m1530 or m1730 / music ?

hello !

i'm new to this forum

i'm definitely thinking of buying a used M1730 or a new M1530.

i'll use it to watch movies, play games (i'm not a die-hard gamer but i like to play games sometimes on the weekend) but i'll also use it to record music. I'm a musician, I play electric guitar, and I want a computer which will make it possible for me to record great quality music with softwares like pro tools... (so the computer needs to have a good sound card..)..


could anyone help me ?

=)

 

get the m1730 it just got a new upgrade so its not as obsolete as the m1530 which wont be sold anymore soon what are the specs of the m1730 btw

 

alright but the things is the m1730 is still so expensive, I'm student so as i don't have much money, i'm trying to find a used m1730 in good condition but it's pretty hard to find with the specs and accessories i'm interested in... =(

 

m1530 is removed from dell.usa.com.
btw, i think studio 17 has better sound than xps m1730 although i dont know much about music. the sound from studio 17 is same as apple iphone with default earbud.
m1730 has static noise from microhpone too just like inspirons 1705 & 1720.

 

For DAW software you'll not be using the onboard sound anyway.

 

yeah i'll have an external sound card...

so the studio is the best choice ?

btw if anyone has a used m1730 who'd like to sell it, i'ma buyer !

 

The 1530 has great sound...I have it..You can get some good deals on the 1530 right now..even if they are starting to *phase it out*
And, it's still avail at dell.com: http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1530?c=us&cs=19&l=en&ref=lthp&s=dhs

Here is a 25% coupon for the 1330/1530 at dell.com: GGCNF3XZ9X6?VT
Select Units starting at $1599 Link: http://www.dell.com/content/product...&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&dgc=CJ&cid=24471&lid=561082

Have you considered checking out the outlet, for either the 1530 or the 1730?

What do you mean the 1530 is removed from the Dell's site?

Here it is:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1530?c=us&cs=19&l=en&ref=lthp&s=dhs


Cin

 

Well if you dont want to pay for the m1730, the little brother m1530 is a very nice choice, its VERY portable, and is a beast performance wise, not to mention its GFX card will suit you well if you just want to occasionally play games.

the integrated audio is quite good, you might get higher quality through an external card, but thats the good thing, you can always get that external one if you're not satisfied.

i recommend this lappy 100%

now another cheap choice is the Studio 15, but i really dont know about it since i dont own it

 

I have the XPS M1530 and a Tascam FireOne Firewire Soundcard. You'll find the onboard sound on most laptops isn't up to scratch if you're wanting to record anything without a heap of latency.

If you're recording guitar as well the line in on the front of the M1530 is too noisy for reasonable results.

What applications will you be using for recording / production? I've tried both Cubase Studio 4 and Ableton Live 7 on my laptop, both ran absolutely fine, although I'm more of a fan of Cubase :]

 

Yup - the choice between onboard sound and a good external card is not down to sound quality - it's latency. The HD Audio chips on these machines sound great but the lack of ASIO or any other low latency driver is the reason you'll need a proper card. I use an Echo Audiofire 2 with Cubase 4 Studio using the onboard Ricoh Firewire and it seems to be working fine so far.

 

i'll be using Pro Tools, and the software is sold with an external audio sound card...

so what should i do ? buy a used m1730 ? i saw there wasnt anyone in the dell outlet ...

 

If I was buying a machine mainly to do music on and I knew I wanted to use a firewire interface then I probably wouldn't buy a Dell. I'd buy something with a Texas Instrument FW controller (if I could). I've had good luck with the Ricoh chip so far on this but haven't really stressed the system too much yet but if I was buying a lappy predominantly as a DAW I'd be trying my best to find a laptop with a TI FW chipset.

Also I'd be looking for the latest harware and specs (faster speeds and greater capacity will have an effect on how much you can have running at one time) so would be looking at a PM45 chipset and a 1066MHz FSB "P" processor running DDR2-800 RAM (such at the SXPS 1640) rather than an older PM695 with 'T' series 800MHz FSB and DDR2-667 (such as my Vostro 1700 and the M1730).

That said if you just want a good machine with a fair amount of power then PM965 machines are fine - depends on your budget.
A dual boot with a clean and stripped down audio only partition is highly recommended.

