I guess the Dell XPS M1330’s Days are numbered if the above picture of the new Dell Studio XPS 13 is anything to go by.

Something I don’t get is the co-branding of the Dell Studio range and the XPS range.

Studio = Creative Types & XPS= Gamer/Performance why bash these brands together?

Anyway back to the Studio XPS 13… The keyboard is very Apple macbook like and unlike any current shipping Dell.

I do like the styling but anything black and shiny is a finger print magnet.

The XPS M1330 was very popular (aside from issues with Nvida based video cards) so I imagine this revision is going to sell well.

But wait….

Dell are apparently working on a consumer laptop that for thinness will rival Apple’s macbook air.

So if you’re waiting to get a new swishy laptop it may be worth waiting just that little bit longer.

Dell have announced on their Direct2Dell blog they will be offering extended warranties for those customers affected by Nvidia GPU issues.

I have previously written about these issues here and here.

From their Post

“Dell will offer a 12-month limited warranty enhancement specific to this issue. For all customers worldwide, we plan to add 12 months of coverage for this issue to the existing limited warranty up to 60 months from the date of purchase.”

The affected Dell models are the:-

Dell Inspiron 1420

Dell Vostro Notebook 1310
Dell Vostro Notebook 1400
Dell Vostro Notebook 1510
Dell Vostro Notebook 1710

Dell Precision M2300

Dell Latitude D630
Dell Latitude D630c

Dell XPS M1330
Dell XPS M1530

Considering Nvida caused this problem Dell are taking a lot of heat for it. So are HP and the other OEMs.

Reading the comments on the current announcement this is still not considered a satisfactory solution by the majority of users. A product recall/replacement is.

Link: Direct2Dell (Comments)

Another Interesting Link on this topic: Link

I posted here about the Nvidia mobile graphics cards that Nvidia themselves reported as “failing in the field at higher than normal rates.”

Dell have now announced the list of possibly affected laptops and has issued Bios Upgrades that change the fan profile.

These include the

Inspiron 1420

Latitude D630 and D630c

Precision M2300

Vostro 1310, 1400, 1510 and 1710

XPS M1330 and M1530

What do end users need to do?

Well you basically download and install the Bios update. The change to the fan profile will probably mean the fan’s kick in earlier to keep the system cooler. Step by Step Instructions are here.

Some people have commented (on the direct to dell blog) that this isn’t really an acceptable solution.

Tip1: If you purchased one of the above laptops with only 1 years warranty I would definitely contact Dell and upgrade your existing warranty to 3 years to give you some additional protection. Upgrading the Bios can only do so much.

Tip2: Normally I would recommend installing this immediately but in the comments of the conversations below there have been some people with bios install problems. I would hold off for a couple of days then check for any known problems.

Link: NVIDIA GPU Update for Dell Laptop Owners

Other online Conversations about this topic.

Dell explains NVIDIA GPU issues, throws out BIOS updates to help

http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/10090995/Replace_All_Faulty_Nvidia_Laptop_GPUs

http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2008/07/25/nvidia-gpu-update-for-dell-laptop-owners.aspx#comments

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=dell+nvidia

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Nvidia have announced that some of their Laptop video cards are failing at higher than normal rates.

From their press release:-

“Separately, NVIDIA plans to take a one-time charge from $150 million to $200 million against cost of revenue for the second quarter to cover anticipated warranty, repair, return, replacement and other costs and expenses, arising from a weak die/packaging material set in certain versions of its previous generation GPU and MCP products used in notebook systems. Certain notebook configurations with GPUs and MCPs manufactured with a certain die/packaging material set are failing in the field at higher than normal rates.”

However they haven’t disclosed which are the affected products/models.

That isn’t good enough. We now know there is suspect Nvidia products on the market but unwitting customers are likely to be buying affected laptops as I write.

The bad news is this directly affects OEM’s like Dell who for example offer Nvidia video cards in their:-

XPS, Latitude, Precision and Vostro product lines.

Until we know which Nvidia products are affected how confident can consumers be!

Tech Tip: If this issue is a concern consider the Dell Studio laptops as these come with ATI based video cards.

