Customer Reviews

Dell XPS M1330 Laptop (Black) Ultra Slim 13.3" Widescreen, Vista Premium, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor Blazing 2.0ghz Speed, 250GB Hard Drive, 2GB DDR2 Memory, 13.3 Inch Wide Screen Wxga , 128mb Nvidia, Finger Print reader, Bluetooth, Webcam, 6cell Battery, Dvd/rw (Burn DVDs & CDs)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've had very mixed luck with this machine. The pros listed in the very positive reviews are right on--it is fast, it is sleek and light etc etc. However, I've experienced some serious problems with this machine:

1. The drivers for the video card are incredibly buggy, and routinely lead to the screen blanking out (this is a well known problem, and it still hasn't been satisfactorily fixed).

2. Windows vista has never worked well. I'm not sure if this is a Vista issue or a hardware issue, but this machine and this OS have not worked well together (e.g. I initially could not shut the machine off except by using the power button--vista has a lot of shutdown options, all of them simply froze the computer; the machine still crashes, freezes and slows down at random).

3. I've had problems with the Wi-Fi -- it's simply not that great at picking up a signal. On several occasions I've had to borrow a laptop to get online; other machines were picking up the signal but not this one.

4. The computer regularly simply stops working. It won't start, or if it does it won't boot. I suspect it was simply set up very poorly by whatever Dell tech put things together. I paid a computer technician a couple hundred bucks to go through the system, and this made things a lot better--but it made the problems less frequent rather than cured them.

A simple summary of my experience with this machine can be summed up by this fact: I'm writing this review on my wife's MacBook because my XPS is currently in its "I'm not working today" mode.

I've been a huge Dell customer over the years--this is my fifth machine ordered from Dell. There will not be a sixth.

I bought this laptop a couple weeks ago and its just..well...amazing! It looks awesome, so sleek and sexy, with a black finish and a very VERY thin screen. The whole computer is very thin.

The xps m1330 is soooo fast. It loads up really really fast and the screen is soooo bright and clear. Vista is awesome too, very good looking and you will never go back to Windows. Some ppl say it is buggy but i have experienced nothing wrong so far.

I highly recommend this product!

This is the first fast computer I purchased ( also the first one that cost almost a thousand dollars ) Well I bought a refurbished XPS M1330 from Dell website but it works really fast. Using Vista with a computer that cost 600$ is not a smart idea since Vista slows down the computer significantly. However with XPS 1330 ( 3 gbyte ram and 2.4 Ghz clock speed) I can use Vista as XP.
Pros: Fast, thin, light ( not so light with 9cell battery), has firewire and HDMI outputs, 2 ( or can be three) headphone jacks, has remote control, have nice keyboard ( for males who has large hands) and ( with 9 cell battery) can be used up to 5 hours without plugged in to electricity plug.
Cons: Doesn't have any modem (telephone) output, only has 2 USB ports, and Wireless Card 4965AGN might have some issues from time to time ( forced the computer to restart once since I purchased the computer ( in more than 1 month) but probably can be fixed easily with a firmware update).

So far I haven't encountered any serious problem with the computer. After I installed Linux ( Ubuntu )software the startup takes more time than usual but it's not a hardware problem. So I would recommend this computer who are fed up using cheap and slow computers, and want to buy a nice and fast computer.

Hope this helps you choose

If you get this, I highly recommend you purchase the on-site hardware replacement & support plan from Dell. You'll need it.

The computer failed twice within 18 months. Both times required replacement of the motherboard. They claim that the problem was due to the graphics chips not having a high-enough temperature tolerance. The computer runs exceptionally hot and it doesn't help that the ventilation fan input is under the computer by the far left corner. That means that when flush on the desk, cooling is severely restricted. When placed on a bed or couch, cooling is nonexistent. Cooling stands don't help (and actually hurt, since the fan placement is completely blocked by most stands.

That's just one facet of poor design. Others include touch-audio controls. They look cool, but try finding the right button without looking. Try watching a DVD without accidentally brushing against the eject spot. Try typing without accidentally brushing against the touchpad, leaving new text in whatever random spot the cursor was sent to. Try finding the right keys in low lighting.

For how much this cost, I've been HIGHLY disappointed.

I owned this laptop for a year and a half now. Original price was $1200 with the EPP discount.

The biggest plus of the laptop is probably the weight - around 1.8-1.9kg. The touchpad is the next thing I love, it just feels much better than probably any other I tried. Keyboard is ok, nothing fancy (small Enter...), feels ok. Performance wise, laptop works fine in Win7, games worked great (untill the GPU burned that is; see below), I used it for World of Warcraft raiding first couple of months.

The fingerprint reader takes forever to log in. I never figured whats the "magic" way to swipe your finger for it to work faster than manually typing in the password. Slot DVD drive makes funky noise but works fine. Remote that comes with the laptop is cool for presentations, and works with Media Player too (even though with 13" laptop you can't be that far and look at the movie). Battery was pretty lousy even when the laptop was new, barely made it 2hrs with watching movies on almost lowest brightness, surfing the web etc. Webcam is above the screen and the laptop has a microphone array -- those work great with Skype and much better than most webcams (<$100) I saw.

