My 1330 arrived. First thoughts.

Well, guys, yesterday I received my 1330. It's a nice machine, but I still don't know which one to keep. I also have the laptop in the signature.

The only thing that I don't like at Vostro 1500 is its weight. I have the 9 cell battery and that laptop IS HEAVY. Besides that, no complains. None.

The things that I don't like at the 1330 are the crapy viewing angles of the AU Optronics display, the 80-82 degrees Celsius of the 8400M GS vid card when gaming Simcity Deluxe 4 (the 8600M GT on the Vostro never reached more than 50 even when gaming anything) and the LOW resolution. Compared to the 1680x1050 this 1280x800 is really SMALL. I had this resolution before the 1680x1050, but it didn't bother me at all. Now it seems it's too small, but I'm sure it's because I got used to the big one.

Conclusion: I would keep the 1330 if it wasn't for the heat/video/mobo card issues that it has. I have 2 weeks to think about which one I'm keeping.

P.S. Does your laptop's plastic smell? It's a powerful smell of cheap plastic. It smells in my entire room.

 

Nope, my laptop does not smell. You have to understand that the heat in the vostro 1500 gets cooled much quicker due to the higher airflow. The m1330 is much smaller and therefore gets much hotter.

 

I used the 1330 and loved it. It's a bit small for my taste but I thought it was a great laptop.

 

Yeah, I know bigger means better cooling, but I also know that the 1330 HSF cooling method it's no good. It shouldn't cool 3 chips all by itself.

One thing I also noticed is that the Hitachi drive I had in the Vostro 1500 runs a little bit cooler than the WD that came with the M1330. Both are 160 GB, but the Hitachi is 7200rpm, whereas the WD is 5400rpm. That's a little strange, the 7200rpm is cooler than the 5400 rpm one.

 

i'm no expert in laptops but i have seen and used both (don't own them but friends) and i personally think the dell XPS m1330 is better in terms of portabilty.

but it really comes down to what you need in the end. for me, its portabilty but if you need comfort and more performance over the small size then i think the vostro may be better.

PS, if you don't like the heating issues could you add a cooling stand or something? or is it just too uncomfortable on your lap etc. also, will attaching an external monitor do the job? or does the resolution stay the same on the new screen

 

I am thinking about modding the HSF. The laptop stays on my desk most of the time. I'm worried about having heat problems (mobo dying) later due to the high GPU temperatures.

As for the display resolution "problem", I think I can get used to it in 2-3 days. I don't want to use an external display.

 

It helps to use full screen when web browsing.

 

If the laptop stays on your desk most of the time, why not keep the [better] Vostro 1500? Runs cooler, higher-res LCD...your complaint about weight seems moot if it's mostly on your desk.

Are you in a position that both laptops are returnable, and you need to decide which one to keep?

 

That makes the M1330 a redundant purchase. Keep the Vostro.

 

I agree with L.Rawlins. The benefit of a thin and light m1330 is that you can easily travel around with it. If you are going to leave it on your desk, certainly go with a desktop replacement.

 

None of the laptops is returnable. I was talking about selling one of them because there's no way I'm keeping both.

I'm about to go to Euro 2008 (soccer championship) and I think I might carry the M1330 and see how it feels. Maybe after that I'll decide.

P.S. Three flips of a coin said to keep the M1330.

 

Congrats on the decision and welcome to the club!

 

What I meant to say was that when I'm in the house I rarely find myself with the laptop on my lap, so the heat wouldn't bother me. It's not the heat itself that I'm "scared" of, it's the damage it can do after some time.

Thanks Booji! But I'm not 100% in the club. The 1330 has to do convince me more that it deserves to ramain with me.

 

Well, it looks like I got the best HS Dell installs on its M1330. I don't know if it's a Sunon fan or something else, but I really am happy to see the best (if I can call them like this) heat spreaders that Dell delivers.