Studio XPS 1640 questions for owners

I wanted to buy the Studio 1737, but because it is not available with RGB LED screen in Europe I'm seriously considering the Studio XPS 16. I have a couple of questions - in order of importance:

1. Can this laptop fit into a 15.4" standard business laptop case (no sleeves, backpacks or messengers)? I'm considering Kensington Contour 62220 15.4" and Targus Global Executive DeLuxe/Plus 15.4". Also, I thought that SXPS16 weighs much less then a Studio 1737, but comparing reviews by notebookcheck.net the weights are 3.05kg for the SXPS16 and 3.47kg for the S1737 - not too big difference considering the difference in size.

2. Is the heat really such a big issue? I'm a software developer and I do not plan to use the laptop for gaming so the processor temperatures themselves are not so important to me, but the heat on the palmrest and the keyboard are. I just bought a T9800 processor for cheap on the eBay auction and I plan to install it and apply the Artic Silver thermal paste. I don't know if this powerful cpu will produce too much heat and power drain for a laptop which is already known for being too hot even with the P-series processors. Does applying the special thermal paste on the cpu and the gpu and cpu undervolting help considerably?

3. What are the noise levels for standard work - surfing, using office programs etc? Studio 1737 gets pretty loud even in these conditions, and I've read that XPS 16 is better in that respect.

Thanks in advance!

 

1.no

2.no (bottom is metal, metal conducts heat, bottom feels hot... and temps are 34 degrees for cpu and 45 degrees for the gpu on average. so its a lot cooler then the m1530, vaio FW and acer 8930G i had.

3. laptop is quite and and the fan is quite. the fan doesnt kick in much as its quite cool on the inside. quiest laptop i had.


its not a hot laptop (a little on the bottom but when do you expect when is anodized aliminium ?)
Its a great laptop in ever aspect except the battery life is crap.

 

The Kensington Contour 62220 has an interior width of 14.5. The Targus Global Exec Deluxe has an interior width of 14.3. The SXPS 15 is 15.15 inches wide, so neither would work.

To answer your other questions.. mine idles in the mid 30s.. sometimes it'll drop to low 30s.. yet, sometimes it'll be in the high 30s to low 40s.. I figure its just some odd Windows processes utilizing CPU.. I dont do much CPU or GPU intensive stuff, so I havent seen any alarming temps (high 50s?).. but overall, I dont think heat is an issue.

As Owais said, the laptop is quiet.. definitely quieter than my last laptop.

 

Thanks for the answers! It's great to hear that the heat problem is under control now and that the laptop is very quiet!

I know that dimensions in the specs do not add up, but they are guaranteed so there should be some wiggle room left. The difference in width is not that grand and this laptop is really thin so it may fit into a smaller case. I've read that people managed to fit the SXPS16 in regular 15.4" cases, but I guess it depends on the case model. So, I'm looking for a confirmation from owner of business case similar to Kensington & Targus, or any other normal middle-clas sub-17" case which I can use for reference.

Currently I have a 17" Inspiron 1720 laptop with a huge Case Logic TNC-15F laptop case and I would like to go smaller/lighter if I buy 16" laptop. If the case remains the same and the laptop weight is almost the same, then I do not see the point of switching to a smaller screen laptop!

 

dell studio 16 is much thiner and lighter than studio 17 or inspiron 17.
6.4lbs/1inch vs 8lbs/2inch. i have had them all.
owais has nailed all your questions, i think if there is one problem you may have with studio 16 is going to be the screen size being 16:9.
its hard to read alot webpages or do office on a shorter screen, studio 16 is 1.5" less than a reglar 17" on vertical space.