July 24th, 2007

Rating:

 

Price: $1299 - $1999

Possibly the best laptop Dell has ever introduced, the Dell XPS M1330 combines light weight, stylish design, powerful performance, and built-in mobile broadband, which makes it a top choice for road warriors. The M1330 offers excellent screen resolution, a full-size, tactile keyboard and long battery life.

Weighing only 4 pounds (4.8 with extra long life battery, Dell XPS M1330’s sleek, crimson red exterior is a new look for Dell, but the round logo on the lid is reminiscent of the one on the XPS M1210, this system’s predecessor. Only 4.8 pounds (or as light as 4 pounds, depending on the battery), this machine is perfect for road warriors.
 
Along the right side are an ExpressCard slot (and mini remote control inside), a slot-loading DVD+/-RW drive, Wi-Fi, and USB 2.0 port. The left side provides a second USB port and FireWire, VGA, Ethernet, and HDMI ports. An 8-in-1 memory card reader, dual headphones jacks, and a microphone jack line the front.

The full-sized keyboard has a light and bouncy feel, which makes typing a pleasure and speedy. The track pad and mouse buttons are responsive, with horizontal and vertical scrolling function on the track pad and to the right is a fingerprint reader for security-minded users.
 
Even with its slick external design, the display is awesome. DVDs look sharp and color is vivid on the 13.3-inch, 1280 x 800-pixel widescreen. The notebook’s speakers are plenty loud but the base weak, especially at the top volumes. Dell bundles noise-isolating earbuds, which sounded spectacular for both movies and music. We’d like to see some visual feedback when adjusting volume with the media buttons and the remote, but beyond that, watching movies or listening to music on a plane will be a blast with this screen and earbud combo.

Like its predecessor, the XPS M1330 packs a lot of power into a compact frame. Intel’s 2-GHz Next Generation Core 2 Duo processor, along with 2GB of RAM, paced this system to a very strong PCMark05 score of 4,545; that’s about 1,000 points higher than average for a thin-and-light system. Regular productivity tasks were speedy as well, even with several windows open, and the Dell XPS M1330 handles Vista’s Aero interface with ease.
 
Wi-Fi integration is impressive at 19.1 Mbps and 16.9 Mbps at 15 and 50 feet, with very good speeds from the integrated Verizon Wireless EV-DO Rev. You’ll get solid battery life of 2.5 hours with the six-cell battery and 3 hours and 45 minutes with the nine-cell battery, which adds $60 to the price. You should expect about 4.5 to 5 hours of productivity time.
 
The system comes with Windows Vista Ultimate or you can save $199 with Home Premium instead. Dell backs the M1330 with a one-year next-business day, in-home service warranty on parts and labor. Add Microsoft Office 2007 direct from Microsoft for ultimate productivity.

Whether you compute on campus, during your commute, or while flying from coast to coast, the Dell XPS M1330 has the power and multimedia power you’re looking for. It’s one of the few no-compromise lightweight notebooks available, offering unbeatable combination of performance, portable size, and sleek style!