M1210, you happy now?

i believe a lot of M1210 users that have BSOD problems and/or sound problems are equipped with the A/V package. I think something is faulty with this tool.

I know I'll love the notebook. And for the people who said "I wish this was thinner around 1 inch"

if that were so, then you'd be complaining about not having an optical drive and 4 USB ports.

The Dell XPS M1210 is all about compromises... and it does it well.

 

another question to the one's who have vista on their m1210...how come our vista versions are for x86 32bit versions...should it be 64bit ?
i have ultimate btw

 

I have Vista Ultimate 32bit edition.

You can install Vista 64bit if you have a Core 2 Duo processor; but I think DELL ships 32bit installed mostly due to compatibility issues. Even Vista 32bit still has some issues, so why ship a 64bit version which has even poor driver and application support to make things even worse? IMO 64bit Windows OSs still have a long way to go before they become widely used.

 

Srceen is horrible for me. Had to get an external monitor

Now i am getting problems after problems. But hey thats just me. I always have issues with computers! :<

 

Holliswhy -

If you still have warranty get that thing REPLACED! tell them that it's affecting your work and you need it replaced immediately.

 

If you are having that many problems Holliswhy check into a replacement or repair that sounds bad. I am going to hold off on my happyness rating until I use it a little more but first impressions are pretty good. Now the software loading and testing should begin. Can you get the Vista upgrade but not install it yet? Mine is eligible for business vista but I am scared vista is too new for my liking. One other thing is the McAfee any good that is on the machine 15 months paid for but I did not like McAfee last time I used it.

 

I got my M1210 a week ago, and I love this little notebook! I have Vista and the AV package, so I also experienced the same choppy sound problem many of you have. It's very annoying as no matter what I do, playing games, movies or songs, the sound would skip every minite or so, and it seemed like something was lagging behind. Some people suggested it was a conflict between the audio driver and webcam driver. So I played around with the settings for both, but nothing helped!
Then I found out someone mentioned it was the wireless card, so I disabled the wireless a band. And it WORKED!!! no more skipping sound. I don't care a bit about disabling the a band, since I only use g and n.
Now the M1210 is working perfectly in every way. It's the best notebook in its class right now. I'm very happy

 

me too love mine

 

With Vista installed the m1210 is almost perfect. The frozen black screen before the OS loads is gone and the drivers works perfectly unlike MCE. The only problem I've had so far is IE7 and media center problem randomly crashing after resizing the window.

 

Bump. A lot of people looking for this.

 

just curious how u disable the a band?!

 

How is this done?

 

Control Panel -> Device Manager, then under Network adapters, double click the Wireless card, on the window that opens up, select the Advanced tab. Now you should see many options under Property, select "Disable Bands", and finally choose "Disable 802.11a" under Value.

BTW, this is for the Dell wireless n card driver, so I don't know if it works for the other wireless cards.

Hope this helps.

 

thanks!!...i have the N card so I will give it a go.......thanks again!!!

 

Perfect in every way..the only issue that I have faced is color fade on the palmrests...Other than that, I am perfectly happy with the notebook....

 

I used to be in love with mine.
Two problems in two days. I'm not rough at all with my notebooks but the left headphone jack lost a piece of plastic from its outer edge which in turn "disabled" the onboard speakers. I say "disabled" because with the plastic gone the input believes that there is a speaker/headphone always plugged in.
Problem two, my backspace key has failed. Feels like the spring(?) is shot.
I'm under complete care so it should all work out. Other than that, wow I loved my notebook for months and months. Light weight, fast, durable, etc etc......

 

Well, I've had my m1210 for about 2 weeks now and so far it does what I want it to do. The processing speed is as expected, excellent for all my basic needs with regards to word processing and spreadsheets. It does well also for my entertainment needs, a bit of light gaming (FEAR), movie watching (DVR), and listening to music.

However the screen I received, a toshiba, is terrible. You have to look at it at the exact right angle or else it will begin to fade. Even at the right angle the colors are not as vibrant as they should be (compared to my friend's AUO screen on her 630m).

As well, whenever I use vista (I've got xp and vista dual booted) there is a constant high pitched whine coming from what I assume is the processor. When using XP, the high pitched whine is only on occasionally.

Overall I am satisfied with the notebook for now. If further problems arise I will take advantage of my complete care warranty. As for now I just don't see the hassle in having to send in the notebook and wait for them to either fix the problems, or send me a refurbished unit.

