LOL @ Dell!

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39030094,49300957-1,00.htm?autoplay=yes

Wait till you get to 1:54 man.... LOL

This seriously must be the dumbest design in the history of laptops. Literally.

The sad part is that I was about to order one... 2.53ghz,4gb DDR3, LED, 128gb SSD, 9400m.... all for a little more than $1,200... that's simply sick. But ah.... geniuses over at Dell decided to have the monitor cover the exhaust vent... lolz.

 

ROFL.

That's hilarious.

 

Holy crap! That indeed IS the dumbest design in laptop history...

I myself love my Dell (see signature), but I would be PISSED if I noticed that after buying that machine.

Second dumbest design must be my father's ASUS G1S: the 128-bit Nvidia 9600 card is plugged to a 64-bit interface. In other words, you lose the battery life, you gain lots of heat and fan noise, and you get no graphics performance in return. It performs roughly as well as my own Quadro NVS 160m (approx. the same as a Geforce 9300). Except that I get almost 4 hours of battery life, he gets 1h45.

 

LOL EPIC FAIL! Seriously... good find

 

baka........

 

That's actually quite terrible. Granted most people probably don't open up the screen that far... I dunno, I really like Dell too, but this is flat out stupid. I can't imagine how something like this could get through the testing process.

 

that made my day. thanks

 

wow, that just sucks for anyone who bought it

 

i have one.. its not bad

and way to be WAYYYY late on this seeing as this was already covered in the 1340 forum..

 

Marketing gimmick to get you to buy a Dell external monitor and keep the xps closed. Preferably on a Dell dock.

 

Guy in the vid makes it out that the laptop is completely sealed with the monitor open all the way.. it isnt.

 

Yeah...insert *facepalm* here:




Nice find.....


Cin

 

You would think that Dell would have learned a thing or two about thermal design by now. In all seriousness, their Studio line just blows.

A family member bought a Studio 15 and I dread whenever I'm asked to help with it. POS

 

Gawd that was exactly what i was thinking, as if the monitor magically vacuum seals the vents.

I got this laptop, great machine i got it on my bed now and the entire vents practically obstructed and the machine not running HOT(nice hand warmer temp ). If i had it on Performance mode that's another story lol, it would be burning my left leg off if not on a flat surface as with any laptop.

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39030094,49299367-1,00.htm?autoplay=yes

Personally i think his got something against dell machines. I hear no complaints about the vents along the back of the macbook getting scrutinized that are also totally obstructed when the monitor is open. Its the fact even though the vents are obstructed the heat still has enough space to get out. The XPS13 monitor opens up 135 Degrees most times you use a laptop its only open 90/100 and at that level the vent is not totally covered.

Also no negative on the fact its got only 2 usb ports and no E-Sata or standard size displayport out. One last thing ..... his complaint about dells metal material conducts lots of heat.......but its great when the macbook's entire body it metal yay.

A saw my mates macbook aluminum and got to admit it bloody stunning, but i feel i get more hardware wise for the same price. Double the RAM/larger HDD/better gfx.

At least the macbook wont freeze up on you lol like this XPS13 did. Until i did a fresh vista install

All i got to say is his not a very good reviewer in my opinion.

 

Yeah I posted this video in a thread here where Studio XPS 13 users were talking about how hot the laptop is.

Me I'm still contimplating between the two, the 13 and 16 as I can't decide whats suitable for my needs plus Dell in the UK are not helpful with my questions so I'm having to evaluate by forums and reviews such as what Rory Reid there has done. He gives a no bull review in my opinion. He rates the Studio XPS's but of coarse with the poor battery life how can you make that sound good and that vent issue.

 

well if size/portability is not an issue for you I'd say go with the 16 Larger screen and better graphics card.

 

i LOVE this laptop.. i would recommend it to anyone who wants a good laptop and also anyone who hates HP.. im an HP hater because of how wrong they did me on a warranty service. it doesnt really get hot unless your downloading off newsgroups.. my download speed is 600KB/s and if i leave it download with it plugged to wall it can get very warm but quickly cools down once its done.. obviously a constant load is going to make any laptop warm.. yeah i agree that dude has a issue with dell.. he probli applied for a job there and they clearly saw he was a idiot and turned him down

 

Hi Rumon, thanks for the advice.

