I'm a pretty seasoned computer user. I've been at it since about 1985 and have owned, built, configured and used dozens of computers over that period of time. Now, our office that runs several small businesses has four computers, and my Dell XPS M1530 is the replacement for a 6 year old Dell desktop that served flawlessly but was aging in performance. I did a lot of research before buying this one. My goal was to get a state-of-the-art laptop that would drive its own display alongside a 24" main display. We have a lot of power glitches here in Hawaii, so the laptop's built-in UPS capability was a big plus.
This computer did not disappoint. It has the 9300 CPU and is lightning fast for our memory-hog applications. OK, it had a flaw. About a week before the end of the warranty, the HD died. I called tech support, told them the error codes and they immediately confirmed that it was a bad HD and sent a replacement. I asked for some other brand of HD since this one had a known issue and that's why Dell was so quick to acknowledge the need for a replacement. Unfortunately, all they could provide was another one of the same drive. So I ordered an upgrade online (hard drives are so cheap, why not?), and use their replacement in an external-drive enclosure for office backups and large transfers, and I installed the new drive in the XPS. I installed the image I had (of course) saved on our office backup drive, and was up and running in an hour. BTW, it takes about five minutes to replace a drive in this well-designed laptop. And that includes the time to find the screwdriver.
Since then, no problems, and the computer performs as it was intended to in the first place. For the occasional use in which I actually use it as a laptop, I love the keyboard feel and overall build quality. This may sound a bit weird from a guy who considers himself totally outside the realm of what is cool and what is not, but this laptop is the best looking rig there is. No doubt about it, the designers had it together on this one!
The slot-loading cd/dvd is terrific, the keypad is slick, the display is crisp and clear, and most importantly, the performance is the best of any computer we have ever had in our office. Even working it's proverbial computer-butt off, it never runs anything but warm to the touch. This is in sharp contrast to many reviews that state hot-running as an issue. I understand the 9300 CPU has resolved much of this problem.
I gave it five stars only because Dell shipped it with a known HD defect and then refused to replace the drive with a different brand/model/whatever. The logic of that escapes me. For the last fifteen years or so, I have never had a complaint with Dell Tech Support. A caveat here, though, our support has always been from the business direction. I hear that the general consumer support isn't that great. Next time you buy a Dell, try buying it as a business purchase.
Do not buy this laptop either used or brand new. The NVIDIA graphics card is the 8400 GS or GT depending on the model and there is a known problem with them.
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I have owned it for 4 years and so far I have replaced the speakers, hd, upgraded to windows 7, and the biggest issue is the gpu issue of it unsoldering it self, i have re soldered it about 3 times now using heat, looking for a mother board as we speak. great lap top, but the hardware sucks.
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I have owned my XPS for 1 year now. Overall I am very satisfied. This is my 4th Dell laptop and the build is the best of all, particularly the hinge on the screen. After a year it is as stiff as it was out of the box. I use this laptop for my business and I am usually on it 7-10 hours per day. The screen is bright and the media player controls are convenient.
The only problems I have had are on the touch pad and video card. I do not use a mouse, only the touch pad. Fortunately I purchased the 3 year In-Home warranty because I have already had the touchpad replaced twice and the mother board replaced once. I seem to wear out the left enter key below the touchpad but the entire board has to be replaced. I also lost my WSVGA capability due to a known NVidia 8600GT card problem. Since it is integrated into the motherboard, again the entire board had to be replaced. However, Dell did not hesitate to replace any of the components and sent a technician to my home within 24 hours. This may sound serious but it was repaired quickly and easily and my overall satisfaction with the laptop outweighs any inconvenience.
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I have the six cell Dell XPS M1530, Intel core 2duo, cpu8100@2.10Ghz
4GB Ram, Nvidia Geforce 8400Gs, 320GB HD, 2.0 web cam I dont used the battery that much, but this labtop is one of the best I seen, got it Dec 31 2008, price was $1026. with military discount. I am a comsumer and this is my review.
The only other online review of this laptop says it's a good budget PC for students, casual users, and business. I'll agree. It'll pretty much do tasks like word processing, spreadsheets, and browsers, but don't expect to use it for demanding games and "power user" tasks. Video clips play fine, and the speaker sound on the okay side. I almost always use headphones or a portable ipod speaker for my background music. Sims 3 actually runs on this laptop well, although the game will cause the laptop to overheat and crash the game, so you'll want a laptop fan when playing. It's not too difficult to have the computer temporarily freeze because of multiple applications running, so optimize it by, for example, turning of Windows 7's Aero theme. Despite all this, with laptops becoming more powerful yet cheaper every year, most everyday computer users are now better off buying a new, better budget laptop every few years, than buying a more expensive high-powered computer for longer use.
