My Studio XPS 16 config...and a question.

So after a few days of contemplating between the HP HDX16t and the Dell Studio XPS 16, I have decided on the latter. I played with the various configurations and then stumbled upon this (just the important specs):

-- Studio XPS 16 --
-- Intel® Core蒂 2 Duo T9550 (6MB cache/2.66GHz/1066Mhz FSB)

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-- System Color Option --
-- Obsidian Black with Leather Accent

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-- MEMORY --
-- 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1067MHz (2 Dimms)

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-- LCD Panel --
-- Edge-to-Edge FullHD Widescreen 16.0 inch RGBLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP

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-- Video Card --
-- ATI Mobility RADEON® HD 3670 - 512MB

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-- Hard Drive --
-- 256GB Solid State Drive

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-- Operating System --
-- Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-bit

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-- DVD+/-RW or Bluray Drive --
-- BluRay Disc Combo (DVD/CD read/write + BD read) Slot Load Drive

My question is, how big of a boost does the SSD give, to performance and battery (if any boost there)? I'm really looking forward to this...I had signed up for a 500GB HD and the 9-cell battery, but I'll get the 9-cell later. ; )

I'm looking forward to joining the Studio XPS community!

 

To join the NBR Official Studio XPS 1640 thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=345445

I don't think SSD's will help use less battery power. Probaly no more than a 15-20 mins minutes

 

that is an overkill config .
@erwallie: 999,999 posts. are you kidding me?

 

The SSD will help in performance and in HEAT, as that is a problem in the 1640. Because of the 1640's relatively poor battery, every added minute from the SSD will help (along with a 9-cell).

On a side note, your config looks quite like the one I'm eyeing for myself!

 

he's on 909

 

LOL most those laptops that I have owned in the past
Currently I only have my dell mini 9, mini 12, vostro a860, and Dell studio xps 13.

I am getting rid of my mini 12 and vostro a860 though

 

take a look at my attachment.

 

look under it for his real postcount, the first one is on his location, same as mine

 

I hit the maximum post count Just like Tom

 

If you look carefully the "post count" is really just part of his location... the true post count is below it.

 

I have the 256 SSD because of:

- lower heat
- NO vibrations
- shockproof
- FASTER
- some power savings

.. mine is plugged-in 95% of the time, so saving power doesnt mean too too much to me

 

Sorry to hijack the thread, but why getting rid of the Mini 12? I've been thinking about buying a Mini 12 for my sister....

 

Yes, I know.
It is the first time that I see this kind of error so I want to let other ppl notice

 

I actually stumbled right onto that config (at least the basis of it) when searching for coupon codes for the XPS (I got $15 with a code, yay). I figured there'd be nothing out there, but since it was the advent of a new week...

I'm really, really excited about this. It's probably an abundance for what I do, but I want something that's going to last. I saw the 6-hour battery lasts for about 2.5 hours, depending on what you do. I am plugged in a good bit, so it won't matter too much. Plus, I'm going to get the 9-cell later.

Should I assume, by the way, that the Dell Inspiron 1521 9-cell battery doesn't work with this one? ; )

 

It's even better when used on sites that don't keep track of posts!! haha!

 

I think that flew over my head. But, my Ambien is kicking in, too.

 

i am getting around three hrs on powersaver mode with the 6cell battery and im actually very happy with this, my old asus had 2 GPU's one dedicated and on intergrated and i still only got 1:45mins on powersaver(hmmm granted asus is renowned for its battery life)
but i think the battery is fine for a notebook that runs a dedicated GPU.
congrats on your buy and let us know when it arrives.

 

How long does it take for the order to process?

 

I am getting rid of it b/c I don't have a use for it anymore It's pretty nice netbook but I rarely use it.

I ordered my SXPS on 2-18-09 and it shipped on 2-21-09, and I received it on 2-25-09 Only took 1 week fo rme to get it

 

I more meant how long did it take to process on the cc. I ordered it last night, but it says it is still "processing". What goes into the "processing" phase?

 

It's now in production! I am really hoping that, based on what I've read from others in this forum, that the shipping date of 4/20 speeds up as a result. ; )

 

It will My studio xps had an EDD of 4/3/09

 

When did that arrive?

 

By the way wallie, I like your little sig name (Dell Phan). Sounds like a WPT finalist. ; )

 

exactly 1 week after I ordered it

 

Did your EDD change on the website? I ordered it last night (as stated last night)...I'm hoping I get it either on Saturday or Monday/Tuesday, if what you say is true (likely the latter).

Of course, you could very well be getting my hopes up, too. ; )

 

The EDD changed after I shipped.

 

I ordered last thursday(19/3 or 3/19) and the EDD is 1/4 or 4/1...

I spoke to them as i'm due to travel next thursday and they said that it was over-estimated and would likely be shipped a lot sooner.

I order my in Denmark btw.

 

It has shipped! It has a EDD of Friday, but I think, given what I've read here, that it'll be at my house sooner (I'm really hoping Tuesday or Wednesday).

 

Cool, so exactly how many days has it been since you ordered?

 

I ordered on the 22nd. It's now got an EDD of Thursday, but if it gets up here tonight or even tomorrow morning-ish, I'm going to the FedEx place to pick it up on my way home from work. With my luck, I'll miss the delivery by a few minutes.

 

So, I've arranged to have it picked up at FedEx tomorrow. My girlfriend is going to pick it up for me (as well as one of the nine-cell batteries I ordered yesterday on sale).