Thing is portability is what I need. I have a high spec XPS desktop sitting in front of me with a 24" screen but what my needs in a laptop are is portability and performance as I intend to take the laptop everywhere around the home but then more importantly with me when abroad. Having said that with a 16 you could just get a 17" case which isn't too big to take on board a plane as hand luggage.

I'm still debating. It would be so easy to decide if only they sold them both in a store rather than looking at pictures on the Dell website. I know some people on here use the 16 as a business laptop. The 13 is mac book size I would guess but with these issues I'm seeing like poor battery life and heat I'm thinking how portable it really is.

 

well.. the 16 and 13 share the same issues heat wise.. battery life isnt too poor and now the 9-cell battery can be purchased for around $70.00 shipped after some discounts which is a steal.

 

I'm in the UK though. On the UK Dell website only a 6 cell is showing for both the 13 and 16. Previously an additional battery the 9 cell was available in the 16's configuration but now for some reason this has changed and only a 6 cell is showing in the config for both 13 and 16.

I would prefer to purchase the 9 cell in my configuration for either laptop once decided but asking Dell such a simple question of when will there be a 9 cell available all I get is that there isn't a 9 cell available. Remember we UK Dell customers have to deal with indian call centres and their useless at the best of times.

 

dell_boy, im making a purchase for a 9-cell here stateside, if you wish i could purchase the battery for you and ship to you.. i have a major discount with fedex.. email me [email protected] if you'd like to chat

 

I am appalled at the fact they can get away selling the StudioXPS 1640 in Canada and elsewhere with only a 6-cell battery. Not to mention this leather fetish is sure gonna cost u gamers ur balls...hahahaha

 

Maybe someone should create a separate thread regarding the batteries for the Studio XPS 1640 for further discussion.


Cin

 

Thanks very much for the offer I appreciate it but I think once the 9 cell is showing for either the 13 or 16 over here I could get a discount especially if it's within the configuration of either the 13 or 16 and then shipping from them would be free. I know someone at Dell business sales who offers better prices than dell home sales, it's not drastically good but slightly better prices.

You know the current state of the British pound against the dollar isn't good either it's not good against any currency lol so maybe thats the best option.

I've just got to decide which the 13 or 16 at present. American Dell customers sure get better options with both laptops for configuration spec.

 

Yeah I think this whole discussion is going completely off topic. There are other more appropriate threads to ask these questions as many knowledgeable people won't bother with these sort of threads.

 

This thread is like I time travelled back to mid January.

 

My Macbook unibody has the same vent design but even "worse" if you think that's bad. The vent for the Macbook goes along basically the entire back edge of the machine. Right behind the vent is the hinge that goes along the entire length of the vent. So whether the Macbook is OPEN OR CLOSED the vent exhausts the heat straight against the hinge, and then from there the hot air gets deflected both upwards towards the screen and downwards underneath the hinge at the same time.

So before raking Dell over the coals on that design decision, take a look at the Macbook vent system. I haven't had any heat problems with my machine so just having the hinge placed behind the vent doesn't mean the cooling won't be sufficient.

Not saying that it could have been designed better but that maybe when they tested it the cooling was sufficient for their desired temperatures.

 

Very good and insightful post! Thank you!

Moral of the story: not everything is what it seems. Do you seriously think a guy that got to play with the laptop for a few hours or a couple of days (the reviewer) noticed the "design flaw" but none of the hundreds of people at Dell who designed, built and tested the laptop, never noticed the "flaw" if it was actuallly one??? C'mon get real for a second: you are not THAT smart and the Dell guys are not THAT stupid.

 

my heat problems arent bad unless i run a massive game or a high res movie.. ive played around with my settings and decreased the heat by changing propertites around

 

I am not a Dell guy, if I hang out anywhere on this forum, it's the software section or the HP section. I read maybe 1-2 threads here in total, both just before I posted, so if you posted the link somewhere in some thread in this section, I didn't read it. If it's old news, well, once again, I don't follow Dell so I really wouldn't know, and apparently a lot of other people didn't know either. But kudos to you if you knew about this back when the Dinosaurs roamed the earth. Lastly, Macbook heat issues are pretty well known, just because Apple chooses a stupid design does not make it right. There seems to be some hidden belief that if Apple does something, then it must be perfect. Suffice it to say that's not accurate. Furthermore, you say that the vent goes across the entire edge of the machine, which dissipates the heat over a much larger surface area as opposed to the vent pumping the exhaust heat over just a limited portion of the LCD, as is on the XPS Studio 13. Besides the obvious heating issues, my bigger concern is any possible damage to the LCD itself in this particular scenario.

