Wants to buy DELL XPS M1530? clear your doubts here

post doubts you have about dell xps m1530 here . my config is in sig.

 

I'll shoot you a few common questions...

- Screen quality issues?
- Build issues?
- Long wait times?
- Hows the battery life?
- 8600GT memory type?

 

screen quality - (i was very nervous about this before arrival) above average quality talking about comparison as good as HP screen.little bleeding in the bottom (usual level)

build issues - feels very solid,brushed alumminium is less prone to scratches i give 5/5 for the quality of build but i noticed uneven base

wait - exactly two weeks

batt- around 3hours in power saver (vista)

memory type - GDDR3

 

Screen Quality is all over the place, depends on what screen you get (mine is amazing)
Build issues seem to be anywhere from perfect to not good (mine is perfect)
Wait depends on what screen you get and when you order (mine was only about a week)

 

I currently have a Dell Inspiron 6400 and I am looking to go for the XPS 1530 since Dell doesn't seem to be giving any news about the rumoured Inspiron 1535. I am looking for a similar configuration like yours, except that I'm going for 1440x900 resolution. I'm not sure whether you opted for "Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audio Software", but I'm not sure whether it will make a good difference in sound? Finally, it looks like you have opted for T8100, I'm not yet decided to go for that one or the basic one. Any suggestions for that as well?

 

How much of a chance do you think there would be of me getting a grainy screen if i got the 1440x900.

 

NOOOO. Don't get the Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD software. When I bought my 1520, Dell just stated it as "Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED," so I didn't know it was software (thought it was a better sound card). I got it and I don't even use it all that much (or at all, really). The speakers on my 1520 are fine how they are. Don't get it. It's a waste of $25.

 

How fast can I expect to get my xps after I order it?

 

Between 1 and 8 weeks.

 

70/30.... I don't know..Chances are chances.

Stay positive.. That's what I say... Mine (same size) ended up being a LG and it's an awesome screen, no problems at all.

Don't dwell on that issue. If you get a grainy screen..Call Dell and have them replace it. I feel they have been improving on this issue.

And, I hope that for you that your notebook comes with a great screen

Cin'

 

oh btw dodgeqwe, did you order it over phone? Was any discounts offered?

 

2.0 GHZ processer will prove laggy at bosses on Maplestory.

1280x800 screen will look under average? Don't know. . .I think that was the lowest screen option.

 

I actually got the Integrated sound blaster audigy advanced. Its a software upgrade instead of a hardware upgrade. But sounds actually do improve quite a bit. The bass becomes fuller and the overall sound is more volumeous. It makes a bit of difference when you plug in a good set of speakers. Worthwhile I'd say

 

If you're an university student you can go on EPP and get 4-12% off depending on how much you spend. You get an extra 4% for signing up for a dell preferred account. Thats 16% additional savings if you get a system over 1500!

 

True, great deal if your a student, and making sure to pay it off when using DPA (to avoid insane finance charges) Also, using EPP thru your employer is another advantage

 

I'm concerned with 3 issues:
*The noise from the harddrive, i heard it is unbearable.
*If it is a cool laptop. I have a toshiba and it gets too hot. Actually, it gets hot from surfing the net only. When i play WoW it gets too hot
*Throughout the forum some people complain from a fading of paint under the part where you rest your palm.

Could anyone who just bought it tell me about these issues since i heard that they overcame the problem of the noise in the new shipments?

 

arun, i ordered over phone. you will not get discount on XPS series thats what every dell rep said . but you can bargain on inspiron series . call many reps before you put order to get max discount.

buy dell if u r familiar with system management such as windows reinstallation such kind of things. if u r nervous about doing it ur self dont buy dell. they may not reach the site within 2 days.

value for money no other company can offer it .

 

its wierd that they don't offer discount for XPS when it is a higher end model than Inspiron. Anyway I'll be getting it using employee discount through a friend of mine, hope to get around Rs.10,000 as discount for the XPS.