 

hey steve !

i thank you for your message !

it won't only be for music as i'll also need to work on the computer (i'm a student), to watch movies, play games sometimes etc....but doing music is important for me, i'd like my laptop to do everything i've just mentionned !


it's really nice of you to tell me about all thoses technical features but i dont understand everything so do you know which model laptop should i turn to ? i've been working all year part-time so i can go up to 2500 dollars maximum because i know the laptop will serve me well for a few years...

 

I'm not sure what laptops - apart from Mac - have TI chipsets, maybe someone else can help. Like I say - my experience using the Ricoh FW controller has been good but your mileage may vary. Have a read of the "Firewire Issue...." thread and see others experience. It's a long thread and not all the posts are really refering to using the bus with audio cards but there are a lot of posts that do. Some people who found the Ricoh problematic got better results using TI equipped Expresscard FW cards, some not so good.
There also appears to be problems with DPC latency causing on the latest and last generation Intel platforms - mostly due to drivers and some combinations of hardware. The DPC latency on my machine is fine if I turn off my wireless (which I do when I'm in Cubase anyway) but others have had more trouble tracking down the driver responsible. That's true for the platform in general and not limited to Dell.

So, in my experience the Ricoh chipset has worked well for me so far but others haven't had such luck. Who knows quite why but it's worth researching now and making a choice rather than finding out after you have purchased. Maybe start a thread for anyone's experience running a M1730 with a proaudio FW card on the Ricoh controller using a DAW in a multitrack environment

 

I'd stay away from the Studios because there's a latency issue which may affect you recording. The M1530 (and I think the M1730) don't have these issues - I used an M1530 for recording with an MBox with no problems.

 

I'll chime in a little bit here. I own a 1730, and I might be able to get a 1530 for a screaming deal as well in a few weeks... probably much too late for your decision to do a side-by-side comparison. Closest I've currently been to a 1530 is an acquaintance of mine showing his off.

Firstly, both notebooks are excellent choices, IMO. Both of them use the same Intel PM965 chipset which use the same processors, so as far as processing power is concerned they're about equal. I believe they both can take up to 8GB RAM, as well.. depending on BIOS version, so if you're looking to throw 8GB in either machine, flash to the latest BIOS. One advantage the 1730 has is the ability to utilize the Core 2 Extreme (X7900 and X9000; X9000 being the better processor) to its fullest potential; the 1730 allows you to overclock these to a maximum of 3.4Ghz.

If portability and running away from a power outlet is any sort of concern at all, the 1530 will win out. The M1730 is big, heavy, and flashy... and the power supply is huge, about the same size as one for the Xbox 360. The 1730's battery life is about 45 minutes to an hour, so you will be tied to a power outlet if you carry it around. I use the backpack specially made for the 1730 to carry it around; my review of it can be found here:

http://www.xps-wiki.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1383

The 1530 has a much better battery life, especially if you get a 9-cell... and is far less weighty. From what I've seen, it's far more portable... a possible boon if you want to take it to classes.

As far as gaming goes, the 1730 wins hands-down. The 1730 uses separate graphics cards, while the 1530 uses an integrated(but very decent) graphics setup. The 1730 can come with the Nvidia: 8700M GT, dual 8700M GT(SLi), dual 8800M GTX(SLi), or the dual 9800M GT(SLi). In my opinion, the 8800M offers the best bang for the buck, and even running with one card disabled has seemed to laugh at everything I've thrown at it. Bioshock works on max with DX10 effects, for example. The downside is the weight and heat put out by these cards, and you definitely need that kind of horsepower to run games well at 1920x1200 resolution. In comparison, the 1530 has an onboard 8600M GT as its highest option, which is just fine for moderate gaming, I think. If you don't need to play Crysis at full settings, the 1530 will prove more than adequate.

The 1730 has some other great features to it; namely the space for two hard drives and the secondary LCD screen; ripped right from the Logitech G15 keyboard, if you've ever used one. G15 apps run on the 1730's LCD just fine. I currently have two 500GB 5400RPM drives in the 1730 as well; so 1TB in a notebook form factor isn't too shabby at all.

As far as sound goes, I'm honestly not sure how either system stacks up. I haven't really heard the 1530 on a loud setting, but it does sound good for a notebook. The 1730's bass response is surprising from its speakers; it's not as good as the earlier 'big XPS' notebooks like the 1710 which had a small integrated sub, but it sounds great. I can actually hear it from across the house on max volume. I have a good set of Bose headphones as well, and listening to music on those is a pleasure. However, when running the 1730 on battery I have noticed that it'll static out when I turn up/down the volume... very annoying.

