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back to article Dell XPS M1330 laptop

Dell’s XPS range has been synonymous with high-performance gaming computers. However, once it acquired gaming manufacturer Alienware, a subtle shift in branding saw some less focused multimedia-based machines being pushed out under the XPS banner. The XPS M1330 follows in the footsteps of the XPS M1210, a 12.1in machine that …

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  1. Matthew Banwell

    No XP

    For a machine with "XP" in its name, it's a shame you can only get it with Vista.

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  2. Jon Green
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    No XP, no buy - sorry!

    The only OS options (in the UK) are Vista Home or Vista Business. Which means it's unsupported for XP (if I wanted to pay the Microsoft tax twice over), and probably hard or impossible to get drivers for all the onboard hardware.

    Half of my software won't work on Vista, and I'm not going to pay half again the buy price to get the paid upgrades, and suffer the Vista performance penalties.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
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    Misleading reviews

    Don't you just hate it when a a review states that it si avaliable online from one proce but the model reviewed is a totally different spec.

    Yes I noted that REG have quoted the full price as well but then stating in the opening words that is is avaliable for half that amount is just wrong.

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  4. Bryan
    Gates Horns

    No Xp is a pain but drivers are availible,

    http://support.euro.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?os=WW1&osl=EN&catid=-1&impid=-1&servicetag=&SystemID=XPS_M1330&hidos=WLH&hidlang=en

    some on Dell Up your sales and stop being Microsofts b1t(H!

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  5. Tim

    A Couple Of Things

    I own this laptop and it's a great laptop, I'm really really happy with it.

    1) It does not have a Gigabit Ethernet Port. Yes, it's a tg3 Ethernet Card but it doesn't support Gig, only 10/100. It would be nice to see this fact corrected in the review.

    2) It is possible to get XP running on this machine, it's what I've got. Dell have updated their driver page very well with all the necessary drivers to get this going under XP. It is however necessary to either have a USB Floppy with the SATA drivers on it when installing XP, or to change a setting in the BIOS which'll slow down the HD's speed. You can fix this later, but if you're not aware of this you'll get BSOD's trying to install/boot XP.

    This laptop is also well supported under Linux, everything works for me driver-wise which is nice. I haven't tried FreeBSD yet.

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  6. Bryant

    Not quite Gigabit

    I really like this machine. My girlfriend has just got one and I have just a little bit of green eyed envy. Knock Dell all you like but these are classy machines at a decent price.

    I do have one little point about the article though… despite the m1330 reportedly using a Broadcom 57XX Gigabit chip, it's only 10/100 capable (verified against a gigabit switch and Dell's marketing literature).

    In fact there are very few of the current generation of laptops that do support gigabit Ethernet. Apparently we don't need that speed anymore :(

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  7. Adam Pountney
    Thumb Up

    XP

    I bought one of these Laptops before Christmas and have successfully installed XP Pro on it without any major problems. The drivers are all available online and everything works. The fingerprint reader is particularly useful!

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Great laptop

    I have one of these and it is a fantastic bit of kit. No problems with it whatsoever, and it comes with all kinds of goodies in the box (protective sleeve, Creative Labs noise isolation earphones, leatherette DVD / owners manual case, remote control...). And if you want XP on it, reformat the thing and install whatever OS you like - it comes with reinstallation disks for everything.

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  9. John Wealthall
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    John W

    I wonder if this suffers from the same 'memory issue' as the Precision M90 where you can only actually use about 3.25GB of the 'Maximum' 4GB even when using a 64Bit Op Sys.

    Not something Dell will actually 'make clear' until you try it.

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  10. Tom Smith Silver badge
    Go

    XP

    Ok, you can't buy it with XP, but Dell have the drivers on their website. Plus, if you use a Dell windows XP reinstallation CD you won't even be asked for an activation code (I'm guessing it just looks at the DMI)

    How do I know? I'm just re-installing XP on one right this minute, that's how.

    They also work just great with Ubuntu if you don't like your m$.

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  11. W
    Thumb Up

    Love it.

    Bought one of these from a local independent retailer 3 or 4 months ago (the 5 week wait was well worth it). Love it.

