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

"The RGB LED is totally hot. I have the 1080p screen and I have used the 720p as well and I must say, its totally hot "

what do u mean by that? do u mean, the 720p is hot as well or u mean the 1080p is much more hotter, than the 720p screen?

 

I too would like info on the IR port and how it works....I was excited when I saw that my Logitech Harmony said it was compatible but then it requested what adaptor I am using. SO I really don't understand how this works. It is labeled as a consumer IR port so I would think it is a standard that any universal remote could control.

 

wlepse

It is an ITEC ITE8708 IR Reciever.

Hope that helps..... (ps - if it did, don't forget the rep!)

 

Just got my 1640 last night and I have to say, I'm pretty happy with it. The screen is just brilliant, and its awesome having so much real estate to work with.

It runs silent and smooth, Photoshop starts up in mere seconds, although I was disappointed to see some video lag when scrolling around my illustrator files.

As for the temperature, I'm not sure if its just because I've been reading these forums for weeks (or I'm legitimately uncomfortable with them) but the heat under my left hand (which I keep resting on the keyboard pretty much permanently when working) is not comfortable. The right side if fine, but the left side starting at the trackpad isn't good at all in my opinion.

I have been monitoring the temps, and the CPU/GPU/HD are all sitting at about 45C.

One thing I am wondering is why in my task manager the Physical Memory sits at 50% with little to nothing running (other than the standard bloatware). Is this normal or is the bloatware causing this?

I absolutely love the machine, its beautiful and sleek and amazingly comfortable to use (great keyboard, responsive touch controls, and I love the slot DVD drive). Although the heat under the left side palm rest and track pad may be a deal breaker for me, I just can't bring myself to even imagine returning it.

Also, I feel like an F'ing tool for trying to save money (at the time) and going with only 250GB HD. I'm already down to 175GB remaining and all I've done is install Creative Suite. How easy is it to uprade the HD (either manually or via Dell)?

 

Looking at two Studio XSP 16s one has a 2.66Ghz and a regular dvd drive and the other is 2.4 with a bluray drive.


would the extra processing power in 2.66 would it be noticable in After Effects, 3ds max etc?


What one should I go for?

 

I assume u have 4GB of RAM? If so, Vista is a terrible resource hog so it will use about 2GB.

As far as the HDD, take the bottom panel off and you will see how easy it is to swap a new drive in there

 

Grats on the laptop! You should grab an HDD off Amazon or Newegg along with a notebook cooler. That should sufficiently cool the laptop and you'll be good to go. My return went to Dell really quick, I just now received this e-mail:

This e-mail confirms the final delivery of your Dell return(s).

Items with the following tracking number(s) arrived at Dell:
05-28-09 1ZXXXXXXXXXXXXX

You can expect your account to be credited within 30 business days. Thank you for choosing Dell. You are a valued customer and we appreciate your business.
Sincerely,

Dell Customer Care


Come on revised SXPS 16!

 

1) With the new Centrino 2 (P# series), at least, the temperature never reaches above 70c. With undervolting, it can drop to anywhere from 55-60c. The older T# series may run hotter. My P8700 runs at about 58c under load.

2) The speakers aren't amazing, but work pretty well on their own. Once you've updated the sound drivers, the sound is even more robust. It's adequate enough for a movie, but I would recommend external speakers that easily plug in to the headphone jack.

3) The RGBLED 1080p screen is beautiful when watching Blu-rays, regular DVDs, and HD-quality video files. It also looks beautiful when connected to an external 1080p HDTV. I would assume the WLED 720p is just as nice, but obviously follows the restrictions of 720p.

4) Can't help you there. XPS support in the US seems to be separate from the regular customer service, so it may be the same in the UK.

 

yes both would have 4 gigs. I have a powerful home system, so this wont be my main system.

Should I get the Intel® Core™2 Duo T9550(2.66GHz/1066MHz FSB/6M L2Cache) with the regular DVD drive

or

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8600 (3MB cache/2.4GHz/1066Mhz with the Bluray Drive

Will be mostly using it for 3ds max, photoshop, after effects etc

 

It depends if you really want to be watching Bluray movies. I doubt the proc would make a huge difference either way, but if you're dying to spend money you should go for the 256 SSD. That, I've read, will give you notable improvement even with the slower proc.

