I’ve had this laptop for nearly four months now and I’ve had quite the range of experiences with it. Since the standard Product Details boxes don’t let me enter proper information I’ll just list that here. I can’t seem to be able to find the formatting tools, so you’ll have to live with an unformatted review. Please read the last bit before buying though.
XPS M1330
Intel Core 2 Duo T8300
Windows Vista Home Premium
13.3" LCD Display (1280x800)
3GB DDR2 667MHz
160 GB 7200RPM drive [it was cheaper than the 250 GB 5400RPM drive by 1000 rupees :) ]
8x DVD-RW drive
NVidia GeForce 8400M GS (128MB RAM) but it also uses Main RAM when possible
Intel 4965 Wireless-N
Integrated Sound
Standard Dell bluetooth
6-cell battery
I got a free Bluetooth headset and some noise isolation earbuds too.
Pros
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The 1280x800 resolution is just perfect for the 13.3" laptop, everything looks crisp and beautiful.
The GeForce 8400M GS plays the few games I have: Warcraft III, Battlefield 2 at very high settings without any pain. BF2 isn’t great at all high settings, but it is definitely enjoyable.
The touch-sensitive controls on the media bar along the same line as the power and MediaDirect buttons are really nice.
The Wi-Fi card is really good, it picks up all sorts of networks. And the Bluetooth works just fine. I managed to get Skype to work but I messed it up now, so my Bluetooth headset now keeps connecting to my phone automatically. So can’t tell that.
Slot-loading DVD drive is really cool.
Memory card reader works really well, I have a few SD cards lying around and now I just use the reader. It writes at >5MB/s according to the Vista file copying dialog
Sound output placed at the front, good place to put it.
Mine weighs around 2Kg. I think that’s pretty good.
It has a HDMI port.
Cons
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Screen is glossy, so very reflective in sunlight and hard to read there.
The laptop attracts dirt and fingerprints, use a standard cleaner to wash them away and an LCD cleaner on the screen (the Dell tech told me this).
I’ve noticed that at certain positions, you can get a light shock from the corner of the laptop. Part of it is aluminium, but the adapter is grounded so I don’t see why this should happen.
It only has 3 USB ports, if you have a wireless USB modem and a mouse that’s two gone.
It has no S-video out. Can’t expect them to put everything there.
The touchpad is placed off-center. For people like me who use their right index finger on it, this is very annoying because your left palm will rest on the touchpad if you have your fingers on the home row (asdf).
The keys sometimes get stuck. Hit them a few times and they work fine again.
Slot loading drive only works if the laptop is in perfectly flat position. If you keep it slightly raised at the back (I use this to let it cool and because it is more comfortable for my hands) then the drive will make weird noises and not accept the DVD.
Wi-Fi finder is useless. Never found a good use for it.
Dell MediaDirect is junk, completely useless and when you replace your motherboard the thing won’t even work properly.
Other stuff:
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The notebook has an extra slot for a WWAN card. I asked at Technical Support and it appears that nobody in India offers a card for that slot yet. Disappointing.
MediaDirect doesn’t offer you increased battery life, their tech said. It’s utter junk, but you can’t install something else over it or you’ll lose software support.
To get your service tag, open Dell Support Center (it’s preinstalled) and look at the information on top.
Things to watch out for:
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One really big problem with the XPS M1330 and the XPS M1530 is their use of the GeForce 8400M GS and the 8600M. Both these chips from NVidia are horribly faulty and you’ll have all sorts of problems with them.My XPS M1330 came with the A09 BIOS, and in mid-August 2008 (I bought it in late June 2008) I started having trouble with the laptop. Pink and green lines started coming all over the screen and the machine would start shutting off at random times.If this happens to you, do two things:
(i) Quickly get your Service Tag (either from the BIOS or from the Dell Support Center).
(ii) Call Dell Technical Support.The GeForce 8400M GS has a huge problem with heating, and it fails really really quickly. This problem is more evident in the A09 BIOS. To hide the issue, later revisions of the BIOS (A11 and A12 atleast) have this brilliant method: The fans run much faster for much longer, thereby keeping the graphics processor cool but also ruining battery life. Other people have also said that this just delays the failure of the notebook.The graphics processor is integrated on the motherboard, so if it burns out everything goes out the window, you won’t be able to boot your computer and Dell will send out a tech to replace your motherboard. He will probably try to use the same thermal paste on the new motherboard, get him to replace it.Also remember one thing, all notebooks with this graphics chipset have the warranty extended on the motherboard for 1 more year. This will not be listed in your warranty section anywhere and not on their website either. But fight for it if you have a problem. The official Dell blog lists this and I have asked on their official forums too. https://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2008/08/18/nvidia-gpu-update-dell-to-offer-warranty-enhancement-to-all-affected-customers-worldwide.aspxIf you really want this notebook for all its other good things, buy a long warranty. This chip _will_ fail, it’s only a matter of time. All laptops carrying that chip are affected.
UPDATE:
I have since changed my opinion on this laptop, mostly due to the poor quality of Dell support. While they were quick to replace the motherboard the first time it failed, the rest of their service is poor. Here are the reasons why:
They don’t answer email.
They do not know enough about the system to talk about it: While the Dell website clearly talks about how to check your battery health using the button on its back, none of the tech support reps knew of this.
To compound this problem, Dell’s batteries seem to fail incredibly fast. For someone who keeps his room usually between 27-30 degrees, it was a surprise to note that battery capacity had fallen below 60% (5 lights on the health meter) eight months from purchase.
While this laptop is still good, please know that it comes with the added baggage of Dell support. I have championed their cause when others have said that they were crap based on the last time they fixed my machine, but by god, they are awful.