New 1530 Owner Questions

Hi all,
I recently purchased a dell xps m1530 notebook with the following specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.5GHz/800MHzFSB, 6M L2 Cache)
6GB, DDR2, 800MHz 2 Dimm
15.4 inch Wide Screen WXGA+ TrueLife LED LCD with Camera for XPS M1530
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
High Performance 64GB Solid State Drive
2X BluRay Drive

I'm very happy with this setup, especially for the price (holiday savings + coupons were a big help - thanks NBR!)

I had a few questions for m1530 owners that I either could not find the answers to or felt that the answers were for older models with different core specs.
1) Is pre-loaded bloatware a serious concern on these models? I've heard various answers but, if I intend to keep the Dell MediaDirect stuff installed, is there anything really worth removing?
2) My old XPSm170 had serious heat issues, which caused the motherboard to fail twice. With this history in mind, I maxed out the warranty. Will my laptop suffer from prolonged gaming on a hardtop table? I've heard stories of reduced battery life.
3) How does Vista Aero work on your laptops? Can you run it on full settings without problems?
4) How long did it take for you to get your laptop from the time you placed the order to the time it arrived? I placed my order two days ago, and it's listing its estimated shipping date as the 18th. I was hoping it would be shipped earlier than that though
5) In the end, are you satisfied with your laptops? Why or why not? What do you use them for?

I am a college student and I plan to use it at the library or in some classes, as well as for extended gaming sessions. I won't be playing any graphically-taxing games (in fact, just Warcraft 3, for the most part, and possibly Diablo 3/Starcraft 2 on low settings when they come out).

Thanks in advance!

 

Firstly, congratz on your purchase.

1) Can't really remember if it were much of a problem. It took a few months before it started to lag (loads of files & programs) so I did a clean reinstall.

2) I've done a few prolonged gaming sessions with Crysis. Thankfully, the battery charge remains idle when it's full. I barely unplug my M1530 from the wall unless travelling or switching it off (usually remains on 24/7).

3) Always on Vista Aero, unless a program sets it back to Vista Basic.

4) Ordered mine on eBay (cheaper), so within a week. Not sure if it were shipped from Dell. Even more if it weren't in the UK.

5) Was a great upgrade from my Twinhead Stylebook 12D. Dedicated GPU and dual-core made all the difference.

 

Nice! Congratulations on your purchase, and welcome to the XPS family

1) Is pre-loaded bloatware a serious concern on these models? I've heard various answers but, if I intend to keep the Dell MediaDirect stuff installed, is there anything really worth removing?

It does come with some Bloatware..you can fix that by using Les's guides
They work just great!
Dell Vista Laptop Reformat and Bloatware Removal Guide:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157838

and, NBR Vista Tips and Tweaks Guide:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532

I had Media Direct, and it got to be more of a hassle for me...so I got rid of it. You, may find it works for you differently

2) My old XPSm170 had serious heat issues, which caused the motherboard to fail twice. With this history in mind, I maxed out the warranty. Will my laptop suffer from prolonged gaming on a hardtop table? I've heard stories of reduced battery life.
I don't game..but I leave my battery constantly charged, and have had no issues.

3) How does Vista Aero work on your laptops? Can you run it on full settings without problems?

I don't use it.

4) How long did it take for you to get your laptop from the time you placed the order to the time it arrived? I placed my order two days ago, and it's listing its estimated shipping date as the 18th. I was hoping it would be shipped earlier than that though

It took about 3.5 weeks to get to me, when I ordered nearly a year ago...1/08...That is because a part was on backorder, causing my order to be *refreshed* (cancelled) and a new one put together. Otherwise I think peep's have been having great luck lately getting their 1530's

Also, the ESD = is usually over projected

5) In the end, are you satisfied with your laptops? Why or why not? What do you use them for?

I am extremlely satisfied with my 1530..cannot say a bad thing about it. It's my first lappy also! I use my lappy for multi-media, every day use..and music/pictures

Overall, I think you will be very happy with your choice!

Let us know when you have received it!


Cin

 

wow thanks guys very re-assuring replies

 

NP! You will really enjoy the 1530! No worries, there!

Be sure to let us know once received, and how its working out for you!


Cin

 

Heya,

I just received my XPS 1530, I also splurged for the 64GB SSD, Blu-ray drive and LED. The T9300 2.5GHz came standard as part of the Cyber Monday deal. I actually ordered it early Tuesday morning, Dec. 2nd and received it yesterday, Dec. 9th. It felt like forever =) I didn't have the option for 6GB RAM, lucky you are.

So far, its really nice. My sister just got a Studio 1535 and this is a tad thinner and lighter and much more powerful. I've had a few issues but its all ironed out for the most part. For some reason it came with Vista 32-bit. There was no option, it just said Home Premium, I assumed it was 64-bit as my sister's Studio came that way. SO that sucked, most people reinstall anyhow but I was hoping not having to. Luckily, I had a 64-bit DVD from my desktop but no SP1 =\

The SSD is very fast though ! It took awhile to unpack the files from the DVD but after 15 min. I was setting up my username for Vista. NICE! Now, of course, I had to install all the drivers and apps from the Resource CD and that took 20 min. After I installed the wireless drivers though, I had SP1 download in the background while finishing with the drivers and such. That took an additional 20 min to download and install, so all in all 1 hour total.

I partitioned the drive and I will tell you if you do so as well, give Vista at least 30GB. I gave it 25 at first thinking it'd be more than enough and I ran out of room installing SP1. I ended up giving it 40GB as my apps will go there as well so 20GB left for a separate partition for my files (I do intend to get an external HD).

I did delete the MediaDirect and Recovery partition which freed up like 15GB. Deleting MD, however, lost my ability to play Blu-ray movies. I'm probably going to do without it and get PowerDVD Ultra 8 based on what I've read. Plus I played my BD movie collection and didn't find MediaDirect to handle things very well. Its a bit slow starting up (I have a PS3) and recent movies like Wall-E and Narnia wouldn't play at all. It kept telling me a critical part for Blu-ray needs to be updated often but there was no update available (but it repeatedly prompted me to update). I also had issues fast forwarding or rewinding, it simply wouldn't do it. It would skip chapters fine but searching inbetween didn't work for me. I also don't think I'd ever really use MediaDirect and I'm unsure how much it saves on battery.

Otherwise, the movies that did work looked fantastic ! HDMI out works great but connection seems really loose ? Speakers and webcam are ehh. Fingerprint scanner gave me huge problems, I was sure it was defective but I learned to lick my finger and it works perfectly now. I'm not a fan of the capacitive media buttons. That and blue LEDs I don't like but they're becoming more common unfortunately. LED screen is BRIGHT, the setting right before max is good enough for me. I also got the 9-cell, it adds a bulge but I do like the extra tilt it gives and its lasted decently, maybe 3-4 hours fully charged but I haven't had it that long or tested it really. Temps seem fine, barely warm to touch, the 9-cell and cold weather possibly helping that.

You might be fine with the installed bloatware, there wasn't much to be honest. I don't like it though but I can only remember not installing McAfee and MediaDirect. I don't use Aero just Vista Basic, it runs fine regardless I just find its features useless.

This is going to be my portable do everything PC. Its just as fast as my desktop aside from the video card and will run Office 2007, Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom 2. I play games like CoD4, BioShock, CSS. I haven't yet on the XPS but from what I've seen, should run smooth.