Dell XPS M1330 Review

Dell XPS M1330 is the premium product from Dell embarking the start of a new era for Dell with focus on aesthetic design taking the center stage. With the stylish and slim XPS M1330 Dell is all set to challenge the exotic designs of other manufactures.

XPS M1330 boasts of a harmonious design with a silver colored keyboard complementing the black area towards the top of the notebook. The laptop has wedge shaped design which is thinnest at the front and the thickness goes on increasing towards the rear.

There is no arrangement of a mechanical latch that keeps the lid closed. The lid is closed by a hinge spring, which does a fairly good job. The hinge design looks fairly impressive. However there is one problem with the design. You just cannot open the display completely. It will stop at 130 to 150 degrees.

Construction wise Dell XPS M1330 is solid, understandable from the fact that the notebook base is made of magnesium alloy. The palm rest made of brushed aluminum gives a sturdy feel while using the laptop.

The laptop has a thin lid, but then to come up with any structural rigidity lapses you will struggle quite a bit. The screen does not wobble under loads from normal usage, but the thin structure may not sustain very high loads under extreme conditions.

If you are expecting lots of ports then you are up for disappointment with a Dell XPS M1330. The laptop leans towards the ultraportable segment and thus has limited options when it comes to the ports. There are only two USB ports in XPS M1330.

There is an option of choosing a LED backlit display. A LED backlit display gives higher brightness with low power consumption as compared to the normal display. The screen comes with a WXGA resolution (1280 X 800). Horizontal viewing angles are very impressive in Dell XPS M1330 whereas the vertical viewing angles are just about average. The brightness of the screen is evenly distributed.

The basic XPS M1330 model comes with a T7100 processor. You may opt for a T7300 processor if you feel the need of more processing capabilities. There is an 8400M GS card to support your gaming needs on the move.

The speakers are located towards the top of the keyboard above the media buttons. The sound is average like any other laptop. The quality however increases when a head phone is used.

The keyboard is very good from the perspective of a utility conscious user. The keys have a short travel. I prefer the keys to have a long travel and good cushion but then that is me. How you find it depends upon your personal choice and preferences. When pressed the keys make noise especially during fast typing.

The touchpad is excellent and is very responsive but is very small in size. The textured surface makes using it a joy. The buttons of the touchpad have good travel and contrary to the keys of the keyboard they do not make much sound.

There is a webcam attached to the lid that can capture some decent videos and still photos.

XPS M1330 laptop boasts of great battery life. The 6-Cell battery performs well for about three hours and thirty minutes under trying conditions with Wi-Fi enabled and the screen set at the higher end of the brightness scale. You can have a nice improvement on it with a 9-Cell battery.

Dell XPS M1330 barges into my good books because of its silent performance. You won’t notice any sound under light and medium loading however when the load is high the sound of the laptop becomes conspicuous. There is a slot loading DVD burner, which contributes its fair share to the noise created by the laptop.

Under light loading the laptop does not heat up much, however the temperature increases at higher loads.

Dell XPS M1330 is a light and small laptop with solid build that will give you the satisfaction of owning a premium laptop. If budget is not a constraint and you are looking at a small laptop then I whole heartedly recommend you taking a look at Dell XPS M1330.