Monday, October 5, 2009

Dell XPS M1330 Laptop PC Review

The M1330's distinctive wedge shape looks sharp, as did our test unit's blue-and-silver color scheme (black, white, or crimson are also available). Flip the lid and you'll find a full-size keyboard that's second—just barely—to the dell xps m1330 battery in comfort and feel. The touchpad is on the small side, but we appreciate the dedicated horizontal and vertical scroll areas.

You'll also find a row of capacitive-touch multimedia buttons above the Function keys, including a Media Direct button for accessing your content without booting into Windows and an eject button for the slot-loading DVD burner. We wish there were a Blu-ray drive option, given the M1330's HDMI port. Dell also bundles noise-isolating earbuds and a remote control that slips into the ExpressCard slot.

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The Dell XPS M1330 is a 13.3" screen ultraportable from Dell that uses the new Intel Santa Rosa platform, has a dedicated NVidia 8400GM video card, built-in web camera, slot loading DVD drive. Check out Coupon codes available for the
Inspiron 1525 battery on our Dell Coupon page.

While a worthwhile vendor of mass-market mainstream laptops and desktops, Dell has never been known as an innovator in consumer product design. In fact, the company's stodgy, boxy products have been blamed for a loss of market share to the bolder design strokes of competitors such as HP and Gateway. That's what makes the new 13-inch
XPS M1330 battery such a pleasant surprise. From our first behind-closed-doors peek at it last month, we've been impressed with the emphasis on the user experience in this superthin, high-end laptop, from the slot-loading DVD drive to the touch-sensitive media buttons and HDMI-output jack. At $2,000 and up, it's definitely a premium product, but worth it if head-turning design is as important to you as specs and performance.

The Dell XPS M1330 is an ultraportable performance laptop that's part of the XPS line of notebooks which focus on power and features. The 13.3" screen is LED backlit based which allows for a slimmer profile
hp compaq business notebook 6715b battery. Similar to other laptops in this price range, the M1330 is built on Intel's Santa Rosa platform which includes the Core 2 Duo processor, integrated B/G/N wireless, and Bluetooth. A separate video card, the nVidia GeForce 8400M GS, is available as a configuration option as an upgrade over the standard integrated graphics.

So there's my story. All in all, it went relatively smooth. To top things off, I went ahead and bought a new Logitech G7 Wireless mouse. I'm partial to Logitech because the fit is perfect for my right hand. I replaced my previous Logitech with this one. Very nice! Carbon fiber look, comes with a battery charger that runs on USB. Additionally, I bought a Logitech USB port extender
dell inspiron 1501 battery. The Dell XPS M1330 comes with two USB ports. One on each side. Since I work in a recliner, I needed them both on the right side, where my end table is. So, with the port extender, I can plug it in on the right side, then plug in my external USB hard drive, the G7 USB connector and a few other toys.

What could be better? The Dell XPS M1330 is incredibly faster than my old 2.6 P4 Inspiron 1150. The display is bright, very nice, and I'm really liking the move from XP to Vista. Plenty of ram to keep photoshop, dreamweaver, ftp, half a dozen browsers, Eudora (email), and other apps open, without even a hint of system drag. Worth every penny

The M1330 retains a dedicated graphics processor, but Dell claims that at just 25mm its machine is the thinnest 13.3in laptop in the world. Well, until the MacBook Air goes on sale - the Apple's machine's thickest part is thinner than the Dell's thinnest...

But these are not directly comparable machines. The first thing that sprang to mind when we clapped eyes on the M1330 was just how similar it is to
sony np-f970 battery. With a 13.3in display, wedge-shaped chassis heavily tapered at the front and brushed aluminium palm rests, it could be the Sony's long-lost brother.

In fact, Sony must be pretty miffed, as not only does the XPS share the SZ's good points, it also adds a dash of style and colour. If black doesn't do it for you, Dell also sells the XPS in Crimson Red - however, the additional colours available on other Dell products are strangely absent.

It turns out that, surprise surprise, you pay a premium for a tiny form factor. The MacBook Air is seriously expensive for the guts you get inside, but Apple isn't the only company guilty of charging insane amounts for smaller computers. Just look at the Sony Vaio TZ150N, for example. $2,100 for a 1.06 GHz processor? Are you kidding me? I don't care how small, it's still a rip-off.

The best deal—if you don't mind an extra pound of weight and half-inch of thickness—is the Dell XPS M1330. It bests the MacBook Air in nearly every single category, delivering about 30% more processing power, 50% more memory, over 300% more hard drive space, plus a dedicated graphics card. All of this, for $300 less. But also, two hours less of battery life, thanks to the new smaller and more efficient Core 2 Duo processor in the MacBook Air.

But it's really no surprise that a form factor as striking as the MacBook Air's warrants a premium price. Super-slim and light laptops as a category have yet to come down from the stratosphere, dollar-wise. It's a form factor that SSD just makes loads of sense for, lightening them up and cutting down on
dell xps m1530 battery life, but that drives the price up even further for the time being. Chips are still getting smaller and screen technology keeps improving. In a couple of years, these form factors will be reasonably priced with great specs, but until then, prepare to pay a huge chunk more for a bit less power, just so you can brag about having the thinnest computer on the block.