Dell Studio XPS 1340/1640 now available for purchase on Dell's site !!!

hi everybody and congratulations to this forum! It's one of the most professional and clear forum I read about notebooks!

after reading the studio xps 16 review I still don't have a clear idea of how good is the graphic card.....I read that it can be equal to 9600M right?
is that graphic card able to run most of the latest games such as NFS undercover or gta4 at hi res?

also, how much difference there is between the HD 3670 and the nvidia 9500m of the 13"?

I'm actually still unsure which studio xps to buy, and surely I will wait for your studio xps 13" review, but those things about the graphics cards are a bit unknown to me

ah! one last thing! how much should be the resuld of a benchmark to see that a graphic card is very good?

thanks a lot

 

1. Don't you think we are going to upgrade to bluray later on? If so, i'll think i'm going to order on monday.

2. If SSD is going to boost the performance on the laptop i'll buy it. Money is no subject as my company are taking the bill

3. Perhaps the card also are going to be upgradeable?

I also wish the P9600 processor and 9-cell battery could be on my order
But no option on these yet...

 

EXACTLY, that's actually the only thing what's keeping me from ordering. The laptop is supposed to be portable, yet it only delivers 2:25 hours? That would be a dealbreaker for me. The 6cell should deliver at least 3 hours at medium stress!

 

Mine is in boxing stage now.

 

Yep, just checked right now and mine is in the boxing stage too. My guess is that we will get these by mid next week.

 

I have M860TU 15,4 with 9800GTS which is great but I realized that I don't game on PC that much anymore therefore I want to sell it and get 1340 as desktop replacement pluged into external monitor. Now I'm hesitating cause 1340 has really now battery life and getting 9cell would make it weight over 5lb! I'm just waiting for 3Dmark06 results from 9500m sli and if it gets close to 4k I might get it...

 

@XATMO
First, the 9600M is better than the 3670. The DDR2 9600M is slightly better while the GDDR3 9600M GT is a lot better than the ATI card.

Second, no, GTA4 won't be played at a high res on any Studio XPS laptop.

And to Jidde, SSDs are the future. For example, the 80GB Intel X-25M gave a 4000 point boost and a 1000 point boost to the HP Elitebook 8530w in PCMark05 and 3DMark06 respectively in the Notebookreview. It also provided almost an hour more battery life.

While the 128GB SSD offered in the Dell will most likely be something not as cutting edge as the X-25M, they are still well worth it. Normal Windows use will blaze by with most applications loading extremely quick.

Do me a favor and ask a Dell rep what make the 128GB SSD is. I'm off to bed

 

Nice, and such great news! The boxing stage is a good thing! Next it go's to the shipping stage, and on it's way to you! WoOT!

My Mini 9 was in the boxing stage for one day! So, I bet yours will be about the same ~ and ahead of the ESD given to you!


Cin

 

From what I can tell, they arent the highest that have been seen on NBR. The HP DV5T, according to NBR, runs just about as hot as the 1640, within a few degrees of each other. And the DV5T is one of the most popular lappys here on NBR, so the heat hasnt stopped anyone from buying it.

I would recommend not having this on your lap without a cooler below it though.

 

Some undervolting, Arctic Silver and some cleaning up would reduce those temps by a lot.

 

What date did you order?

 

the night of Jan. 12th

 

My bet..(can we bet) LOL is..that you receive by next Weds
Or, even Tuesday!


Cin

 

With my next business day shipping, that seems very likely

 

Next Business Day is great..so yeah..I stick to by Wednesday!

I like it when they deliver before the 3pm, delivery (by time)!

So, your not excited about getting your 1640 next week, right??


Cin

 

Oh ya, I definitely am!!! However, the excitement is kind of nullified by the fact that I may not be able to really "use" it until next weekend. I have a big week of assignments, tests and clinical presentations this upcoming week, even though it is only the second week of classes. Sigh, there are definitely times when I wonder why I'm still in school...

 

but the studio xps 13" has a 9500m I dunno if you really meant 9600m or it was just a typing error


if you meant 9500m in conclusion you say that the 9500m 256mb of the 1340 is better than the hd3670 512mb of the 1640?

sory by asking those things but I'm a bit noob about graphics cards's hardware

 

i ordered my 1340 on the 8th

it's in production, but i haven't called to see what stage it's actually in

any guesses on when i'll get it?

estimated ship dat is the 27th

 

So I spoke with Dell sales today - 5 different people and half of them didn't even know the Studio XPS was available. Needless to say no one had info on the processor, blu-ray, battery, or graphics options that are not yet on the website.

