Received my UK 1530 today, is going back to Dell

A few ppl asked if I'd post when I received my 1530.

I received it today, I was hopeful that it would be a good one. Sadly not, so back to Dell it will go. I understand that Dell will only ship a refurb as a replacement, so it will have to go for a refund. I may re-order, though my backup plan of an Asus G1S is becoming more tempting.

The main problem is (predictably) the screen. I opted for WXGA, the screen in my unit is a CPT141F. It has a reputation for dead pixels and severe backlight bleed and colour washout and my example has this in abundance.

Over half the screen is flooded by backlight bleed and viewing angle degradation is pronounced.
Ironically it does not seem to be affected by grain, though the gloss laminate surface does have a pronounced ripple, but only visible when off.

In addition to the screen, the HDD caddy does not sit flush with the chassis. The power button has no tactile click when pushed, it just flexes inward until the unit powers on. Minor issues and ignorable if not for the screen.

Disapointing as I had looked forward to this, it is a beautiful piece of design marred by it's build. It looks stunning in the flesh, the pics do not do it justice. The main chassis is well built and of high quality. The non-structural plastics and switchgear seem cheap however.

Accessories wise I can confirm the UK spec comes with the leather document waller, slip-case for the 1530, earbuds, remote and cleaning cloth.

So, if you're lucky enough to get a good one, I think it's a great machine.

I'm heading over to the Asus section to read up on a G1S!

 

This is insane, how can they have such horrific quality control issues? Or is this forum just filled with some unlucky and or highly picky people and the return rate is far lower than it would seem?

I had been interested in the G1S until i saw one at a store, i was suprised how ugly it was, and for me at least 1680x1050 is too small on a 15.4" screen and on the G1S it would not let me choose any other widescreen format.

 

I would not class myself as picky, I'll usually let small things go, but this unfortunatley is just too bad. Guess I'm unlucky.

Yes I'd rather the lower res on the G1S and the looks are a little bit dated, but as far as I can make out the quality is very good.

 

Thanks for posting super-twisted..It is indeed disappointing that there are so many issues with the screen on your laptop and hope everything gets sorted.

 

That sucks, must be very disappointing.

I still think actually the vast majority of people are satisfied. People are much more likely to make a complaint than they are to stop by and post that everything is great. Plus, these forums make people hyper sensitive. It's happened to me. Now I'm hyper sensitive. I will be scrutinizing my XPS when it comes...with a microscope. If I see one blemish at 1000 magnification, I'm returning it and screaming "bloody hell". Thanks a lot, dude.

 

I was hoping it was more hysteria than fact, especially since my wife's Inspiron is fine.

Sadly not.

Like I said, I'm not excessively picky, but the screen on this one is just so bad.

 

Thanks for sharing super-twisted. The screen is indeed the index of a laptop and ones your eyes are on the problem, then we can never use the laptop peacefully.
BTW Are you sure that the replacement is always refursbished. I have gone through couple of replacements but they never looked like a refurbished to me (though the problem of screen\headphone noise did persist
As sonicwind states "these foruns do make readers hyper sensitive" and I have scanned my lappy in a nanoscope for any kind of scratch\abuse and was happily unsuccessful.
Anyway, good luck with your hunt for a new laptop...

 

I think that it sounds like there are many defective laptops because when someone does get a defective laptop they look up these awesome forums for help and advice... but it is a bit scary seeing the amount of users with screen problems.

Hopefully mine will be OK (fingers crossed), I will post when it arrives.
Cheers.

 

you guys have such myopic vision. for every 1 person who takes the time to register on a forum and ***** about their computer, there are LITERALLY THOUSANDS of Dell customers who have perfect notebooks. They're just not here airing their complaints on an anonymous forum, they're surfing other sites happy with their machines.

 

I believe the replacement that you will get (if it's in the first 21 days) will be brand new and not refurbished. Ask Dell to make sure.

 

Is this statement true? If so, I am about to be very disappointed...

 

Assuming you have a Dell which arrived in good condition does not mean that people with complaints are delusional. My eyes literally hurt to look at my screen. Also the speakers were DOA on my unit. Don't state opinion as fact.