But then again, you can't watch bluray movies using a SSD . Just decide if watching movies is worth the extra dough and if you'd actually get use out of it. I opted out of Bluray because that would mean I would actually have to buy movies to watch.

 

Hello all...
I have purchased this system, it should arrive in a few weeks and i'm excited, but i have come across a lot of criticism pertaining to the subpar performance of the Video Card, so i just have one question, is the GPU/Graphics Card upgradable, or is it integrated into the system ?

 

Not upgradable.

 

That's rather disappointing...
Then what happens if the GPU unit malfunctions or overheats and burns out and the warranty has expired ?
Are there any PCI slots, because i had a integrated Graphics Card in the current desktop that i'm using, and it burned out a few years ago, so i purchased a new one and installed it and it worked out fine...

 

If it burns out, you have to replace the entire motherboard. Just get a good warranty with the laptop and you will be fine.

 

Can't wait to see the refresh out.

 

Just doing a little testing on my new 1640...and I'm curious:

How fast should I expect this thing to boot (nothing changed, running basically stock from Dell, except I stopped a few programs from running on Startup)? Just now, after a quick shutdown then startup (after a few hours of working on it) it took nearly a minute and a half. That's hardly impressive from reviews I was reading around the internet.

 

That doesn't sound right. Mine boots pretty quick. I've never timed it cause it seems very fast. With SSD, it's really FAST.

 

So would you guys think I should go for the

Intel® Core™2 Duo T9550(2.66GHz/1066MHz FSB/6M L2Cache) with the regular DVD drive
or
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8600 (3MB cache/2.4GHz/1066Mhz with the Bluray Drive

would the increased processor speed be noticable in Photoshop, 3ds Max, After Effects or any games? Or should I got for the 2.4 and the Bluray drive?

 

That totally sucks..
It's a waste of a perfectly good motherboard, and i do have a 2-year warranty, but i'm pretty sure that something will go horribly-horribly wrong after the initial 2 years...
Now i'm actually considering canceling it, Because i was eventually going to upgrade the GPU myself, but then i learned that it's NON-upgradeable, and that, there is already a GPU upgrade to 4670 on this series of product.

What is your opinion, should i cancel, and re-order with a better GPU ?
BTY, here are my system specs -

XPS 1640, Intel Core 2 Duo T9550(2.66GHz/1066Mhz FSB/6M L2 Cache)
Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish with Leather XPS 1640
4GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz 2 Dimm forXPS 1640
16.0 inch Wide Screen 16:9 720p HD WLED LCD, W/2.0 MP, XPS 1640
ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3670 - 512MB
500GB 7200RPM Free Fall SensorSeagate Hard Drive
Microsoft Windows Vista with SP1 Home Premium Edition 64-bit Edition English
Integrated 10/100 Network Card
8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive for XPS1640
Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0
Intel 5100 Wireless-N (1x2) Half Mini-Card
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion P Primary Battery, for XPS 1640
Premium HD Display, Obsidian Black, Leather, 2 MP Webcam

Total Price: $1353.62

 

If you already have a large flat-screen High-Def TV, then i would advise you to go for the former, T9550 2.66 system.

 

I'd cancel if I were you. You won't feel to good when the XPS 16 refresh hits probably in less than a week.

 

A refresh?
I haven't heard anything about this till now...
Do we know what the refresh is going to give us?

 

At least an ATI 4670. I don't think the whole system will be redesigned, but you can expect some updates in possibly the cooling system at least.

 

Cool, though an Nvidia card would totally be better

 

I actually heard about the "refresh" in this thread, on page 450.
Okay, and how do i go on returning it ?
Apparently there is a 15% charge for returns. -
"Restocking Fees: Unless the product is defective or the return is a direct result of a Dell error, Dell may charge a restocking fee of up to 15% of the purchase price paid."



Does that 15% charge apply in my case, since i just want to replace my system with another ?

 

So would you guys recommend this laptop? it seems mixed how well does it handle different programs? Some people sound like the Graphics card is pretty awful, but watching videos on youtube it seems like its decent.

is it worse then the 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT? is it equal to something like the Nvidia 8800



Do you all love yours?

 

From what I've seen, it's equal to a 9600M GT.

