The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Studio XPS 13 Question

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by TexasEx7, Jun 17, 2009.

  1. TexasEx7

    TexasEx7 Meat Popsicle

    Reputations:
    445
    Messages:
    2,378
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    I am looking at this as one of my next buys. I have read plenty of reviews, but nothing recent. I have read that new BIOS and such had solved some initial problems. I was hoping someone with my configuration who has bought one recently can tell me:

    A) How is the battery life?
    B) How is the heat?


    Config:

    P8700
    4GB RAM
    500 GB 7200 RPM HD
    Slim WLED Screen
    64 bit Vista

    Thank you.
     
    TexasEx7, Jun 17, 2009
    #1
  2. mr_bots

    mr_bots Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    72
    Messages:
    329
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Battery life isn't bad, between 3 and 4 hours. I haven't ran it for more than an hour to an hour and a half but that's about what the rating and numbers come out to.

    Heat, also not bad...if you leave it in balanced and don't do anything that'll heat up the gpu, just surfing the internet, typing paper, etc. Does it get hot playing games? Definitely, just don't play with it on your lap because the metal piece near the exhaust is extremely hot to the touch when gaming. No matter what anyone says, two gpus and a cpu in a small, 13" chassis is going to be hot. If you stick with just the integrated card I don't see heat being too much of a problem.
     
    mr_bots, Jun 17, 2009
    #2
  3. 3udepot

    3udepot Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    7
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    heats not bad (expected for this hardware and package size), but under load it can get a bit warm... if you are going to game on it, a notebook cooler is recommended
     
    3udepot, Jun 17, 2009
    #3
  4. jb1007

    jb1007 Full Customization

    Reputations:
    165
    Messages:
    1,230
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    on power save mode there is no heat, on performance mode, it's like a microwave on your lap. I personally find no performance increase on high performance mode and the graphics run more smoothly on power save.
     
    jb1007, Jun 18, 2009
    #4