Dell XPS M1330 Windows Vista

It’s been exactly 2 months since I upgraded to the new Dell XPS M1330 laptop and Windows Vista. It was a relatively expensive upgrade because apart from the laptop, I had to spend money buying Vista-compatible software. Then there was downtime moving my data and learning how to use Windows Vista. Was it worth the upgrade? Let’s see.

Windows Vista
Windows Vista is noticeably nicer-looking than XP, but despite all the promising new technologies like Superfetch and ReadyBoost, it is relatively slower. Yes, you read that right. I see more of the hourglass now with a significantly more powerful machine, than I did with Windows XP and my old Centrino M laptop.

Bootup is slightly faster now but there’s a long delay and lots of hard disk activity after the desktop is loaded. The reason for that could be Superfetch copying the frequently used programs from hard disk to the system memory. That explains why despite having 2GB of RAM, my available physical memory is close to zero. And with all the trashing at every startup, it’s anybody’s guess if that will wear our the hard disk faster.

Shutdown is significantly longer too (about 15 to 20 seconds) and Sleep/Hibernate sometimes doesn’t work. And if you thought that Windows Vista is more stable, well, I got my first BSOD yesterday - something that I haven’t seen for a while on Windows XP.

Although Aero features like video desktops, glass transparency and Flip 3D looks cool, they do nothing to enhance usability. Infact, it makes your graphics card work harder because of frequent redraws. Turning on glass transparency and Windows Sidebar actually decreases the laptop’s battery life by an hour, i.e. 33%!

UAC also drew a lot of flak from Windows Vista users and I know why now. UAC or User Account Control is a security feature to help you avoid screwing up your PC. Perhaps trying too hard at its job, it alerts you for everything little action save for scratching your butt. Needless to say, I turned off UAC on my system from Day 1.

Fortunately, you can apply certain tweaks to make Windows Vista easier to live with and I’ve learned a lot from my forum. So was it worth upgrading to Windows Vista? Only if you’re upgrading your hardware. Then you can get the OEM version, because I don’t think it’s worth the retail price. Do note though that OEM versions do not come with Microsoft support …which they wanted to charge me S$45 just for asking a question through their helpline.

I’ll write about more Vista fixes, customizations and enhancements at The Vista Tweaks.

Dell XPS M1330
The Dell XPS M1330 laptop wasn’t without problems too. Being the boldest design yet from Dell, the XPS M1330 was a runaway success and they couldn’t keep up with the demand at first. As a result, there were lots of quality issues especially with the built quality.

The XPS M1330 has many more joints compared to other laptops and is thus, more prone to having gaps all over. That was the problem I faced in addition to an uneven base, i.e. it was literally shaking when I typed on the keyboard.

XPS M1330 Hinge Gaps
Pic 1: Gaps At The Hinges

XPS M1330 Uneven Base
Pic 2: Uneven/unlevel Base

The two photos above were the ones I emailed to Dell’s customer service in Penang. Fortunately, they were both (customer service - Phoebe Chan and XPS technical support - Darius Lim) very responsive to my problems.

A new unit was assembled for me, and I was given a free CPU upgrade and a 56kbps external modem. They actually gave me 5 days to move my data to the 2nd unit before dispatching DHL to collect the faulty one. I’d planned to transfer the physical hard disk to minimize downtime and when I couldn’t opened the screws, Dell actually sent their technician the nexy day to do it for me. Now that’s what I call quality service!

This was the reason I chose Dell and was willing to pay a premium for the XPS M1330. Heck, I was even willing to pay S$400 to upgrade my International on-site warranty to 3 years with cover for accidental damages.

Was this laptop worth the upgrade? Most certainly. :)

Update (Sep 2008): Right about July, my laptop screen started having problems whereby there would be vertical lines of rainbow colors slowly turning white from left to right. I called XPS Support and was asked to do two diagnostic tests, i.e. pressing D+Power and pressing Fn+Power, after which they concluded it was a motherboard problem. A technician came the next working day and replaced my motherboard, a tedious 1.5 hour procedure which involved almost dismantling the entire unit.

Now, I actually ordered a second XPS M1330 for my parents before the screen problems because I was quite happy with the laptop. And today, my parents’ unit has the same screen problem as I did. After doing a search, I found that there’s a whole bunch of other Dell XPS M1330 owners with the same problem. I called XPS Support again and asked if it was a known problem and they admitted that it was. Apparently, there’s a problem with the graphic chip - I assume this to be the Nvidia card. They also explained that Dell is not doing a recall because it only affects some units.