Dell XPS 16

[Cousken]

Hi everyone!

I'm looking to buy a laptop right now, and the dell Studio XPS 16 seems to be pretty much exactly what i want, besides the fact that it is a bit too big.

I'm looking for an opinion from someone who owns or has tested this machine. Getting a feel for a laptop can be hard, especialy since dell does only delivery where i live and you can't actually check the thing out before you buy it...

What i'm interested in is how the machine feels as an item on a desktop, a quality hard to measure on charts, and also how it performs. Is it sluggish or well responsive? Does it get hot or keep cool?

I've looked at all the information on the Radeon HD 3600-something this laptop has, and it all looks nice, but it still doesn't tell me how this actuall performs in games. I'll be changing from a Acer Aspire 5020 with a Radeon X700 so i'm expecting a big pick up in performance, but no miracles. I seldom game in resolutions higher than 1024, so what i want to know is if i will be able to play modern games like Dawn Of War II or Empire Total War without any problems, even if on lower quality.

Cookie points to everyone for their input

 

[EQPlayer]

Both of those are RTS's, right? Those sorts of games aren't usually the most graphically intensive things on the planet, so I expect you'll do fine.

 

[lostandwandering]

The HD 3670 should do fine with those games, especially compared to the X700 you have now.

Here is a review: http/www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4764

 

[Cousken]

Both of those are RTS's, right? Those sorts of games aren't usually the most graphically intensive things on the planet, so I expect you'll do fine.

Both of those are actually quite intense, but i don't mind putting the setting on lowest as long as i get a smooth FPS.

Thanks for the review Lostandwanc, it was usefull.

 

[tipoo]

Thats the same laptop i want, actualy. I havnt tried it, but Anandtech has a good review up.

 

[LandynSilence]

So first let me present my bias I work for Dell, but i'll try to keep that out of the way because I own a Studio XPS 16. I bought it and have been nothing but impressed to say the least. I would assume you'll have no issues with your games as I am running Crysis and Warhead on it with very high settings for a laptop. It's running DDR3 and has a 512 dedicated card all on 64 bit it is pretty sick. Right now you can even pick up one like mine with a p8600 for 1099 with 150 gift card (sorry bias showing through ).

 

[LandynSilence]

Ok so i'm so new at this, I prematurely posted.... my girlfriend wasn't very happy

As i was saying its very worth it, i went with a low config but you can up the prosessor higher and get more out of it. with regards to the display up the it is full 16:9 wich can be kind of wierd.

Now for the other side, not bad just not as good. The begining of the hard drives are not that special, you can get better but they arent very cheap. Finally with regards to the heat, i run a Belkin Usb cooling pad when i need to for longer periods of use, but it does relatively run pretty.

Ok so overall i am very proud of what i got but you could have got most of this off the dell site, so here is my personal things that i found to be........well interesting. The keyboard is only a 15.4 laptop style and the extra space on the two sides of the keyboard is where the speakers are built in. Good sound, not great, but good. On the cooling again you really cant extend the screen all the way back and leave it while gaming because it starts to cover up the vent in the back with the screen.

Ok so for my first posts ever i went a little over the top i think but i hope all this info helps.

 

[Cousken]

Ok, thanks Landyn that was very helpful

 

[tipoo]

The cooling issue seems to be the only big minus... Has anyone tried controlling the fan with Speedfan or another fan program?


And can someone post a few pics?

 

[cjl]

You could always try i8kfangui - I use that program on my XPS M1710 with great success, and it seems perfect for use with most dell laptops.

 

[tipoo]

You could always try i8kfangui - I use that program on my XPS M1710 with great success, and it seems perfect for use with most dell laptops.

Can someone who owns the Studio XPS 16 confirm that that works? Most reviews say that its fan is usualy laid back and silent since its a media laptop, manual fan control might fix it.

 

[LandynSilence]

And can someone post a few pics?[/quotemsg]


Ok let me give you a few good pics... try these links but im a noob at blogging, yes its possible.

http/www.cnet.com.au/story_media/339294199/dell_1.jpg for the outside

http/www.flickr.com/photos/rbitting/3232299476/ check the speakers by the keyboard but pretty sweet backlight

http/www.flickr.com/photos/techfever/3239038468/ good one of the inside


I dont have any pics on my own so i pulled up some good ones

One more thing that is important "FINGER PRINTS WILL HAPPEN" the design is sexy but easy to grease up.

 

[tipoo]

Thanks...Can you check if you can control fan speed with Speedfan or another program? And does this fix the heat issue?