Dell XPS M1330: Third time is the charm?

[madmatt]

Re: The wait is almost over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has shipped...

It came today! I have taken tons of photos. I am currently reformatting and installing Vista Enterprise.

First impression: AWESOME! A huge improvement over the M1210 and all other Dell notebooks. This thing has style. This thing not only looks good but out performs most desktops. I will follow up with more details later.

However, on the downside, there are a couple things that I am not happy about. First and foremost on the list is what I consider a downgraded power brick. My M1210 had a power brick that made it easy to wrap the wires around it and then use a rubber strap to keep it tidy which made travling easy. The M1330 comes with a power brick that uses velcro and doesn't have the edges for keeping the wires tidy. Also, the ExpressCard slot is supposed to have an eject button. It doesn't and I can't figure out how to eject the blank to insert the included remote.

The SSD is made by Sandisk. Initial performance index tests showed it as a 5.6. Graphics came in at a 4.0 for gaming (crappy Nvidia drivers).

More coming soon.

 

[Geffy]

Re: The wait is almost over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has shipped...

Also, the ExpressCard slot is supposed to have an eject button. It doesn't and I can't figure out how to eject the blank to insert the included remote.

not a push to eject kind of thing? from what I know about expresscard that ejection method is unlikely but you never know. Maybe a little tab on the underside of the machine underneath the expresscard slot?

 

[madmatt]

Re: The wait is almost over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has shipped...

I've tried everything. The manual says there is an eject button. Mine doesn't have that.

BSOD after re-installing Vista. I forgot to load the SATA (F6) drivers. Whoops.

 

[ElementalDragon]

Re: The wait is over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has arrived!

do you actually HAVE to press f6 to load SATA drivers? thought that entire step was basically just for RAID drivers.

 

[Sazar]

Re: The wait is almost over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has shipped...

I've tried everything. The manual says there is an eject button. Mine doesn't have that.

BSOD after re-installing Vista. I forgot to load the SATA (F6) drivers. Whoops.

Smack it with your weiner and call it a bitch. That usually works.

 

[Steevo]

Re: The wait is almost over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has shipped...

:yowch:

Smack it with your weiner and call it a bitch. That usually works.

:devious::dead::laugh:

 

[kcnychief]

Re: The wait is almost over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has shipped...

I've tried everything. The manual says there is an eject button. Mine doesn't have that.

BSOD after re-installing Vista. I forgot to load the SATA (F6) drivers. Whoops.

That's really odd - I can see if your eject button was present and not functional but you are saying that they actually missed a physical aspect on your laptop?

Sounds like you should call, complain and get the M1710 as a free upgrade

 

[madmatt]

Re: The wait is over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has arrived!

It's not F6 (I used that phrase because most people know what it is). There is, however, a button to load a driver during the hard drive setup.

Regardless, I am not happy with the performance of the SSD. It hangs quite a bit for minutes at a time. There are no errors in the Event Viewer that indicate anything is wrong. For activity light is pegged most of the time. I have been waiting for two minutes for Computer Management to open. CPU usage is minimal, however, the activity light is pegged. Something isn't right here.

 

[Unleashed]

Re: The wait is over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has arrived!

Pictures?

 

[gonaads]

Re: The wait is over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has arrived!

Question Matt, the ExpressCard slot, the Media Center remote is located in the ExpressCard slot yes. Oh wait, the blank you talked about is in the slot. Either way, you have to push it in and release to eject. That's the way I have see it function in the review videos.

Watch this YouTube vid and see how the guy ejects the remote from the slot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCeHxyGuED0

 

[madmatt]

Re: The wait is over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has arrived!

Pictures will be coming soon.

'Nads: Thank you. I wasn't pushing in hard enough. It is spring loaded. Thank you.

 

[gonaads]

Re: The wait is over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has arrived!

Ya wussy.

Glad it worked.

 

[madmatt]

Re: The wait is over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has arrived!

As for Dell, they refused to help me at first because I installed Vista Enterprise in place of Vista Business. However, after me pointing out a few things they attempted to help me with my problem. However, diagnostics returned that all systems had passed.

There is something wrong with the SSD drive regardless of what OS is on the system. I had him convinced of that but he wants me to put Vista Business back on it and see if the problem still occurs (duh!).

 

[saeltmarae2k]

Re: The wait is over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has arrived!

As for Dell, they refused to help me at first because I installed Vista Enterprise in place of Vista Business. However, after me pointing out a few things they attempted to help me with my problem. However, diagnostics returned that all systems had passed.

There is something wrong with the SSD drive regardless of what OS is on the system. I had him convinced of that but he wants me to put Vista Business back on it and see if the problem still occurs (duh!).

Idiots. Be sure to keep us updated, as I might be purchasing one very similar to yours. Looking forward to pics!

 

[gonaads]

Re: The wait is over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has arrived!

Now since you reformatted and installed Vista Enterprise and have talked to Tech Support, does any of this void your warranty if you need to return it? Even if you reinstall Vista Business?

 

[madmatt]

Re: The wait is over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has arrived!

No, it does not void the warranty. When I called back the second technician helped me regardless. We found that switching from AHCI to ATA fixed the slowness issues which now makes it clear that it is a driver issue. I am using the drivers right from the Dell web site. The technician is going to talk to a higher up and get back to me.

 

[fitz]

Re: The wait is over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has arrived!

just send it back and blame saz's army of midgets for coding bad drivers

 

[madmatt]

Re: The wait is over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has arrived!

There's a thought.

 

[gonaads]

Re: The wait is over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has arrived!

just send it back and blame saz's army of midgets for coding bad drivers

But wait, aren't you one of Sazar's minions? Aren't you the giant midget?

 

[Sazar]

Re: The wait is over, my new Dell XPS M1330 has arrived!

No, it does not void the warranty. When I called back the second technician helped me regardless. We found that switching from AHCI to ATA fixed the slowness issues which now makes it clear that it is a driver issue. I am using the drivers right from the Dell web site. The technician is going to talk to a higher up and get back to me.

Right, so I'm knackered from the game tonight and no dice from the techs on my request.

We don't work with consumer systems that much but let's see what happens.