Dell XPS M1330 First Look Review (Video)

That deal is gone...

 

it's not my deal! is it possible??

 

its been a week already and still no full review?

 

I was just thinking that! What is going on?

 

The word I got from a Dell Business rep at a conference I visited today was a 17th of July starting date for mass production, meaning late July/early August delivery schedule for orders placed around now-ish.

I'm not even sure how many review models there would be in the wild. These guys might have had to give it back without extensive testing.

So, yeah. They're doing the Apple thing of announcing a new product a good while before actually providing it to the masses to build some hype. I can't really blame them, because the mockup empty casing I saw today was damn hot (the rep even made the joke "Check out how light it is! Wait, I kid, it's an empty case, I admit...") I'm probably going to cave and buy one after seeing it, to be honest.

(Also, yeah, I actually signed up to post this - long time lurker that happened to have read this topic a little while ago and asked the rep about the lead times on delivery mentioned earlier..)

Apparently we'll see it reviewed and in Kiosks before any appreciable number hit the streets. This might only be indicative of deliveries for the Asia-Pacific region, though. Europe/US might well get first dibs.

 

Just wondering.. What's the height with the 9 cell installed? Looks ike 3 inches to me.

 

It was possible last week for Drake students. It is no longer available as Dell took it down.

 

They only had a preproduction unit. They are probably had to give it back pretty quickly/are waiting for a normal unit to be built.

 

I had ordered mine with the 9 cell. But after watching the Cnet.com review last night, I'm a little worried now. The cnet one was a 6 cell battery, and the m1330's keyboard was already at an incline that I would be okay with. But the 9 cell will increase this incline even more so, and I don't know if I'll be able to handle it.

 

ok, it's been a week already... so where's the full review??? I can't wait for it anymore...

 

The rep has told us that our shipping date is 10th July and delivery around 14th (I think it is shipped from Xiamen to Beijing). I am getting a bit worried that this may be a fantasy as I got no confirmation email (my wife got a SMS) and when I tried to check the order on the web I didn't manage to get a match for the customer serial number.

Fingers crossed!

 

did anybody know if xps m1330 can be used with docking station? i decided to buy this laptop,and probably use it in college during the day and at night use it to watch movie .
if it does not have any,can anybody give any alternative. i really want this laptop badly,and i have to order soon bcos the the 'no-shipping-cost offer' ends 10 july!!
i have ext hd,speaker and decided to buy lcd screen,wireless keyboard...so the docking station really important.
can anybody suggest also the best docking station that has almost all ports.

 

As far as I know there's no docking station for the m1330.

 

how about 'universal docking station' that connect through USB? would it work with m1330?

 

No there isn't a docking station for the m1330.

Usb docking stations will work but they dont have all the features a purpose build docking station has...most importantly for a lot of people they lack a VGA/DVI port so you constantly have plug the monitor in and out of the laptop

 

How do you guys get the university discounts?! I asked the reps and they said there's no discount. Which country are you guys in?

 

I'm in US, and I told my rep that I am going to be at X school this year, so give me the 12% discount. And he did. I didn't ask, I told them to give me the discount, because if you ask, they think you don't know anything, so they can get away with charging you more.

 

You can buy:
Kingston Dock

As an accessory with the XPS, it plugs into he USB port and gives you Ethernet an additional powered USB ports. Not a true dock by any means (basically a USB hub with ethernet which you already have ).

So no real dock, and from the pictures I have seen I do not see how they could add one in the future?

 

WHERE'S THE FULL REVIEW!!!!

Even though I already ordered mine yesterday, but the review would've been nice to add the final push for me put my foot firm and buy. I was waiting for long time, then i found a good deal and didnt want to waste it.. so i already bought it..and it's gonna be shipped 23rd July.

Here's the spec:

T7300 2.0GHZ, 160GB HDD,2GB RAM, Black Lid, Nvidia 8400GS,Finger-print reader,0.3MP, Intel N-Generation Wireless card, 1 year complete cover, and a free Targus Wireless Mouse.. for USD1600.. same aspects these days cost around USD 1750..

 

Thank you for the reply. Do you think canada will have this discount too? I've asked the rep. in a different way this time saying "is there a university discount" and that rep redirected me to EPP (employee's discount) I was like wth?! And I saw 12%

I believe that employee used his own 12% discount to give it to you to get the deal sealed. Did you tell him/her that you were making the purchase on the spot? I feel they'll be more inclined to help you if you say you're buying.

 

He might have, but everything that I have read has said that the rebate is a true university debate, not just the employee using his own EPP. However, I do think that the university discounts are associated with EPP, and if I remember correctly, I was also transferred to EPP. I don't know if Canada would have this, but you can try just saying that you are going to a US school next year or something. And for your last question, yes, I did say I was buying, and I also told them that I was considering the HP dv2500t as well. They even gave me a 100 USD instant rebate for saying that

My configuration, regularly priced on the Dell website would have been like 2350 with tax, I got it down to 1950 with tax. That is with the 12% student discount, the 7% DellCare Plus Package, and the 100 USD instant off.

 

so,if i bought the universal docking station, everytime i want to connect/disconnect would involves: 1.USB for docking 2.Power supply 3.HDMI cable...that's 3,hmm that seems ok. now i have to find monitor with HDMI..hm,i have no idea about HDMI but the port looks small and simple.

