Dell XPS M1530 15.4-Inch Widescreen Laptop (Tuxedo Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm a pretty seasoned computer user. I've been at it since about 1985 and have owned, built, configured and used dozens of computers over that period of time. Now, our office that runs several small businesses has four computers, and my Dell XPS M1530 is the replacement for a 6 year old Dell desktop that served flawlessly but was aging in performance. I did a lot of research before buying this one. My goal was to get a state-of-the-art laptop that would drive its own display alongside a 24" main display. We have a lot of power glitches here in Hawaii, so the laptop's built-in UPS capability was a big plus.
This computer did not disappoint. It has the 9300 CPU and is lightning fast for our memory-hog applications. OK, it had a flaw. About a week before the end of the warranty, the HD died. I called tech support, told them the error codes and they immediately confirmed that it was a bad HD and sent a replacement. I asked for some other brand of HD since this one had a known issue and that's why Dell was so quick to acknowledge the need for a replacement. Unfortunately, all they could provide was another one of the same drive. So I ordered an upgrade online (hard drives are so cheap, why not?), and use their replacement in an external-drive enclosure for office backups and large transfers, and I installed the new drive in the XPS. I installed the image I had (of course) saved on our office backup drive, and was up and running in an hour. BTW, it takes about five minutes to replace a drive in this well-designed laptop. And that includes the time to find the screwdriver.
Since then, no problems, and the computer performs as it was intended to in the first place. For the occasional use in which I actually use it as a laptop, I love the keyboard feel and overall build quality. This may sound a bit weird from a guy who considers himself totally outside the realm of what is cool and what is not, but this laptop is the best looking rig there is. No doubt about it, the designers had it together on this one!
The slot-loading cd/dvd is terrific, the keypad is slick, the display is crisp and clear, and most importantly, the performance is the best of any computer we have ever had in our office. Even working it's proverbial computer-butt off, it never runs anything but warm to the touch. This is in sharp contrast to many reviews that state hot-running as an issue. I understand the 9300 CPU has resolved much of this problem.
I gave it five stars only because Dell shipped it with a known HD defect and then refused to replace the drive with a different brand/model/whatever. The logic of that escapes me. For the last fifteen years or so, I have never had a complaint with Dell Tech Support. A caveat here, though, our support has always been from the business direction. I hear that the general consumer support isn't that great. Next time you buy a Dell, try buying it as a business purchase.


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