The Dell XPS M1530 First Impressions And Owners Review
I am the new owner of a Dell XPS M1530 thanks to Dell who kindly swapped out my old XPS M1210.
I chose the Tuxedo Black model.
The rest of the specification looks like:
Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 2.1Ghz Penryn
3Gb Ram (667Mhz)
1440 x 900 Display 15.4″ Widescreen Display.
320GB Hard Disk (5400 SATA)
256mb Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT
Slot loading DVD+RW
Biometric Finger Print Reader
3 Years on-site XPS Support.
6 Cell Battery (Ouch)
Windows Vista Home Premium
The out of the box Windows Vista Experience Index looks like:-
This machine replaced my Dell XPS M1210. I was not surprised to see the M1530 has a higher score in each Windows Experience Index category.
| Component | M1210 | M1530 |
| Processor | 4.9 | 5.1 |
| Memory | 4.5 | 5.0 |
| Graphics | 3.5 | 5.9 |
| Gaming Graphics | 3.4 | 5.4 |
| Primary Hard Disk | 5.0 | 5.3 |
Observations:
| Item | Note |
| CPU | I was pleasantly surprised at how fast and responsive the system feels. The T8100 is an entry level CPU based on Penryn technology. Anything Core2Duo+ tends not to be the bottle neck in a modern system. Sure a 2.5Ghz would have been nice, but this CPU feels more than capable. |
| RAM | Once again the 3gig sweet spot on an 32 bit OS anything more is a waste. It would appear the memory is the lowest scoring item in Windows Experience Index. |
| Screen / Resolution | I had enough of 1280×800 displays but didn’t want to go 1920×1080 so the middle ground was either 1440×900 or 1680×1050. The 1440×900 looks looks crisp and clear and is easy on the eye for extended viewing but in different circumstances I would have gone for the 1680×1050. |
| Hard Disk | 320gb is a lot of storage for a laptop. The trade off is the speed. In this case 5400rpm. Vs 7200rpm or SSD. For me the optimum here would have been a 200gb 7200rpm. |
| Slot Loading DVD+RW | I was never going to splash the £270 for the M1530 Blu Ray drive so the slim slot loading DVD drive was my only other option. The price of the Blu Ray drive is just crazy. The DVD drive can initially be noisy but quiets down once the content in playing. |
| Video Card | One thing I did want in my next laptop was a 256mb video card. This is the minimum requirement for HD playback. I did some quick tests and HD video looks jaw dropping amazing. The Nvidia video card does the processing leaving the CPU at 30% utilisation. |
| Biometrics | Now I feel like James Bond, but apart from that I am not sure I need it. |
| Warranty | 3 Years on-site. For laptops this is the only way to go. Don’t even touch collect and return. |
| Battery | I am likely to purchase a 9 cell battery and keep the 6 cell as a backup. The six cell runs for just about 90mins at best, If you do anything Gaming or Hi-Def you can half the running time. Basically if you get the 256mb Video Card then the 9 Cell is a must. |
| Operating System | This shipped with Windows Vista Home Premium and the shipping box contains a re-install DVD for Windows Vista Home Premium SP1. I am surprised that Dell aren’t shipping systems with SP1 on the hardware yet. |
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Office2007 User Interface