BTW, I'm not sure why you said I should be familiar with reinstallation of Windows, etc.? I do not have any plans to remove the Windows Vista partition nor install Windows XP alongside like how I triple boot on my Dell Inpiron 6400 with Windows XP Professional, Vista Ultimate and Ubuntu.

 

uhm... i've been wanting to get an m1530 for a while now, but never got round to it since i dont 'truly' need it yet.

well i've been keeping an eye on the price and could you explain to me why (here in the UK anyways) the prices now in june is higher than the prices in may? o.o?

they're not going to continue to rise are they?

 

mr.derek

first of all prices of computer will always go down especially in case of dell.the only thing that may have price increase is battery.all other things will have price down. DELL some time provides reduction in base model in matter of a mmonth and so on. Another strategy to keep up sales is giving customer sys with a improved config such as 2 gb ram instead of 1 gb like that.

second thing is if u wait for reduction in price for laptop, u will keep waiting because it will be always dropping. dont buy the perfect sys ( i mean highest speed CPU, highest RAM) buy a middle range one. in case of buying intel core2duo i suggest buy the processor starting in T8 series , the lowest speed in this series is T8100. there is no point in buying the highest speed. the other components HDD, RAM can be upgraded u want dont buy more RAM and HDD u need now as this can be upgraded any ime u want .

if u are passionate about playing games buy geforce 8600M gt . the base geforce 8400 M GS doesnt have enough power to play new games. YOU CANT UPGRADE GRAPHIC CARD IN LAPTOP LIKE IN DESKTOP.

hope u got all what u need

 

eh... i dont think you understand what i'm saying. Here is 2 screenshots i've taken of the price and set up. one from early May, and one i just set up today.
http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/6514/comparingon2.png


The price was actually a lot lower by the end of May but i never took a note of it.

As i said, I've never got around to buying it since i dont need it yet. Rather have it sit there gather dust, why not wait for new technology etc. etc. ? common sense no? (given up on waiting for the LED screens now)


i appreciate you trying to help, but please read carefully before replying



EDIT: im sorry but, reading your post again... i can't stop thinking that you're one of those annoying indian phone reps. blasting me with a lot of irrelevant garbage info that i dont need XD Sorry.

 

just tried to help you and u gave me a good treat . im not a "annoying indian dell rep". if i were , i wont gain any thing from you buying from UK.

i just thought u were confused to buy dell xps m1530.

sorry for my post

 

So getting the T9500 is a waste you guys think?

I'm looking to put together a desktop replacement. Was going to purchase the 4 gigs, T9500, 8600M GT, LED/LCD screen.

But from what I've been reading here you shouldn't buy the best processor and hold out on the ram...what do you guys think?

Thanks in advance. Sorry if I'm highjacking the thread if so let me know I'll start another.

 

lol sorry...

any idea why the price has suddenly went up? think it will continue to rise?

i dont really need the notebook till about july, but if this is the case then im considering the new inspiron soon to be released

 

kennedy,

as far as i know, i don't really know why you wouldn't spec up a high processor. If you need it and can afford it, then go for it.

fair enough, you can save some money on hard drive and RAM by upgrading yourself, but i'd rather pay the extra and have dell do it for me, avoid the hassle. personal preference i guess.

 

Thanks Derek for the price difference and minimal upgrade I think I will just stick to the T9300. Brings the price down alot but I'll still have a sick computer.

SYSTEM COLOR Tuxedo Black edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.5GHz/800Mhz FSB, 6MB Cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium Edition SP1 edit
LCD AND CAMERA High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LED LCD (1440x900) & 2.0 M edit
MEMORY 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms) edit
HARD DRIVE Size: 250GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write) edit
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT edit
WIRELESS CARDS Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card edit
BATTERY OPTIONS 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery edit
SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.0 edit
FINGERPRINT SCANNER Finger Print Reader XPS M1530



Sub Total $1,808.00


Sub Total $1,356.00


Tax 2 Calculate $94.92

Calculate $1,450.92


Not bad

 

its not waste if u r utilizing it completely.i mentioned that point for casual user .

