i5-450M has a function, something like AES instructions, which 520/540M don't have. Also, the bus speed (in Gb/s) is higher by a little.

Other than that, they are the same in every conceivable way, just that frequency increases as you go up (and so too its max turbo speed).

For this reason I might prefer i5-460M over i5-520M. However i5-560/580M will still be faster (in terms of frequency) than i5-460/520/540M.

Nah, if you're the average user/gamer, you won't feel the upgrade from i5-450M to i5-520/540M. Even if you got i7-740QM you still wouldn't notice it. Even if you see the Turbo running.

The thing you'll notice will likely be 5400RPM to 7200RPM.

BTW I wanted to ask, there's this HDD that says SATA 3.0Gb/s, then how do I know whether it is 5400RPM or 7200RPM?

Does Dell give discount if 2 people each buy one PC together? Since they just changed the price they won't give much of a discount even if I upgrade processor + GPU + warranty. Even before they offered RM160/180 off only.

------Question about RAM, what is the difference between 2x2GB and 1x4GB? Also, all RAM operates at 1066GHz for i5 right?

This post has been edited by LightningFist: Aug 31 2010, 11:44 PM

Damn, did not ask about the OS cd. But last time they said no to that.

Anyway, there's no news of when the XPS 13 will be out, or how it'll look like.
But the new processors should be coming out this month

- Power supply is part of the laptop. Replacement should be free.

Does using 130W mean you'll have higher power bills in the long term? Also does it make your laptop warmer at all?

BTW pennywise, I have encountered the CHKDSK hang problem before. It was not on Dell but on my old laptop with Windows 7.

The problem came up a couple days after I got it. Basically it's what you described, hanging at 1. About your data loss, I have no idea about recovery because all mine did was be a nuisance and prompt CHKDSK after rebooting - a few times.

It happened a few times before I got pissed. Google it, I found a patch file/fix from Microsoft that, after you run it, does whatever it does and the CHKDSK error is no longer there. However I dont know whether there is still something wrong or not - the CHKDSK hang stopped, but I had loads of BSODs which may not have been related. This problem is a Windows 7 problem common to all kinds of pcs.

- Heads up guys I hear there'll be Studio / XPS 14 and 15 soon, at the end of the year. Maybe 14, 15, 15,4/15.6 inch laptops with good hardware, newer design (FFS the heat vent)? Probably will come with the new i5s as the standard.

Well all the above is true. i7 (720 or 740QM) is too slow, too hot, et cetera. i5 should be faster on average and definitely cooler (although in this Dell chassis you never know).

However, pricing wise, you can get 6GB (or 8GB) RAM + i7-740QM at a decent price. Now that the i5 price has been lowered though, forget the quads.

Or better yet, forget the current XPS 16 configurations. See if I'm wrong, sometime this month, or early next month, the new i5s (460/560/580M) will come, and the i5s now will be relegated to Vostro/Latitude (note the i7-720QMs they come with now - as an option).

Soon, a new XPS 14/15 will be out. We don't know anything about its design or specs yet, but it won't deviate far from the norm now (1366x768 / 1200x800 / 1600x900 / 1920/1080 + 7200RPM + 4GB RAM + i5/i7).

Lost data is terrible, always back up future work.

My thumbdrive quit working all of a sudden, like it just isn't read/detected anymore by any pc... such a b****.

Usually, if my experience with tech service in this country is anything to go by, if your problem is obvious (GPU failure, LCD failure), they will fix it for you easily and swiftly.

When you get something like this, CHKDSK, blue screen, HDD corruption, RAM corruption, monitor power problem, all they can do is keep asking you useless questions, asking you to "perform a recovery", or maybe after a hell of a long time they'll change the motherboard, while the problem still persists.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About Dell warranty, the only difference between XPS Premier Service and Dell Care Premium is the extended service hours for Dell Care right? With XPS warranty it is still on-site and covers everything apart from accidental damage (which is covered by Complete Cover)?

