It's an eye catcher, but buy it at your risk!. Review on Dell XPS M1330

The Dell XPS 1330 is my first personal laptop. I waited more than a year to buy one and scouted many brands and models but this was the first one to offer the power specs I wanted, at a price that was within my budget. The fact that it looks beautiful (I have one with a deep red finish) does not hurt a bit!

I am structuring this review to cover the pre-sale experience and the experience with the laptop. I have been one of those fortunate few who have not needed to contact after sales customer support, but with Dell it's mostly a toss up. If it works, it works fine and if it does not, you're stuck, as some of the reviewers have mentioned, post-sales support for Dell really sucks. If you buy a Dell, you really are taking a chance!

1) Pre-sales support : This is Dell's strongest point. The sales rep calls within 24 hours of placing an order, and is prompt in follow-up and finalisation. Dell is known to obscure offers and promos that are available, so do push the sales rep for what freebies and discounts you will.

By asking, I got a discount which waived off my Octroi to Mumbai (which is quite steep) and system price came down from 64k to just under 60 k. The order tracking mechanism worked efficiently and delivery times were fast - within one week as promised - probably because Dell now has an assembly facility in India. When I ordered my Dell desktop in 2007, it shipped from Malaysia and arrived almost a month behind schedule.

Be warned that when I ordered this 6 months ago, Dell did not have an online credit card payment facility in India (which I find incredible for an online computer retailer!). This means that I had to read out my card number and CVV number to the dell sales rep and I was extremely unhappy about this.

2) Product

My configuration (purchased in Oct 2007) was with Processor T8100, 250 GB Hard Drive and LCD Screen (4 k extra!), 3 GB RAM, Vista Home Premium, Crimson Red finish. I did not opt for the Graphics card as I had read several reviews of failure of the NVidia module, and in any case, I wanted this for work. I want to mention a few glitches with the product

1) When I first powered up the laptop, the screen was so dim, even at full setting, that it was not viewable. I called up tech support in a panic and it turned out that they had dimmed the light settings on purpose to increase battery life and I had to go into BIOS to reset it (dumb thing to do)

2) The LCD screen is beautiful and worth the price, but mine had a 'stuck pixel' which leaves a permanent green dot on the screen. It's not really visible except on a black background, but it irritates me. It's an occupational hazard with LCD screens. Dell has a return policy for dead/stuck pixels buried somewhere on the site and I considered returning it, but did not, knowing Dell's reputation. I would have probably got a new laptop with some other, more serious problem!

3) As mentioned by another reviewer, the keys got stuck once. Bang them a bit and they are fine again.

4) Build quality is not great - there were gaps and cracks and a few keys look slightly crooked to me.

5) I suggest attaching a travel mouse for any laptop if you use it extensively. The touchpad and touch keys look a bit flimsy to me and will probably not last long.

6) Most reviews will point out that the machine gets very hot, especially if it is plugged in to power. The base gets very hot, the wrist area gets hot to a lesser degree. I try to use it on a table, or with a cushion in my lap.

7) The Dell XPS Priority service numbers are a pain to find, so I am posting them here in case anyone needs them

XPS Main Line 1800-425-2066

XPS - Toll Number 080-2510-8033

STD Call Charges within India apply

For Mobile users Local STD code followed by 60009045

Now for the plus points

1) It's a fast machine, gives me a decent battery life of 3.5 hours for regular word processing tasks with Wi-Fi enabled. I was expecting less based on the reviews. I see the latest line has the P-series processors, which should only improve the battery life further.

2) It looks really good and definitely gets a wow! reaction. I think it has racing car looks, with the tapered shape and the red color

3) At just over 2 Kg, it's not the ultimate ultra-portable. But it's light and comes with a protective cover (a nice touch) and I can carry it in a regular thin rucksack without difficulty.

4) For regular work on MS Office (word, powerpoint), it's a great machine. I still have a soft spot for the IBM Thinkpad I got on my last job which had a great keyboard. But this one is not bad at all. My work involves a LOT of typing and this keyboard made me very happy :) It is slightly springy and may not be to everyone's taste. I suggest you test it out at the nearest Croma/ Dell re-seller before buying.

I would like to mention, Dell machines get LOTS of reviews on the net, and it's worthwhile to check them out and weight your purchase risk before you buy any Dell product. Chances are, any major glitches will get picked up by most reviewers (like over-heating and graphic card failure in the XPS 1330, and overall poor Dell customer support). As I said upfront, you take a risk when you buy from Dell. If it works, as it has with me, you do purchase a great product, with a configuration that you want, and at a price that is reasonable compared to competition.