Recent M1330 buyers - quality control?

I'm thinking about getting a M1330 but have of course noticed the many posts/stories about quality control issues.

I would like to know what recent M1330 buyers have experienced on this matter.
Additional questions: Is the M1330 loud at all times, or just healthy "loud" when putting load onto the system?

Feel free to post some pictures and mini-reviews aswell.

Thanks in advance.

 

Quality control has improved a lot. My issue was they sent me a 90w adapter instead of a 65w one which is smaller in size, but was easily remedied.

M1330 is a very quiet laptop, I can hardly hear my fan on my T8300 (Penryn) version. However, on battery occasionally I will heard the CPU whine... Disappears as soon as I do anything real (such as open excel) though. Does not bother me.

I am using RM Clock to undervolt the CPU to reduce heat though as the laptop does get warm otherwise. Warm, not crazy hot in the center of the notebook bottom.

I should note that I returned three M1330 notebooks for various issues last year before ordering this one.

 

Did you asked them for a replacement? Mine came in w/ the 90w adapter as well, and yes this thing is big!

 

I did. They were very nice about it. However, I needed to go through returns rather than tech support or exchange (forwarded twice) as my order details showed the 90W rather than the 65W. I think the 90W is more expensive btw, in case you decide to keep it. You can buy a 65W online for something like $30.

 

i have has mine since 2-11-08 and couldnt be any happier..great machine

 

Good overall, only slight build quality issue is hinge gaps.

 

After going through 3 replacements, I got one with good a good built quaility I think... Hope there are not internal defects.

But all the machines I got, they all possess the cpu whine. I gave up asking for an exchange because I feel bad but I wonder if I call technical supuport now after 30 days is there something they can do about it?

 

Mine is perfect build-wise. I kinda love it but I hate the heat it generates and the whine when all I am doing is browsing. It looks like I am going to have to pull some RMClock love too.

 

Received my xps m1330 yesterday - grainy screen. Dell has been very helpful in offering a replacement and/or discount rebates towards products.

Not sure it makes up for the last 2 out of 3 systems I've ordered have come with a grainy screen.

 

What screen type did you get? Jane

 

my "defects":
cpu whine (not really that bad)
hinge gap (not too bad either)
cheap wifi buttons (too loose, but they're ok nonetheless)
slight paint imperfection on top of lcd (not noticeable except under lots of light)
but I think it's a good laptop, you should get one if you can get a discount

 

I have been using Thinkpads since day 1 and the latest one I bought was a 15” T60p last May. I decided I needed something in the 13” to carry around, and the 1330 seems to have the most bang for the buck (with deals & discounts). I was hesitant because I had issues with Dell’s quality in the past, specifically with laptops, but the price was right despite of the negatives I read.

First unit ordered 1/19 & delivered 1/28. Unit was fine for the most part, felt solid, no flex in the chassis, and no creaks. However, the lid closing action was sloppy, nearly non-working speakers (didn’t realize they were so poor until I had unit #2), screen was Chi-Mei and it was perfectly fine for me. It has the noisy Panny slot drive but that was fine as my daughter’s MBP had a similar drive, so I was used to it already. The other problem for me was the plastic LCD frame, it has noticeable gap on top to the right of the web cam, and the entire bottom piece was bowing outward. Keyboard was fine except it was lifting up on the right side (sitting on improperly routed wiring).

Talked with Dell support on 2/5, to their credit, I received unit #2 on 2/12. Unit #2 (currently using) is much better built than #1, it has the Toshiba LED, again, I couldn’t tell the difference. Good speakers in terms of loudness, not fidelity obviously. DVD drive is the Hitachi one, keyboard is slightly different, tactile feedback was much better but has a bowing spacebar, it was also seated unevenly, this time was lifted on the left side – above the webcam cable. The plastic LCD frame is much much better fitted, still has some bowing, but nothing as glaring as #1. I swapped out the original HDD & KB into the replacement and have been in business since. I also had to exchange the button cell backup battery because the replacement unit kept throwing a RTC error whenever the main cell was removed & reinserted, one of the wires was stripped when it was fitted in the factory. Not really sure how Dell tests machines before releasing them.

There were a couple of minor issues since. The AC adapter started to act up, while it would provide power, but it won’t charge (unrecognized in BIOS) , tested with another brick from office & the 1330 charging circuitry was working fine, so it was the brick and Dell has replaced the same since with a refurb unit (#XK850 Rev A00, round LED vs. the rectangular LED). Then my web cam failed, don’t really know when as I hardly use it and I haven’t been watching the boot-up diagnostic blink. Decided to look at it first before calling Dell and it turned out one of the webcam wires wasn’t fitted properly in the connector, easy fix.

