Anyone have a Dell XPS M1530? (laptop, hd, bios, keyboard)

[collinsl]

Hi all,
I am looking a buying a Dell XPS M1530, and I was wondering if anyone here has any opinions both on this laptop and Dell overall.

Thank you,
Lloyd Collins

[Steel Man]

Originally Posted by collinsl

Hi all,
I am looking a buying a Dell XPS M1530, and I was wondering if anyone here has any opinions both on this laptop and Dell overall.

Thank you,
Lloyd Collins

It's hard to find 881 reviews of this product, other than on the Dell website:

Dell XPS M1530 Laptop Product Details

Click on the reviews to see them.

[collinsl]

Originally Posted by Steel Man

It's hard to find 881 reviews of this product, other than on the Dell website:

Dell XPS M1530 Laptop Product Details

Click on the reviews to see them.

Thank you for your input, but I was under the impression that dell would edit/only post reviews that gave a positive appearance to the product, and that would not give me an opinion of dell overall.

[Steel Man]

Originally Posted by collinsl

Thank you for your input, but I was under the impression that dell would edit/only post reviews that gave a positive appearance to the product, and that would not give me an opinion of dell overall.

I don't think so! Here is one from 20 Oct 08, with a "1" (out of 5) rating:


Title: Touchpad problems, volume button, loose camera Date: October 20, 2008

Reviewer Images
(click to see full-size image)
(Click anywhere inside this popup to close it) iPhone connected at USB 1.1 speed Pros
+ attractive
+ click-anywhere-keyboard
+ comfortable fan noise
+ hdmi with HD audio (not tested though)
+ sweet blue light behind volume and drive buttons
+ detects + comfortable fan noise (subjective though)

Cons
- touchpad problems even after A08 bios upgrade
- stiff volume and drive buttons
- home and sleep buttons divert stand out as ugly among the sweet drive and volume buttons
- usb problems
- harddisk whine noise (not seeking)
- loose camera panel
- fastest harddisk on market yet Vista still slugs along when trying to do to things at the same time
- no green gigabit ethernet
- no esata
- no led backlight
- bad contrast compared to my dads BenQ 24" G2400W although they are based on same tech i think


Additional Thoughts
- Touchpad sometimes unresponsive even after bios A08 upgrade. My iPhone and my dads old laptop has never acted like this.
- The volume and drive buttons are very hard to depress, and my "increase volume" button doesn't work.
- iPhone sometimes connects at USB 1.1 speed and is slow to sync (I get a "this device can perform faster" notification bubble). Could be iPhone or iTunes or Vista bug.
- harddisk is not mounted soft and produces a whine from the spinning motion (not seek noise)
- The panel in front of the camera above the screen is loose
- vista network and audio notification icons gone and network does not work sometimes. Might be Vista bug
- Touchpad, loose camera panel, hard volume and drive buttons and out-of-style home and sleep buttons is bad design and give bad usability. They haven't tested this product enough and such problems are unforgivable. Problems with software and especially Microsoft OS problems are not so much under their control, but at least they could have done great what they could.

[collinsl]

Originally Posted by Steel Man

I don't think so! Here is one from 20 Oct 08, with a "1" (out of 5) rating:


Title: Touchpad problems, volume button, loose camera Date: October 20, 2008

Reviewer Images
(click to see full-size image)
(Click anywhere inside this popup to close it) iPhone connected at USB 1.1 speed Pros
+ attractive
+ click-anywhere-keyboard
+ comfortable fan noise
+ hdmi with HD audio (not tested though)
+ sweet blue light behind volume and drive buttons
+ detects + comfortable fan noise (subjective though)

Cons
- touchpad problems even after A08 bios upgrade
- stiff volume and drive buttons
- home and sleep buttons divert stand out as ugly among the sweet drive and volume buttons
- usb problems
- harddisk whine noise (not seeking)
- loose camera panel
- fastest harddisk on market yet Vista still slugs along when trying to do to things at the same time
- no green gigabit ethernet
- no esata
- no led backlight
- bad contrast compared to my dads BenQ 24" G2400W although they are based on same tech i think


Additional Thoughts
- Touchpad sometimes unresponsive even after bios A08 upgrade. My iPhone and my dads old laptop has never acted like this.
- The volume and drive buttons are very hard to depress, and my "increase volume" button doesn't work.
- iPhone sometimes connects at USB 1.1 speed and is slow to sync (I get a "this device can perform faster" notification bubble). Could be iPhone or iTunes or Vista bug.
- harddisk is not mounted soft and produces a whine from the spinning motion (not seek noise)
- The panel in front of the camera above the screen is loose
- vista network and audio notification icons gone and network does not work sometimes. Might be Vista bug
- Touchpad, loose camera panel, hard volume and drive buttons and out-of-style home and sleep buttons is bad design and give bad usability. They haven't tested this product enough and such problems are unforgivable. Problems with software and especially Microsoft OS problems are not so much under their control, but at least they could have done great what they could.

Okay, okay, I walked into that one!

[Radek]

Dells either work, or they dont.

At Boeing's upgrade, we assumed 10% DOA from factory.

10%. Straight from the factory. Some nights, we exceeded that.

But, when they work... they work well.

[collinsl]

Originally Posted by Radek

Dells either work, or they dont.

At Boeing's upgrade, we assumed 10% DOA from factory.

10%. Straight from the factory. Some nights, we exceeded that.

But, when they work... they work well.

Thank you very much. How good is Dell's customer service for replacing DOAs?

[Radek]

I haven't had to deal with them directly, but from what I can tell, they try to fix the computer first rather than replace the whole thing. (generally its one or two parts that are broken) of the people I know who have had to deal with dell customer support, I haven't heard many complaints.

At the same time, if it doesn't work, just hand it back to them and ask them for another one out of a brand new box. Be adamant.

[collinsl]

Originally Posted by Radek

I haven't had to deal with them directly, but from what I can tell, they try to fix the computer first rather than replace the whole thing. (generally its one or two parts that are broken) of the people I know who have had to deal with dell customer support, I haven't heard many complaints.

At the same time, if it doesn't work, just hand it back to them and ask them for another one out of a brand new box. Be adamant.

Thank you very much.

[Steel Man]

Originally Posted by collinsl

Thank you very much. How good is Dell's customer service for replacing DOAs?

Now that is a horse of a different color. Even though I never had a DOA computer from them, I did have a defective software disk. When I called them, I got a guy from India who didn't speak English very well. Here I live in San Antonio, Texas and they made my computer in Round Rock, Texas (about 80 miles North), and I get a guy from India. Anyway, they sent me the wrong disk. So much for outsourcing...bring the jobs back to the US!