Dell XPS M1330 review roundup

Dell's XPS M1330 laptop has only just officially been announced (after much rumor and leakage) but the reviews are already starting to trickle in, most of which seem to be quite favorable to the unit. Among those getting their hands on the laptop was CNET, who remarked that Dell has "finally put design first," adding that the laptop delivered solid performance, with its LED-backlit display also helping to improve battery life, not to mention shave a bit of thickness off the lid. On the downside, they found the touchpad to be a tad small, and they were disappointed by the lack of options at the moment, including Blu-ray and SSD drives. For its part, ZDNet also seems to have been quite taken with the laptop's design, along with its well-performing discrete graphics and optional EV-DO Rev A. They were less impressed with the added weight from the nine-cell battery, however, which tipped the scales to 4.7 pounds (as opposed to 3.9 pounds with the four-cell battery). Also putting in some time with the laptop was NoteBook Review, which likewise sees the M1330 as a huge step froward in the design department for Dell, adding that their overall impressions were "overwhelmingly positive," although they're reserving their final judgment for a more in-depth review they have promised.

Read - CNET (7.9 out of 10)
Read - PC Magazine (4.5 out of 5, Editors' Choice)
Read - NotebookReview (no rating)

[B166Er @ Jun 26th 2007 4:37PM]

Love it or hate it, the damn things' makin some news. Dell looks to have a winner with this one. Still I'm gonna wait a few, I'll pick it up after the bigger sites have given it a once over.

[marcomera @ Jun 26th 2007 4:43PM]

I am in the market for a new laptop and I will definitely be taking a close look at these. I am currently borrowing my parents Dell inspiron 6400 and I am quite surprised with how well it performs. Although I am mostly leaning towards the yet to be released acer aspire this is a pretty sleek looking notebook.

[ark_v2 @ Jun 26th 2007 5:06PM]

I was going to get an m1210 for school, but now I've decided.

[Joshua @ Jun 26th 2007 6:04PM]

I'm hoping to get this for college. I don't expect any price drops, coupons, or discounts for an XPS machine, though, so I'll probably order soon.

[TDG01 @ Jun 26th 2007 6:07PM]

Is anyone else bothered by a 5400 rpm drive? Maybe I'm paranoid, but the thought of going from a 7200 back to a 5400 makes me really nervous.....

[TDG01 @ Jun 26th 2007 6:32PM]

Check that.....went to Dell's site and saw there are actually (2) options for a 7200 drive....as well as an SSD....now if they would offer a Blu-ray....

[Joshua @ Jun 26th 2007 6:28PM]

7200 RPM hard drives are available on Dell.com

How much of a difference is there between 7200 RPM and 5400 RPM?

[Josh @ Jun 26th 2007 6:53PM]

Real simple. The hard drives are sets of spinning platters - each platter holding so much information space. When you look for something on your hard drive - you have to tell the computer to look in a specific drive and then it has to find it. The faster the hard drive spins (RPM's) the quicker the information is found. Also, the higher RPM drives typically have a faster write speed too - meaning that when you are saving information it will write it to the drive quicker.

Think of it this way -- if you are looking for the 'fastest' machine around -- you can't really skimp anywhere. A super fast processor with all the bells and whistles, a ton of ram, a fast mosterboard and chipset and a slow drive. Sure, you can process the info fast -- but its only going to get onto your computer as fast as it can be written. That being said - few people have use for really high RPM hard drives. In fact, on a daily basis I use very little of my hard drive. I don't write a ton of documents or spreadsheets. I save pictures from time to time when I have the need. Music of course I download from Zune -- but other than that -- not a ton of use. So, for me to spend more a super fast drive is a bit silly. But if all out performance is what you need and you are doing some gaming where some of the info is stored on your hard drive or anything graphic intensive - a great processor, tons of ram, great graphics card and a fast hard drive are all requirements.

The fastest drive you can get is the SSD drive (Solid State Drive - aka - flash). It doesn't spin - the info is just there -- just like it is on your flash drive in your pocket. Its a ton more reliable but it may not be enough storage for you.

Hope that helps.

[Joshua @ Jun 26th 2007 7:12PM]

I'm wondering, though, how much of an effect would a 7200 RPM drive have on battery life?

[TDG01 @ Jun 28th 2007 9:12AM]

As Josh stated.....your I/O patterns can help guide you.....for me, the most noticable difference was in boot up time and the first time loading/opening an application...once open, you're good to go....that's why I'm sticking to the 7200 drives.......of course, SSD fixes all that....just too much money right now....

[TDG01 @ Jun 26th 2007 6:40PM]

@ Joshua....I can't tell you scientifically what the difference is....I'm sure someone out there can....however from a user experience, I've noticed a difference.....buffer plays a role too....

