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Dell XPS M1530

11 offers from £468.83 to £999.00


A review by the Ciao member sadoldbag about Dell XPS M1530

published on 25.02.2008

Ding Dong Dell

Author's product rating:

Speed	Fast
Look & Feel	Excellent
Comfort & Portability	Excellent
Robustness & Durability	Excellent
Value For Money	Good

Advantages:	Compact, lightweight, thin, looks great, fast, built in web cam
Disadvantages:	A shame it doesn't have more than 2 USB ports

Recommend to potential buyers:	yes
Overall rating:	excellent good average poor very poor

We seem 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. It looks much much cooler than the older Dell models.

It has a 13.3in display and only measures a slender 318 x 238 x 33.8mm (WxDxH) with a 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 the red one and I really like it - it just looks different. The coloured trim is framed by strips of silver either side, and it has the XPS lettering and the Dell logo in set on it, also in silver. The inside looks more ordinary, but it looks different in a good way - it doesn't look gimmicky or plasticky in my opinion.

OK I am aware this review is in danger of getting girly. I imagine you want to know what it is like to use, rather than just look at!

There are plenty of nice gadgety bits, like the optical drive which you just push the disk into - it doesn't have a tray (i.e. it's slot loading), the touch sensitive media keys and the ExpressCard bay which takes the media remote. .The display itself is a 1,280 x 800 resolution LED backlit panel. It is so great - much better screen than any other lap top I've used. Checking with the IT department I am told that this screen is not standard - Dell do a standard panel that's cheaper, but the LED backlit version is really bright and easy to use, and I whole-heartedly recommend it. The colours are great and it's really sharp. A glossy high contrast coating helps with the sharpness and it doesn't throw back too much light at you, so you don't get glare.

Inside mine, I've got an Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7250, with a clock speed of 2.00GHz and a 4MB L2 cache. I am delighted with speed; it's still quite slow to load up (but I think that is Windows Vista causing that) but it is superfast downloading stuff and flipping between windows etc. It is great for things like TV on the internet (but don't tell my boss that!) I think it's not ideal for games (apparently say the IT department - they have naturally given one configured more for work purposes. LOL!)

In terms of network connectivity, 10/100 Ethernet is standard and you can get Draft-N Wi-Fi is available as an extra on most models, but I haven't got it. The ethernet thingy does the job just fine though . I do have embedded HSDPA, and Bluetooth and it really helpfully came with some pretty nifty Bluetooth headphones. I'm not sure if they come with all models though.

Mine comes with a perfectly fine nylon carry case and a six cell battery which weighs just over 2kg. This is a nice portable weight for a notebook but Dell helpfully offer you a choice of a smaller but lighter battery or a bigger one that is heavier but will last longer. Mine lasts about 2 and a half hours to 3 hours in normal usage. I guess that's an average amount, so if you wanted more I think buying the bigger battery would be a good option as I don't think it weighs much more.

The fan is not too noisy during normal use, while the keyboard layout is truly excellent making typing easy and pleasurable.The touch pad is well placed so you don't have to stretch over it to type.

It only has 2 USB posts which I think is a shame as it's not enough in my view, but it also has DC-in, D-SUB, Ethernet, HDMI and a four-pin FireWire port, an Express card slot and audio connections at the front which makes plugging headphones in a simple job. It has an input for an external microphone to complement the microphones built into the body of the computer, which sit either side of the built in webcam.

Though this is a small notebook, it would have been nice to have at least three USB ports considering the number of devices one tends to have these days.

For a small laptop (it has a 13.3 inch screen remember) it is a great little machine, fast, groovy and easy to connect and stuff. I can't think of a machine in this price bracket which is better. I think it cost about £800 including VAT. 

Memory / capacity	Good
Ease of use	Easy
Range of Extra Features	Good
Instruction manual	Very useful
Manufacturer Support	Excellent

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