I'm not 100% sure about reliability on either machine. I know I did hear horror stories about processor/GPU overheating issues on the 1530; something I also need to check into if I'm going to get my hands on one of these. I have heard of GPU failures on M1730s as well, but those are kind of rare... although I did have a dead fan on the 8800M GTX card I bought. I think there's ways to at least mitigate the issues on the 1530; such as getting some decent thermal compound on the GPU and CPU as well. On the 1530 if the GPU goes out the motherboard needs to be replaced, but a 1530's motherboard is far less expensive than the 8800M video cards on the 1730.

Either way you slice it which one you want to get is dependent on what you're going to do with the machine. I don't think you'll go wrong with either one, but consider the circumstances in which you'll be using it, as well. My personal opinion is if you need a lighter, more portable machine and are willing to sacrifice gaming performance and hard drive space, get the 1530. If you're looking for a machine that has better gaming performance and hard drive space and don't mind the hit in size, weight, and battery life, you can't go wrong with the 1730.

Your budget is good enough to get a new 1530, or a well-specced 1730 on the Dell outlet, Feebay, or the occasional for sale post on these forums.

 

hey guys !

i thank you for you answers, that's very nice of you

legendary => i thank you for you time and i think i'll follow your advice to buy a fully loaded M1530 which is, according to you, an easy-carying machine that i could take to college ! (btw i noticed on your review of the xps backpack that you're using your xps 1730 at college, that's cool =) ) so i guess i'll have to sacrifice the gaming part according to you..

=)

 

Not a problem. I haven't started attending school just yet, but I have been bringing my 1730 to work for the past few months. It's definitely manageable,
although it would be a bit of a hassle to walk around with it all day. The pack is also pretty big; netbook-eating jokes aside I'm pretty sure you could carry both a 1530 and a 1730 in it and have space to spare... I've already toted the 1730 as well as my old Thinkpad T21. Since I might be getting a 1530 as a second machine, I'll probably be using that at school unless I'm going to be doing tasks that would benefit from the 1730's X9000 and copious hard drive space(going for a computer science degree, so that will be likely). Unless you're going to be doing heavy coding and virtualization on a regular basis, as far as productivity goes the 1530 will suit you just fine.

Since you have a decent budget, you can also build a 1530 to suit your needs. I'd also go with a hefty warranty as well just in case yours gets damaged while you're at school. Just out of curiosity I built one off of Dell's website; an almost fully loaded 1530(T9300(2.5Ghz, 6MB cache) processor, 4GB RAM, Blu-ray writer, 8600GT... only thing I couldn't get is the 9-cell battery as it wasn't a selectable option) runs $1933 after a pretty hefty sale that's going on right now, and that's including a four-year complete care warranty. If you're looking to pull the trigger now, this would be an excellent deal, and it'd be a completely brand new machine. If you really need it, you can get the T9500 processor with it, but that's almost $300 for just 100Mhz extra clock speed. If you're looking to get a new one, right now's the best time to do it.

 

hey !

i've checked on different websites and here are the different configurations, please tell me what you think about it legendary !

MACBOOK PRO : 2500$

15-inch:
2.66GH
Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB Memory 4GB Memory
320GB hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 256MB


DELL M1530 : 1900$

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9500 (2.6GHz/800Mhz FSB, 6MB Cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1
Midnight Blue
Microsoft Works
2 yr In-home Service after remote diagnosis + Complete Care
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LED LCD (1440x900) & 2.0 M
4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
500GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Slot Load Blu -ray Disc (BD/DVD/CD read/write)
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Sound Card


DELL XPS M1730 : 3,299$ (what's that's so much haha)

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Extreme X9000(2.8GHz/800Mhz FSB/6M L2 Cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-bit
Smoke Grey
No Productivity software pre-installed
3Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz (2 Dimms)
Speed: 500GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) with Free Fall Sensor
CD / DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW Drive)
NVIDIA® SLI™ Dual GeForce® 9800M GT with 1GB GDDR3 Memory
AGEIA PhysX™ 100M Processor
Intel® PRO/Wireless 4965a/g/n Mini Card
85 WHr Lithium Ion Battery (9-cell)
High Definition Audio 2.0


