Dell XPS M1530

[tnnrx6]

Just got an update from Dell...will be here Tuesday!

 

[tnnrx6]

It actuallly came yesterday (Monday!)

I must say I'm really impressed.

Dell started off by cutting the turn-around time by almost 10 days.

This laptop performs like a beast! The screen is absolutely beautiful.

I also noticed that the software that was packaged with it is ACTUALLY USEFUL! Back in the day, I always felt like Dell's software and all the extras they put on was junk and useless.

There's still a lot of stuff to play around with, but I wanted to start off by letting you know how it's going so far.

I highly recommend Dell and this laptop with the specs I configured. It's well worth the price.

 

[theworminator]

Hahah, sweet deal. Yeah, I remember getting a Dell 4 years back (it's now fried and dead, crappy quality) and holy crap I didn't need all that bullcrap and bloatware on it. Sound like they at least kinda cleaned up their act, at least for the XPS line. Run 3DMark06 on it, and Superpi or something, come on, benchmarks! Go! 😀

 

[tnnrx6]

I'll run 3DMark on it today just for you and post up the results =)

 

[tnnrx6]

3846 3DMarks

Ran this with out of the box setup, no tweaking or anything.

Is that a good score?

 

[theworminator]

Sweet, sounds good. It's a good score, means you can play most modern games at mid settings I think. It's about the score I expected, so good luck and have fun!

 

[tnnrx6]

Great! I wasn't really looking to make a gaming laptop, more for work and things such as that. But it's always good to know it can run most of the games out smoothly.

 

[lostandwandering]

Yup, you should have fun with that laptop.

 

[ImBullseye]

Congratulations! I'm getting mine in 6 days (26th), and did you check if it came with DDR3 the graphics card? Enjoy yours, soon will be doing the same with mine ^^

 

[tnnrx6]

Grats bullseye...you wont be disappointed.

You getting the same exact specs?

Also how can I check if it's DDR3? I'd be more than happy to check for you.

 

[zental]

This is awesome, I'm thinking about getting a similar setup and I just wanted to make sure that games such as Oblivion, WoW, Cabal Online, etc can play well on this machine.

My debate is whether to spend like 1400 now and get one that will last a year or two, or spend 3k and get one that will last for like 3 years. But i don't really want to spend the 3k, so if this laptop will play games like oblivion and stuff on even medium settings i'd be happy I think.

Can you guys tell me based on the 3dmark score how it would do?

 

[tnnrx6]

Hey Zental,

I've played a couple games I got including Counter-Strike Source and CoD4. Everything runs great. This laptop is going to last me a long time, but I guess I'm not a huge gamer like you. You can always upgrade the video card later.

 

[zental]

Ohhh you played COD4 and it runs ok? That's cool I have that game and if it can run that, I think i'd be satisfied. I'm still kinda new to the laptop world, is it difficult to upgrade video cards in computers like this? or processors? I can do all of that perfectly fine on a desktop computer, but I've never tried to upgrade a laptop before except for ram.

Do you have to go through the manufacturer for things like that? or can you just buy the products on newegg and then install them and they will fit?

 

[theworminator]

Processors are technically feasible, as long as you have the guts and know how to take your laptop apart. The GPU is usually a harder task, because of all the different slots used by different companies. It's still doable if you do enough research. Either way, it's usually not worth the price to upgrade laptop parts. For example, a T7600 costs somewhere along the lines of 650 dollars...yeah. Not worth it.

 

[ImBullseye]

tnnrx6 I have my laptop, but I'm having some bad problems trying to connect to internet with vista. Already posted here for help:
http/www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/50395-20-poblems-connect-internet-vista-wireless-connection

Oh i found out how to look if its ddr3 or ddr2, mine is DDR3, you have to download a little program called GPU-Z is very very little and will tell you all your specs.
Mine works just good, even if I had a problem with vista the first day that it needed to shut down, since that no other problem, for now... (well have it when typing this for less than 4 days)

 

[hjjfffaa]

Yeah, they basically have the standard Sigmatel card, with the Sound Blaster program on top. They raised a ruckus a while back, because they didn't say it was software edition, so it led people to believe they were getting actual Sound Blaster cards 😛

yea i remember that, i opened up system information when i got the the thing and saw the stock sigmatel sound card, called them up and they said it was software, my reply was then why dont you tell people that asswipes

 

[lostandwandering]

^I think the user Warezme had a similar issue and got Dell to give him the express slot version of it as compensation. They've started to advertise it as what it is now. Wonder how much money they had to lose before they fixed the issue.

 

[ImBullseye]

Well my wireless is fixed now, I managed to fix it myslef, in the comment on top you can check the solution.
Works really nice this XPS M1530, i like it quite much

 

[hjjfffaa]

^I think the user Warezme had a similar issue and got Dell to give him the express slot version of it as compensation. They've started to advertise it as what it is now. Wonder how much money they had to lose before they fixed the issue.

yea but i got it before they started offering the ExpressCard version so i was stuck missing 25 dollars. i also use a mobile broadband card 98% of the ime the laptop is on because i just recently got cable modem broadband and haven't bothered to wire up my house yet.

 

[toolfan524]

Is the creative sound card worth messing with? If you get the add on card with the XPS, can you still use the on-board audio?