Dell XPS M1530 Pics & Mini review

Got my XPS M1530

Sorry it has taken me this long but I was a little busy with school starting.

I got my XPS M1530 on 9/9/2008
Ordered on 8/28/2008
EDD was 9/15/2008

My specs are:
XPS M1530
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB, 3MB Cache)
Vista Home Premium Edition SP1

System Color and LCD cover Pattern Midnight Blue

Memory 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)

LCD Screen & Camera Full Hi Definition, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1920x1200) & 2MP Camera

Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT

Hard Drive 320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive

Optical Drive 8X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability (its slot load even though the order doesnt state AND THE REP SAID IT IS NOT SLOT LOAD dell reps *facepalm*)

Sound Card Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition

Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card

Primary Battery 6 Cell Battery

Hardware Services 1 Yr Limited Warranty with 1 Yr NBD Onsite Service and 1 Yr Tech Support

Optional Support Services DataSafe Online Backup 3GB for 1 year

Bluetooth and UWB Dell Bluetooth Travel mouse
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate), for XPSM1530

Misc 9 TV tuner card & remote control offer AVerTV Hybrid NanoExpress ATSC TV Tuner w/ Media Center Remote Control (pretty useless in canada)


For the pics view my Picasa online album. Here is the Album
Srry I would past them here as all attachments but i dont want to waste NBR bandwidth.
Also I got the EP-630 earbuds today after calling and talking to a Dell Rep stating that I was promised those items. I got the earbuds and a $50CDN card.

Mini-Review

The laptop was here super fast it was in build stage for a week then shipped to my house in 2 business days.
The outer colored side has a slight rubbery feel to it and feels good to the touch and looks wonderful. In a bright day and under flourescent white light the Midnight Blue color really shines but under normal lights it looks grey. The screen is wonderful but gets Fingerprints way too easily and I hate it that I dont have that microfiber cloth. I need one so bad. I also got the bluetooth included which is wonderful to have a wireless mouse, (except that I keep on forgeting it in classes, left it thrice in class so far) The slot-load drive is weird sometimes its quiet and sometimes its loud, I think if its plugged in its quiet and bearable but in battery mode its loud, I interupted class today when I loaded in a CD. The battery is pretty good, I can game for about an hour with it on high performance mode. I battery saver mode I last 2.5-3hrs. I have the 6 cell. The keyboard is nice to the touch and feels really good. I miss the numpad though because of my years on a desktop. The best part hands down about this laptop for me that I love is the touchpad click keys. They are soft touch like the HP dv's and that they don't make noise when you click. I love that. The speakers are a very tinny but I wear headphones almost all the times so its no big deal. I have a problem though, in the windows Logon screen I can't put it on mute for some reason and i hate pullin out my headphones just so i wont interupt class. its annoying.
I opened it up and didnt notice any problems. The screen is wonderful I got 1900X1200 because I need high resolution screens for constant multitasking.
The laptop is blazing fast, especially to me because I am upgrading from a really old dell desktop 1.8Ghz P4. Everything happens instantly.
I had a big problem on the first day that scared the crap out of me.
I turned off the laptop to go to sleep and then went back to it 5 mins. later turned it on and played a game of Counter Strike: Source. I played for like 15mins. and quit back to the desktop. I then felt the keyboard get really hot, and I mean hot not warm and the fans werent on. So I quickly did a NBR forum search and downloaded HWMonitor and saw that my GPU temp was at 100degrees C + I have attached that pic. The temperature kept getting hotter and the fans werent turning on so I quickly turned off the laptop and removed the battery. Let the laptop stabilize for a while and then turned it back on and everything was normal. This happened to me again the next day at school. I repeated the same steps. After that I did some Windows updates and everything seems fine that problem hasn't happened again even after 3+ hr. gaming sessions.
The games on this thing are blazing fast. The only thing I am playin right now are WoW, FEAR, half life 2, counterstrike source and Rome:total war all on high settings and it runs beautifully. It doesnt get too hot anymore the GPU temp. idles 44-58C and during gaming goes up to 80-90C so no big deal. Only after gaming for more than an hour does the GPU temp go up to 100C, granted I am not playin that taxin game but they are all on high settings. I love the design of the laptop I have already gotten many complements from friends and professors about the laptop and today in the bus I was watching Office Space and this girl asked to see it. (didn't need that in the review but I thought I should throw it in). I spent $1800CDN on it with taxes and I thought I did get an OK deal. The GPU issue does bother me a bit but I have 2years from now if something happens, so I am not bothered about it right now hopefully nothing happens (*fingers crossed*)
I got the avertv nano express card withit that came with a nice remote at ir usb reciever (pictured) It also came with a mini antenna but Windows Media Centre does not let you recieve american signals from canada for some reason, atleast I couldn't figure it out I installed this other program BeyondTV and could only get like 3 watchable channels. I am pretty sure its because of the antenna so I plan to buy a nice big antenna and see how far I can go with it I have no plan of returning the card for now.
I was wanting to buy this laptop since MArch 2008 and I kept on thinking it was too expensive. I then decided I really wanted it and saved up for a while and just splurged on this laptop and a Zune 80GB (too bad they are coming out with a new one soon). The Laptop is wonderful dont hesitate to ask my any questions if u want.
Thanks to all for helping me purchase my first laptop.

P.S. Another link to the album here

 

you know that there is a protective cover over your media control panel that can be peeled off right?

 

WOW, thank you so much I never realized that. I feel so dumb. Also sorry about the dust on the laptop I have been using this old Sleeve which is really dusty i guess. My new bag should be arriving soon.

P.S. how could you tell from the pics I just went back through them and I couldn't. I must be retarded.
It looks so much better now, lol I was kinda disappointed when it came and was kinda dull. I thought it was shiny and it is. thank you so much again.

 

omg i hate the sound thing too when u turn on the laptop...

 

I could tell, I guess it is a 6th sense LOL, for some reason I could clearly see the film on there...

 

i still cant get over how much better it looks. It is so awesome I am gonna spend all my time looking at the media bar and its awesomeness now.

 

HL2 runs on vista??

 

Hey...Congrat's on the arrival of your 1530!
And, that was a very nice *mini-review* you did there! Also, the photo's that you attached via your *album* looked very good!

Enjoy that lappy!!!! (How can one not)!!!!



Cin

 

Yes it does?
In fact all the games I've bought through Steam (and that's a lot of games let me tell ya!) run flawlessly under Vista (32bit)

 

LOL are you joking? If not then yes of course it does.

 

I have downloaded the Bioshock Demo and I am unable to play that, is anyone else able to run Bioshock in Vista because I don't want to buy it and then it doesn't work.

 

bioshock plays flawlessly on vista

 

This makes me want to eat kittens.

Just kidding

Not Kidding

Anyway congrats on getting your laptop! Nice mini review, too. Are you running all those games at native resolution?

 

yes all games are running at 1900X1200. I am also now running a demo of Company of Heroes at all high at max res.

 

yes all games are running at 1900X1200. I am also now running a demo of Company of Heroes at all high at max res.

 

i have the same laptop except the smaller screen size 1280 x 800
i cant seem to play any of my steam games smooth. dell says its not a gaming laptop and the steam games wont play on the machine. something must be wrong with my xps m1530