The problem is that she's going to put it in my car for me (I teach at a small Catholic school, so no worries about getting jacked with it inside). But...I'm going to be right inside the school, and I don't have, really, any free time until 2pm. It's going to be in my car starting at 10:30am (roughly).

I'm already putting myself through the ringer because I'm ridiculously impatient. I can't see how the hell I'm going to last if I know it's right outside in my car, and there's nothing I can do with it! I'll probably bring it in and charge the nine-cell so I can fire it up after school. ; )

 

All right...I have it! It's a tiny bit warm, and I see what people are saying about the speaker issue (it sounds good anyway, so I'm not upset about it).

I have to figure out what I want on this machine...does McAfee really slow it down? I have the SSD and it's running pretty fast, but I think McAfee is bogging it down a bit. Any thoughts here?

 

What speaker issue?

 

Just that the subwoofer was placed that caused the sound to be a bit uneven. I'm listening to a DMB video on YouTube and it sounds fine to me...just when setting up the speakers, I could understand what people were saying about the sound being dominant on the right side, compared to the left.

 

So I got rid of McAfee, and the machine seemed to double in size. I've gone with Avast and Ad-Aware, along with OpenOffice, and the thing zooms by. I'm amazed at how fast Out of the Park 9 runs on it. It's just amazing.

The audio on this is just incredible. I have my Shure 310s in right now, and it's perfect. Everything is crisp...so far, I've got a total winner.

The *only* thing I have noticed is that the hinge on the left side is about 1/10th of an inch off...but that's really nitpicking. ; )

 

Good stuff,

What are you planning on doing with this machine anyways (gaming, video editing, et cetera)?

And if you are gaming, tell me how it goes, I want to know if it will handle mid-level games.

 

Radio work, some gaming (text simming, maybe some sports games), and multimedia.

 

ive been gaming on my sxps16 for around a month and it handles everything ive been throwing at it so far........
List of games installed at the moment.
Morrowind, oblivion, masseffect, fallout3, sins of a solar empire, prince of persia trilogy, rome totalwar, fear, heroes of might and magic V gold, DoW anthology, CoH gold edition, WiC, CoD-WaW.
It handles all of them with high settings (apart from WiC medium settings) and im getting 30+ fps.
Hope this helps.

 

Awesome! This is really good news for me!

Thanks

 

How is the computer in terms of portability? Is it easy to carry around with you and would it be a pain to bring to and from the office every day?

 

well it is 16" but i find for something that has that size screen its actually not to combersome, i have a nice over the shoulder bag and it fits in there nicely and i basically carry it around with me when ever i travel.
I dont use it very often for on the lap stuff but if your using it at work on a desk then it would suit that purpose well.

 

Yea I ordered mine earlier this week. I will be bringing it with me to and from work but basically only using it on a desk for work. Just hope my back can handle it!

 

Hopefully when i get mine i won't have the speaker problem. The uneven placement of the subwoofer is not the cause of the uneven sound reported by some users. Most laptops that have built in subwoofers normally have them built in to one side and poistioned unevenly e.g HP HDX 16 and Alienware M17 and they don't have uneven sound issues at all. Built in subwoofers in laptops are hardly ever placed dead centre.

Another reason why the uneven sound is not caused by the uneven placement of the subwoofer is because low frequency sounds are non-directional. This means that the ear should not be able to detect from where the bass sound is originating so therefore the subwoofer can be placed anywhere on the laptop and it will not make the sound output louder on one side of the laptop then the other.

If you have a Studio XPS 16 where the sound is louder from one side then the other you should return it because it is either a hardware problem with the speakers, or the speakers are wired incorrectly or it could possibly be a driver issue in which case you could try updating to the latest driver to see if that helps.

 

You are overlooking one important thing, which makes your statement fail.
The so called "subwoofer" in the XPS1640 is everything but a subwoofer in the true sense of the word. It's just a cheap midrange speaker!
You are correct about the non-directional issue with low frequency audio, but you completely misses, that we are NOT talking about a true subwoofer here. Frequencies below approx. 60 hertz would be hard for the human ear to detect from where it's originating. 60 hertz and below. This crappy midrange speaker in the 1640 (called a "subwoofer") is useless at 60 hertz and below! Guess how much it outputs in this range? Absolutely nothing.

It's a midrange speaker, probably taking care of the range 300 - 8000 hertz before the two "tweeters" takes over from there. Considering this, it is VERY important where it is located physically inside the chassis. The human ear will detect even the slightest difference in position from such a unit, following it like a radar.

The slight right-placement of this "subwoofer" in the 1640 chassis, does not in my book completely account for the skewed L-R stereo image presented by the 1640. I think there are other unfortunate design issues with the chassis that will let more sound escape to the right compared to the left, resulting in a skewed stereo image (too much Right Channel volume).

A funny exercise: try and run your 1640 through the Room Correction utility found in Windows 7 and see where it ends up with regards to Left-Right volume. If I run the Room Correction on my 1640, it itself detects the skewed stereo image and corrects the Left-Right volume from 100/100 to 100/70. It measures in real life and compensate accordingly. The result is a better stereo image but still not perfect.

 

To update on the speaker issue, I did something I read earlier, which was to put the volume all the way down, and then turn it back up. I have no idea what technical prowess that is, but it seemed to have worked. I have balance on my speakers, and everything sounds great.

 

If all else fails, you could go into the sound device properties and adjust the overall volume to be something like 60% left channel, 40% right channel, or whatever sounds the best.

The default 50% for both left and right channels might not be the true 50% it's supposed to be from the sounds of what you guys are saying.