of course all the basic functions of a decent system, then I'm pretty happy with it.

 

It does run hot for me just surfing the net and doing some basic things, but not hot enough to burn you. It is more just a comfort thing, and of course the possibilities of anything overheating internally that has me a little worried.

I have yet to install WoW on it. I plan to do that this weekend. If it doesn't run WoW, it is pretty much useless to me. Just judging by the overall performance of the system that I've seen so far though, I am confident that it will run it fine.

I haven't messed with the facial recognition yet. I can't comment on that.

I can confirm that the Power DvD and Facial Recognition CDs were NOT included. I don't think it is impossible to re-install any of the apps though. I know that along with my laptop came a little piece of paper telling me a Dell website that I can go and download any of the apps that were included on my laptop when I purchased it. So while it may be inconvenient, I think all the apps will be recoverable by going to that site.

Hope this helps...

 

Thanks, it sure does help. I'm a bit worried about the heat, I really hope it doesn't get that uncomfortable because I dont think I'll be using an external keyboard much. I've also read reports that the facial recognition software isn't available for download on that site.

I'd really love it if someone could comment thoroughly on WoW performance (in WotLK) about detail settings, resolution and fps as that is the only gaming I'd be doing on this computer, but I'd still be able to do it even if it's not going to be a lot.

 

It's going to run fine, because my Geforce 4 from 2002 runs WoW maxed out (minus AA) just fine. WoW had moderate system requirements even 4 1/2 years ago.

EDIT: Only issue is that ATi doesn't support their mobile GPUs, so you'll have to resort to third party mods to install their drivers.

 

Question is if it does in high resolutions such as 1920x1080 as well with max view distance and other nice details. Also, I know WoW could be played on pretty old laptops as well with bad graphic cards, but I'd like to play it with good framerate in high resolution, with many addons etc. Also, I believe WotLK upped the system requirements.

I'm not really a big wow player but right now this is pretty much the only thing that I'd like to know along with how bad the heat gets after playing WoW before buying this laptop as it looks very nice apart from that. I can't believe it if it's really impossible to reinstall the face recognition software though.

 

Yeah, resolution is the only issue I can think of. A Geforce 4 handles WoW waaaaaay better than Intel's graphics though. Max settings at like 1152x968 or whatever, so this should have no issue with much higher even (not that it would look bad at what's now a "medium" resolution like that).

 

I just removed dell dock, word 9 crap (installed office 2007 student) and removed mcafee. thats about it.

 

Grat's! Thats awesome...1 week build, and delivery!

Look's like they are improving on the production process of these, perhaps!

Cin

 

It looks like Dell is about to make the transition to ATI 4xxx cards. The Studio 15 is about to get the ATI HD 4570. Could the ATI HD 4670 be coming to the 1640 soon? So along with a blu-ray writer & 1600x900 WLED option, I may be waiting for the 4670 as well.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/18/dells-studio-15-line-getting-ati-graphics-boost/

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4670.13881.0.html

"Still there is also a graph with the 3DMark06 score. As the HD 3670 was announced with about 4700 3DMark06 points, the 4670 should score about 7000 points in 3DMark06 (1.5x performance according to the slide)." -quote from notebookcheck.net

 

They need to get an Nvidia GPU in there. ATi's not acceptable as long as they're not providing driver support for their GPUs.

 

I understand what you mean, but the only option would probably be the 9600M GT, and according to notebookcheck.net, the HD 4670 is better. Maybe ATI/AMD will "step up" with their driver support in the future???

 

They could go with a 9700GTS or 9800 series GPU if they wanted to. The 9600 is the (theoretical) equivalent of the 3670, although in practice it's better (not least of which because it has drivers).

I'd like ATi to get with it, but they've made no move to do so. Even before Nvidia's official support, they've had 'wink wink, nudge nudge' unofficial support in their desktop drivers that ATi lacks. And Nvidia has been publicly talking about this program, and how they've wanted to support mobile GPUs for years (I mean they first said all that about a year ago, and that they were trying to work on the issue).

 

I think I'm missing the boat here. I have a ATI Radeon 9800 Pro in my current desktop and I've been able to download a new Catalyst driver, usually every month or two. I stopped updating the drivers about a year ago since I don't play any new games that may require the update. Are you talking about something else regarding ATI driver support for their desktop GPUs?

 

Booo!! I just finished playing Crysis demo on 1366x768 w/ everything high w/ no AA and it ran fairly smoothly. It got a little choppy when the explosions began, but over all, it was kick A$$......and now you tell me that i could've waited and gotten a HD4xxx :/

 

Just got my SXPS with the 256GB SSD, but I can't play with until late tonight.

 

Does anyone know whether or not we'll be able to switch video cards ourselves??

 

It the 1640 not very popular? I doesn't seem like there's much discussion of it, and there's very few reviews.

I like the 1640 OK. It's acceptable and I'm liking having a Windows machine after 9 months of Apple hell, but in terms of form, the Macbooks are way better. The 1640 is hot, not quite too hot, but I've had a lot of laptops, including ones other people said they thought were hot. this is the only one I've considered hot.

 

Typically you won't really find out until there is actually an option for something else. It sort of comes down to what modifications for power, space and cooling have to be made to support the new card, which are unknown until there is an actual card to support.

 

I don't think it was a secret that Dell & others would transition to the 4xxx GPUs this year. It was just a question of how long it would take AMD to ramp up production and have enough stock to begin distribution. It looks like it will happen in the next month or two.

We all know that the components in our notebooks can become "obsolete" only days after we get it. In some cases, the components can become obsolete even before the delivery guy drops it off.

The answer is usually no.

 

Well in that case i hope they start within the next 20days so i can swap it out.

 

Yeah, if I was in your shoes, I would hope that too.

 

I'm talking about laptop GPUs...

What frame rates did FRAPS give you? And was it in SM 3.0 or 4.0 mode?

What was that?

 

Assuming you're talking about the "Apple hell" part. OSX just sucks pretty badly. It doesn't work any better than Windows and has a lot less features and options. The hardware doesn't work any better than any other manufacturer, either, and finding work arounds and fixes are even harder because of the closed nature of it. Any time you have a complaint or want to fix something, a dozen fanboyz will just point out that you don't really need to do that or some foolishness, rather than have any solution. It probably wouldn't be so bad without the blind fanaticism, but I just like Windows better.