hey to all studio xps 1640 owners: should i buy one?

i'm thinking of buying the dell studio xps 1640 in august but am afraid of the heating issues as i've heard it can get quite hot, also will it get outdated after 3 - 4 years.
i'm mostly planning on watching full HD movies while using the internet at the same time (downlaoding). What are your views on the laptop
thanks

 

If you plan on getting a laptop in august, then the XPS 1640 will be outdated by then, better to wait for newer hardware which will be the new 'outdated' of this coming august.
The technology you are paying for in general is outdated as soon as it reaches the consumers .

 

all around great laptop its got everything i need for everyday use. couldnt ask for more. heating issue isnt as bad as people say. for me its totally fine i use it on my lap all the time with no problem.

 

The Studio XPS 16 has all the most current features: RGBLED, HDMI, eSATA, DisplayPort, etc. Yes, there will be some high end laptops in a year or two that may have technology that the XPS16 doesn't have, such as an OLED display or whatnot, but I don't think you will be able to call it outdated by any stretch of the imagination. It will be surprassed and incrementally improved, but I believe the current XPS16 will still be more powerful than 80% of the laptops out there in even 2 years.

Let me just put it this way -- I got this laptop in January, and here, almost 6 months later there isn't another laptop in the price range I'd rather have or one that has a more well rounded set of features.

 

The heating "issue" is not really an issue, it's a large laptop, it will heat up! It doesn't heat more than my Studio 15.

In 3-4 years everything will be outdated (except Twinkies), it's a simple fact. Will it be 100% usable in 3-4 years? Absolutely!

If you plan on waiting to buy the next best thing, you'll wait forever. Just buy what you need and can afford. Laptop prices are dropping like a dress on prom night.

 

I agree its a fantastic unit with a great CPU, screen and all and all its a awsome multimedia device........it play most games on high to med/high settings and will do everything you want it for very well, im getting rid of mine but the only reason is because i was offered a sager NP8662, so as i love gaming i jumped at the chance....
You will not regret buying the sxps.

 

Absolutely, this is the best laptop on the market in my opinion. It has the best feature set, top of the line RGB LED display, beautiful design and decent gaming performance. While it does get hot a bit, this is easily remedied with a 9 cell battery upgrade (it raises the laptop from the back). If you want to further cool it, use RM clock to undervolt it (you also get additional battery life). By August, the new XPS 16 should be available with the upgraded ATI 4670 video card so it will be even better by then. I have one with the 3670 right now that I will be sending back tomorrow to wait on the new revision.

 

I didnt know a new revision was on the horizon

Im planning to buy a dell by september

Do you know what Dell usually do with prices? Do the old units sell at lower price right before a new revision comes out ?

 

2 years? I don't think so. The vid card is already barely adequate. There is nothing especially "powerful" about this laptop at all. Plenty of others offer the same features. Not everyone likes the oversaturated screen. Battery life is not good at all. It runs pretty hot for a newer model laptop. If you can get it for special pricing like they have going on right now then it's a good deal but that is all. For the original poster expecting any computer to still be usable for 3 to 4 years is unlikely and Dell's are not known for their longevity anyway. They are known for being cheap and having terrible support so if that is your criteria have at it.

 

hmm, maybe i have been one of the few people that have had an incredible experience in the past with dell?

my last dell lasted for 5 years, and with their extended 3 year warranty, whatever happened to my pc..they would be wherever i was on the next day fixing it... i was always secure.

the only reason it died was because at the 5th year, and i didnt have warranty by then, i soaked it when a jar of water spilled all over it. otherwise it would probably still be running...and i always used that pc..all the time everywhere. Id say thats pretty long for a laptop. I know people that are still running very old latitude pc's ... and mostly everyone i know, both corporate and personal users, swear by dell's service, me being one of them.

I wouldn't buy anything else but Dell. i honestly don't know what you're talking about.

 

I stand by what I said. Not much has changed in the last 2 years and not much will in the next. I've waited about 2 years to buy this machine, first looking at VAIOs and than the M1330. In those 2 years, the only real innovation has been the emergence of SSD drivers.

In 2 years, the vast majority of laptops (mainstream) will still be sold with integrated graphics for power reasons. IG will still suck in 2 years and no way it will be more powerful than today's 3670. That's why I said the current XPS16 will be more powerful than 80% of the laptops in 2 years. It's more likely 90%, but I wanted to be conservative with my estimate.

 

Says the guy using an overpriced MBP. This guy has been trashing the SXPS without even owning one so I wouldn't pay any attention to his opinion. I've owned Dell laptops for years and they have worked great. If you want to take personal experience, then my gf's macbook has been nothing but problems. It had a failed dvd drive, defective casing design that cracked and had to be replaced, dead HDD, two dead battery's and a dead charger. Yeah Mac's are awesome alright. The SXPS is about half the price or less of an MBP with a superior display, blu ray support, BETTER design aesthetically (and functionally) yet costs half the price. Apple sucks..it's only good for making iPhones..go back to the Apple forum and stroke each other's egos for owning an overpriced laptop.

 

That explains it. He says that the ATI3670 is barely adaqute???? What a load of crap -- it's at least equal to the 9600GT and arguably better, especially for multimedia applications.

 

Oh but Snookie is an IT CONSULTANT who works for a global company so he obviously knows a lot more than us lowly SXPS 16 owners. In fact, being an IT consultant who works for a global company makes him an expert on laptops he doesn't even own - case in point the SXPS 16. Without ever seeing it in person, he can dismiss it offhand and thumb his superior all-knowing IT consultant mac loving nose at it.

 

I had a Dell business laptop that ran fine for over seven years. The only reason I stopped using it was that an application that I had to use on it upped their minimum screen resolution. There phone support has been generally useless to me, but their repair service has been there when I needed it.

I'm looking at a new laptop around August as well, and the SXPS16 is on my short list. The BIOS has been updated to support the 4670, which should be a nice boost, making this just fine for light-medium gaming and multimedia use. It should work just fine for the next 3-5 years unless you are into playing the latest games at highest resolutions.

 

How did you like the lower-grade display (i.e., non RGB LED) on the XPS?