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A review by ilaskey on Dell XPS M1530 May 8th, 2008
Author's product rating:
Speed
Fast
Look & Feel
Good
Comfort & Portability
Good
Robustness & Durability
Good
Value For Money
Good
Advantages:
Great feature set, fast, GFX card, HDMI out
Disadvantages:
keyboard/touchpad could be better
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I recently had a motherboard failure on my existing Dell Inspiron laptop and given its age, repair looked a bad move as one could buy a new laptop for less. However, once I decided to see what was available and given my two main criteria - a higher than usual resolution screen and three year warranty, I suddenly found the price spiraling upwards.
After much searching I settled on an XPS M1530. The price on the Dell web site was around £1000 but a phone call to Dell resulted in quite a dramatic price cut to reflect my 'loyalty as a customer' and that it was a replacement for a failed (nearly four year old) unit. They probably won't thank me for saying what I paid but it was a done deal and a few days later it arrived.
Features
An Intel Core 2 Duo CPU running at 2Ghz and 2Gb of RAM, 250Gb SATA hard drive plus a 1680x1050 screen and DVD writer make up the core specification. The XPS M1530 comes with quite a few extras though. The graphics card is a reasonably sprightly NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT and outputs consist of VGA, s-video and rather usefully, HDMI. 3 x USB2 (another review said it only had 2 but mine has 3) and 1 X 1394 connectors along with wired and wireless networking plus Bluetooth. The front edge sports a card reader and the right hand side has a media remote control tucked away in the Express Card slot. There is also a button that fires up a piece of software to look for local wireless access points and another that starts the laptop in a cut down version of Windows if you just want to play MP3s or watch a DVD. Finally, the lid contains a webcam and pair of noise cancelling microphones.
Impressions
The screen has no catches but is held in place by the fairly stiff hinges. When opened, the laptop powers up and a nice little display of pulsing blue lights under the media control buttons above the keyboard lets you know it's starting up. Vista Home Premium is installed and boots quickly. Mercifully the laptop is reasonably free of pre-installed clutter except for a trial version of McAfee which you can continue with or swap for something else once it's expired.
General impressions are good. This particular XPS came with a dark blue lid and nice chromed Dell logo and the body looks smart but not overly flashy with its brushed aluminium and black plastic plus blue lights. The grill over the speaker does seem to attract bits of dust and dirt and needs a quick brush now and then to avoid it looking like you've just eaten your lunch on it (which to be fair is pretty much what is causing the bits) but apart from that the M1530 looks the part.
The XPS M1530 comes with a fingerprint reader which seems to work well in daylight but not at all well once it gets a bit darker or under artificial light. The reader software is flexible and can be used to populate logon screens in various programs and web sites by running your finger over it when asked to logon to something. I did end up switching it off though as the constant 'do you want to store these details?' on new web sites got rather onerous.
An external bluetooth mouse was supplied along with a 2Gb USB key (specified as extras) and both worked well. The keyboard and touchpad are good enough but the ones on my older Inspiron were better. The M1530 needs a slightly more positive hit to register a key which doesn't suit my rather lightweight typing style although I've now learned to compensate for that. The touchpad is a little smaller than I'd have liked but did have a nice feature whereby running your finger along the right hand side or bottom edge instigates scrolling within whatever document you're viewing.
This particular laptop had a higher capacity battery fitted which is a bit bulkier and heavier but typically gives threee and a half to four hours usage which is excellent given the performance. Temperature wise it seems fine with the fan usually running at a fairly low speed and rarely audible above the usual background noise.
Performance
Given the specification, it's no surprise that the M1530 does most things with aplomb. Games work remarkably well with newer titles like BioShock working quit happily with high detail and resolutions. Some software did seem a little lumpy compared to my previous 3Ghz XP based laptop but they're in the minority and I suspect more being influenced by Vista's foibles than any lack of power in the laptop itself. Most applications ran quite happily though. With the HDMI connected to a TV it managed to play HD material with only the odd judder so for that, it's borderline. Things did improve slightly with Vista SP1 though.
Conclusion
The Dell XPS 1530 series can be had from around £499+VAT upwards depending on options. For this you get a great chassis packed with features that really set it apart from the budget offerings that litter the supermarket shelves at £300 or so. Yes it costs more but you certainly get what you pay for and after a month of use, I'm very happy with the Dell XPS M1530. The HDMI output and screen are the personal highlights and appearence wise it impresses - I've had people come up and ask about it because it looks so good. The little touches like the compact media remote control and HDMI output make it a joy to work with so I have no hesitation in recommending the XPS M1530.
