Well, this blog is coming to you from the new Dell XPS M1530 Laptop. This is the first of what will be several reviews on this laptop so if you are considering one, or any XPS, you will want to check in. Scroll to the bottom if you just want a conclusion/overall summary.
A brief recap of the important specs on this laptop:
Intel T7500 2.2 GHz/800Mzh FSB 4M L2 Cache
4 GB DDR2 RAM
15.4 Inch WXGA+ TrueLife LCD w/ 2.0 web cam
128 NVIDIA GeForce 8400
160GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
Background Information About Your Reviewer
As a History major I believe it's important for you to take into account the natural bias / view that the author of whatever you're reading has (they will always have one, whether they admit it or not).
I've grown up with mostly Dell computers. Our 2nd family computer was a Dell desktop. I had a Dell Desktop Optiplex GX260 through all four years of college, and is still trucking through life after 6 years. I also have a Dell XPS M1210 laptop, which I've owned for 2 years. I will be doing a face-off review of the two XPS's later down the road. I'm fond of Dell as they've always lasted a long time (with good care and upgrades) in my experience. They're also easy to upgrade and swap parts.
I had my own (small) computer repair business my last year of college in which I saw and repaired plenty of laptops.
Initial Impressions
It goes without saying I was pretty excited for my new Dell Laptop to arrive. You can see the un boxing video in the previous post. It was packaged nicely, and the case I pulled the laptop out of was included. It's a good case, but I opted for a matching Belkin Slim Backpack:
Which is awesome, I love it. If you're going to be traveling a lot with your laptop, you should have some type of protective backpack to prolong its life and help avoid accidents. This has room for the laptop, adapter, mouse, and several other accessories. And it's slim. You can probably get it cheaper somewhere like Amazon, etc. if you're tight on cash vs buying it directly from Dell.
Design / Style
I am definitely a fan of the overall look and feel of this laptop. Dell XPS laptops have always scored high in overall style and elite feel in my opinion, and the XPS M1530 is no different.
My hands fit nicely on the laptop and the keyboard layout and they keys have a nice soft touch to them which makes typing almost fun (if that were possible).
The slot-loading DVD drive is a neat change, however I'm not a fan in that I always prefer having access to a manual eject option if it is needed. If you look closely at your computer you'll notice all CD/DVD-ROM drives have a small pin hole on them, and if you insert a paperclip into it, it will pop open the drive. I think they opted for the slot-loading drive in response to Apples laptops.
The media remote is pretty neat, and the fact that it tucks away in the right side of the laptop nicely makes it something you might actually use:
Although I don't have a blu-ray drive, I'm sure this would come in extremely handy for those that do elect for that option.
The owner's manual received a nice upgrade in that it comes in a nice leather/pleather (I can never tell the difference) case with 16 blank CD/DVD slots, a nice LCD cloth and Creative Ep-630 Noise-Isolating Earphones, which aren't too shabby. This is good considering (so far, I'll go into this in-depth later) the laptop speakers themselves are not pleasing.
Design Flaws
One serious design flaw is the placement of the fan port, where all the hot air is blown from:
If you are looking at the screen, the port is located on the left hand side of the laptop, in the rear. Initially you might not think this was a big deal, but, if you actually use your computer as a LAPtop, you'll find it quite annoying when your left knee catches on FIRE FROM ALL THE HOT AIR BLOWING ON IT. Not quite sure what they were thinking there.
Another annoying design flaw (although this was specific to my laptop) is that the rubber feet on the bottom were not even. So the XPS would not sit level on a level surface, and was wobbly. This type of error is unacceptable in my opinion. The XPS line is supposed to be Dells cream of the crop, top of the line - the elite laptop with extras for people who are willing to pay more for a better product.
And the Ghetto solution:
If I buy I BMW I'm buying it for all the benefits that are associated with a BMW, quality, good service, performance and status. The XPS should be no different and this was a severe disappointment to me. I'm sure I could call Dell and ask for it repaired, but do I really want to send my laptop back? No. Especially after I have my data on the hard drive, no way will I give away my laptop and you shouldn't either in these days of rampant digital theft.
And finally, of all things, the power adapter! Am I serious? Yup. I'm not sure if I just got a bad one or if all of them are like this (feel free to comment):
As you can see from the arrow indication, the plug in is inverted, which I'm sure after months of storage probably isn't the best for this adapter. I don't know if this typical of Dell power adapters or not, but on my other Dell laptops they were not like this, the plug end was on the opposite side, allowing the adapter to fold up nicely. This isn't a huge deal obviously, but again, if you're getting a BMW you want a BMW for it's quality and little things like this add up.
And finally, the media button layout has one annoying flaw, NO FEEDBACK:
While it may be neat and cool to have these flat stylish buttons, the lack of feedback becomes very annoying very fast. What I mean by feedback is that if I press 'Up' or 'Down' for the volume, there is no reliable feedback either on the screen or the button itself to what level I'm changed it to. The light around the volume icon does glow for a second but the volume changes so slightly you find yourself second guessing whether or not you actually pressed. So you press harder...still not sure, or you hold your finger on it to which nothing happens at first, then suddenly the volume spikes down or up (depending on what button you were holding). Maybe it just takes some getting used to?
Performance
No qualms at all here. I removed Vista and loaded Windows XP Professional, runs great boots up in under 20 seconds. My programs run very fast as well. I'm a huge gamer, just not a PC gamer, so unfortunately I cannot provide any feedback in that area, despite the name of this blog.
I do, however, own and use Adobe Creative Suite 3 - Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, etc. and they all load fast and operate without a hitch, even with all them running together. It's nice to see that one thing about the XPS hasn't changed and that is they are well oil machines that perform strongly under pressure.
The 15.4 Inch WXGA+ TrueLife LCD provides excellent contrast and color depth so that when I'm working with photos or designs I can see clearly what I'm working with. It is also very bright so I have no problem seeing the screen. With 1440x900 resolution, there is plenty of real estate for me to multi-task and quickly flip through windows.
Conclusion
I must admit I'm torn. Me personally, I'm glad I bought it and will be sticking with it being that I'm a Dell fan and have never had any issues (up until now!) with them.
Would I recommend it to a friend, or you?
Even with my initial misgivings I would, on one condition, don't dare pay full price. Google Dell Coupons, look at a their outlet, do whatever you need to explore other alternatives. The flaws I've found so far, although not major, are consistent enough to keep me from recommending this laptop at MSRP. Just not worth it at those prices. However, with a discount (for example I got 25% off with a coupon simply from Googling Dell Coupons) or browsing Dell Outlet, I can whole heartedly recommend you pick one of these XPS's to serve as your laptop beast.
Stay tuned for more reviews, the upcoming battle of my old XPS vs this new XPS, and more!
If you have any questions, shoot me an e-mail or post a comment here.
Additional Information
You may find the following links helpful:
Dell Laptop Discussion Forum from Notebook Review
Dell Coupons / Coupon Codes