Toppy.

 

Pros:
- Great size and weight
- Awesome battery life
- Ability to play games at respectable settings

Cons:
- I absolutely hate the ultra reflective screen, all I see most of the time is the wall behind me. Unfortunately the matte finish is not an option.

Performance should be listed among the pros, however Dell see only fit to install Vista now it has been released, and even with all of the bloatware removed, it often only crawls along. The problem is with the OS so performance does not score a negative, but I can't say for my machine with 1 GB RAM that its a pro.

 

I'm upgrading from a 700m and I must say that I absolutely love the M1210. It has all the improvements that I was looking for over my old "m". I purchased it through the Dell Outlet with a 3-year warranty for $1608 plus tax and free 2-day shipping because they messed up my D420 order.

I love the overall build quality of the computer and the it is impossible to tell that this one is a refurb. I'm going to really load test it however, just to make sure it'll go the distance.

I'm so much happier with this unit over the D420 I returned, but I guess they shouldn't be really held in the same category. The battery life is almost identical to my 700m, but with so much more available power.

Just as a side note, the computer came with Vista Premium, but I just couldn't take it and went back to XP Pro. Also, the new 160gb 7200rpm drive seems to be just as fast as my old Travelstar 7.2 I had in my 700m.

 

I just received my 1210 yesterday. Very nice machine but it has vista on it. I've gotten about 15 'bluescreen' errors while using it for only 4 hours. It seems not to want to do a complete shutdown when you do a normal shutdown. I had to remove the battery pack to shutdown the OS. I believe and heard that there is a vista incompatibility with the 1210.

I've talked to others that had this same problem and when they reinstall XP Pro SP2 the problems go away and the machine works fine and is in fact alot faster than with vista.

Did you just reinstall XP Pro SP2 over vista or did you do a clean install?

Jim

 

Would you mind explaining why you are happier with the m1210 vs. the D420?

I'm considering one or the other (leaning towards the D420 due to less weight) and I'd love to hear comments from someone that has owned & used both. Thanks!

 

^ wow, still haven't made a decision yet? Let's be honest. People are different. The reasons he likes it may not be the same reasons you'd like it. If I were you, I'd just purchase the one that you were leaning to the most (D420) since you don't need discrete graphics and optical drive anyways. When you get it, see if the 4200 rpm harddrive is too slow for you, or the intel core duo ultra low voltage is too slow for you, or you feel like you need discrete graphics. If it is, return it for a Dell XPS M1210. That's the only way you'll find out for yourself which you should go with.

and yes, you can exchange it without having to pay restocking fee.

Good luck soundsgood. Choose a computer already will ya!?

 

Well, to be honest, my stalling is being done on purpose.

Now that I know Santa Rosa is almost here, I'm hesitant to buy a current model. I don't really need a new computer yet -- my current laptop works great. I just like getting new toys. But the smart thing to do (for me) is to wait.

 

Heh. With all the talk about the M1210 makes me want to get one. Seriously if I was in the market for an ultra-portable my first choice would likely be the XPS M1210.

 

Ha! Me too!

If it weighed 4 lbs with the extended battery (instead of 5 lbs) I would already own one.


EDIT: oops, I meant to say "If it weighed 3 lbs with the extended battery (instead of 5 lbs) I would already own one."

 

I went ahead and did a clean install of XP Pro. I deleted the Diagnostic and Restore partitions and created 3 new partitions. One for MediaDirect, one for the OS, and one for all my data, so if I reinstall I can do so without losing my data.

 

The unit I purchased had the 1.2 Dual Core, 2GB ram (which is actually 2.5GB, but the unit is not capable of addressing over 2GB) and the 80GB 4200 hard drive.

The D420 was an excellent business laptop and it certainly both thin and light. I loved the size and the ULV processor. It can certainly be considered more of a ultra-portable than the M1210. Excellent build quality as well.

The computer was by no means slow, but was comparable to my 2 year old 700m with a Travelstar 7.2k drive and 2.0ghz pentium M. The battery life was excellent (I saw about 8 hrs) with the extended battery, but I had a serious problem with it sticking out the front instead of the back. Also, coming from the glossy screen on my 700m to the matte on the D420, the screen did not seem as vivid. I also had the Mediabay option with DVDRW, but I did not get enough of a chance to really travel around with it. (It is a good idea in theory)

The bottom line was that my 700m has been a great laptop and I couldn't justify getting rid of it for the D420. It definitely has its benefits (read: 3.8lbs and about a inch thick), but I am not a true business user so it wasn't what I was looking for.