I suppose buying a Dell is like a crap shoot judging by my experience and others I read about. The unit is well conceived, only the Q/C is lacking BIG TIME IMHO. Saw a Product Red M1330 at BestBuy 2 nights ago, and the LCD frame was exhibiting a very extreme gap. The upside is that Dell appears to stand behind the product, so if you could manage to deal with possible annoyance, there is no reason not to get one. Having said that, I would not order one & ship it off to my daughter in college, just can’t take the chance even though she might not have noticed half the issues I described. I still believe the Thinkpads are built better, incidentally, I also feel the MBP is very well put together judging by my daughter’s sample, however, that unit required a MB transplant after 3 months of use FWIW…

 

5 months of use and no major complaints. The screen occasionally flickers due to mysterious reasons. (Its not windows detecting external display devices)

I wish there were more than 2 USB ports...

 

I currently have a MacBook Pro (15'', Dec, 2006) and have actually considered selling it for a M1330. Does anyone know how the noise (fans) and heat would compare to the M1330?
On my MacBook Pro the fans are dead silent while just surfing and typing. Naturally, under full load, the fans rev up - but that's okay. Normal use should be silent on the M1330 tho?

It just seems odd to me that Dell wont up the game a little by just paying some more attention to the quality control. Delivering a system to a customer that is not even put together properly harms the overall experience so much.

Sadly I am pretty much convinced that if I bought a M1330 right now, it would suffer from a number of issues mentioned on this forum. Going thru the whole exchange process is something most people wants to avoid (I've been there with an Acer laptop recently.. horrible). I _want_ this to be a great laptop, but I am not convinced it is due to these problems.

Keep posting, feel free to add some pictures of both your flawed and non-flawed M1330's.

 

i have to agree, they seem very cheap. the wifi button on my M1210 was kind of wacky...when it was in the on position it worked fine, but in the off position sometimes it would register as "on" and i would have to fully disable it when i didnt want it.

other than that i am pretty satisfied. i just hope the wrist support doesnt fade as fast as they did on my M1210.

 

Well, yeah, the platic buttons on the side are very flimsy, didn't think of it until I saw it mentioned. The rest of the laptop seems solidly built though although not quite up to par with my last Latitude D630.

 

Very very silent, even when fans are on. Not much heating except when the Nvidia graphics kick up (gaming etc).

 

Silent fan , good graphics, mine now is well built, sound is great .
Mild vibration but doesn't bother me anymore.

 

Jane..

hey... nice to hear the vibration doesn't bother you anymore..

 

Got mine this morning ...


A) CPU Whine
B) LCD emits a loud buzzing on any brightness settings below maximum
C) Extremely loud DVDROM
D) Really loud with fans et al
E) Colors look washed out, very poor contrast. The screen looks like it needs some zoloft.

I am leaning towards sending this piece of crap back. I just sent back an M1530 due to annoying issues, and decided to forgive dell and give them another try. If I send this back, I'm closing my dell preferred account and looking into a macbook.

I have a feeling the systems are actually already built. When you order, they just grab your config from a shelf and preload it with all the useless Dell crap, box it up and ship it out.

 

I'm sorry, I can only imagine how it feels. This is just the type of experience I am fearing. Even if CPU-whine might not be all a "Dell-issue" the build quality certainly is. The loud fan fact is confusing.. how can some people experience a quiet system?
The loud CD/DVD might be as loud on the Macbook since they are of the same kind. My Macbook pro also has this - but I got used to it.

Thanks for the input.

 

lol thanks.. you know in reality should have kept the other one cuz
I have a gut feeling this one isn't as good a quality.
But oh well... it's one cool fast mother..this... new chip.
And when I upped to the 4gb of ram....
and all Les's tweaks, it's great!!!

 

It's interesting, the only notebook I have owned that NEVER had any problems at all were ASUS notebooks.

I might look into those. I got a macbook after all, and the first one had a low-pitch buzzing noise coming from underneath the keyboard. Exchanged it for another that does not seem to have any issues, but I find I'm only using windows anyway.

 

You sound like you are describing my sister in law's Macbook!!

 

My m1330 arrived recently. No CPU whine, just the hard drive is always busy ticking quietly. The fans do get loud when the notebook runs hot.

 

My only complaint is the little vibration which I'm just keeping my wrists up to avoid ....lol

and the hard drive makes a sound when it starts a bit.

How is everybody's optical drive when they watch anything? Loud?
Vibrates? ?