if you want performance i suggest you take the A option.

for normal usage you won’t feel any significant performance different between 3GB RAM and 4GB RAM.
32bit OS only can utilize max 3.5GB RAM.

7200RPM HDD has larger transfer rate and programs startup and loading will be much more faster.

which processor you select?
if can, both also dun want. get better processor. if possbile.

Processor getting T9300. My decision is more towards Option A too actually.. Just curious between performance of the 5400rpm and the 7200rpm..

Didn't know that m1530 is cheaper in US (same specs with m'sia) even though it's made in Penang and shipped over to there.. Any logic to that?

you just said it, go for option a

guys, wanna ask, any of u when playing gears of war, got any lagging or not, and normally wat video setting u guys put? and when playing that time got use laptop cooler??

Added*: anyone of u got try 174.74 driver for nvidia?

7200rpm hm...May be will getting heat problem?

From what i know,GoW have a known issue that it lags on any setting and any com.It's some memory leak problem,i think.

Even my my brother's desktop also lags when he play GoW.GoW is bug ridden.

No problem with your laptop lah.

actually it depends i think, but if you are thinking of leaving it ON 24/7 i think 5400 is cukup lah but 7200 i think better plan on getting a cooling system or fan as it will get hot. will that reduce the lifespan of the hdd if ON the computer 24/7 with 7200rpm HDD ?

How come this thread is not on the first page?

Come on guys, all XPS 1530 users, let's make this thread as the first page!!!!

hey guys what do you think of the following specs for the 1530?

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T8300
2.4 GHz, 3MB Cache, 800 MHz FSB


15.4" Widescreen WXGA (1280x800) TFT Display with TrueLife™

Tuxedo Black LCD display with Integrated 2.0 mega pixel web cam

3GB (1X1GB+1X2GB) 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM

200GB SATA 7200RPM Performance Hard Drive


256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT


price 4634 RM with 500RM coupon



games planning to play:

The orange box

supreme commander

company of heroes

GTR2

flight simulator X ( I know this game has high requirements but if can play on medium settings it's ok)

mideval total war 2


what do you think of the specs anything that I should change budget below 5000RM


thanks

your specs is OK for gaming. Coz I'm using almost the same specs as you.

The screen could use an upgrade.

Better than mine.

It should be able to play all the today's game.

thanks for the replies

to oceanred : can you tell me a reason on why should I upgrade the screen?

I have two questions before I buy this laptop

How long is the battery life?

If I ran out of space can I add another HDD?

thanks

For your information, the battery life is real depends on your usage. No one can answer your question if you ask how long is the battery life. For your second question about adding another hdd, I don't think you can add in another hdd. Suggest you go get yourself and external hdd.

for battery life, it depends on what application/task you’re doing. you can get around 3 hours on 6 cell.
if in Power Saver mode, i think you can get slightly more than 3 hours.

Maybe price elasticity of m1530 in US is higher than Malaysia,

For those unfamiliar with price elasticity, it is to say in the US if Dell sells m1530 at a lower price, a lot of people will be attracted to buy it such that Dell actually makes more money because they have sold more units. On the other hand, it could be the case in Malaysia, Dell actually loses money by selling it cheaper since the expected increase in sales volume is not enough to make it for lost profit.

Why? There could be a number of reasons. Off my head: It includes average income of the population, consumer attitudes towards the brand (Dell has a lot of love in Malaysia from what I see), consumer attitude towards laptops etc

i found out when i am gaming the hdd sound is now where to hear but when i am typing or just going to open a folder the hdd screeches again

and why in the hell window media players sucks
WMP lags and slow and stuck sometimes

afraid of low batterylife .. just grab another extra backup batt (check my siggy)

my laptop is arriving tomorow before 2pm. cant wait to see my baby
I have chosen to upgrade the RAM myself, is it better to carry the laptop to lowyat so that they can upgrade for me? a bit affraid to carry this baby and walk in public

thanks for the answers I have one final question

do the 1530 break freequently? I am trying to decide on which kind of warranty should I choose dell care or dell care plus?

thanks

i dont think so, if u take care of it, and i found dat this baby is really a monster, damn powerful!, no problem for me,i can do all my multimedia works without hassel!

I do take care my laptop but sometimes hardware failure you definitely cannot avoid. I facing a motherboard failure the other day but DELL send a technician and replace my motherboard.

ohh, its a pity dat ur mobo failure, hope mine doesnt hove this problem ><

llhm87
ur using vista 32bit or 64bit?

and can this xps play crysis? maximum untill wat settings?

I'm using Vista 32-bit. I'm not too sure about crysis because I don't play much games with this laptop.

It is a waste if you don't play games with this super cool machine.

Perhaps you have other better usage for this laptop. Haha...

Actually I do play games but I don't think those games I play need high requirement. For example dota, rainbow6 las vegas. I'll bought this laptop for me to carry to Aussie only.

ic, coz i just set gow to highest setting, everything running smooth without laptop cooller, wondering about crysis how far can i go with it!