processor : compared to 2.1 ghz ,2.6 Ghz processor will make significant difference in video encoding, 3d rendering , photoshop apps . you will not difference in boot up speed. Gaming is hugely dependent on GPU rather than CPU, so u wont notice significant difference in gaming too.if u do lot of video encoding and apps i listed i suggest u to buy 2.6 Ghz

RAM: only 64 bit OS (example vista 64 bit ) can acess 4 GB else only 3 GB will be used.32 bit vista OS can acess a mx of 3GB.Go for 3 GB

GPU: 8600M GT right choice. but i cant say u can run every thing in MAX. crysis runs in 1024X768 with HIGH details. if u bump it upto 1280X800 .you can watch slide show. all other games run fine in my sys

 

Thanks Dodge I do plan on playing games with this Computer undoubtedly I also to a little bit of Photoshop here and there. So I guess the difference is up to me. I'll have to think it over. Thanks for the advice!

 

could anyone answer my post in the second page?
here it is again:
I'm concerned with 3 issues:
*The noise from the harddrive, i heard it is unbearable.
*If it is a cool laptop. I have a toshiba and it gets too hot. Actually, it gets hot from surfing the net only. When i play WoW it gets too hot
*Throughout the forum some people complain from a fading of paint under the part where you rest your palm.

Could anyone who just bought it tell me about these issues since i heard that they overcame the problem of the noise in the new shipments?

 

thanks for the info

 

my hard drive is very quite as well as the fan compared to my wife e1505. very pleaseed w/ it. i do have a 200gb 7200rpm drive. it is also much cooler than my wifes laptop which also has a 7200rpm drive. now, the dvd drive is fairly loud on load/unloading of the dvd but i have not noticed during playback.

as for the "fading" i have not had mine long enough. my wife has a palm wear mark on her e1505. it is not fading but wearing out from constant use. i am sure the mine will do the same. anytime you rub something it is going to wear out.

 

how about portability? its it a pita to carry a ~6lb notebook? i carried my sister's 7lb notebook around... too heavy

im not that into gaming, currently have a desktop ATI x600(crap)... but 8600+15" vs 8400+light for the same price....

 

i do not have any problems w/ the weight. it is much lighter than my old laptop but i am also not a student. i only move it around my house. the 9cell battery makes for a nice handle w/ the bump out. if weight is an issue get a 1330.

 

I agree with pne123. If weight is a concern get a 13 inch laptop. The difference in weight average on all 15 inch laptops is probably about +/- 1.5 lbs of each other.

I have an M1530 but i have no problem with its weigh whatsoever. For me its the right size for all my needs.

 

Thanks a lot for your reply
I think i'll buy the M1530, i don't need it before 2 months so i'll order it after a month or sth for the price to decline somehow

 

Wont happen. Most likely new models will roll out. You can be certain there will be no 25% or 20% discounts then. The price will be close to 2,000+. Its the price you pay being an early adopter of new technology. You can still get the older models, but it wont be brand new custom built.

Also despite the HD being silent, the optical drives.. only Optiarc, which is the most common, is very lound and sounds like your shredding a CD everytime you stick one in and eject.

 

The laptop is still a bit 'bulky' for a 15" laptop, especially with the extra capacity battery (which I suggest if you plan on doing anything more than stare at a dim screen doing nothing for 2 hours with the regular battery). Battery life with this thing is not that great. If you plan on carrying it around all day, bring the power adapter.

As far as noise goes, I can hear the hard drive quite audibly, but it's pretty much the same with every other laptop I've used. The m1530 might be a *bit* louder, but I can't say it's unbearable. What's unbearable is the fan in the HP Compaq 6910p sitting next to the 1530, which is always blowing no matter what the computer is doing.

Screen quality is hit or miss. I don't know if the grainy screen thing has been resolved, but apparently you can get it fixed. (I did)

Fading under the palm rests shouldn't be as bad as on some computers, as the palm rests here are actual aluminum. I imagine over time they will still wear, but not as quickly as plastic would.

