Dell XPS m1530 laptop. TUXEDO BLACK. 15.4" Widescreen Thin, slim, & light notebook computer. Intel

I got this computed in December 2008 to replace and HP Pavilion that had major problems and was stuck in HP customer service repair limbo with me sending it back and forth to the service center. The HP lasted 14 months and had better features but when it overheated apparently due to a defective Nvidia graphics card that is in present in thousands of units of many laptop manufacturers. One day in October 2008, the thing literally stopped functioning and required major repair work just to boot up properly. Not wanting to waste anymore time with HP, I opted for a Dell XPS 1530. The problems with this laptop are many and the HP had better features such as better response with the touchpad and also DVD ROM drive that played any disc even poorly recorded DVD-Rs. I've had many problems with my Dell's DVD Rom drive and it even scratched a few of the regular DVD's I've tried playing.

Last month, the Hard Drive had a major failure and required to be remounted. Dell Customer Service sent me a new hard drive within a week, but it was only 100 gig replacement. The original hard drive was much bigger than this and now I have a computer that is already running low on disk space. I'm not sure how long this machine will last and given the history of Dells that I've used in the past 5 years, every computer (whether desktop or laptop) always has a major problem every 12 months or so. It is like servicing a 4-year old car, but it isn't even a year old. And this how they make all their profits selling warranties and charging for extra repair work for the cheap aftermarket components that they install in these expensive laptops.

Other negatives about this laptop include sticking keys that sometimes won't work correctly until you press on them firmly. The dashboard on the laptop is not very responsive, mainly the volume control as you tap on it multiple times and it still won't respond sometimes. The DVD playback while working initially, didn't function and started to suddenly scratch my DVD's and so I stopped using it. The keyboard is also feel somewhat cramped and the touchpad is smaller than my previous HP and less responsive. This model of laptop also has been commonly known to overheat and I have measured the temperature using a 3rd party program and found it hitting some strangely high temperatures. This apparently is an issue with the Nvidia card and it apparently shares the same model (GeForce 8400 GS) as my old HP.

The few positives about this laptop include the fact is doesn't weigh a lot when carrying it. And it performs faster than standard Dells such as the Latitude line which take a lot of time doing basic functions such as multitasking with spreadsheets and Email. I would recommend this laptop to anyone who is doing very basic tasks for school, word processing or work related activities that don't require massive amounts of memory to complete. Be sure you have an external hard drive to back up you're data and purchase an extended 2-3 year warranty. It will literally stop working within a year.