 

I'm not sure if you're addressing me directly NotobookYoozer. In my own case at least, I'd like to think I've registered on this forum to exchange information with like-minded grown ups. I am sure there are many satisfied Dell customers, I indeed am one of them - my wife's 1520 is perfect.
This post is for the benefit of other UK owners who may appreciate an evalulation of a UK made machine. Had my machine not had the poor screen, you would have seen me post singing it's praises.
I find that for every tech forum, that for every thousand users happy to provide help and info, there is at least 1 who is generally offensive and has nothing of worth to say.

ThePug - that's interesting, I shall be logging my return with Dell tomorrow so will ask them about it then. If they can guarantee me a new build I will opt for a replacement.

ExPeeEss - will update on my progress tomorrow.

 

what Im confused about is if the OP knew the WXGA screen is of poor quality why they didn't upgrade ? the WXGA+ is only £35 more.

Suggest you read up on Asus battery life, some models have a fault that misreports the condition of the battery, other models are power hogs that only get about an hours battery life..

Whatever you decide to do, good luck!

 

I'm not sure I understand what you mean? I knew there was an issue with Dell screens, but I had hoped I would get a reasonable one. I have gathered that the 1280x800 are the least likely to have problems.

Aside from that I want my native res to be a low as possible for games.

Yeah I've read about the battery life issue, though I won't be doing to much away-from-desk use anyway.

 

The Asus G1s is a solid choice though. Asus laptops have a battery calibration tool in the BIOS that will fully charge then discharge it so that Windows will give a correct reading of the battery. The G1s gives about 2 hours and 20 minutes using the balanced setting in Vista. Can't say the same for my c90 though...

 

It seems good. It's the closest DDR3 option, and I don't really want to go any lower than an 8600GT DDR3.

 

I have been all over this forum tonight and seen some funny stuff, but I got to hand it to ya, this one made me Laugh Out Loud! +1 rep for ya!

 

Dell don't give refurbs as replacements, where did you get that idea?

 

Replacements that are requested or done after the 30 days are refurbished.

 

Yes thats true, i thought he just got his tho?

 

Ah I see, in that case I stand corrected. I'm contacting Dell today, so if they can offer me a new replacement I shall give it another chance.

Thanks

 

Just off the phone to Dell. They were very proffesional and helpful and also appologised for the failure.

They will give me a brand new build and collect the old on upon it's delivery. They confirmed it would not affect my statutory rights and that I could return the replacement unit for a full refund if it too was faulty.

So far, despite the defective unit, I am very happy with the service I have received. Hopefully the replacement will live up to expectations. I should get it around the 17th.

 

I hope you get a good one too super-twisted. Dell preach quality, but it is a shame that they can't provide that for every single one of these machines they release. I pray to GOD that I don't have a problematic M1530, as I await its delivery in two days time. I will be sort of dissappointed and as a student in High school, it wouldn't be that easy for me to handle all these replacement issues as I have work to do. Heck, I have already spent too much time on these forums, questioning dell quality and such. Well... heres to hoping that I and everyone that is waiting for one of these dell XPS M1530s, gets a perfect one.

 

I too hope it is a good one. From these forums it would seem there is a higher percentage of failures with Dell, but there is no imperical evidence to say they are any worse than another supplier.

Aside from that, so far Dell have provided a good service. Even if the second unit is faulty, they have agreed to all my requests regarding delivery and pickup and are quite happy to issue a refund.

 

dell may have problems but the xps 1530 has very few. hopefully lighting wont strike twice

 

I don't think Dell is worse than any other supplier. All the manufacturers are going to seem to have a high occurance of defective units because people tend to post more when they have issues. If they have a great unit they'll go and brag about it in the gloat thread up at the top of this forum.

That's to bad about the first unit. Hopefully the second one is better.

 

Update time.

Received my replacement unit yesterday. Sadly, the screen on this one is also below what I'd call acceptable.
This one has the grain issue, noticeable from the outset and in comparrison to other screens. This is the first time I've seen it in person, and in actual fact it doesn't bother me at all. Perhaps mine is less extreme than other cases, but I didn't really notice it.
The problem for me and the reason this one is going back too is yet another case of excessive backlight bleed.

Sadly then it's time for me to revoke my ownership of the 1530. It seems a great machine at a great price and so far the service I've received from Dell has been great. Were it not for the screen issues I'd be a happy owner.

