Dell XPS M1330 Reviews

Basic Design

CNET says The good Unlike the bulky, unattractive 12-inch Dell XPS m1210, the Dell XPS m1330 has clearly been built with an emphasis on good looks and clean lines, ditching the earlier model's cumbersome, rotating Web cam and thick chassis. The system is slightly wedge shaped, going from 0.87 inch in the front to 1.3-inches in the rear. At less than four pounds, it's one of the lightest 13-inch laptops we've seen--nearly a full pound lighter than the popular yet hefty 13-inch Apple MacBook, and a touch lighter than the 12-inch XPS m1210. The bad The biggest drawback we found with the XPS m1330's design was the tiny, 2.75-inch touchpad, which we found to be particularly frustrating given the fact that there's plenty of room on the wrist rest for a bigger pad.

PC Magazine says The Good The great thing about the Dell XPS M1330 is that it manages to incorporate many of the desirable qualities found on Apple, HP, and Sony laptops. The overall design reminds me of the Sony VAIO VGN-SZ370P. It measures 1 inch thick, thanks in large part to an LED screen that's just a quarter of an inch thick. The 13.3-inch screen is significantly larger than the 12-inch screen of its predecessor, the XPS M1210, as well as those of traditional ultraportables. You can pick apart the differences if you place a regular lamp display, such as the one found on the Apple MacBook 13-inch (Core 2 Duo T7200), next to the Dell XPS M1330. The color contrast is noticeably better on the Dell screen's in scenarios such as viewing HD movie trailers and pixel-heavy images. Text is arguably slightly clearer on the XPS M1330 as well. I'm glad Dell went with a transflective screen rather than a matte-finished one, which washes out some of the contrast benefits of an LED screen, as evidenced by the Toshiba Portégé R500. With the XPS M1330, you can opt for a lamp-lit screen and save yourself $150, but an LED display is one of the many extras that I would suggest keeping

NoteBookReview says The Good The Dell XPS M1330 (starting at $1,299) features what can only be described as one of the “sexiest” designs we’ve seen on a Dell notebook. A sleek combination of aluminum and plastic with a colorful paintjob on the back of the screen, this notebook is an ultraportable with style. Measuring as thin as 0.87-inches and weighing 4 pounds, the XPS M1330 is a little heavier than some competing ultrportables but is still remarkably thin and light for a Santa Rosa- equipped notebook.

Keyboard, Ports and other external features

CNET says The Good The keyboard tray is brushed silver with black accents, while the lid is available in black, white, or red. Our review unit had the matte-red finish (Dell calls it Crimson Red), which looks great, but more color options (as with the newly revamped Inspiron line of laptops) would have been welcome. Dell manages to squeeze a good number of extras onto the keyboard tray, including touch-sensitive controls for volume and media playback, an eject button for the slot-loading DVD drive, and a quick-launch button for Dell's proprietary Media Direct software. The biggest drawback we found with the Dell XPS m1330's design was the tiny, 2.75-inch touchpad, which we found to be particularly frustrating given the fact that there's plenty of room on the wrist rest for a bigger pad. Rounding out the laptop's external features are a Webcam on top of the display and a small, credit-card-size remote control that pops into PC card slot on the side. The LED-backlit display, also seen in the new 15-inch MacBook Pro, helps to make the system's lid thinner (less than a quarter-inch thick) while also extending battery life, although users should not expect the display to look any different than a traditional LCD laptop screen. With a native resolution of 1,280x800--the same as on the 13-inch MacBook--you get the best mix of screen real estate and readability. With only two USB ports, some accessory-heavy users may feel shortchanged, but we suspect they'll be few and far between. The HDMI output is a welcome bonus, but we're not sure how useful will be until Dell adds a Blu-ray drive to the configuration options. Wireless 802.11n networking is rapidly becoming the new default for laptops, and we would have been disappointed not to see it here. We were also pleased to see Dell offer an optional mobile broadband antenna, with service from Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint. Our prerelease review unit had a decent set of specs, but we'll have to wait until Dell's online configuration utility is live to see exactly what your options are. We do know the high-end 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 processor is available--our review unit featured a 2.0GHz T7300--as well as your choice of Intel's integrated 3100 graphics or Nvidia's GeForce Go 8400. A non-LED backlit display is also an option, but as it adds weight and thickness; we'd avoid it. Solid-state hard drives and Blu-ray optical drives are promised in the near future, but exact dates for those features making their way to the m1330'a configurator aren't known. The Nvidia GeForce Go 8400 isn't the fastest laptop GPU out there, but it's at the upper end of what you can find outside of 17-inch desktop replacement systems. We got a very playable 33.3 frames per second in Quake 4 at 1,024x768, even with high-end options such as antialiasing turned on, meaning the Dell XPS m1330 has decent gaming chops, as long as your expectations are reasonable. The XPS m1330 ran for two hours and 23 minutes on our DVD battery drain test, using the included six-cell battery. That's not bad, but nearly an hour less than the latest 13-inch MacBook, a testament to Apple's emphasis on battery life. Our DVD battery drain test is especially grueling, so you can expect longer life from casual Web surfing and office use. Dell offers a nine-cell battery option, but it's an exceptionally large battery for such a tiny system.