 

If GPU performance is important to you, then cancel it and wait for the revision that should be due out soon. I returned mine a few days ago and Dell has already started the refund process. While no official word from Dell has come regarding the revised SXPS 16, there have been some clues like a revised A07 bios that states support for the ATi 4670 GPU. Also, it seems Dell is clearing out it's old inventory by giving large discounts (20% on outlet).

 

Just got my 9 cell battery today...I think it's worth it. The battery adds about an inch or so of height to the back end, and really helps the airflow. This has to be the battery the system was supposed to have all along. In any case, expect at least four hours if you use the power saver mode, and that's pretty conservative. If you enable the Dell extended battery feature and do some more tweaks on your own...you may be able to do even better.

 

If the refreshed line of 1640s is improved in regards to cooling, I won't hesitate a second to return this one (regardless of what graphics card they put in it).

Otherwise, theres no much point. I just hope it happens well within the next 19 days.

 

Even with USB Powershare ENABLED in my BIOS (A05) on my 1640, it is not charging ANYTHING (tried ipod, iphone and xbox 360 controller) after being off/sleep.....I CANT be the only one with this issue....help please

 

same here. It has never worked for me.

 

I definitely hope Nvidia is not brought at all into the mix. The main reason I bought this laptop in the first place is the fact that it has an ATI card. The Nvidia chipset meltdown fiasco that is still going on in many laptops has definitely made me not want another nvidia product again. 3 nvidia gpu replacements on my year and a half sony made sure of that =( .

Even back in the day when i bought my insprion 8600 the original nvidia card that came with it screwed up as well... 2 times.. and then dell changed it to an ATI...and it never ever failed..and i game like crazy.

 

720p is good. I've seen 720p movies on 720p screen.
1080p is way better. 1080p movies on it is AMAZING.
Imo its worth the upgrade if you can afford it

 

well can we expect a quad core in the refesh any body know

 

I wouldn't expect it. The 4870 is coming out soon

 

USB power shared was enabled by default on mine, works great for me to charge my mp player, phone, etc. Not sure what up with other folk's 16.

 

Imake can u see what BIOS version you have and also when did you get your XPS? One last question, what MP3 player do you have and what phone (are either Apple products?)?

Thanks

 

so wat would be better a 2.0 quad or 2.53 duo

 

Quad FTW!!!

 

I haven't checked the BIOS, but my Ipod Touch doesn't charge when the 1640 is off.

 

Neither does mine. iPod 5.5G, not touch.. Same thing for a USB device so meh

 

Someone needs to tell Dell there are many many people with the 1640 that the USB Powershare isn't working for, even with the BIOS option enabled

 

Does anyone use this laptop with 3ds max or Maya, Zbrush? or maybe After Effects?

Also has anyone heard this laptop having a 256MB nVidia GeForce Geforce Go 9500 in it?

 

I got mine around March 17th in Canada.. i havent updated the BIOS yet, so it is the same version that is on there at that time (probably 1 generation old). I have a Sony mp3 player and it starts charging with no issues when i plug it in.

 

USB PowerShare only works for low power devices like the transcend 2 & 4 gig pen drive shaped mp3 players. My iPhone doesn't charge off it. Anyways. I need help with my gaming needs. My laptop throttled while playing gta iv withing like 15 minutes and it is really irritating cox I have seen videos on YouTube with people playing it perfect. And once throttled, no changes in the graphics options have any effect. Turning off sppedstep from the bios does seem to help though. My hwmonitor temps are

ACPI max 102c
T9400 max 90c
HD 3670 max 90c
HDD max 50c

Also does using the drivers from the ati site help than the dell site? Coz the dell drivers have a dell branding in their name. Thanks for all the help!

 

Ambient temp is 30c. I think these temps are unusually high. Should I contact dell about this?

My laptop is around 1.5 inches above the table as I've propped it up using two books on each side. Also it is directly under a fan!!!

PS. All spelling mistakes are courtesy of autocorrection on the iPhone

 

What are you guys using to carry your laptop around? I don't want anything bulky. Are you just buying 17" stuff or squeezing it into a 15.4"

 

i updated the bios today, but can't see any improvement on the temperature issue.

 

There is no way on earth this thing is fitting into a 15.4" case. When I got mine I tried it in my old 15.4" bag and it was too big. So I bought a Built NY cargo in large (suitable for 17") and it is a nice fit. I think with it being a widescreen and many 15.4's not being, you're always gonna need to edge on the side of caution.