Some of the staff told me it's International warranty by default, some told me I have to purchase 3 years. I plan to purchase 3 years anyways, but only if it is definitely International and On-site since I'll be moving out. Earlier a link posted here showed 3-year Next Business Day (NBD) warranty for Inspiron/Studio laptops was International. The problem is Studio XPS is not on the list, and the warranty page that talks about XPS Premier Service and Dell Care does not mention International warranty, only support for traveling people (which is applicable even for 1-year warranty I think).

What I want is the service they offer in MY (on-site service, with parts and labour, and replacements, for manufacturing defects) in another country (covered by Dell of course).

Can anyone confirm this?

This post has been edited by LightningFist: Sep 6 2010, 06:06 PM

Ahh tried everything, online chat, email, phone call, they are so unreliable when it comes to this.

Ahh alright thanks guys

Ahh come out with the new model already!!!

I think what they meant was if you travel anywhere then it's covered, by all warranties. And like kelvin said you have to change your address if you move permanently. But that gets complicated because some Dell people say it has to be 3 years while others don't - to get service outside of the country you bought it.

Now that was odd I expected more than i5-460M. Could it be this is the first model they released? I think 560 and 580, being the same line, would come out at the same time.
Hmm they haven't changed the pricing for CPU upgrade to 520/540 either. They should also update GPU to 5750 or 5830 or 4xxx in the new model

Wow zealous they agreed to change the CPU for your order? Nice.



This post has been edited by LightningFist: Sep 8 2010, 11:32 AM

What sort of games do you have in mind?

Your M1330 can play some really nice MMORPGs without lag - as long as it doesn't throttle or overheat.

You can try Warcraft 3 too, which seems to like to lag on discrete GPUs but not with onboard Intel GPUs.

Unfortunately some games it won't be able to handle, old or new, with playable settings on a performance/visual quality balance.

It's probably nothing to do with the processor, since a simple action like that won't exhaust i5 dual core or i7 quad core.
It's the hard drive.

Hmph Dell still hasn't put up the i5-560/580Ms in place of the older CPUs.

This post has been edited by LightningFist: Sep 15 2010, 11:26 PM

Aww man 15 and 17? Bah.

I thought 14/15 or 13 would be coming
But then again those would probably only have 1366x768 or 1600x900, and 1600x900 is pretty good for 13-15 I think.

Hope the 15" is nice. 5850 has very high TDP... 5830 is good, even though there ain't GDDR5. Nvidia is weird... they have relatively low TDPs on paper but they have way higher temperatures in general.

As long as it is as good as 5730 and not with unreasonable TDP, it should be great. Hope the price is competitive.

Man, if RM2999... I shall get 3 year warranty + upgrade CPU/GPU. But it'll end up RM900+ more.

Oh saw the forum post, design is ok? Better than the current XPS back? Hopefully no hinge.
Vostro design looks pretty sleek, a bit like some Acers, the black ones. Rounded at the edges.

I like the back, all black with Dell in the centre. No hinges!

GT 445M would be nice huh, little better than 5730.

Ugh if the i7+6GB dropped 700 then the i5+4GB should drop 700 too.

Sneaky azz Dell they raised the prices of warranty extensions...



This post has been edited by LightningFist: Sep 18 2010, 01:21 AM

Mm no 1600x900 eh, thats weird because 1920x1080 is exactly the same ratio as 1600x900, this doesn't make any sense.
Usually monitors can change their resolution to different resolutions, sometimes not with the same aspect ratio.
Or is it because many laptop monitors are special in this way and the resolution cannot be changed?

What the hell is Dell MY doing, trying to sell off the newer i7-740QM and HD5730 but holding back the i5s?
I don't expect the new model or models till at least late next month or November, and there is almost zero info on them.
But why would you lower the price so drastically before those even come out...

MM aren't organic LEDs kinda newish still?
I know, with every new PC you buy, the old laptop's screen just seems so dull and darkish... new one is high contrast and shinier...