PC Magazine says The Good The full-size keyboard is as close as you can get to a Lenovo ThinkPad keyboard. Every key, with the exception of the top row (Fn keys), is full-size. As a writer, the size of the arrow keys is vital to my productivity, and Dell makes them just right. Even the mouse buttons and touchpad are reminiscent of the Lenovo ThinkPad T61—minus the pointing stick. Heat is not that big a problem, even though the XPS M1330 uses high-performance parts. The palm rests are warm, but not uncomfortably so. As measured with a Fluke IR thermometer, temperatures got up to 91° F. It helps that the palm rests are covered with brushed aluminum, which acts as a heat retardant. But toward the front bezel, the base got as high as 103°, which is tolerable depending on your sensitivity to heat; I consider anything above 100° uncomfortable. Temperatures decline as you move back toward the battery, which reaches 95°. Overall, I would say the M1330's heat is manageable. Lenovo is in the same boat with its ThinkPad X60 (Vista), whereas Sony's SZ series does a better job of containing heat. In the Dell XPS M1330, you'll get a lot of the same features found on the Sony SZ Series, if not more. Dell emulated Apple laptops by going with a slot-loading DVD burner. This allows for greater flexibility with the design, but that also means you won't have the option of upgrading to larger, specialty drives such as a Blu-ray burner. This is odd because the XPS M1330 comes with an HDMI-out port, which is typically bundled in tandem with a high-definition optical drive and is rare for an ultraportable. But the port is still a valuable asset for video and PowerPoint presenters. Of course, you'll need a display that supports HDMI-in. I suspect Dell will integrate HDMI-out ports across all of its XPS laptops, and it's been added to the M1330 merely for the sake of consistency. You'll find two USB ports, one on each side. The FireWire port and a 160GB hard drive are a boon for video editing. Dell also incorporates two features from HP's Pavilion line to help optimize your media experience. These are a Media Center remote that fits into the ExpressCard slot and two headphone ports for sharing. I think both of these are great additions. The Dell XPS M1330 provides multiple ways to stay connected. Like many high-end ultraportables these days, you have the option of adding a cellular modem. Dell sent my unit with a Sprint EV-DO Rev A card. Although it wasn't activated, the prospect of high-speed Internet access wherever you can get a cell-phone signal is a very attractive feature. With EV-DO Rev A, you're looking at theoretical download speeds of 3.1 Mbps. On top of that, you have draft 802.11n support with the new Centrino Duo specification, Bluetooth, and 100MB Ethernet. Last, you'll find an integrated 1.3-megapixel camera that'll handle all your video chats, whether with Skype, MSN Messenger, or SightSpeed.

NoteBookReview says The Good The keyboard is full sized and very nice with cushioned keys and almost no flex. One surprise was a set of dedicated media keys directly above the keyboard, a nice feature not found on many ultraportable notebooks. What makes these media keys all the more impressive is the fact that they are LED backlit, flush-mount keys that are heat sensitive to touch. Press the keys with a pen and nothing happens … but glide your fingertip over a media key and the key will light up and respond to your touch. In a word, cool. The touchpad provides excellent responsiveness and feels quite nice compared to the “cheap” touchpads found on many other ultrportable notebooks. The plastic touchpad buttons (made to look like brushed aluminum) are well cushioned with a near perfect amount of feedback. The fingerprint reader responds well with a firm, centered finger scan. In addition, the fingerprint reader is recessed so it won’t be accidentally triggered while you type. While some ultraportable notebooks are thinner and lighter than the new XPS M1330, most of these thinner notebooks lack a built-in optical drive. The XPS M1330 comes equipped with an impressive slot-loading dual-layer DVD±RW drive which helps keep the notebook reasonably thin without sacrificing case strength. Compared to the M1210 (right) the front of the Dell XPS M1330 (left) has dual headphone ports, microphone port, and multi-card reader. Compared to the M1210 (right) the front of the M1330 (left) the right side has an ExpressCard slot (Media Center remote), wireless on/off, slot-loading optical drive, USB port, and security lock slot. Again, compared to the M1210 (right) the left side of the M1330 has a power jack, VGA port, USB port, HDMI port, and Firewire port. The port selection of the XPS M1330 is remarkably good for a notebook of this size. In addition, the Dell XPS M1330 comes with a two-megapixel web camera built in directly above the LCD. Unlike almost every notebook webcam currently on the market, the webcam built into the XPS M1330 is a remarkable performer. Brightness, color and contrast are all near perfect, and the face tracking feature lets you keep your face front and center during video conferences. The Bad The media keys are a little close together, so people with large fingertips may find themselves pressing two buttons at once. The only thing remotely negative we can say about the pre-production Dell XPS M1330 keyboard is that the palmrests were noticeably warm even while the notebook was idle. The heat wasn’t uncomfortable, but it was certainly warm. The loading and ejecting functions of the slot-loading drive were a little noisy, but the overall operation was silent.

Overall Verdict for Dell XPS m1330

CNET says Rating: 7.9 out of 10 (Very Good) The good Thin, sexy design; strong performance; backlit-LED display; included media remote control. The bad Small touchpad; some options (SSD hard drives, Blu-ray) not available yet; not as many color options as Dell's new Inspiron line. The bottom line: Dell has finally put design first with the head-turning XPS m1330 laptop, emphasizing both the "thin" and "light" aspects of the thin-and-light category without sacrificing features or performance.

PC Magazine says Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (Very Good) The Good Sleek chassis, thanks to the design overhaul. Integrated optical drive. Discrete graphics. Terrific performance. Great battery life. Video editor's hard drive. EV-DO Rev A option. Various colors to choose from. The Bad: HDMI-Out but no Blu-ray option. Nine-cell battery can turn it into a mainstream-weight laptop. The bottom line: The M1330 takes all the wonderful things from other ultraportables to create an ideal traveling companion.

NoteBookReview says Rating: Not Available The bottom line Overall our first impressions of the sexy (I can’t stop calling it that) Dell XPS M1330 are overwhelmingly positive. If Dell would have put this design on the market two years ago (even with previous generation processors) fewer people would have purchased HP notebooks in 2006. While our complete review remains to be finished, the XPS M1330 is shaping up to be a remarkably well built and full-featured ultraportable notebook.

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