I would buy XPS Studio 16 again, if...; (future improvements)

Hello everyone,

I m using XPS 16 for 8 months, and it's nearly the best i ve ever used. I'm doing many things with it; music creation, animation, compositing, hardcore gaming.So i may have extra sensibility, not sure
"Nearly best" because, to me it has a few important handicaps and i'll try to explain/show to you form my point of view.

The changes about both the "look" and "usage":

a) Imageshack - dellstudioxps16.jpg

b) Imageshack - dellstudioxps16matte.jpg

The first one is the original one which in the market, the other one is photoshoped by me. Now let me explain the differences specificly;

1)Material..Of course this finger print magnet plastic.. I always tought somekind of matte plastic would be much more nicer. And it doesn't effect the look negatively. I tried to copy the exact material of the battery surface(you know, the upper part of the body, which is closer to display). Result; blurry reflections on the surfice, no finger prints, still looking cool.

2)Screen...There should be an option as "Matte Screen".I think no need to explain that.

3)Touchpad...This isn't a must. But i think it would be nice, if we had a little bigger touchpad due to multitouch effects.

4) Media touch buttons and the power button... Let's take a look at the picture;

Imageshack - img8994z.jpg

These buttons are nice, but they need a little improvement. Simply there should be an option to dim or turn them off completely. Because for professional usage, they can be annoying. Flashing always. Or screen may reflect them on the frame that you re working. Or while watching movie, if the frame is dark, you can always see them on screen(according to your view angle or displays angle, but i m seeing them mostly). So a litte improvement with "quickset" maybe, everythings can be awesome

5)Finally the battery life...I m using both 6 and 9 cell batteries. 9 is ok, but it gets really heavier, so while i m traveling(especially moving between clients to show your work or for taking brief) i m using 6 cell. And 6 cell battery goes around 1 and half hour which is crap. It really needs and improvement, with some switchable graphic or else dunno.

People writes about heat, but i haven't experienced a serious heat problem with this machine.(i7 and ATI 4670) Only high end gaming, and it seems ok to me. Playing with a cooler, and it solves it. So i can't say anything about this right now.


I think that's all i remember for now. Please share your thoughts, comments.

 

Good list. The only other visual problem I'd definitely add is the speaker grills. They're tacky and useless at first, and then when they collect gunk they're just plain stupid.

In all seriousness I believe they add things like the media buttons, glossy screen, speaker grills to try to separate the markets between the "business" and regular laptops. They make quite a bit more money when they sell a "business" laptop, so they add those silly things to try to convince you to spend an extra 40% to get the business laptop. Because in reality the business laptops offers very little more - slightly better build quality and a workstation GPU. (Unless you get into the $4000 price range which is a special market anyway).

 

good list indeed.

thought i'd re-iterate what is already said, and add to it

1) build quality. this is an XPS machine after all. XPS machines had that "extra" bit of love in terms of physique back in the day, but now it seems to have suffered since the adoption of the Alienware line. granted this is understandable, but I still think that a computer at this price point should have better edge/corner build quality. that bevel/edge between the outside of my screen and the screen itself (where the webcam and mics are) is starting to separate a little bit already, as an example. haven't dropped or abused the computer yet, but you can immediately tell where i "hold" my laptop when opening hte lid.

2) agreed with the screen. a matte screen is the best option for a multimedia notebook. this machine is designed for movies and occasional gaming. what good is a nice WLED screen if all you can see - in a dark room in a game, or a dark room in a horror movie - are the lights hanging from the ceiling behind you?

4) media touch buttons are too "sensitive" in the sense that i'm constantly accidentally ejecting a disc, or changing my volume. not a huge problem, buti would have preferred physical buttons that you depress to activate their functionality. makes mistakes a lot less common.

couple things of my own to add:
* the power button should be on the side of the machine, maybe one of the fancy XPS logos on the sides of the hinges. this makes it possible to power on the machine without having to open up the screen, which to me is a beneficial nuance. i'm sure others might feel the same way

* although VGA is the "standard" industry connector, a DVI port would have been better. more and more computers, for multimedia and games, come with video cards hat only have DVI and HDMI connectors. why not provide DVI on the notebook and a separate DVI -> VGA adapter? (i can't believe I'm saying this but...) Apple has been providing only DVI for quite some time, and it seems appropriate IMO.

 

I absolutely hate the touch wifi button. I find i am constantly accidentally touching it and my wifi disconnects. I liked that it was a physical switch on the side on my old XPS M1530

 

to disable the touch wifi button, hit Win+X to bring up the Mobility Centre, and then click on the Radio Control options button. there you can configure which radio the wifi button actually controls.

helped me a lot by disabling it

 

HDMI can be converted easily and losslesly to DVI so it makes sense to still have a VGA port. Secondly, most of the external monitors out there are still only 1280*1024, with the standard port from that era being VGA.

 

The edge-to-edge bezel. It reflects on both sides and it makes an otherwise excellent display 'just ok.' I'm dying to know how it would look without it. And how different a calibration would look if the bezel didn't stand in the way of the colorimeter.

 

i understand that. i have 2 such cables myself (both ION Cable HDMI/DVI-D). but adapters for DVI to VGA also exist and are always free when buying any kind of video card. even the Dell and HP business desktops/notebooks we buy for our company come with DVI -> VGA adapters.

but those converting cables are not always available, where as HDMI or DVI cables (standard, not one-to-another) aren't always there when you need them (all monitors bought today have DVI, not all have HDMI)

 

DisplayPort and HDMI are the most current video connectors. The next-gen XPS will never have DisplayPort, HDMI, VGA and DVI. DVI is unnecessary since you can just use an HDMI to DVI adapter.

 

my argument is that not every office has an HDMI to DVI adapter. i had to go buy a couple of these adapters (HDMI<->DVI-D) separately, out of my own pocket, for my office monitor. whereas most people with a "modern" (e.g. post-2006) monitor and/or video card has at least one female DVI port with a M/M DVI cable included.