Tech Tip: I always recommend 3 years on-site warranty, as this would cover you for this type of issue.

It is believed Nvidia have told OEM’s to issue software based updates that force the hardware cooling and fans to kick in earlier to combat these issues.

So a quick look a support.dell.com reveals a July 1st 2008 update to their XPS M1330 running  Nvidia GeForce 8400M series cards.

This is significant as Dell are notorious for never updating their 3rd party video drivers.

Make of that what you will. This of course could be completely unrelated.

One way to find out would be for the companies selling the technology to tell us.

Link: http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1215037160521.html

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.

Observations:

If you are interested in the XPS M1530 Bookmark this link for future coverage

Link: View all posts filed under Dell XPS M1530

The short version of the story is I gave my  Dell XPS M1210 laptop to a client after his failed twice in a month. This left me with his older M1210 to get repaired for the 3rd time. (posts about this here).

I was also slightly worse off as the clients M1210 was a slightly lower spec than the one I gave him.

Jamie my Resolution Manager at Dell initially said as I elected to replace the Clients machine Dell were only obligated fix the broken laptop under warranty. I agreed.

However the next day Jamie called me and offered to send an engineer to replace the CPU, Screen and upgrade the Ram and the Warranty. This would bring the machine back into line with the one I gave away.

I was really pleased Dell offered me this but I was thinking this seems to be a lot of trouble to go to for the now repaired  2 year old laptop.

I then asked if I could perhaps get a discount towards a new machine. He enquired which one I was interested in, I said the Dell XPS M1530.

A day passed then Jamie called and offered a direct swap. My old XPS M1210 for a new XPS M1530.

That’s a pretty good deal, so I took it. Thanks Dell.

The guys over at PCMag.com have in for review the updated (Penryn) Dell XPS M1730.

Now a tricked out $4000 laptop is not your average piece of kit and the XPS M1730 stands at the top of Dell’s gaming/performance XPS range.

At 10 pounds its also not that portable. But these laptops are all about the performance.

The review works out at 4/5.

Link: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2319843,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530

The starter price for the XPS 730 in the UK is £2499. For a machine with only 1 years on-site warranty that’s a pretty impressive price tag.

Hey go nuts, add in 3 years warranty and a 22″ monitor and the bill comes to £2883.

So the XPS 730 is clearly only for a select few.

As ridiculous as the cost appears to me, is this really any different to seeing some exotic cars on the motorway (Lamborgini, Ferrari or Bentley). The market exists for those so why not.

Links:

PC Mac Review Link: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2289571,00.asp

Official Dell Link: Dell XPS 730

Direct 2 Dell: Post Link

The guys over at PC Mag seemed to like it. They gave it an editors choice award and 4 out of 5.

This is an mid-level machine for those not ready to commit to a XPS 7 series.

To be honest the case design is a bit too Star Trek for my tastes.

Maybe I am getting old but I have no clue who the target audience is for the above advert, teenagers with $1299 to spend I assume.

If I had to choose between the styling of the XPS 420 over the XPS 630, it would be the 420 all the way. Clearly the designers had slightly less testosterone. Neither totally satisfy.

XPS 420                   XPS 630

Link: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2269812,00.asp

See Also: XPS 630 Desktop Coming Soon

I placed an order online on Friday 01-02-2008 for a Dell XPS 420

Now I have had a busy week with Children being born, Networks being installed, so I wasn’t in a mad rush for the PC.

So  I thought I wonder how my XPS 420 Order is progressing.

So I email my account manager (Paul A McBride), I instantly get an Out of Office message from him.

Contained in the Out of office email is the e-mail address of another contact at Dell. This Chap is Called Patrick Furlong

So I email Patrick asking for an update on my order only to receive an Out of Office from him as well.

But in this Out of Office it contained the details of yet another person Fiona Lacy.

So just for her hell of it I email her and ask for an order update.

I haven’t heard anything from Fiona.

If anyone at Dell can find out what is going on I would appreciate it.

The web order reference number is 292774

Right now I should be telling the world how Great the Dell XPS 420 is.