    It was a split purchase between my GF and me (and my first laptop too). After she'd browsed around in the shops and seen a Vaio SZ in the flesh) I had to find something with the following specs before she'd pony up half the cash:

    -14" or less screen (so as not to be unnecessarily unwieldy).

    -Less than 2kg (for comfort when resting whilst sofasurfing).

    -Not be Fugly (i.e. look as similar to a Vaio SZ as possible).

    -Be half the price of an SZ.

    That was it. With the SZ being the benchmark but far too pricey. A MacBook was almost the only thing that came close, but it's a Mac. There was a pretty decent little Fujitsu fella but it wasn't sleek enough. Everything else was too/big/heavy.

    The XPS M1330 fitted the bill perfectly. Plumped for a £799, 1.5GHz, 2GB, 160GB model (with integrated GFX cos I have a console for games). No probs running Vista Home Premium or any other general multitasking job I've thrown at it. And it can stretch to around 4hrs of Wireless surfing/graphics editing.

    After using a few other laptops of various description, they all seem deficient in some way when compared to the M1330.

    Completely made up with it and now I want another so that my GF and I can have one each, I can set up a Wireless NAS and dispense with the Desktop/Server-of-sorts machine in the spare room.

    I realise that I'm becoming the Dell equivalent of a Mac-vangelist now so I'll stop, except to say that as soon as Dell do their version of the Air at half Apples price, I'm sold.

    NB: The ExpressCard slot has a dinky IR remote in it for control of media centre functions.

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  12. James Smith

    Looks good

    It looks like a pretty good laptop. I may consider buying one to replace my aging Fujitsu Siemens laptop.

    If like me, you want something mobile when working away from home, but at the same time play the odd hour on a few games, then it seems like a good compromise.

    But if they're bringing a model out with a high def drive, I may just wait for that.

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  13. Robert Dudley
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    4GB Ram Works as Expected but no SSD?

    I can confirm (being lucky enough to own one) that the XPSm1330 will correctly address all 4GB of RAM under Ubuntu 7.10 64bit edition. I can't confirm Vista or XP but the BIOS also correctly shows all 4GB.

    Am intrigued as to why there is no mention of the (stupidly expensive) Solid State Drive option though. This combined with the LED screen puses battery run time through the roof. I can easily get 5-6 hours out of mine.

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  14. W

    Love it (part 2)

    Re: the LED screen. Forgot to say how gorgeous the LED screen is. Haven't seen a direct comparison with the CCFL version, but again, it's a case of finding other laptops deficient when using them. On the M1330 the top brightness level is simply _too_ bright whilst indoors. I only ever need to crank it up to about 2/3 for comfortable use.

    NB 2: The 6-cell battery is the one I have, and sits flush with the unit. The optional 9 cell is the one that protrudes a little and provides a "wedge" that makes the machine "sit-up" when on a flat surface. Some folk seem to like that.

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  15. Vernon Lloyd
    Paris Hilton

    @John W

    Why do people like you blame Dell for an Operating System Flaw. Do you see HP, Fujistu or Toshiba telling you that.....NO.

    For those who do not have an idea what we are talking about it appears that Microsofts Operating Systems can only allocate a Maximum of 4GB of RAM. If for example you have a 256MB Graphics Card, Windows allocates 256MB of addresses, meaning that Windows can only see 3.75 GB of RAM.

    If you have a Beast of a computer with two 512MB Graphics cards Windows will only be able to access 3GB of memory even if you have 4GB installed.

    Its good to see that after all these years Microsoft are still shite at designing an OS for a top end machine.

    /Just get my coat

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  16. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    @Vernon Lloyd

    Why do people like you blame a specific operating system for a limitation in chipsets and all 32 bit operating systems?

    Linux is limited to 4GB RAM until you recompile your kernal and turn on PAE.

    Windows can address more than 4GB (just not at the same time) as well by using the PAE switch.

    This is all assuming your chipset can support it, if it can't, it doesn't matter what OS you run.

    I seem to remember using an entreprise Windows 32 bit OS with 8GB of RAM and that was 5 years ago.

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