The laptop worked fine for about a year, when overheating problems started.

Problems:

- Vista that came with the laptop crashed like crazy, Blue screen once a day on average. Win7 Ultimate on the other hand works pretty well.
- Graphic card processor (GPU) is overheating even with a copper mod (googling "m1330 xps copper mod" finds the guide). With Copper Mod CPUID and RivaTuner programs report GPU temperature 80 C when computer is idling in Win 7.
- With cooling paste CPU temperature goes down by 10-15 degrees. The way it came from Dell, CPU was heating up to 75-80 C at full load (both cores), now its 61-65 C. This is purely due to Dell's "amazing" cooling pads (little sponges) between the CPU and the cooler.
- Occassionaly it won't boot up; gets stuck on the BIOS boot screen running very slow, CPU heating like crazy, coolers running at max then computer automatically shuts down. If you keep turning it on and off, it will automatically fix itself after 5-6 times. (??!)
- This laptop had its LCD and the entire motherboard replaced (under warranty) but the problems are again the same. By the way, the way it came back from Dell "awesome" service was with all hard drive screws missing! (?!!)

The biggest mistake apart from buying a Dell (XPS) laptop I guess was adding ~$100 extra for a broken graphic card -- nVidia GeForce 8400M GS. On-board graphic card won't be able to run any games, but at least the laptop will work and use less battery.

Conclusion: With the current choice of laptops either at Dell, Sony, ASUS, Toshiba, there is absolutly no reason to buy this, even if the price was half of what it is now.

I love my xps 13... The only things that erk me are the finish shows ever single finger mark. Also the computer runs very hot when watching a movie, running multiple programs, or just blocking the vents(very easy to do). Other than that if you can get around these faults the computer really is a great machine. Plus the free windows 7 upgrade is awesome from dell! get the larger battery also if you have the option i get about 2 hours web browsing.

When it comes to computers, Dell has had a pretty good reputation for "build quality" in their products. But, they also have a reputation for notoriously bad "customer service". One thing that I never expected from Dell was a laptop that was not only built well, but also a real "head-turner" . But that's exactly the case when it comes to the Dell M1330 laptop. This sleek and sexy 4 pound high-end (XPS line) laptop packs a formidable punch and offers a cool array of features & options. These features include an 13.3" LED backlit screen (LED backlight optional), slot loading optical drive, brushed aluminum casing, biometric finger print reader (optional), Media player with travel remote (optional), integrated camera, HDMI out, Solid state hard drive 'SSHD' (optional), and a good selection of laptop colors to choose from. To finish it off, it features powerful CPU choices ( from 1.66Ghz to 2.5Ghz "Core 2 Duo" Intel Processors) and an optional 128mb NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Card. But along with the good, there are a few things that keep this laptop from being perfect. One thing that I really wished this laptop had was more than just 2 USB ports. Not only that, but the ports are on opposite sides of the computer. Also, there isn't even an option for buying an integrated Blu-ray drive... which doesn't make any sense when you see that there's a beautiful 13.3 wide-screen and HDMI port on this thing.

Still, there's a lot to love about the Dell M1330. It's ultra portable/super thin wedge shape design, full-sized keyboard, and built-in memory card slot, integrated web-cam & mic, and 2 headphone jacks, also adds to it's intrinsic value and charm. Few laptops can match both it's 'power per size' ratio. And although it's been available now for a couple years, it can still hold it's own among some of the newer laptops on the market. And when it's all said and done, I think that it makes this Dell a true "classic"... especially now that Dell has discontinued this model. It can still be acquired "new or used" on sites like Ebay, through Dell's online Outlet store, and other online sources. It's also still available at some retail stores.

Pros:
-Beautiful glossy 13.3" wide screen (also available with LED backlight)
-Great super portable, sleek, light, and sexy design.
-Powerful (up to 2.5GHz Core 2 Duo and 128mb NVIDIA GeForce Video Card option)
-Nice array of colors available including "Blue, Pink, White, Black, and Red"
-Slot Loading Optical drive
-Wide array of hard drive options including SSHD, easy to DIY hard drive upgrade as well.

Cons:
-Only 2 USB drives
-No Blu-ray Option
-Standard 6-cell battery doesn't last too long (about 2 hrs) Don't even bother with 3-cell batt.
-9 Cell battery available but it's very expensive and adds much bulk to laptop.(sticks out too)

Conclusion:
This is a sexy and powerful high-end ultra-portable laptop. I've heard that it was rated the most powerful laptop per it's size (when it was first released) ...But this may not be true anymore. The XPS line of Dell laptop has a higher build quality than most regular consumer laptops on the market. And because the prices for this model has drastically dropped (now that it's been discontinued), it's even more of a bargain. Mine has been very dependable and I'd highly recommend it to others.