Inspiron 13, XPS M1330, Studio XPS 13, Vostro 1320 or Vostro 1310? Please help! too much choice.

Hello guys, im looking for a laptop for cegep,
buget is arround 1k, canadian
the most important aspects i have are good keyboard and battery life, the rest is just plusses.
im not sure if i want a graphic card in it, as it would just eat battery life and i would get nothing much out of it, since i have no plans in gaming with it.
i will be, however massively watching movies, and streaming movies (99.9% of the web, not dvd player) would that need a dedicated graphic card?
i would also like to know which are the best in terms of :
price,
screen quality,
build quality,
weight,
which ones have the same keyboard,
current known issues,
and are they any rumors or known news of any updates of any of these models in the next 6 months worth waiting for?

ive also bought a m1330 a few months back, but since i had some issues with school, i had to return it and delay my purchase to this year.
the laptop was getting extremely hot, like not even possible to put on my lap kind-of hot. is that issue fixed?

sorry for the essay guys, thanks for reading and helping me, its much appreciated.

ps: please post anything you feel would help me into making my decision.

 

Hey there!

I think based on all of your questions above, it would best best if you filled out the FAQ here, and then posted here



Cin

 

hey, thanks for your input, i did post there, but since i now i almost restricted my choice to one of those laptops, i thought it would be nice posting it here, ill add a link to other topic if anyone wants additional information

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=368859

 

Here's the lowdown:

Inspiron 13: Cheapest of the bunch. Totally plastic, construction seems decent enough, not a fan of the pure silver body - seems like the silver could rub off in the future.
XPS M1330: Issues with the dedicated video card (heating). Stay away if you want dedicated graphics. Fairly lightweight, nice aluminum construction. Slot loading drive is a pain (but then again, most are). Quite expensive.
Studio XPS 13: Too expensive imo, looks decent enough. A lot of complaints with the QA and engineering thus far. Check out the "SXPS 13 Horry Thead" in the Dell section of the forum for comments.
Vostro 1320: Not released yet. Little info thus far.
Vostro 1310: Business class 13". Very cheap to buy. Heavier alternative to the other 13"ers. Black and square design.

If you're looking at 13" laptops, try taking a look at the Lenovo Ideapad line. Some great alternatives to Dell.

Hope this helps!

 

thanks for your input im writing everything people post down so that i have as much information as possible when im ready to buy

 

You should peruse the Dell XPS forum..there are specific threads dedicated to the XPS 1340, the 1330 Also, visit the Inspiron/Studio forum..there is a Inspiron 13 forum thread I believe, and the same with the Dell Latitude/Vostro/Precision forum!

Cin

 

bump


10 char

 

I'll be putting up my SXPS13 review today or tomorrow, keep an eye out for that.

Some noticeable things:
- Mine came in extremely good quality, no problems with the physical... no wobble, no dents, only a small scratch on the leather (this was a refurbished laptop).
- The initial Vista install was slow and crashing. I reformatted and have no issues yet.
- The screen is bright! Although the color temp is a little cool.
- Battery life stinks (~3 hours on power saver, ~1 on high perf... I could've sworn my old 17" had similar battery characteristics).
- It's hot. Really hot.
- Hardy Heron doesn't play well with it. I will wait to see if Jaunty plays better with it.

Some other thoughts:
- I didn't go with the Inspiron or Vostro 13" because they were heavy and ugly, IMO. Also, I wanted an aluminum unibody (hey, why not)

 

Well, me personally I love my SXPS13, the screen is incredible, its light, very fast, the aluminum body feels good, its sturdy, and the keyboard is awesome and back lit. However you mentioned battery life, and while its ok for me (2-3 hrs.) if you go with this laptop you might want to get the extended battery.

You also mentioned heat with your last laptop, and I find alot of people complain about that with the xps13. Personally this laptop doesn't feel any warmer than anyother laptop I've owned in the past, so maybe I've just owned warm laptops and have gotten used to it, or newer laptops run cooler and this one runs the same heat wise, so it feels hot by comparison. But its still lapable (replying right now with it on my lap)

As far at some of the other things you mentioned (which has the best...?), screen, build, and keyboard (because its backlit) go to the SXPS13, price Inspiron, and weight I'm not sure about. I would definately recommend this laptop.

 

I don't get how the heating works. For the most part mine is cool, but at one point I actually touched the fan area and burned my finger on it. It's random, really.

 

Avoid the Inspiron 13 & XPS M1330 because the inspiron 13 is made of rather cheap plastic and the m1330 suffers from overheating.

 

I think you should consider the latitiude e6400. You can get a good one thru the outlet and they come with a 3 year warranty. The battery life is really good.