I shall continue searching for a replacement. If Dell have a refresh of their screen line-up I may reorder some day.

Cheers all

 

Thanks for the results Super-twisted
I like you am in the uk and keep debating ordering the 1530
After eading all this im a bit dubious
I was going for the 1440 size screen
Does this one have many problems that you know of ?
Also how long did they take from when you ordered to actually delivering it ?

Thanks

 

Granted a easy question, but where can one check the modell of the screen? Does not reveal that in the system info

 

@ MadeiraG
From reading what others have said, it seems the entire range of screens are affected to some degree or another.
Delivery was fairly swift, I initially ordered on the 1st Jan, delivery was on the 8th.
As part of the distance selling regs in the UK, Dell will take it back and give you a full refund if you are not happy. So from that perspective there is nothing to lose in giving it a try. You may get a perfect one.

@lindstroem - go to Device Manager>Monitors>Plug&Play Monitor>Details>Hardware IDs

 

One thing to note about the Asus G1S, it is a longer laptop from front to back. There is literally over an inch of space on both the top and bottom of the screen. While the display is a widescreen display, the actuall size of the screen panel is almost the size of a 4:3 ratio monitor and that is what turned me off to the G1S

 

I noticed that too when I compared measurements against the 1530. I'm really not a fan of the Asus design, it seems like a lot of wasted space and silly styling (though it's not as bad as many other hideous 'gaming' laptops).

At the moment I'm swaying very much in the favour of the M570RU Clevo clones, although pricey they offer great performance and excellent screens it seems. Trying to judge how 'luggable' they are though.

 

this is really bad. it's such a beautiful machine. Yet, dell with no quality control, made it a nightmare to buy one of this xps1530s.
my self has returned one whole laptop and two LCDs also the one I have now is being exchanged . this is the last chance I'm going to give Dell. if my exchange come with one problem it's going back for good.
I think I will try Alianware next.

 

Super-twisted, Thanks

I have:
LG Philips LPLDF00 - Dell P/N: XP059 - Size: 15.4" - Experience: Not Grainy

Made me glad to know =)

 

No problem, glad you got a good one. Feel free to drop me a rep point.

 

I'm edging towards the Clevo M570 clones at the moment, though they are nearly double my budget in the UK.

 

... until they stumble upon Notebookreview and read the rants, they go into their monitor properties, and realize they have the grainy one, etc...

Kinda like Neo on the matrix, "My eyes hurt"... - "Thats because you've never used them..."

 

whoa wtf the replacement laptops are refurbished?

 

you do know who owns alienware right ?

 

Though Dell own Alienware, I don't think they use the same componants or manufacturing process. I emphasize the word think here though.

That said Alienware have their own fair share of consumer grumbles, though I've not used them myself.

 

OK I am thinking also of buying a dell m1530 in the UK , but what resolution are people having screen problems at is it 1200-800 , 1440 -900 or 1600-1020.
Also dell now offers 7200 rpm hdd on lower priced m1530 but the top 2 only offer 5400rpm hdd , and it comes out cheaper when you configure a lower base priced 1530 say 815 quid to 879 quid with the same specs , do you think they have sneaked a DDR2 8600 into the lower priced 1530 and have a DDR3 8600 in the higher priced 1530 ????

 

Super-Twisted,

What Restoration/Program CD's did you receive if any, and did you get a Vista OS disk. As on the Dell UK page in the "Also Includes" section it states "No Resource CD"

 

Are you saying that if i ordered a lower spec one to gain the extra hd speed i would get a crappier specd graphics card ?
Even if i upgraded it to the 256mb one ?

 

It came with a Vista cd, drivers cd, Roxio and some other stuff I can't remember off the top of my head.

Re. the graphics card: you will get an 8600GT DDR3. I got one in mine and I too got a cheaper price by using a base spec and matching the higher priced unit.

 

Thanks super, you decided what your replacing it with yet mate ?

 

Nope, not yet. Might downgrade my plans and pick up a cheap ultra-mobile and put the left-over money towards a trackday car!

 

haha good idea
althogh M3 csl is quite pricey

 

I'm thinking slightly more modestly than the CSL - though I'd have one in a heartbeat given the chance.

Will probably be an Integra Type-R for me, funds permitting.

 

yeah thatll do the job mate
My mate had a CSL last year, not a bad car at all.