The M1210 on the other hand has basically every revision that I was looking for on my 700m. Nvidia graphics card, integrated bluetooth, dual core 2.0ghz, magnetic latch, full-size keyboard, integrated multi-card reader (as opposed to only SD), 4-USB ports, all while maintaining similar battery life.

 

Nie write-up, sc. Thanks very much!

 

I wonder if the M1210 is able to upgrade to the Santa Rosa stuff.... I might be interested in the Turbo Memory card.

 

The M1210 uses the Intel 945 chipset, and Santa Rosa will use the 965 set. They are not compatible. I don't think you'll be able to upgrade the graphics either.

Santa Rosa is almost here...if you don't need a new notebook, wait. HP, Dell, Alienware, Asus...all of them will have SR notebooks.

 

I am not too happy with the current M1210 because it is faulty, but I am happy with how Dell XPS support dealt with my problems. To cut the long story short, my M1210 has flickering and buzzing LCD problems. Mailed the unit 3 times, problem remains. On-site tech replaced the LCD, same problem again after 2 weeks. Dell finally decided to replace my notebook with a new one.. is that good or not?

 

Just out of curiosity, with the specs as revealed on the upcoming 1420 w/8400GS, would you folks go for the slightly larger 1420 or still go for the M1210?

 

I'd personally go with the m1330

 

So Would I.........but it may mean taking out a second mortgage!! That's why I asked about the 1420 vs the M1210, which is now quite affordable as it is being phased out! The 8400GS should be a little more powerful than the 7400 in the M1210.

 

The 8400m is a nice boost but honestly both will run games like crap. M1210s are getting damn cheap (850ish, 200 less than I paid ) at dell outlet now and it's a great deal. Santa Rosa isn't much of importance. The 12" form factor is kick ass and the XPS build quality is top notch.

 

i bought a nice configed 1420 on saturday. Im wondering if i should cancel and pick an outlet xps1210 up. and then just build my 700$ desktop.

hmmmm. i like the look and feel of the 1210, im just not sure.

help!

 

I love my M1210, I use it for both Work and School, and the small size is perfect, however I have a 20 inch monitor at home if I need the space. Even with the 7400 and shared mameory I play Counterstrike Source and Wow with ease. I get 60 fps on Wow with all setting on high, and AA turned off. I am not sure how the build of the new 1420 are, but the 1210 feels extremely solid, especially compared to my previous Inspiron 1100 and 700m.

 

Im glad there are happy m1210 owners here that feel the same as I used to with their M1210. It is a very nice machine if your lucky enough to get one without problems as so many of here did.

Problems associated with this system though first begin with the inherrant squeal so many of these seem to have. Right now I sit here at 5 in the morning typing and my wife knows Im on the PC because of this squeal which she can here 3 rooms away. It is a prob they have been trying to fix since it come out and, well, with me has resulted in endless visits by XPS Tech support, endless phone conversation, tons of parts deliveries and the replacement of 3 motherboards, 2 fans w/ heatsink, 3 hard drives, 2 dvdrws, and 2 batteries.

In Canada, this model is no longer avail to home consumers and there is talk that its on its way out. In fact, Dell had granted me a new m1210 replacement which was stopped in the manufacturing process; they are replacing that with a M1330 as you can see in my sig block.

Another issue associated with this model has to do with the 3945 Wifi; it doesnt turn on with the system sporadically. Again, the issue doesnt seem to be the adapter, but rather the mixture of ingredients as a whole. Simply, when you start the system, it may not turn on at times forcing a restart which can be frustrating...

As for the squeal, there are lots and lots of owners here that are beyond frustration:

There are 21 pages where you will here of people being granted new replacements with the same squeal so grab a java if you want the read.

http://www.dellcommunity.com/suppor...rd.id=xps_port_genhdw&message.id=10341#M10341

It is more or less a journal of my probs with this m121o.

As for the 3945....again grab a coffee as it is 12 pages long...

http://www.dellcommunity.com/suppor...hread.id=28391&view=by_date_ascending&page=12