Hi Jeff. Thanks for the good descriptions. Two questions: Do you know if taxes are included in shown prices on Dell’s homepage, and is the screen on this laptop what people refer to as a glare screen? I would like to avoid glare screens. Is that possible with this laptop? Thanks a lot, Jakob.
you can get non-reflective matte ‘‘screen protectors’’ and stick them on the glossy screen.
Personally I need 64GB at least due to the music i have on my machine. Other wise I’d get the 1330. mmmm 64GB solid state drive. 
Thanks for the informative review. I have also ordered one and will put up a review in my site asap.
Good extensive reveiw thank you, so far the 30 or so I read were full of marketing and lacked the detail of yours.
I also order the 32GB SSD, pre-planning the files I needed to migrate to external sources and also transitioning applications to be used as a Thin client or terminal Services Client such as SAP, Outlook 2007 ( not size consideration more an attempt to speed up service) cached mode too slow, online mode too slow. So I think the benefits given by SSD are worth sacrifice of less space availble.
The HDTV output, can it be used to drive a suitable HDTV Ported monitor instead of using the VGA Port, as after using DVI to drive an external monitor, I dont want to compromise on the quality? If not I can always use external Matrox VGA to 2xDVI as I sometimes like to drive 2 external monitors.
I just ordered an M1330 from Dell (Canada). For those waiting for it, the option of a 64Gb SSD is now available. I stuck with the “plain-jane” integrated hardware specifically because I work in a place where Intel is the standard, and integrated hardware is quite often more power conservative. Besides, I have an XPS desktop in my basement… This is for work
Great Review. I ordered mine yesterday and will have to wait patiently for 7 weeks. I did option the finger print reader and the 9 cell battery - both I am unsure about. Curious to know if you got the 9 cell battery - is it true that it does not feel right in the laptop?
As per Jakob above - does the screen really feel like a mirror?
My XPS1330 is my only computer. I stopped swapping files between desktop and laptop years ago. I use my 1330 almost exclusively with a port extender and a large LCD screen. Thus my big issues with the 1330 are - its lack of a dedicated port extender much like my old (over sized)Inspiron and (perfectly sized) Vaio had, and the 1330’s lack of a DVI output.
Why have just an analog video output?
Why not have a connector for a bridge?
Other than these two items, the 1330 is performing beautifully (since 8/14/07). I must say, Vista is buggy. I would choose XP Pro if I had to do it again.
Good review. Thanks!
Oz
Thanks for the tip on the blue screen. I was trying to install vista ultimate on my new m1330 and the BOSD showed up…I was totally stuck till I red your review. THANKS A LOT!!!
Hey Jeff,
Just a note to say thanks about that blue scrren tip - did what you said and its all good - was surprised with the delivery - came in one month earlier than the promised date! Blogs like yours are a credit to the internet.
A
jeff,
i have ordered my xps 1330 with 2gb ram and vista ultimate. do you think the memory is enough for running multiple video editing software and for creative multimedia uses. should i upgrade to 4gb ram?
if your think extra ram for vista would be good say something please.
thanx for the review
vikram
G, the m1330 has HDMI out, what’s your problem?
This unit sucks!!!It is not built very well. It took about a month to get mine. When I got it, it developed a problem with the screen in about a week. It took another two weeks to get a replacement unit. The replacement unit had to access screws, on the WWAN card compartment, totally stripped. I could not transfer my card to the new unit. It has been two months now and I can’t fully use this piece of @#@#$%^#! I think I should cut my losses and give it back.
Quality control sucks and it seems poorly built.
yes i would have to agree. this laptop is way cool. the only reason why i bought it is because I loved the wat it looked in an ad in the sunday paper. And I do not regret it. I did not have an order delay with my computer. Only with the messenger bag that i ordered. They gave me a $100 dolar credit for the inconvience. I mean Im a homemaker and a student. Im not into all the games and extra space and what not. But I have to say it is one badass laptop.It gets the job done. 2 thigs I have bad to say is that you have better buy a surge protector for when yyou have it plugged in because if there is a surge it will fry your wireless card and you will have to get a new one. It happened to me. It only took them over the weekend to get the part and the tech to come fix it. And second the XPS logo might peel off somehow. Just put a teench bit of super glue and your set. (they dont sell them seprate.) Other than that I give it 1 zillion thumbs up. I mean for a gal who only got it for its looks you got no complaints from me.
oh by the way your info is usefull. I am just scouring the net comparing what people have to say. most about 95% were good review. the other 5% i think were just being asses. asking for too much. i mean nothing is perfect.
I received my XPS 1330M this week. It has the 160GB HDD and I can’t hear anything sound from the disk drive. I was thinking about the SSD, but it seemed too expensive for the space. Another year should bring the price of 64GB SSD to a reasonable level hopefully. Overall, the 1330M is a beautiful machine. I highly recommend it.
There are a few bugs with Vista though. For example, we had to downgrade our WLAN to WEP encryption as Vista would not connect using WPA. Sometimes the machine resets the screen resolution to 1024x768 after resuming from sleep mode. The native resolution is 1280x800. I guess Microsoft will get around to fixing these bugs in Service Pack 1.
Great review, and will note the info about Vista if I even go to put that OS on my M1730.
I have just ordered an Inspiron M1730 with 2 X Samsumg 64Gb SSD’s in RAID0 configuration. I specced Windows XP (Vista is too buggy for me). The PC will be here in a week and I will report back. I imagine though, that 128GB of SSD in RAID0 should boot the OS in about 5 seconds
i juss got mine today and i bougt it witth 1700 smthing ireally love this dell m1330 cuz it had the best design and is really light and its running very smooth…
Do you believe the recent reports that Dell will soon come out with a 15" version, the XPS M1530? Supposedly it will be just as light as the M1330 despite the larger screen.
Hi Jeff,
On your clean install of Vista did you split the OS onto its own partition? If so, did you only allocate about 15gb to it?
Do you even keep a restore partition?
I’m getting an m1330 with the 64gb SSD in a couple of weeks and am not sure whether it even makes sense to split it up given the smaller size.
Thanks for the review!