 

You can get a monitor with DVI (as DVI is more common) and you won't lose any quality using a HDMI to DVI cable to connect to the M1330.

 

I wonder if the HDMI port is a full HDMI port and sends digital audio over that cable too? That would be cool. I had a quick look around and I do not see any LCD Monitors with HDMI ports just yet, although I expect we will see them soon.

And if you use the DVD convert I think you lose the audio part of the connection.

 

I found a few monitors on Newegg that have HDMI ports built in. But they do not have audio out. Seeing as the notebook only has headphone jacks, using the HDMI to get audio out to a large monitor with speakers attached would be a cool solution to that.

Hopefully soon they will include that in the monitors.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834997134
its not really a dock but it works sort of the same way

 

when you go to dell.com move your mouse over notebooks and select Government, Education and Health care

 

Didn't they say the full review will be out in the next few days or next week ? just checking

 

this is what i found in other forum,by Sunfox:
'Well, I just spent some time online with a Dell rep and he swears the HDMI port will carry audio.'

'Well, I specifically pointed out to the rep how most other laptops (Asus, HP, etc.) with an HDMI port only carry video, and he replied how Dell is a "standards company" and implemented the full HDMI standard since that's what businesses would expect. He then said he looked at internal documents on the m1330 that confirmed that its HDMI will carry audio.

There's always a grain of doubt until it's actually confirmed by someone, but at least this is a good reason to return if it it DOESN'T have it! ;-)

And yeah, if it does carry audio this is the perfect compact laptop for HT use.'

you can also read here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=137784

 

did you guys talk to the rep online or on the phone?

 

I am not going to use it for home theater, but a one cable out to an external monitor and speakers would be very nice.

Seeing as Blue Ray is an option it seems like it should be a Full HDMI port to be fully useful.

 

BTW I have waited patiently all weekend and no full review yet? Any news on when you might guys might get around to posting an in depth review?

 

My guess is that it is currently shipping to or just arrived at one of our reviewers in the field. I was offered the chance to review the 1520 after Andrew got a sneak peak, but I wasn't able to do a quick turnaround on the review because I was moving to a different place at the time. They were also working on the M1330 review at the same time I think. So someone, somewhere, has it and is working on it now.

 

Long time lurker, finally decided to register and post.

Is there any way Dell will allow me to configure this laptop with Windows XP Pro? As fantastic as Vista Looks, I am not yet certain if it would run all the stuff I usually use (most importantly, Firefox).

I do remember a statement by dell saying they wont ask customers to choose one or other and will have Win XP as an option. Also, does anyone know how can I chat with Dell sales people in real time before placing an order.

Cheers

 

They won't offer it to you with XP with on as far as I know.. it's your choice if you want to install it after.

Generally everything I've come across works with Vista and i'm fairly sure firefox works with it.

 

you guys are so damn lucky to have all this rebate,dell university,etc..
here in Germany,i don't i would get any discount. i'm in the process of buying m1330. when i asked dell if they could give discount for student,he just say 'maybe,i have to asked ....'.

 

Oh thats a relief, at least its in someone's hands. Some said that you guys had to return the review unit, and i was thinking.. "omg so we won't get a full review anytime soon ?"

Well to know that its in the midst of reviewing is enough for me.

Can't wait to see it !

 

Are these laptops currently back ordered? Just wondering since I saw some posts with people waiting until august to get theirs?

 

i asked them twice why it says it wont ship out for so long, and they said it was just a guide line and it would ship out before the estimated date. i dont really believe that but thats what they said.

 

firefox works with vista and pretty much every program that i have tried to run on it.

 

The same problem fro me here too
I ordered the laptop without having any discount, and the people in US having the prices down like crazy omg. And its still here in Germany more expensive consedering that a Euro as a currency is more than a dollar and a half probably.

Though I already paied them,I asked to have a speical offer, consedering that I hade no discount on the main price of the laptop.So,they told me as soon as the laptop is finished we will offer you a good deal.

(I said in my self, Hopefully!!!)

 

You can not really use the exchange rate though. Because our laptops are build using cheap labor and shipped into the U.S. But yours are probably made in Ireland and shipped out from there. So even though the components might cost approximately the same for Dell, the labor costs will be higher for euro laptops.

If all the laptops were pre-made and shipped out of the U.S.A. (like an iPhone or something) then yeah Dell would be making a killing selling for the prices they do. But the way they build them makes it a little harder to accurately judge how much it costs them.

 

I dont undetstand your reply totaly, but any way the currency wasnt really my main point,but just this what I cann call (great discounts) in the US are so awesome...

 

Most of the people getting "discounts" in the U.S. are students, or basically screwing Dell over buy using student or corporate discounts that they are not entitled too. There are no generally available offers on the M1330 as far as I know.

And I was just trying to show that your laptops in europe might actually be costing Dell more to make than the ones we get in the U.S.A.

 

Yes, but in the end they are getting it....

 

Well if it makes you feel any better I am getting screwed for the whole price (except for the discount I got for complaining a lot )

 

Any word on the final review yet...?

 

Is there any news/review on any other site ?

 

I have one more question. Did you order over the phone or did you use the "live tech support" online service? Would you say it is better for me to call to order or use the online chat program for bargin?

 

you have a better chance at bargaining over the phone