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Thinking about purchasing a XPS M1330

M

MGDMN

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 30, 2003
Messages
2,435
So, I currently have a XPS M1210 that I love. When I purchased this laptop I wanted a decently powerful machine in small package so that I had great portability and performance. I didnt purchase it thinking that it could handle any kind of heavy gaming but I did think that it could play some newer games at lower settings. I have been disappointed in that aspect but I guess that I cant expect much from it since it has 7400 go video. I have seen alot of videos and read many reviews about the M1330 and it looks like a much better solution. I still want to stay in the light and portable category but I want to be able to play some of the newer games with lower setting/resolutions. So what im asking you guys is, if any of you own one and have thoughts of your own for me to consider before I pull the trigger on one of these, please post here. Also, I wanted to know your thoughts on whether you think I should just go ahead and get a M1330 now or wait until the next gen comes out. The price that I would be able to snag one of these off of ebay for, right now, is also a factor as far as price per performance so keep that in mind. I looking forward to hearing any thoughts. Thanks everyone.
 
Awesome. Thats +1 for the purchase then. What is the weight of the lappy with the 9 cell attached to it?
 
Did they ever fix the high pitch whine on the M1330's? I went through two of them before getting a refund. I couldn't use it because the noise literally gave me a headache to use it for more than 10 minutes or so.
 
Only piece of advice:

If you get one, get one from the Dell Outlet. You can save a shitload of cash purchasing one from the Outlet - a few months ago I could have gotten one that was maxed out with 4GB of RAM and the biggest drive they had at that time, was about $1100 compared to the spec'ed out model at nearly $2K as a regular new purchase.

They come with the same warranty as a brand new item, so save yourself a lump of money and get the same product...
 
Thats up to the OP to decide. You can get Squaretrade warranty as well. Just another option.
 
LG makes laptops, eh... interesting. I'd stick with the Dell Outlet myself and avoid stuff on fleaBay regardless of the final pricing. Nice specs, but it's not sold in the US, obviously - it comes with a Canadian licensed version of Vista Home Premium (not that it matters).

Wonder who makes this for LG, probably Compal maybe...
 
Well, now that I know where I will be purchasing it from does anyone have any criticism as to why I shouldnt?
 
Re-read the thread just to be sure, but... I prefer not to make assumptions quite so often, so... where are ya getting "it" from? :D
 
Im not getting it yet, but if I decide to I will order it from the dell outlet store.
 
So I was checking out the dell outlet store. I havent ever even considered buying a laptop straight from dell so I never really gave their outlet store much thought, but I was pleasantly surprised by their prices. I have almost decided to snag one but the one thing that is holding me back is how well the 8400M GS will perform. I dont want to buy it, and then end up slightly disappointed, like I am now, with the 1220. As jimnms mentioned, is the loud fan whining still an issue? Also, with the slot loading drive, does it cause your discs to become scratched? After extended periods of use, does this get too hot to rest on your lap? Thanks for all the reply's guys, really appreciate it.
 
My M1330 still has the annoying whine but it comes and goes and I really don't notice it unless I listen for it now. I use mine on the couch all the time and it does not get hot if you use it on your lap. I haven't had any problems with the slot loading drive but I don't use a lot of CDs. The 8400 is ok for light gaming I really haven't done to much with it in that regard. I can run a few benchmarks on mine tonight if you wish.

The specs are
T9300 (2.5 ghz 800mhz bus with 6megs of cache)
4 gigs of ram
and the 8400GS
 
I wouldnt ask you to take the time to run the benchmarks but if you are just bored and want to, then I would love to see the numbers. How long ago did you purchase yours? Thanks.
 
I've only had mine a few weeks. Anything particular you want to see I think I still have 3dmark06 on there. I'm going to be spending my night cleaning viruses out of client machines I'll have some time to kill.
 
Nothing in particular. Any 3dmark application or equivalent is fine.
 
MGDMN said:
So I was checking out the dell outlet store. I havent ever even considered buying a laptop straight from dell so I never really gave their outlet store much thought, but I was pleasantly surprised by their prices. I have almost decided to snag one but the one thing that is holding me back is how well the 8400M GS will perform. I dont want to buy it, and then end up slightly disappointed, like I am now, with the 1220. As jimnms mentioned, is the loud fan whining still an issue? Also, with the slot loading drive, does it cause your discs to become scratched? After extended periods of use, does this get too hot to rest on your lap? Thanks for all the reply's guys, really appreciate it.
Click to expand...

The whine noise doesn't come from the fan, it comes from the CPU or the chipset, I can't remember. If you buy direct from Dell. The latest revision that they had when I bought it was A04, and it still had the noise. It's a high frequency noise, and not everyone can hear it.

I don't know what kind of return policy Dell has if you buy from the outlet, but Dell didn't give me any hassle when exchanging or returning it, they even paid for the return shipping. If you get one and find it has the noise and it bothers you, you should be able to send it back.
 