Now. You would be surprised at how many obvious omissions companies make when designing/testing a product. It's human nature really, sometimes when you become so focused on something you find yourself basically in a tunnel-vision of sorts and you overlook some very obvious errors. Besides, that's to say that no company has ever made a serious overt mistake in designing a product just because many people worked on it. Ah. No. Sorry. Life doesn't work that way sadly. How many times have we asked at some point or another, "WT|F were they thinking?"

Anyways.

I posted it for a laugh... and initially, the reaction it got was exactly what I expected. Then people apparently got upset that they didn't get the gratification they deserved since they had posted it earlier. Some people found it upsetting because they knew about it months ago. To top it all off, some other people think it's a perfect design because Apple uses it.

lolz.

It's funny man. The guys reaction really more than anything, like one of the posters said.... haha.

Anywho.

Oddly enough, I am still seriously considering this laptop... waiting to see some other more in depth reviews and hoping Dell works out kinks in the manufacturing process in the next few months. In the upcoming months we should know more about the laptop and any possible LCD issues... should be fun.

 

its a stupid and naive reaction. im not defending the design, just the reality of how air flows. the vent is not covered, at least not in the sxps 16 it isnt. the vent air is capable of going down or up the monitor, it isnt blocked off. there is a rather noticeable gap between the screen and the system. i photographed it and posted it in the other forum.

http://metrolinedesign.com/npr/1.JPG
http://metrolinedesign.com/npr/2.JPG
http://metrolinedesign.com/npr/3.JPG

 

The screen doesnt 'block' the vent, there is small but important distance between the screen and vent, the air is already 'out' of the vent, and opening the screen just causes the air to be directed in different directions. If you open it fully, it will pass up in front of the screen, if you don't open it much, it will pass out the back. Normal use is probably a bit of both.

This is a common case of people who don't understand anything about physics or engineering design (ie the guy in the video) assuming they know more than the people that do.

Here is the screen at a normal usage angle:

The air from two 'rows' of vent slats will pass downwards, the air from the third row will pass up in front of the screen. 'Blocked'? No.

 

I don't know man, but that first row sure looks blocked to me, at least from this angle.

All joking aside, it is obstructed to a point. The air flowing out isn't going to be as free flowing had they put the vent on the side... although it really does depend on that distance. I haven't been able to tell from what I have seen online... and you're a better judge of that.

Anywho.

If you would be kind enough to post your temperatures, it would be really helpful seeing as how I am looking at buying this laptop...

Also, have you noticed any sort of damage to the bottom portion of the screen that will be in contact with the exhaust heat? That's the part that's really concerning me to be honest... thanks man.

 

Yes, it would be interesting to get a temperature reading of the air coming out of that exhaust. But I highly doubt it's really hot, not hot as if you would feel a burning sensation when you place your hand there for a minute.

Referring to the review here: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4764

the high temperature areas are in the front portion of the laptop, not in the rear.

 

Recently I also find Dells quality quite funny too. Looking closer in the same video I saw this



Maybe it's not such a big deal for some people but still. It also reminds me of my m15x. Dell is learning from Alienware!

 

I was actually referring to the temperatures of the laptop itself, those read using HWmonitor or similar programs...

... i read that review actually to get a better idea of the xps 13, which is the scary part. If that's larger and still hot, how hot is this thing going to be since it's significantly smaller....

LOL
Man I noticed that too, I got this sudden urge to push something upwards...lolz. I am hoping since they just started making these laptops, especially these early review ones, they have some heat/quality issues that are to be attributed to the manufacturing process and will be worked out over the course of the next few months... at least that's my hope.

 

Wow, is this video accurate? After the ordeal I went through with my M1330 (great laptop though) I thought they would have learned something about ventilation and heating issues

 

it looks like they took it apart and put it together poorly. and alienware is dell.

 

and seriously, did you see how nasty theirs was in the video? i wipe down fingerprints with the dust cover. in that video it looked like they hosed it with vaseline. i mean they must have had some hands on that thing.

 

i think with this machine, as with most all, the temp is equal to processor speed. the 2.8/2.9s are going to be a lot warmer. mine (1640) is only a 2.4 and never gets hot during regular use, but did get hot after a marathon on hl2dm. and even then it was way cooler than my latitude d810 1.86 ever got.