XPS M1530: a brief review

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dOm1naTOr

dOm1naTOr

Wise Old Owl
The sound is really overpowered and makes the quality worse. But the sound is ok, if u set windows volume to some 30~40 and then increase the volume from player[i prefer winamp 5.5]. Also turning on CMSS from Creative Audio Centre improves sound quality. But still its overpowered for EP-630. But it sounds gr8 on my Philips SHP-1900 than on most Realteks[which too needs more power to produce good sound].
Also seting windows volume to 20~30 and connecting to a 5.1 is better. Dont set volume higher than 50% unless u are using the built in speakers.
And the bluetooth headset was a mess to connect for the first time. After that just turn on bluetooth and wait for some 30 sec nd all is done.
First keep the power button on headset pressed for some 10 sec untin the light blinks and then turn on bluetooth on lappy. Then under bluettoth setings, click add device. And select pass code came with the device as 0000 [four zeroes]. After connecting, select its properties and modify the services and enable stereo audio. The under audio tab on bluetooth setings, click on stereo audio and click connect, and wait for 5 sec.

After that the light on headset blinks with longer delay, and its been paired. And open winamp or any otehr player and go to its properties, and click on the output devives and select bluetooth stereo audio and dont select bluetooth jandfree audio and start listening. Its quality is above avg.
Make sure u dont select bluetooth hansfree audio from within player, as it sounds worse and also mono sound is punped to the ears and far less vulume and quality.

If u are a true audiophile, then consider a Creative X-fi card which fits into the Xpress card slot and the best sound is guaranteed[as creative says].:D

All those stuttering shows up on power saving mode. Its almost absent on high performance mode.
 
VD17

VD17

Journeyman
Thanks! Will try the bt headphone thingy tomorrow...
Anyway, its not just the music stuttering, the whole system freezes for a few seconds while the disc is being ejected.. and high performance doesnt help either...
and btw, finally found audio settings that work well for me... :D
 
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dOm1naTOr

dOm1naTOr

Wise Old Owl
Me too was terrified with the sound on EP 630 at first, and even thought its speaker drivers wud come out blasting:D

And thnx to its overpowered output, i didnt knew my Philips SHP 1900 sounds this gr8. It was very worse on all realteks and Creative SB 24 bit live 5.1 card too.[sound was really low].

But i dun see any stutter while loading nd ejecting discs. Try updating the drivers, especially the chipsets and sound from Dell site. Also load latest forceware with modified inf file as most games wont run even with the latest drivers for 8600M GT from Dell.

And what exactly is the problem with the battery? Mine is working fine and indicator too works fine.
btw, can u give ur config?
 
VD17

VD17

Journeyman
Actually, it's not just a stutter in media files... the whole system freezes (mouse, keyboard stop responding) whenever I eject the disk. I noticed the same thing happens when I close/open the lid but only for a fraction of a second.

I'm running C2D T5750
4GB Ram
250GB HDD
256MB nVidia 8600GT

The battery is ok.. the battery indicator went haywire... it showed different duration remaining for the same percentage of battery....
I still haven't been able to fully discharge the battery yet, though...

and yeah, running Vista Home Premium SP1
 
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gopz

gopz

In the zone
There was a similar issue with XPS 1330 (DVD drive issue) and it was resolved with a BIOS update (A11 BIOS). Try searching the Dell drivers page for the same.
 
VD17

VD17

Journeyman
yeah... i got the backpack... love it... very value for money... plus it's quality and looks are quite good...

yay! bluetooth headphones working like a breeze now...
but then again, not for an audiophile... i'll probably use it to watch movies or something....
 
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aditya_v

aditya_v

Broken In
oh no, is audio really that bad? I own a Sennheiser and was looking forward to using it on a XPS ( which i am planning to buy ) .
 