Advantages: Compact, lightweight, thin, looks great, fast, built in web cam Disadvantages: A shame it doesn't have more than 2 USB ports
...to have a contract with Dell at work, so I've been given several Dell laptops for my use. To be honest I liked the Fujitsu Siemens I had before much better than the last three Dells I was given, but I gave my last one back when I went on maternity leave. having gone back to work part-time now, I have been issued with a new one. And it's this: the Dell XPS M1330. As soon as it arrived on my desk it was obvious that it wasn't just another boring Dell. ... ...weight of 2kg . Dell claim that this is the thinnest notebook in its class, but iti s wedge shaped so the thinness is not uniform on the laptop - i.e. iti is thicker in one place than it is in another - at its thinnest it is 22.1mm though - so that really is thin. The outside of the laptop has a Microsatin finish which looks great and will help protect against scratches more effectively than a gloss finish would. It comes in black or red; I've got ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Good graphics performance, Beautiful looking with colour option Disadvantages: display problen in bright and daylight condition
...powerful graphics and gaming laptop.
Dell wants to break the long run emperor of Apple Macbook in gaming and graphics laptop market.
I think these types of competition will give good results to customers as they will get better technology and featured laptop.
I will discuss here the powerful XPS laptop its good features and some disadvantages also.
The basic features
Processor
XPS 1530 have a good basic processor Intel® Centrino® ... ...Hard Drive
Here again Dell has put better capacity hard disk of 250GB 25400RPM SATA Hard Drive.
And there are option of upgradation are available that is 320GB and the excellent quality 64GB solid state hard drive.
Solid State drive is more reliable but due to latest technology it is expensive so that we can only get less storage capacity and have to pay more.
So wait for some time to drop price and increase storage capacity, till that ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Fast, looks good; nice screen Disadvantages: Dim screen in power-saving mode
...on the market - the Dell 1520/1525/1720 range are cheaper but don't look quite as good - though I'm sure they would have done a pretty good job too!
The main attractions of the M1530:
Fast processor - mine has the T5450 (1.66GHz) but better are available
2GB of RAM as standard
250GB storage - very handy but sure that won't seem like much in a couple of years!
Very nice screen - high resolution
Good graphics card (NVidia GeForce 8600M GT)
Good ... ...weight for its specs
Fingerprint reader - bit of a gimmick possibly, but makes logging on easy
I opted for one of the standard black matt covers - I'd read that these attracted fingerprints but for some reason didn't believe it - THEY DO. On the other hand, if you're not too fussy about appearances, after a few months the marks don't appear too obvious (I suspect because they merge together).
The laptop worked straight out of the box. Start-up ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Fast, user friendly, great memory Disadvantages: Battery power runs low quick.
Performance
The Sheer performance of this machine is able to match anything i have been able to throw at it (including Crysis.)
The memory and processing power alone put this laptop above the average performance of a desktop computer but the graphics package on top of that (especially with the 256mb version) puts this computer on another scale altogether when it comes to gaming,
I have managed to run a comprehensive list of games on this beast ... ...consoles and was even able to emulate a ps2 (something even a ps3 has trouble doing)
Interactivity /Accessibility
The Touch Activated buttons that control the volume and media are a useful touch but more of a novelty than anything. Whereas the media direct tool is a feature that allows you to watch movie's and listen to music without having to load up the operating system.
The fingerprint Reader was initially very useful and could be used to not ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Dell XPS M1530 is the next generation of earlier edition, XPS M1330. When Dell introduced XPS M1330, everyone was impressed by its design. It was even named as the most revolutionary moment for Dell laptops. XPS M1530 is not as surprising as M1330 but it's still a superb machine. It's a well-shaped laptop, with thickness only 1.2" in the front. Dell XPS M1530 comes with many variation of specification, start from 1,5 GHz to 2,6 GHz of processor speed ... ...8600M GT Graphic Card. The Dell XPS M1530 also comes in three colors (red, white, and black). Beside of the color options, Dell also offers a 1,440x900 resolution with LCD screen. As usual, XPS products are always the leader in keyboard comfortability. Dell XPS M1530 is not an exception, you'll be amazed by how good the keyboard is. The large keyboard is one of the best and comfortable that we can use for long-term use. A panel of touch-sensitive ...
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...With Christmas approaching, DELL promotional efforts to increase again. We understand that as long as you buy online DELL's 15-inch model (Studio 15, XPSM1530, Inspiron 1525 computer), will be entitled to 300 yuan in cash discounts. Which uses a dual-core Pentium T3200 processor, the appearance of the color of the Dell Inspiron 1525 (R511225CN) notebook current offer is only 3899 yuan, and a free upgrade camera, may be of interest to concerned friends.
Look, this Dell Inspiron 1525 (R511225CN) notebook beautiful color of the shell has a seven color selection for consumers in a free, standard black casing, the chassis uses composite materials. The 15.4 inches wide, the Department only the thinnest of 25 mm heavy machine 2.7kg.
Allocation, Dell Inspiron 1525 (R511225CN) notebooks using Intel Pentium dual-core T3200 processor, Intel GM...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
In the past i've never gone for a high end laptop but the £700 I spent was well worth the money. I had reservations about buying from Dell because I have personal experience of bad build quality from one of their earlier portable laptops, the C400. But... more
XPS M1730 Laptop
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XPS M1730 laptop that comes with the view berciri game made... more
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