The next gen should be out in a month or two, if you can I would wait. I have a 1330 and if you do buy one, don't get it with the 8400m, it's still borked. Dell/nVidia still don't have an updated motherboard with chips without the problem and they have no solutions still for the overheating problem.
 
ND40oz said:
The next gen should be out in a month or two, if you can I would wait. I have a 1330 and if you do buy one, don't get it with the 8400m, it's still borked. Dell/nVidia still don't have an updated motherboard with chips without the problem and they have no solutions still for the overheating problem.
Click to expand...

Have you had any issues with yours. I don't game with mine just normal tasks
 
do you like to game on a 13" screen?!? thanks kind of small if you ask me.

I have worked on a 1330 for a friend. Good little machine for her over the past few months. Takes it everywhere she wants to go and battery lasts all day when on the go around town and on campus.

she only uses it for surfing and word processing though...
 
i find gaming on a 13 inch screen to be just fine....

when i had my 1330 it was really not bad at all....

i suspect 13 inches would suffice for 95% of the ppl out there who want to game on the go....
 
DeChache said:
Have you had any issues with yours. I don't game with mine just normal tasks
Click to expand...

Yes, my wife uses it for hours at a time for her grad classes and can't keep it on her lap because it gets so hot. When it does overheat, the screen likes to make colorful geometric shapes. Should have stuck with a lattitude in retrospect. Thinking of replacing it with the new M2400 or E4200/E4300.
 
You can also start praying that the Fujitsu SA 3650 comes to the US. 13.3 with an external 3870.
 
I almost bought the 1330m. Was looking at for months. But went with Asus 14" WXGA+ gave me an ATI HD3650, T9400 2.53Ghz 6MBL2 1066Mhz FSB and 320GB HDD. 8400m GS is a weak card. The LG 300 mentioned before has 8600m GS still weak but better.

1330m looks good for what it is but old technology and all 13.3" will be weak on graphics. Asus has 14" with 9650m GT for $1000 to $1200 brand new. Consider. Battery life does suck.
 
Whats the weight of one of those 14" asus? 14" is starting to get into the size range that I dont want. I still want something that is highly portable.
 
What about this new MSI EX300? The specs look impressive but I havent been able to track down a review showing actual performance. Does anyone happen to own one of these?
 
ND40oz said:
Yes, my wife uses it for hours at a time for her grad classes and can't keep it on her lap because it gets so hot. When it does overheat, the screen likes to make colorful geometric shapes. Should have stuck with a lattitude in retrospect. Thinking of replacing it with the new M2400 or E4200/E4300.
Click to expand...

Huh. I've had mine on for hours and one my lap and no problems Mine in no way gets that hot. Guess its kind of a hit and miss issue?
 
Asus Mobile said:
I almost bought the 1330m. Was looking at for months. But went with Asus 14" WXGA+ gave me an ATI HD3650, T9400 2.53Ghz 6MBL2 1066Mhz FSB and 320GB HDD. 8400m GS is a weak card. The LG 300 mentioned before has 8600m GS still weak but better.

1330m looks good for what it is but old technology and all 13.3" will be weak on graphics. Asus has 14" with 9650m GT for $1000 to $1200 brand new. Consider. Battery life does suck.
Click to expand...

There is actually a LG P310 with a 9600GT in a 13.3. That is probably as good as it will get without external graphics card like the Fujitsu. Problem is LG does not sell it in the US. You will have to go to Canada to buy one. Wish they would sell it here as the price is fairly reasonable.
 
Wow that EX300 looks hot! I never heard of. If they make the CPU configurable watch out 1330m. HD3450 w/GDDR3 will crush the 1330m 8400m GS. Plus AMD GPU Clock Tool should allow OC (yea I know 64bit bus). Magnesium alloy? And just looks hot. Yea not the lightest but under 5lbs (4.7lbs?). Montevina platform watch out old 1330m.

I cannot find it for sale yet. Can't find reviews but I am now watching.
 
DeChache said:
Huh. I've had mine on for hours and one my lap and no problems Mine in no way gets that hot. Guess its kind of a hit and miss issue?
Click to expand...

It all depends on if your 8400m exhibits the issues. But, there are currently no fixes for it if it does short of replacing the system board and then you never know if you'll get one that has problems or doesn't as a replacement.
 
lixuelai said:
There is actually a LG P310 with a 9600GT in a 13.3. That is probably as good as it will get without external graphics card like the Fujitsu. Problem is LG does not sell it in the US. You will have to go to Canada to buy one. Wish they would sell it here as the price is fairly reasonable.
Click to expand...
I had not heard of the update of the P300. It does look nice Private-Cowboy (NBR) got over 6000 on 3DMark06. Problem is that is the German version, expensive, non English keyboard. The version from Canada w/English (but not US) only has 9300m GS and they are not looking at changing at this time. Price points and all. Maybe march or April I read.

Here is a link to info on NBR with the 3DMark06 image, link. And well yes this is the most powerful 13.3. But I bet it costs and external optical drive. So still trade offs.
 
Amazon has both the red and the blue MSI EX300 for $999. This is really interesting me.
 
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