Here are the three I was considering, maybe the Lenovo T400 as well, I don't know what to think...The greatest thing would be a cheap and very used M1730 and not so used M1530 so i could get both for 2500-3000 dollars but i guess i'm dreaming haha =)

 

Hey there. Went ahead and reviewed the specs, and here goes:


As far as the MBP goes, to be completely honest I don't know a whole lot about Macs; I personally wouldn't own one but that's not because of the hardware at all... they're definitely great machines but they're just not my kind of notebook. Sounds like the MBP's specs are pretty much on par with the 1530 you priced, but at a $600 premium... it might have ports/etc that you might find useful or maybe not. I do know that while you can run Windows on a Mac, you'll have to have your own copy in order to do so. Still, it looks like a solid machine with good specs and if you like it more than the 1530, it may be worth the price premium.

The 1530 looks like it's at its max specs, and for the same price as the lower-end version I looked up for you in my previous post. The T9500 was a pretty expensive option and it brought the price brand new(with the good warranty) to a little over $2200... although you have a two-year warranty on this model. I would look into getting a spare 9-cell battery(I've seen Ebay knockoffs go for about $70 or so) if you're planning on doing a lot of running away from an outlet. Otherwise, if you need the portability, the 1530 would by my personal best pick out of the three.

$3300 for a 1730 is pretty exorbitant, to be honest, but the specs for your build are great. I would probably delete the PhysX processor as it's pretty much useless now(Nvidia bought Ageia a little while ago and have released drivers that allow their GPUs to do physics processing), go back down to 4GB of RAM(a single 4GB stick is still insanely expensive, and you have to have matched pairs to take advantage of dual channel; the 6GB in the 1730 will be a 4GB and a 2GB), but other than that the specs are good for a higher-end 1730. If you run into one with the 8800M GTX it might be slightly lower-priced, but the 9800s have only a minor performance edge over it.

Compared to the 1530 and the MBP, the 1730 is leaps and bounds ahead in gaming performance. I don't like to cite benchmark tests as I think they're mostly for bragging rights, but you're talking a 4500 or so 3DMark06 score for the 8600M GT on the MBP and 1530, versus about 12,000 for an 8800M/X9000-equipped M1730. The X9000 does make a bit of a difference, but not as much as you'd think. With my old 8700M GT, I got a score of 5030 with my old 2.2Ghz T7500... same setup with the X9000 at stock speeds hit 5500 or so... decent increase, but not as drastic as the 8800M.

The price, however... you can do a hell of a lot better if you find one used(preferably with some warranty left). I built my 1730 from a low-end one I bought off Craigslist for $1200(have $2800 into it total, though), and I've seen some recent for sale posts(sold now, though) that had well-specced 1730s for $1500-2000. If you were looking at going for a dual-notebook configuration, a 1730 could be the perfect compact DTR for your dorm(if you're going into one) and if you got one for the right price a smaller business/mainstream notebook or even a netbook could be a handier one to have in class. If you wanted something bigger and used with light gaming ability, you might be able to pick up something like a used Thinkpad T60... just a thought, but if you're really itching for a 1730 that might be a way to go. Keep in mind that you can build a desktop that outperforms an M1730 for far less money... you pay a premium for a notebook that can handle all the current games with all the eye candy turned on.

Also, you can save some serious money if you're willing to upgrade it yourself. I can give you some good tips if you want to go through this yourself, but you run the risk of voiding your warranty. If you haven't jumped into a desktop and upgraded/built one it's going to be a learning experience, but it can be done.

Either way you cut it, it's some pretty good hardware. Cliffs notes are:

MBP: Don't know much about Macs, don't personally like them, but sounds like comparable specs to the 1530 listed below. If you're itching for a Mac, it'd be a good machine.

1530: Great price for the specifications. As portable as the MBP, although get the extended battery if you're away from an outlet.

1730: Ridiculous price, you can find them for much less if you don't mind used. Specs are killer. If you want one, find one for a lot less scratch and get yourself a more portable notebook to use on the go.


Edit: It's late and I'm kinda tired... I didn't realize the MBP comes with the 9600M GT. I'm not sure how much performance difference there is between the earlier 8600M GT, but I will say this: The 9800M GT in the 1730 is simply a slightly boosted version of the 8800M GTX, so I'm taking a shot in the dark and assuming(I could very well be wrong, though) that the same applies for the difference between the 8600M and 9600M. I can't say for sure either way, as I'm coming from the M1730 side of the fence on this one.