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dOm1naTOr

dOm1naTOr

Wise Old Owl
@aditya_v
Its not bad yaar, but its very much overpowered and we end up thinking that the quality is real bad as at that power most of the headset's speaker drives wud be straining. Once set to low volume in windows, then the quality is quiet good, especially with CMSS turned on. And the Creative equalizer does a good job too. But the built-in speaker is not as good as the LG ones which boasts of a woofer built in the laptop itself. But who really cares that much quality thru built in speakers, its the headset quality that matters and that is about the same.
 
xbonez

xbonez

NP : Crysis
some queries

@vid : why'd u go for 4gb ram? a 32bit OS can't utilise it and 64bit drivers arent avaialable

does the bluetooth headset have a mic also, or only for output?

my config is

Intel C2D T8100 (2.1ghz, 3mb cache, 800mhz FSB)
3GB RAM DDR2 667mhz
Nvidia geforce 8600GT M
250GB HDD
Audigy Soundblaster sound solution
 
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dOm1naTOr

dOm1naTOr

Wise Old Owl
@xbonez
I suggest u 4GB as the price diff is very less...some 1.2k i think. And ive seen vista's ram utilizations as high as 3GB + on most games(wt*).
Thought Dell claims that 3GB too is dual channel, 1*2GB+1*1GB as 965 Express chipset supports it. But just to make sure its in dual channel, 4GB wud be better idea.
Also the bt headset has mic too, but cant be noticed easily. A small hole on one earpiece and does pretty descently, but it captres noise more than vocals as it is situated much far from our mouth. So its only good at quite environments.
 
gopz

gopz

In the zone
xbonez said:
some queries

@vid : why'd u go for 4gb ram? a 32bit OS can't utilise it and 64bit drivers arent avaialable

does the bluetooth headset have a mic also, or only for output?

my config is

Intel C2D T8100 (2.1ghz, 3mb cache, 800mhz FSB)
3GB RAM DDR2 667mhz
Nvidia geforce 8600GT M
250GB HDD
Audigy Soundblaster sound solution
Click to expand...

Dell provides 64 bit drivers for Vista

The price difference between 3GB and 4GB is not much, so its better to go in for 2 x 2GB for dual channel functionality

The bluetooth headset has a built in mic, it can be paired with your cellphone too.
 
xbonez

xbonez

NP : Crysis
thanx dominoator and gopz .. i've already placed order, and will recieve today, so too late now. i went in for 3gb only.

i did not know dell provides 64bit drivers. its not their on their official site i think...idk
 
gopz

gopz

In the zone
xbonez said:
thanx dominoator and gopz .. i've already placed order, and will recieve today, so too late now. i went in for 3gb only.

i did not know dell provides 64bit drivers. its not their on their official site i think...idk
Click to expand...

Actually Dell is really flexible, its never too late. If you still want, you can return the system for a full refund within 21 days and order a new config. No other manufacturer gives you this much choice. But I think you will be fine with 3GB, so never mind.

I have downloaded 64 bit drivers for XPS 1330 and everything worked fine. Not sure about the XPS 1530, probably check with dominator
 
xbonez

xbonez

NP : Crysis
received lappy just now. i have cds with drivers, utilities etc. is it alright if i perform a clean format, re-partition my hdds, and install vista ultimte?

***edit***

so, i did a fresh install of vista ultimate, partitioning my hdd in the process, installed all drivers etc. everything working fine, but for bluetooth. i'm not getting the bluetooth icon in Control Panel. when i try to install the Bluetooth drivers, it says, switch on Wireless radio button... i do that, but driver installation does not proceed
 
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OP
dOm1naTOr

dOm1naTOr

Wise Old Owl
@xbonez
check if the function for the wifi hotkey is set to 'wifi + bluetooth' on BIOS.

@gopz
but i dont have 64 bit OS. I have only the bundled Vista Home Premium, and some XP discs and a non genuine VIsta Ultimate. All 32 bit.
 
gopz

gopz

In the zone
dOm1naTOr said:
@gopz
but i dont have 64 bit OS. I have only the bundled Vista Home Premium, and some XP discs and a non genuine VIsta Ultimate. All 32 bit.
Click to expand...

I have a copy of 64 bit Vista (Dell) pre-activated.

Let me know if you need it, I will courier it to you
 
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