Dell Dell Dell XPS M1330 Laptop Review
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Dell launched the new line
of Inspiron laptops and desktops with much fanfare on June
26th, 2007 at a Macy's department store in New York. The flagship
laptop, the XPS M1330, garnered a lot of press coverage. The
launch coincided with a revamping of Dell's marketing efforts
in an attempt to lose the 'beige-box' manufacturer cachet
and move more upstream by making the brand more appealing
to a wider demographic.
Aside from the redesigns to the notebook line-up, Dell was
also touting the multitude of colored lids that the new laptops
would ship with, allowing a bit of personalization by customers.
In addition, the XPS M1330 was touted as the thinnest 13.3"
notebook and boasted a radically new design for Dell, challenging
manufacturers such as Sony and Apple, who were traditionally
viewed as more 'stylish' companies, known for their design.
There was substantial press coverage for the launch as well
as for the new product line, something that hasn't been terribly
common for Dell in recent memory. After years of building
my own computers, I decided to give Dell a try and ordered
the XPS M1330.
The XPS M1330 with its 13.3"
widescreen display falls somewhere between the thin-and-light
and ultra-portable categories. Its weight, at just under 4
lbs with the 4-cell battery and LED backlit display, puts
it squarely in ultra-portable space, but its relatively large
footprint means it's not an ultra-portable in the strictest
sense of the word. Nevertheless, at under 0.9 inches thick
at its thinnest point, with the LED backlit display, it's
a very stylish and small laptop, convenient for carrying around
and using in all but the tightest of spaces.
Design
Just spectacular. If anyone could say it better, it would
be the friends that were over when I opened up the box. Words
like, 'wow', 'sleek', and 'awesome' were uttered by them and
in my mind, they were right on the money. I was also told
by a few people that the M1330 is the best looking laptop
they've seen, bar none. Those are pretty strong words for
a laptop from a company that is more typically known as the
ultimate 'beige-box' provider. Congratulations, Dell, for
designing something eye-catching for all the right reasons!
It goes without saying that
the M1330 bears a striking resemblance to the Sony SZ series,
from its wedge-shaped design to the 13.3" form factor
to its use of an LED panel. Nonetheless, it's a good design
that Dell has implemented well. Let's take a virtual tour
of some of the more interesting design features.
Using the 13.3" widescreen
display popularized by companies such as Sony and Apple, Dell
mated the chassis with an optional LED backlit display to
achieve what they say is the world's thinnest 13.3" laptop.
It sneaks in just under the thickness of the Sony SZ at the
front, but slopes up towards the back, until it is thicker
than the Apple MacBook, which is of uniform thickness from
front to back. It is on par with the SZ in terms of weight
and around a pound lighter than the MacBook, with the 6-cell
battery.
The LED backlit display is
about 2.5mm thinner than the CCFL. (view large image)
I opted for the color that Dell calls 'Tuxedo Black'. The
finish of the lid is matte and, unfortunately, picks up a
lot of fingerprints, which are difficult to remove. I chose
the black color as I wanted it to look professional - something
I wouldn't be embarrassed to bring to a business meeting at
one of my co-op jobs. The chrome effect on the Dell and XPS
logos add a bit of flair, but the overall statement is muted.
Don't worry; this laptop doesn't need flashy colors or lots
of lights to get noticed.
Open up the screen and you'll
notice a very harmonious design. The silver of the keyboard
and palm rest complements the black region up the center,
bordering the display. At a glance, the keyboard looks like
it might be made of aluminum as well, but upon closer inspection,
this is not the case. A few people who saw the laptop were
definitely fooled initially.
There is no mechanical latch to keep the lid closed. Instead
a hinge spring snaps it shut and keeps it closed securely.
Even though a larger portion of the weight is distributed
towards the rear of the laptop, opening the lid can still
be a one-handed task.
There's no need to hold the
base down while opening the lid; the laptop doesn't tip backwards.
Dell even provides a little protrusion at the front of the
lid to give you a finger grip to open the display more easily.
The VGA (0.3MP, 640x480) webcam is by Creative and is mounted
above the screen, between two microphone pick-ups.
Dell made an interesting design
choice for the display module. The hinge design is quite aesthetically
pleasing, but the implementation leaves a bit to be desired.
The hinge is of the 'bamboo' type, which rotates around a
central pillar. In most cases, this type of hinge reduces
the height of the screen when opened, since part of the bottom
bezel may be swivelled behind the back of the laptop. However,
Dell has decided to keep the screen at a higher level, by
increasing the thickness of the bottom bezel, negating one
of the advantages of the bamboo hinge. In addition, due to
the added thickness of the bezel, the laptop itself has become
deeper in dimension, measuring in at 9.4" compared to
8.92" of the MacBook, which is of similar form factor.
In fact, at 9.4" deep, the M1330 rivals the Vostro 1400/Inspiron
1420 in terms of depth. On the other hand, Dell may have decided
that the design of the MacBook's (and the Pro for that matter)
hinge leaves the display too close to the keyboard and isn't
as comfortable for viewing. Another possible reason is that
Dell wanted their logo to be visible on the bottom bezel.
As well, due to the hinge design, the display cannot be opened
up to 180 degrees, instead, stopping at around 140 degrees
(read more at http://www.notebookreview.com)
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