I finally call Dell tech support and the gentleman there told me that his manual stated that the 9 cell battery and the P9600 (2.66Ghz, 25w) processor were listed, but no blu-ray and no graphics option higher than the 9500m. Seeing as though the P9600 was just released by Intel on Dec 28th, they are probably still waiting to build up stock before they add it as an option.

Either way, I am waiting for the P9600 and the 9-cell battery before I order.

 

No, when they said 9600 they meant a 9600. The GPU in the 1340 is NOT even a 9500. It's a 9200 and integrated graphics in the 9400 chipset in SLI. It's hard to say without real benchmarks, but at best it's not going to be anywhere near as fast as a 3670, and at worst it'll be far less than half as powerful (maybe 1/3 or less).

 

Well, the good thing is..you should have it before the weekend, and not have to wait around on a Friday for it. Maybe you can do little *tweaks* here and there...Then when the weekend hit's = BAM!

Yeah, you do have a busy week

Hmmm if were betting/guessing and you have a 1/27 ESD...Maybe by Tuesday it will go into boxing? I think it will ship before 1/27


Cin

 

That is definitely possible, although I don't know if I would be able to focus my eyes on my papers and not on the laptop.

I guess the workload comes with the territory as I am in the 3rd year of my pharmacy program.

 

Yeah, I knew about the DV5T being a popular model despite running hot. I'll have to compare the temps. from that model with the Studio XPS 16. Anyway, I wouldn't use it on my lap anyway, even if it was cooler (the weight). I'll probably order it as soon as a 9-cell battery, blu-ray writer & 1600x900 screen option becomes available. I spoke with a Dell rep yesterday about it and he said while he can't tell me exactly when those options will become available, he said they'll definitely be available in the "coming weeks", maybe sooner.

 

So how come Dell isn't advertising these guys less than 2 weeks after release?

There was a splash page on the landing page (like second one displayed), then there was just a small banner to the left top of the laptop home page, now nada?

You'd think these would be all the rage being new, even if not anything innovative or spectacular in terms of components.

Just wondering why no cheerleading from Dell. Was hoping to see tons more... When I called to check something on our old Inspiron laptop, I asked the rep yesterday about the Studio XPS and he didn't know they had such a thing. Uhhhh?

Also, two work acquantances (sp?) have the DV5T and from checking with them (and why I orderd one), their temps are not far off from my desktop, and the 9600M they have rarely get over 70C while running full load GPU bench, crysis, etc.

The CPU under Orthos, memtest95, etc. is even cooler. In fact if you lookup the Laptop Magazine 'award of the year' under one of the laptop categories, which they gave to the DV5T, one of the strengths was its thermal design.

My friends did say that like ANY laptop from any manufacturer, there are always differences from one to another so check it out when you get it, monitor all the benchies, and if any one component seems like an issue, send it back and get another.

Also, the nice thing about the DV5T is the cheap upgrade to a 12-cell battery which not only props it up higher (great passive cooling) but also makes it easier angle to type AND to pull your notebook out of your bag And of course the 5-hour use time doesn't hurt either. Friend that games said he can get almost 4 hours of non-stop gaming on his 12-cell though your mileage will vary depending on the game...

 

Yeah, I know a lot depends on how well each unit is assembled. A rush job on one unit will usually lead to headaches for the person who unfortunately receives that unit. Some people actually open their brand-new notebook up when they first receive it to check for any sloppy assembly. I'll definitely monitor the temps on the various components as soon as I get it (still have to order). I just hope I catch any potential problems before my return window closes.

 

I'd guess they're trying to sell through their predecessors (which amusingly, are more expensive )

What would you be looking for? I have to pop the bottom off mine anyway to swap hard drives when I get it.

 

Yeah...that will be hard not to want to *play* with your new lappy once received...Esp. the 1640

Maybe you can have *designated times* with it til you get your work completed??

3rd year! Your midway done!


Cin

 

No typing error there. I meant the 9600M and I wasnt even talking about the 9500M. The 9600M GT is a card being used in many of the 1640's competitors and I was trying to say that it was better. I didn't mention anything about the 1340 in the original post.

I can say that the 9500M GE will be almost half as good as the 3670.

 

I'm sure there's a thread or two about this. Off-hand I would say look for a pinched cable, sloppy application of thermal paste, dried up dust/dirt, anything that looks/sounds loose, missing screw, etc.

 

Is any one in the boxing stage yet ?

 

I am. Soon to be shipped, I hope.

 

I'm looking forward to the first user reviews. That should help me with my own decision.

 

I prepared an ace review but I canceled my order. I'm just gonna have to use my old laptop for a little longer.

Does anyone know what model the 128GB SSD offered in the Studio XPS 1640 is?