Crysis?

I got it with settings all set to Medium or High, runs quite smooth, at about 20 fps.

Have to set resolution to 1024x768, though, which is BAD for widescreen

I also dun play much games with mine.

Only play DoW,GRiD and Sins with mine.

guys how to on the fps so i can it is shown when plying the game!

luck comes to play as well
warranty is up to your budget. ease of mind of coz, get more years

It depends on your luck.

I think one of the cause of the dead mobo is this.

Ok here's the thing, i juz found out that there's a problem regarding my order on xps.. i call my mom last nite n she said tat the last thing that she heard from them is bout the cnfirmation of the order n thats it.. no more news after tat.. i order it last friday on 4-7-2008 n its only valid till this friday 11-7-2008!! So i have no choice but to settle it tomorrow but i have no idea how to.. please help me.. this is my 1st time buying online.. so i have no idea how to settle this problem.. could u give me any good SA that can help me.. really damn tension this week.. plus this is my 1st week for my 1st year degree semester.. So damn busy.. btw, i order by cheque.. really wanna cry lor.. too many problems i have to handle..

U pay by cheque sure slowly lo. They need to confirm the payment 1st just proceed ur order. Did u save ur cart? Print out and keep as ur proof order. Why not give them a call to ask?

Now it is Nvidia's problem for causing all this problems? Oh no, i'll be leaving to overseas and almost placed my order. Time to retract by the order i guess? Any guessing's if Nvidia will make any counter-move on their faulty parts?

Got a Dell XPS 1530 Red in April. Seems to be alright at the moment. Using it to play an MMO (WoW) and so far so good. Blue screens were 3-5 times and I use the laptop everyday.

I used to own a XPS 1310 which had the blue screen frequently although I seldom use it so often, in the beginning. After 5 months, I started using it daily for MMO and the blue screen failure went away.

wow the graphic card is really scaring me
should listen my fren advice to buy ati

If it's really affecting the 8600GT in the XPS1530, I really doubt as the 8600 is coming to the end of it's product life cycle so it doesn't make $$ sense for them to try and fix it. They will probably move on to the next generation (hopefully, they don''t have similar problems)

Dont think so since 8600GT is at the end of the cycle now.

Hope 9600GT dont have the same problem.

I think my 3 years warranty can put to good use.Dunno how many mobos im gonna change after 3 years.

do you guyz having problem same like mine when using photoshop or creating a website using XPS M1530? the color is different when we open it in CRT monitors.. how to fix it?

How do i check what kind of DDR2 RAM im using in my M1530?

I need to know my RAM speed.

you have to open the cover below your laptop and take out your RAMs

or

you can use CPU-Z. it will show information about your CPU, motherboard, memory etc

your RAM should be DDR2 PC2-5300 667MHz. CPU-Z will show the speed only 333MHz
but because of DDR2 the effective speed is 333MHz X 2 = 666MHz or 667MHz

this is pretty common happen lo, it happen mostly on every pc.

that why you need the monitor calibration.

ex. xbrite<-- link

rm2k + nia ..

you may notice that on your photoshop got that things call ICC profiles, which vary on your com spec, (monitor, gc)

Hmm....how are laptop monitors calibrated?

As for the RAM details, there should be a DELL software running that shows the hardware + software details. Unless u reformatted your lappie...

Hey guys, is it advisable to get my m1530 here or over at US? Will be going over there to study, the only problem with ordering there is i have to wait for about 3 weeks or so for it to arrive.. Malaysia about 1 week only right? Plus, the nvidia problem is pretty bothering. Haha...

if you going to study in the US, i think better to buy M1530 there, although the unit will be also assemble in Penang.
if you buy in Malaysia, you have to pay for 3 years warranty to get the international support. yeah, it's also quite expensive.
one year warranty is just for local warranty.

i think US price is cheaper and has better spec options. you can get the LED LCD screen and 320GB 7200rpm HDD
i heard there also student coupon etc that will make the price even cheaper.

about M1530 dead mobo problem (we don’t know whether is caused by Nvidia GPU or not),
amazingly M1530 users in US and other countries users don’t have problem this serious problem.
only Malaysian users
maybe US spec M1530 got better parts and higher QC.

Dont want to open it.That piece of plastic is so soft.

Yeah,i got exactly the same thing in CPU-Z.

Which RAM speed should i buy?

PC2-5300 667MHz is the type of RAM your should buy.
don’t waste your money to buy PC2-6400 800MHz RAM because Santa Rosa platform only support max 667MHz RAM speed.
it will automatically downclock the 800MHz to 667MHz.

btw, as i predicted RAM price is increasing. now one 2GB module is RM135.
last April when i bought my 2GB module cost me only RM112.

Thats why i want to get one now.

The price is increasing.