I've been a long time Thinkpad guy...On an old T43 I replaced the Hard Drive and was really surprised by the bump in performance...since then I won't go back...

[John Doe @ Jun 26th 2007 6:57PM]

I'm going to be interested in seeing what Dell does with their other laptops.

[kt @ Jun 26th 2007 9:08PM]

I wish they would offer smaller 7200rpm harddrives. I really do not want the space but I do want the speed. 80gb is more than enough for me on a laptop. It's annoying how Dell is supposed to be the kings of customization but they always remove the lower end options entirely on better models.

SSD is nice but way out of my price range for now.

[RichardN @ Jun 26th 2007 9:52PM]

But....... no T7700 (2.4G) option yet.

The fastest available (today anyway)is the T7500 at 2.2G.

[thecatt @ Jun 27th 2007 7:46AM]

Dear Dell,
Is it really that freaking hard to include a DVI port and Gigabit Ethernet on a laptop?

[MartinK @ Jun 27th 2007 7:58AM]

Wouldnt'it be possible to use the HDMI port for DVI with a converter? I believe these two are compatible (of course HDMI includes sound where DVI doesn't).

[thecatt @ Jun 27th 2007 11:15AM]

Ah, you're right, it does have HDMI. Sorry, I was apparently confusing it with the new Inspirons. I wish they'd include HDMI/DVI on those.

[Jim H @ Jun 27th 2007 1:47PM]

Anybody know how much space an installation of Vista Ultimate would take up, plus, e.g. a copy of Office Pro? Just wondering how much space there'd be left on the 32GB SDD;-).

[Spitfireau @ Jun 29th 2007 12:57AM]

With Vista Ultimate RC2 and the first Office 07 Ultimate Beta, as well as a few other bits and pieces (NFS:HS of course :p) my install left 19gig free from a 30gig partition I created specifically for it (Other OSes, documents etc are on separate partitions). So a 32GB SSD unit should leave a decent amount of space for other programs and documents. Shame these options (SSD etc.) aren't available from Dell Australia - but I'm happy enough with a 7200RPM drive anyway!

Mike

[Jim H @ Jun 29th 2007 2:28AM]

Hi Spitfireau,

Thanks for that info. I'm very interested in getting SSD in one of these new Dells. However, I might just wait for the new Samsung 64GB SSDs to become available before I do it. Should be ample space then although, at a pinch, a 32GB one would do for browsing and a bit of work.

Cheers,

Jim H

[one9 @ Jul 10th 2007 4:30PM]

I just ordered my m1330 a week ago and the freakin thing is backordered. My ship date is sometime in end of August. I'm thinking about canceling my order. 2months wait is way too long...a whole another model could come out by that time!

[Jason @ Jul 14th 2007 12:39PM]

Yes they are.

[K @ Aug 2nd 2007 2:38PM]

I ordered mine on JULY 10 and have an expected delivery date at the end of August... likt the 28th.

Well when I called they appologized saying they accidentally put it up for sale before anything was ordered or ready to be made. They also said they will be giving me a discount for the wait and mistake they made of 50$ not much considering the system was 2400$ ... after I used my company discount of 21% plus other rebates I actually got it for 1800$....

Im actually very excited to say that when I called them yesterday to check, they said all parts are no longer on back order and the systems should be in process of being built now.

So I am hoping to get my system in less than 2 weeks, about 2 weeks ahead of schedule...which is good. Im dying without my laptop.... my other one died.

[Sig @ Sep 11th 2007 3:53PM]

I've ordered 2 of these wonder machines the 1st of august, and the estimated shipping date was the 10th of september. Now my order is delayed in indifinite time due to the lack of the LED screen. Pretty annoying when school started 15th of august and i pretty much need it all the time. And the fact that i have 5400+ dollars pending with those 2 machines it's annoying enough.

Regardless of the wait though, the notebook seems to be forwarded on a golden plate by everyone who makes a review of it. It really does seem like a well build and well performing laptop. I am really really excited to see mine, to say the least.

[Stephane Grenier @ Feb 20th 2008 11:57AM]

For those of you interested in the details of getting the SSD option with the M1330, I wrote a review on it at: http://www.followsteph.com/2008/02/14/solid-state-drive-ssd-review/

It's for the 32Gb option, so the 64Gb SSD might be slightly different.

[seancanada @ Jul 15th 2008 11:17PM]

Running the M1330 with the 64GB SSD for about a month. It is awesome in terms of speed, quietness, and low power consumption. Big downside: too small. Brand new out of the box the system had only 10GB free and the first thing it wanted to do was install Vista SP1 to use another 4.5GB. Give me a break.