Dell XPS M1330 Laptop Review

We recently reviewed the largest system in Dell's XPS range, the huge desktop 720 H2C. Now meet the smallest; the stylish M1330, Dell's latest ultraportable notebook which replaces the XPS M1210 battery. Just calling it stylish is really doing it an injustice, as it's Dells most desirable notebook to date. But it's not had a trouble-free birth, due to some production problems that have now largely been worked through.



Finally! Having waited for what seemed like an age to get our mucky paws on Dell's latest and possibly greatest consumer notebook, we can bring you a review of the Dell XPS M1330 battery. Doubtless anyone who has already ordered one will be able to substantiate this frustration, because Dell has been struggling to fulfil orders of its latest consumer notebook due to some well publicised production issues. Thankfully, those issues seem to have been alleviated somewhat, though that'll be of little consolation to those who've been waiting for theirs to arrive.

We found the notebook's speakers plenty loud but the bass weak, especially at the top volumes. Dell bundles noise-isolating earbuds, which sounded spectacular for both movies and music. We'd like to see some visual feedback when adjusting volume with the media buttons and the remote, but beyond that, watching movies or listening to music on a plane will be a blast with this screen and earbud combo.

Like its predecessor, the XPS M1330 packs a lot of power into a compact frame. Intel's 2-GHz Next Generation Core 2 Duo processor, along with 2GB of RAM, paced this system to a very strong PCMark05 score of 4,545; that's about 1,000 points higher than average for a thin-and-light system. Regular productivity tasks were speedy as well, even with several windows open, and the Toshiba PA3399U-1BAS battery handled Vista's Aero interface with ease.

This notebook pumps out plenty of eye candy, at least for casual gamers. Thanks to Nvidia's GeForce 8400M GS graphics card with 128MB video memory, the M1330 turned in a way-above-average 3DMark03 score of 5,196. The hp pavilion dv9000 battery garnered decent F.E.A.R. scores of 56 and 15 frames per second on autodetect and maximum settings, respectively. Having an HDMI output on board means you'll be able to output video and audio to a larger screen via a single port, whether you're playing games or watching movies. Too bad Dell doesn't include a Blu-ray or HD-DVD drive option..

I was looking for a small, portable and light laptop but still with good performance for my wife when I first saw the reviews for XPS M1330. We liked the components vs. price and of course the design and weight. I was a bit sceptic about our decision to buy and try it but all my concerns disappeared when I had our new laptop running in my hands. I was amazed; it was small, fast, good looking and relatively light. I was not willing to give the laptop to my wife during the first tree weeks... If you are looking for something light with smaller display (not for continuous gaming) and good performance then go for it. You will love it.

Specs of my m1330 in this review:
Core 2 Duo Santa Rosa T7300 2.0Ghz
2×1GB DDR2-667Mhz
120gb 5400RPM hdd
dvd-rw
nVidia GeForce 8400m Video
LED Backlit screen with VGA webcam
6 cell battery
vista home premium
3 year warranty

There are very few 13-inch laptops on the market that bring the caliber of hardware and performance of the Dell XPS M1330. We’re getting a glimpse of the future in ultraportable power with the Dell XPS M1330. Game-capable graphics, blazing processor speed, and a pile of RAM all packed into a lovely chassis that’s as comfortable to carry as a hardback airport romance novel. Despite the extra cash you’ll shell out, we think the hp compaq business notebook nx6125 battery is the clear choice over other cheaper, less powerful notebooks.

The M1330 is a joy to use. The full-size keyboard is exceedingly comfortable to type on, and we love the touch-sensitive multimedia control buttons above the function-key row. The touch pad and mouse buttons are slightly small, but the buttons are quiet, and the pad includes marked horizontal and vertical scroll areas.

The real draw is the option to get a wide-screen (1,280x800) LED-backlit display—a $200 premium that's worth every penny. Employing 32 LEDs instead of a fluorescent tube to illuminate the LCD pixels, it's brighter than traditional screens and delivers a higher contrast ratio that makes images pop. The LEDs also use anywhere from 25 percent to 66 percent less power than a fluorescent tube (depending on the brightness level), boosting battery life. On the M1330, DVDs showed lifelike color reproduction and very good shadow detail. Sound quality from the built-in stereo speakers was a bit thin and lacking in bass, but they delivered respectable volume for a portable this size, with no distortion.

The Sony does lag behind the M1330 when it comes to battery performance. This is where that nine-cell battery plays an important role. In running down while playing a DVD movie, the M1330 lasted 3 hours 23 minutes. Normal day-to-day computing activities can probably get you well over 5 hours. You'll get an extra 22 minutes worth of battery life with the acer aspire 3680 battery, making it slightly better for travel, but you lose the luxury of having a built-in optical drive. The M1330's nine-cell battery adds to the weight, but you can always swap it out for a four-cell or cell-cell battery, which doesn't get you as much juice. If it were up to me, I'd take the nine-cell despite the extra weight.

It's been a while since Dell delivered a laptop that possessed so many awe-inspiring features. The Dell XPS M1330 is a monumental step in that it takes the best things from other great ultraportables and combines them into a single entity. My only peeve is that the weight can get up there with the nine-cell battery. Otherwise, this ultraportable should easily sit at the top of any laptop shopping list.

Many of the back-to-school laptops we've looked at in the $1,000-plus category have CPUs and chipsets from Intel's new Centrino 2 platform. The XPS 1330 battery was one of a handful with older parts, including a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 CPU. That's still the non-Centrino-2 medium-to-high-end default, and gave us decent performance all-around. Going forward, a refreshed version of the 1330 selling for the same price should have Intel's new P8400 CPU.

The system fan and heatsinks in the M1330 do a great job managing heat when the system is under load ... as we discovered when we ran multiple benchmarks back to back. The CPU temperature peaked at only 58 degrees Celsius during multiple 3DMark05 and 3DMark06 tests. The fan moved a significant amount of hot air but the noise was reasonably low and wasn't noticeable over background noise unless the room was perfectly quiet.

One thing to mention is that we kept the 9-cell extended life battery attached to the M1330 during these benchmarks. The extended life battery lifts the system off the desk and allows air to move under the notebook case ... helping to cool the system. When we performed the same benchmarks with the standard acer travelmate 240 series battery (with the case resting flush against the desk) the CPU temperatures peaked at 64 degrees Celsius.

The attractive brushed aluminum surface of the palm rests did heat up during benchmarking, but the temperatures remained at comfortable levels. The left palm rest was slightly warmer than the right. If you are particularly sensitive to temperatures you might find the warmth uncomfortable, but most users will be unlikely to complain about this.

The hard drive in our pre-production unit was virtually silent and made no audible squeals or scratching noises. The overall lack of noise coming from the fan and hard drive on the M1330 should be a welcome surprise for people with sensitive hearing ... particularly for those who owned the M1210. In fact, the only noticeable amount of unwelcome noise coming from the M1330 is from the slot-loading drive when it loads or ejects a disk.

The M1330 has most of the inputs and outputs you would expect (USB, FireWire, flash-memory-card reader, ExpressCard slot, VGA, LAN), plus two headphone jacks and a welcome High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) port for connecting to an external high-definition television (HDTV). But the laptop has only two USB ports (most laptops nowadays have at least three) and no modem jack (so dial-up users need not apply).

With its handsome design, sharp screen, and extensive list of options, it's hard not to love the dell xps m1730 battery. For buyers who need a constant computing companion, it's worth a long look.