Dell xps m1530 laptop review

Dell made a serious effort in 2007 to listen to customer feedback criticizing Dell’s older, thick and heavy laptops. The result was the amazingly thin and light XPS M1330, one of the sexiest looking notebooks of 2007. The new Dell XPS M1530 (dell xps m1530 battery )is an impressive 15.4" screen notebook designed similar to (just larger than) the very successful 13-inch XPS M1330.

Our pre-production XPS M1530 is equipped with the following specs:

• 15.4-inch WXGA (1280 x 800) CCFL glossy screen


• "Crimson" red paint (also available in "Tuxedo" black or "Alpine" white)


• 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo T7500 processor, Santa Rosa chipset (up to 2.4GHz available)


• 2GB DDR2-667 SDRAM (up to 4GB DDR2 SDRAM available)


• 160GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD (32GB SSD drive available)


• Slot-loading dual-layer DVD±RW drive


• NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GT with 256MB GDDR3


• WWAN option for Verizon


• Ethernet, 802.11a/g/n (Intel 4965), Bluetooth option


• Integrated 2.0 megapixel webcam


• HDMI, VGA, S-Video, Firewire/1394, three USB 2.0 ports, integrated media reader (MS, SD, xD), fingerprint reader


• Media Center remote located in ExpressCard slot


• Windows Vista Home Premium


• Dimensions (with 6-cell battery): 14.06" x 10.34" x 0.93" - 1.38"


• Weight starts at 5.9 pounds with 6-cell battery (6.29 pounds with 9-cell)

Build and Design

The Dell XPS M1330 has received high praise for its design and feature set in a 13.3" portable form factor, but the most popular selling laptops are in the 15.4" screen size. Dell, being in the business of selling more laptops and making customers happy, figured it would be wise to offer something that's larger and appeals to more people. And that's exactly what the M1530 is -- a larger version of the M1330.

As we said in our First Look article, it's as if Dell put the M1330 on steroids and the M1530 (dell latitude d820 battery )is the end result -- the laptop size increased proportionally and it's also more powerful in its new form. The design and look is mostly the same, the keyboard feels the same, the touch sensitive controls are replicated and for the most part the ports are the same (though you do get an extra USB 2.0 port on the M1530). That said, when we compare the M1530 and the M1330 side by side we can't help but think the design of the M1530 is "overweight" in comparison.

There are some notable differences other than size between the M1530 and M1330 (dell KD476 )however. The M1530 can be configured with a more powerful Nvidia 8600M GT graphics card for boosted gaming performance over the XPS M1330 that only offers up to the Nvidia 8400M GS. The M1530 also offers up to a 2.80GHz Intel T7800 processor, whereas the XPS M1330 tops out at an Intel T7500 2.2GHz processor. Obviously if you're all about the performance metrics and don't carry a laptop around much, the XPS M1530 is a better fit for you.

Some people might wonder if they should go for the Dell Inspiron 1520 15.4" notebook or the Dell XPS M1530 15.4". After all, they're both consumer notebooks from the same company that can be configured similarly, so what's the point? For one, the XPS M1530 is way more eye catching in terms of design than the Inspiron 1520. The barrel hinge, dropdown screen and sloping look of the M1530 is just cool. Second, the XPS M1530 (DELL Latitude d630 battery )weighs just 5.9 lbs with a standard 6-cell battery and just 6 lbs and 4.6 ounces (6.29 lbs) with its 9-cell battery. The Inspiron 1520 weighs more than 7 lbs with the 6-cell battery. Other benefits of the XPS M1530 notebook include a sleeker slot loading optical drive, touch sensitive light-up buttons, dedicated XPS tech support, media remote control and thinner profile.

Screen

Another difference that should be mentioned is that currently the M1530 is offered with only a standard 15.4" widescreen XGA (1280 x 800) display, while the XPS M1330 has the option for a thinner and more power efficient LED backlit display. Dell says the XPS M1530 should be available next year with different resolution screens ... including LED backlight options.

Even though some will be a little put out by the lack of LED backlighting being offered on the M1530 initially, the standard CCFL display is still gorgeously bright and flawless. Plus you get a higher 2.0MP web cam with the standard thicker CCFL screen, whereas with a thinner LED screen only a VGA resolution cam can be fitted.

The screen on our pre-production unit looks flawless from straight on and the horizontal viewing angles are great. Upper vertical viewing angles are good, but colors did begin to invert at lower viewing angles when the screen is tilted back.

Heat and Noise

The XPS M1530 does a reasonable job keeping heat under control. The system fan and heatsinks in the M1530 (hp pavilion dv6000 battery )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 3DMark06 tests. The fan moved a significant amount of hot air but the noise was reasonably low and wasn't noticeable over background noise most of the time. However, when the fan was at the highest setting we did record the volume of the noise at 53-56dB from about two inches away from the fan exhaust.

Unfortunately, noise was something of an issue with the M1530. The slot-loading optical drive was quite loud during Windows startup, inserting a disk, or ejecting a disk. The sound is something like a small power drill muffled under a pillow. That said, the optical drive produces acceptable noise levels when a disk is spinning in the drive.

The real noise issue involved the hard drive. Because of the way the hard drive is mounted to the case (and due to the thin metals used) the spinning/scratching noise of the Hitachi-brand hard drive was magnified under the left palm rest. The hard drive noise was so loud that I was able to hear the hard drive making scratching noises from two feet away even while playing music at a resonable volume over the built-in speakers. That's just too loud.

Battery Life

The 9-cell extended-life battery provides excellent battery life for the M1530 (ibm thinkpad t60 battery ). With Vista's power management running in "high performance" mode, screen brightness set to maximum and wireless on, the 9-cell battery delivered more than 3 hours and 30 minutes of battery life. We're certain that the 9-cell battery could deliver more than 4 hours of life with the notebook set to "balanced" or "power saver" mode and the screen brightness turned down.

One thing to mention is that with the 9-cell battery in you get an overall greater slope to the keyboard, we actually like this for ergonomics, it feels more comfortable for typing.

Conclusion

Overall, the Dell XPS M1530 is a solid addition to the Dell notebook lineup. We praised the smaller XPS M1330 for having "a design that is second to none in its price range" but we didn't feel quite as strong about the design of the larger M1530. While this is certainly the hottest 15.4" notebook available from Dell, it's hard to shake the feeling that we're looking at a "fat" M1330 with a larger screen.

While issues like a noisy slot-loading drive, noisy hard drive, and limited screen options will make some demanding buyers look elsewhere, the M1530 is an excellent alternative to HP's popular dv6500t notebook in the same price range.