The build quality of this laptop did not impress me in any way at all. Glossy plastics show fingerprints well, all other plastics scratch/wear easily, and the whole thing is like a snap-together model. I can start to pry the bezel around the screen off with minimal force. To me, it feels cheap. The HP Compaq 6910 I use for work feels better built, and it's all plastic. When the technician came out to replace the screen, he almost couldn't get the thing back together because the tabs on the plastic pieces bent too much when he took them off.

As far as the actual computer itself goes, I've found it's no slouch. It's not a 'hardcore gaming rig' by far, but it is probably more than adequate for most people's needs.

Oh yeah, the webcam sucks, so if you plan on using a cam, buy an external one.

 

This laptop is not bulky at all. Well, considering I got the M1530 with LED backlit display, it takes off 100 grams from the weight, so it feels considerably lighter than my previous E1505 laptop. The design is also very sleek and beats out all the other notebooks out there.

Battery Life for me on a standard lightweight 6-cell battery is a whopping 2 hours and 39 minutes doing word processing, web browsing, etc. Though gaming does drain it faster (playing games like Assasins Creed like I do)

Fan noise, is very silent. Hard drive is also very silent. Actually, the hard drive doesn't make any noise whatsoever for me. The main problem is the Optiarc optical drive that is VERY loud when used.

Since I requested a brand new replacement, I tried rubbing my palms against the palmrest a few times generating heat, but none of the paint or discoloration mentioned happened.

Gaming performance wise, I was very impressed to be able to have high settings in 1280 in Assasins creed. Turning down resolution to 1024, I was able to max out everything including shadows and antialiasing. No I did not do any overclocking, which really made me wow. Gameplay was awesome smooth, graphics looked spectacular. Crysis on the other hand ran nicely too, but on Medium settings. On high its not playable because you move slowly, sometimes choppy, felt like 30 fps or lower.

I can envision ideal build quality, but mine was no where near good. Upon receiving and taking out the notebook, the cover for RAM was not screwed on right revealing a bent cover with RAM exposed... keyboard bumped out in middle... and the laptop itself not level and rocks back and forth since the imbalance was on the corners.

Replacement is supposed to be coming to me today despite the tracking info saying No Data Availalbe At This Time... I hope my build problems are fixed.

 

Is there a way to get a 25% off discount on the Dell website? I keep hearing this but don't know where to go.

 

Just go to Google, google up Dell coupons and look. I made a thread a few days ago containing the coupon code in it. For your sake:

0VXPPHRHPXHGTM

There you go.

 

For some reason it's not subtracting 25% off on the website. I'm at the shopping cart page....

 

nevermind, it wasn't combinable with a deal their doing right now, so the coupon actually made it more expensive

 

Nevermind again! I was just doing it wrong, do you guys think this is a good deal?

2.4 ghz T8300 processor
250 gig 7200 HD
4 gigs of ram
8600 GT Nvidia 256 mb

for $1300.23

What do you guys think?

 

you've yet to mention the best part, what LCD??

 

Just the standard option, does that make it a crappy deal? Which LCD should I get?

 

My m1530 was delivered yesterday. The one regret I have is ordering the 7200 rpm 250 gb harddrive. Its too noisy!

 

Really? But does the speed make up for it???

 

Its noisier than my old laptop. But its only noticable in complete silence. The harddrive is pretty fast though.

 

Mind what chaospker says, his drive is just defective. My 250GB 7200RPM drive is silent and doesn't run hot at all. There is NO NOISE coming from it whatsoever. It depends on the model, brand, and just the quality I guess. Mine is perfect and the speed is VERY noticable.

However in your case, I think it would be better to put the extra money to getting the T9300 with 250GB 5400RPM just so you have the extra processing power.

I was one of those worried too about loudness and head of the 7200RPM hard drive since Ive been used to 5400RPM drives in laptops, and to be honest, none of those problems have occurred and despite suspecting heavy drains in battery life, Im able to get 2 hours and 39 mins on my 6cell. Then again I do have the LED screen.

 

I got the 250 GB 7200 RPM and am a little worried about heat/noise. I hope it turns out alright.

I have similar specs as well on mine (posted below). Between the HDD and the Screen I am a little nervous about how this will turn out, hoping for the best.