Now people are saying the new models are coming out about a couple months before Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs... I thought those weren't going to be released until at least mid/late 2011, since they only "start production" late 2010 or early 2011...

Could I ask you PC pros a question about throttling?

Ok, if I am playing a game, maybe Warcraft 3/D0ta, or maybe a web-browser game, and then there's some lag, not the kind of mouse moves slowly lag, but freezing and unplayable kind, is that throttling or does that mean the GPU is not good enough for whatever I'm doing? Because I had this kind of bad lag with games on a mid-range discrete GPU (2009) which was not as bad with the same game with 6 year old Intel graphics.

TY

Wow, they will replace parts for even stuff like this?

Hmm the forum post on the new XPSs says 3GB RAM for GPU. This probably isn't even correct (laptop speculation info generally aren't accurate at all) but it could be 1GB discrete and 2GB shared?

LOL who the hell needs 12GB RAM... 4/6 should be fine.

I think they'll offer i5-560/580 and i7-640 for it, but then, the i7 is a lot more expensive as an upgrade...

Mmm take a look: http://b4tea.com/information/review-inform...ps-specs-review

- Wi-Fi Card: Dell Wireless 1510 802.11a/b/g/draft/n half-mini card

- Battery: 6-cell (56 Whr) or 6-cell (56 Whr) w/additional 9-cell (85 Whr) Lithium Ion battery

- I/O ports: 1 USB 3.0 port, 1 USB/eSATA Combo port, 1 Gigabit Ethernet port, 1 VGA output, 1 HDMI output, 1 DisplayPort output, 2 headphone jack, 1 microphone jack, 1 54 mm Express Card slot, 1 8-in-1 memory card reader, 1 IR receiver and 1 power adapter connecter

- Optical Drive: 8X slot-load dual-layer DVD+/-RW drive or 2X tray-load Blu-ray Disc Combo drive

Without a doubt USB 3.0 is really good for future proofing, but atm it is quite expensive and rare still. But we really need some info on the graphics or some photos. This is supposed to be late October/November and still no pics!

This post has been edited by LightningFist: Sep 21 2010, 07:25 PM

OMG. Well it looks like that, we don't know how true it is. 2 is really little but I never had a Dell laptop with more than 2 or 3. Oh we would love to have 4 or 5... 1 USB 3.0 and one 2.0/SATA combo is not good.

Oh I find all those comments in the articles on the PC blogs about "unspecified" Core i7 being part of the machines quite ridiculous. FFS you can customise and it is probably i7-640M and quad Core i7s.

Oh someone enlighten me this engadget photo shows a black "XPS 16" with no grey hinge?
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/16/dell-st...ming-this-fall/

Anyone does HDD testing/benchmarking?

My HDD has Read Error Rate 99/99/16 - Current/Worst/Threshold
I have a feeling the data isn't reliable because a lot of readings are 100/100/0
If Reallocation Event Count increases gradually, continuously, is that bad?

black dragon could you do a speed test with your seagate momentus xt? TY

This post has been edited by LightningFist: Sep 21 2010, 10:37 PM

Haha, I like your display pic btw

It would be a great onus for you to scroll through the thousands of posts and hundreds of pages so we'll summarise for ya:

-Overheating of the notebook, which seems to be largely due to the older GPU Mobility Radeon 4670, and the quad core i7 CPU

-Problems with the casing, but this probably isn't important

-The major issue is probably throttling, which is experienced by Core i5/i7 users, due to either overheating or not enough power. Can be "solved" supposedly by switching to 130W adapters.

---

Added on September 24, 2010, 9:01 amOh and if anyone is considering waiting for Sandy Bridge, they should only be out March next year.

Besides, for the mobile versions they are pretty much the same, only very slightly higher clockspeed duo cores and some quads, with faster GPU.


This post has been edited by LightningFist: Sep 24 2010, 09:01 AM