 

The M1330 & M1730 just got a 256GB SSD option. Maybe the Studio XPS 13/16 will get that option soon. It's about a $400 upgrade.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/17/dell-adds-256gb-ssd-option-to-xps-m1330-and-m1730-laptops/

I was thinking about getting the 320GB (7,200rpm) hard drive for the XPS 16, but 256GB would be enough for me. Would it be worth it for $400?

 

Depends on the model. Intel X-25s and Samsung FlashSSDs are blazing fast but some SSDs are prone to stuttering and sometimes are slower than normal HDDs.

 

Hmm, this is weird.

The US Studio XPS 1640 offers a "Edge-to-Edge FullHD Widescreen 16.0 inch RGBLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP"

While the AU Studio XPS 1640 offers a "16 " 1080p Full HD WUXGA (1920x1080) Anti-Glare RGBLED Display with 2.0MP webcam"

Does that imply the Studio XPS can also have a WUXGA+ matte screen? I didn't know RGBLED screens could be antiglare

 

I believe it's a Samsung SSD, not sure what model (if there is more than one). I know eventually I'll buy a notebook with a SSD like everyone else. The question is should I take a chance now? This SSD is probably too new for any potential problems to have surfaced yet.

The Sony AW has an antiglare RGB LED display.

 

It also says that a 500 GB 7200rpm drive will be offered too.

 

Really? All I see are options for a " XBRITE-FullHD™ (1920x1080) with Adobe® RGB color management " which I know means glossy.

 

I read somewhere that it was a matte screen.

 

Nope. I know the marketing slang for most companies. XBrite is obviously referring to a Glossy screen.

I don't think you can have matte RGBLED screens, must be a mistake on the Dell AU site.

 

I was sure I read somewhere that the AW had a matte RGB LED screen and according to this PC Magazine review I digged up, it does.

"I placed the HDX18t and the AW190 alongside each other, since they both have the same resolution and screen size. In the professional photos I looked at, colors appeared richer and truer on the AW190. Shades of the same color can be differentiated on human faces, and facial hair appeared finer, too. While looking at multicolor fabrics, certain weave patterns were more discernible on the AW190 than on the HDX18t. Glare wasn't an issue on the AW190, either, as its matte screen is more suitable for professionals than the reflective ones found on the HDX18t, Qosmio G55-Q802, and Aspire 8920G."

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2331772,00.asp

 

That's wrong.

NBR HP HD5t review : 9600DDR2 3DMark06 score = 4400 (@1280x800).

NBR Dell studio xps 16 : 3670DDR3 3DMark06 score = 4800 (@1280x800).

Notebookcheck mean score for 9600DDR3 w/o overclocking = 5200(@1280x800).

The 3670 scores between DDR2 and DDR3 9600.

 

Those scores are scores from NBR reviews and do not represent the card final performance. People's different scores all vary and the average score should be above 4400.

And ATI cards do tend to do better in synthetic benchmarks but are worse when it comes to actual gaming.

 

Show us these real-world tests that demostrate this then.

 

I really cannot be bothered to look around for any.

Ok fine, the 3670 is better than the 9600M GT DDR2, happy? I was just stating some reasons, no need for the attitude.

 

Which screen size are people ordering? I'm seriously tempted by a Studio XPS 16, but the 720p resolution would be too small for me - I'm using a 1280x800 resolution at the moment and having less vertical space would annoy me too much! I'm worried that the 1080p would have text far too small for me though. Any thoughts? I'm also a bit concerned about the speakers - I currently have a 4.5 year-old Dell Inspiron 8600 which has really impressive sound. I'm certainly quite happy listening to music on it and it sounds as good as through headphones, and I don't really want to take a step backwards.

 

Tomorrow i'm going to try and order XPS 13 with this new 256GB SSD. Hopefully it will work.. but if not i'll order anyway, i need that laptop asap.

I'll also need 9-cell battery and bluray.. but i'm guessing i can upgrade later if that's not available for the moment..

 

you can wait and see if dell offers other resolutions in the near future. i mean, im going for the 1366x768 simply because the other res is WAY too high for me. Im no photoshopper, and i dont really need that much realestate, and i dont want to squint when im doing something on my laptop if ya know what i mean. BUT, like others have said its all about personal preference. i suggest you go over to best buy and look at the different res of the laptop they have in 17 in, and then see which one is similar to the res dell offers, and see what you prefer. its what i did and i b4 i was in your shoes trying to figure out which one is best for me. In the long run, 1366x768 was not that bad for me (i compared it with 1440X900) hope this helps

 

Sorry for asking but I don't have time to read all the treads, I wanted to know If anyone has received their studio xps 16 yet, and if ur from the u.s, or canada?