Help, unsure about the 1520

I put together a nice 1520 at dells site for $1300 (gotta love those coupons), but all of the noise issues are kind of scaring me since the majority of time I listen to music it's on my computer. I really like the Dell because of the price, but the sound problems are scaring me away. I'm looking at the Sager NP2090 which will cost a bit more then the dell, but has some better components and no music issues.

Ugh, the screwed up sound is a pretty big deal breaker right now! I know you can buy the USB based ones, but the base jack should work out of the box

What do you guys think? Obviously there will be Dell bias, but I need to order a laptop within the next week or so for college.

Thanks!

 

From what i hear its really not the headphone jack that's the problem, its the cruddy earbuds that come with the computer. I got a pair of creative earbuds when i bought my mp3 players and they are really low quality, so you shouldn't have a problem if you use your own. I just bought a nice bluetooth head set so i'm ready either way

 

Have you have the bluetooth in your hands yet (and have used it) or are you still waiting? If it works with bluetooth then I could go for that.

 

Well I read that big thread and many of those folks said the noise was still there using Sennheiser buds. I work at Sennheiser New Mexico. We don't make earphones here. Mainly build wireless G2 devices, Microphones, SK body packs and EM tuners. But I own several headphones from Sennheiser and its good stuff. If people are saying Sennheisers are having the static noises etc.. then I would stay clear of the 1520 until more testing and information comes forward. Or maybe Dell redesigns the MOBO to fix this issue. From the poll there were more people saying there was a issue then those that did not hear it. But the fact that people are sendng back their laptops because of this raises a red flag. I'm just glad I ordered the 1420. I really have not heard many complaints about that model. But I have heard more complaints about display issues, sound, and GPU issues with the 1520. Plus people say its heavy/bulky for its screen size. Maybe this is all nothing but I would probably not buy the 1520 if I were in the market for a 15".

 

i must say, the buzzing sounds are quite annoying if you focus on it, but my last notebook had earphone sounds as well so i don think it's that big a deal

 

i have the bluetooth headset in my hands but not the laptop. I have the Motorola H280 and it works great on my brother's ps3, and i am 100% sure it will work on my laptop once i get it.

 

I'll tell you right now...I had a 1520 and used high end sennheisers. Guess what? The sennheisers are such good quality that they easily pick up all interference...somebody above blamed the creative earbuds that come with the laptop for being bad. That simply is not true! These are tuned to especially pick up on the higher frequencies...and you know what I did in the end? I returned my 1520...I couldn't deal with the sound issues...I am a pretty avid music listener and trust me there are lots of complaints on the 1520 about this sound issue.

 

My K26P is difinitely not "low quality". If you need to listen to music on 1520, USB audio or external DAC is a must ATM. I suggest OP to wait.

 

Good to know. Personally I use an MP3 player and don't intend to use my laptop for songs or movies in quiet places. I wonder what Dell will have to say about this issue.

 

try the dell bluetooth headset its really good, nice crisp sounds, good base and no noise interference

 

Try reading my review, Might give you a better understanding. Personally I dont think the 1520 is a good machine and I am returning mine. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=143959

 

If you listen to music a lot on your laptop then the: X-Fi XtremeMusic with Dolby 5.1 Express Card ( http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=eep&cs=6007&sku=A1164635 ) it's a must.The regular sound card even if it would work great is far away from the HiFi you will get with the best sound card ever been made.
You can order it when you configure the system, so from my point of view the problem with the sound it's solved for $75 extra but it worth it.

The difference you can see it on DELL's site: http://www.dell.com/content/learnmo...audio&~lt=popup&~series=inspn&ref=CFG&ref=CFG