Dell XPS M1530 Review

[akshay2386]

by d way..it was 1st post on nbr...i want to have m1530 soon...

[Jerry Jackson]

What abt d bio-metric sensor??
is it really usefull?? or just a flick...
also u didnt mention if games like crysis were played at low or medium settings??

The fingerprint reader is a useful gizmo for some people, but I never fell in love with it myself. I've used these on multiple notebooks and once you setup the fingerprint/password application it stores the passwords for Windows and websites ... so instead of typing passwords in you swipe your finger.

The fingerprint reader on the M1530 worked fine, but personally I'm not a fan of fingerprint readers.

The Crysis demo was played using 1280x800 resolution, anti-aliasing off, fullscreen, all advanced quality/texture settings were set to medium.

[lilredfoxie]

Its nice, except for the placement of the headphone and microphone jacks

[imar3l]

you guys talked about the screen but not that much...except the resolution, the glossy screen should be amazing right? i tried to compare it to MBP screen with almost the same reion, but the picture was still better than xps.

tanx

[Jerry Jackson]

you guys talked about the screen but not that much...except the resolution, the glossy screen should be amazing right? i tried to compare it to MBP screen with almost the same reion, but the picture was still better than xps.

tanx

The screen is nice, but not as nice as the higher resolution glossy screens we've seen on other Dell 15.4" notebooks. Dell has already announced that they will offer higher resolution screens and LED backlit screens in early 2008 ... so we're a little bummed that Dell released the M1530 with only one screen option.

It's not a bad screen by any means but we get the feeling the release of the M1530 was "rushed" in order to bring the notebook to consumers before Christmas.

[oscar_90]

So do you think we should just wait til after Christmas to order one of these? I'm worried because I ordered mine a few days ago and now I feel that it's not as good as it should be. I'm a bit confused.

Also, does the red look good on the laptop or do you think I should change it to black?

Last question, what do you think about its portability (if you take out the nine cell and replace with six cell)? Do you think it's 'mobile' enough to be used for a bit of travelling here and there (like the train or on a plane)? The travel won't be much frequent but If I do travel it is on long journeys and I'd like to know if the notebook is not to heavy / big for travelling.

Thanks very much for the review and the photos.

[Crimsonman]

maybe i missed it, but how much did it cost at that config?

[Jerry Jackson]

So do you think we should just wait til after Christmas to order one of these? I'm worried because I ordered mine a few days ago and now I feel that it's not as good as it should be. I'm a bit confused.

Also, does the red look good on the laptop or do you think I should change it to black?

Last question, what do you think about its portability (if you take out the nine cell and replace with six cell)? Do you think it's 'mobile' enough to be used for a bit of travelling here and there (like the train or on a plane)?

The screen is perfectly nice for most users, but if you are big into HD video and gaming you "might" want to wait for the higher resolution screen options. It's really up to you.

I think the red looks great, but the tuxedo black is classy ... and the red paint job costs an extra $25.

As far as portability goes, 15.4 notebooks are fine if you only need to travel with your notebook from time to time, but I usually think of these notebooks as compact "desktop replacements." I use a 14.1" notebook most of the time and use a 7" Eee PC when I travel.

Still, a 15.4" notebook is portable when you need it to be.

maybe i missed it, but how much did it cost at that config?

The price of our pre-production unit as configured would be $1,574.

[Izzu]

So would you say the HDD is too loud for a classroom environment? I really like this laptop, everything seemed perfect except for the noise

Do you think the problem is it's a Hitachi? If so, is it possible to replace it with a more quiet HDD?

[xeodragon]

Great review! I'd also like to know more about the noise levels of the optical drive and hard drive. Are they too loud that it's a continuous disturbance (e.g. within lectures, while its powered on while you're doing paperwork, etc.)? Thanks!