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Hi Everyone
Just joined the forum and hope to be able to contribute to the collective. 've recently bought a XPS M1530 and having already written a personal review I thought I'd share it here as my first post.
So here is my review and my thoughts and whether I made the right decision!
Before I start the reason for buying a laptop is I've just started a job that will mean I'm going to be away 1 or 2 nights each week. I therefore needed a laptop both for work, watching movies and maybe the odd bit of gaming.
I choose the Dell because of various reviews and the discount I could get (6% employee scheme, plus 10% off with a discount code from hotdeals).
Main details on the spec are (I upgraded a few things)
Core 2 Duo 2.2Ghz, 800mhz and 4mb cache (Upgrade)
15.4 Ultrasharp Widescreen WSXGA+ (1680x1050) TFT with truelife (Upgrade)
2gig RAM 667mhz
Nvidia Geforce Go 8600m GT
250gig Hard Drive
XPS 9 Cell Battery (Upgrade)
DVD Writer
Remote Control
HDMI Connector, 3 x USB, 8 in 1 card writer
Vista Home Premuim
Biometric Finger Print Security
The total list price was just about £1000, with discounts I got it for £879 delivered. I was happy with that as the standard model is £849 plus delivery. I ordered it on the 16th Jan with a delivery date of the 29th Jan, it arrived on the 23rd Jan - a nice early surprise!
Build Quality / Usability
Initial impressions are really good. The laptop feels study and the screen feel nicely solid. I went for the Black model and it looks nice with the silver keyboard. I do notice that my finger prints on the front black cover are noticeable, however I tend not to look at the back of the screen much!
The widescreen means that Dell can fit a full size keyboard, which I must admit has been great and make typing so much easier and quicker, plus I don't need to squeeze my fingers together for WASD gaming.
It comes with its own sleeve which is handy for short trips but no really useful when I have a laptop bag.
I'm not sure whether my decision to upgrade the battery was a good idea. The larger battery means it essentially raises the back by about an inch, rather than lying flat. However a possbile bonus is that the effect is similar to the legs on a keyboard and the increased airflow may help keep it a bit cooler, time will tell.
Oh and it looks very very cool
Weight - just under 3kg. This isn't an issue for me.
Overall 8/10
Performance
Office Work
With the upgraded Core 2 this is a swift as any desktop with standard MS Office Programmes. Just what I need when I'm switching between programmes.
The decision to go for the 1600x1050 screen is both good and bad. It does mean I can see a lot more of spreadsheets, however it is rather small on a 15.4 inch screen. If you have bad eyesight this might be a pain.
The screen is nice and bright with the mains on, again a positive. It does dim a bit too much on battery for working, I expect I can fix this by turning off some power saving options.
I do have the sammy screen and it looks perfectly good to me. When using office applications I can tell a bit of difference when comparing it to my desktop monitor, the white background is less white on the M1530. However I have no issue at all with it being grainy.
The left handside of the keyboard when my left palm rests does warm up quickly. Not too hot that its uncomfortable, but I'm not sure I could spend all day working on it. The touch pad also gets warm and isn't the best, you will need a separate mouse for prolonged use.
Score - 7/10 (mainly due to the heat issue)
Multimedia
This comes with both Windows Media Centre and Dell Media Direct. They appear to be exactly the same except you can directly access the Dell Media from a button next to the power on. This is really handy for quick access to Dell Media Direct, however I do prefer Windows so this function is wasted on me for the time being. Shame.
The little remote control is handy (stores in the PC Expansion Slot) and can be used with both Media Direct and Media Centre.
I transferred some Standard and HD files to it and the quality of play back is very impressive. Handles HD films like a knife through butter. I'm definitely pleased I upgraded the screen for this reason alone.
With the HDMI connector I have also connected it up to my HDTV in my lounge. The quality is superb and a real bonus that I'm beginning to realise will that I'm going to get a lot more out of this latop than I ever realised.
Score 9/10
Gaming
This is where my decision to go for 1600x1050 could really bite me in the ass! Running anything less that native resolution on a lappy really reduces the quality. The extra demand this screen makes on the 8600m could be just too much.
I like to play FPS and RTS games mostly and my home systems scores a 3DMark 06 mark of 10500 (GF 8800 GT). Therefore I wasn't expecting that much from this, even though the M8600 GT is one of the higher laptop graphics cards. The 3DMark 06 score came in at 3846, which I was quite (pleasently) surprised as my old home PC that I had just upgrade which had a AMD 4600 x2 and GF 7800 GTX and that scored around 4500.
What does this mean though!
So far I've tried HalfLife 2 Episode 2, with medium/high setting and can get 30-40 FPS. Turning on Vertical Sync which is a must for me reduces this to around 20-25 which is absolutely fine.
Team Fortress 2 - 30-60 FPS - again fine.
I'm going to try Company of Heroes later and willl post the results.
I then might even try Crysis....... meltdown I expect.
So looks like I'm going to be able to play the games I like no probs, older games will perform even better. If my main reason for this Laptop was gaming then I think I would of gone for the standard widescreen option (1400x900) as the performance benefits would mean greater FPS.
Addition - Last night I tried a tip that I was given to play games at a reduced resolution but still keep the detail of running the laptop in its native resolution. Within the Nvidia control panel I changed the option in the 'Change flat panel scaling' section to 'Do not Scale'. So when I play games and select a lower resolution, say 1280 by 800 the screen is reduced in size but retains the detail of native resulotion (therefore no loss of detail) and requires less processing power so greater FPS! Only down side is the reduced screen size.
Score 8.5 / 10
Summary
I'm 95% sure I've made the right decision on a lappy that meets the needs
This really is a fantastic piece of kit. It looks great, performs great and I can carry it around in my shoulder bag. It really can do everything and could easily perform as the Hub of my home entertainment.
The heat issue for longterm Office use is its only negative point, but I also think this would be an issue for any other similar spec lappy.
If you are looking for an around laptop then I wouldn't hesitate in recommending the Dell M1530.
Overall 8.5 / 10
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WoW !! Great Review Bro and Welcome to NBR and XPS M1530 Proud Owners club !!
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ok
You still like it?
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Yep as I wrote personally I think the screen is fine. Might not be the best but I used 8 hours a day and don't have any issues and when playing movies or games then it looks as good as any other screen - in my opinion of course!
I do think that sometimes** when people are told about a problem then they automatically look for it. It wasn't until I read about the 1530 screen that I realised some people weren't happy, and that led me to look a little closer.
As I said I'm a heavy 1530 user (mostly work) and have no issues at all with the screen. Interesting I've never had compliments about a laptop before but since using the 1530 a number of people have commented in it. They don't notice any problems!
**I don't mean everyone and nor am I indicating the problem doesn't exist! -
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My Personal Dell M1530 Review
Discussion in 'Dell' started by marchudman, Feb 20, 2008.
