definately. eg. updating graphics card driver can improve graphics performance of games and certain applications on vista

technically, yes. but the highest option for 1520 is 8600MGT. so this option is only useful for those who has 8400MGS

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: May 18 2008, 01:55 AM

in terms of build quality, inspiron 1520 and XPS M1530 are definately both equality good. no visible flex, sturdy, and the use of high quality material.

in terms of durability, inspiron 1520 is definately better than M1530. the use of magnesium alloy on 1520's body makes it virtually a laptop class tank. that said, this is why 1520 is heavier and thicker. i guess that's the price you have to pay for armored protection.

in terms of esthetic, XPS M1530 is definately better than inspiron 1520. the sleek and elegant design, thin and light.

in terms of performance, factory default setting, with no alteration or OC, XPS M1530 is better than inspiron 1520 in gaming situations because of the GDDR3 memory used in M1530. GDDR3 on M1530 is clocked at 700MHz vs 400MHz on 1520's DDR2. since 8600MGT is bandwidth hungry because of the 128bit bus, any increase in memory speed will have a profound effect on performance. in other words, performance gain in higher memory clock is more noticable than higher GPU clock. however, even the average joe can crank up the performance of 1520 to match or even outperform stock M1530..

so it really boils down to what you want.

if saving $ is your priority, then 1520 the way to go. for the same specs, you can probably save RM800~1K

if durability and reliability is what you need, then 1520 is your choice. the rigid tank like magnesium alloy chasis, larger heatsink for heat dissapation, non slot drive dvd writer all contributes to its reliability. i've seen people dropping their 1520 on solid ground and roads, and the laptop still survive to tell the tale with just some bruise. on the other hand, i've also seen xps got destroyed from just falling off the bed.

if you need light and esthetic laptop and has the $ to spare, M1530 is definately the way to go. the difference in weight between the two laptops is around 500g (+-100g). xps is an absolute beauty.

if you need stock performance and functionality, M1530 is "still the choice". the reason i put "" is because anyone can easily crank up the performance of 1520 to match or outperform M1530. however, the lack of HDMI on 1520 might be a deal breaker for those who need it.

in terms of future development and expandibility, im not going to lie to all of you, 1520 is already on the chopping block. 1525 is the first sign of replacement and 1535 is next on the soon to release chart. there arent any rumours on the next iteration of xps M1530 but who knows what will happen in a few months time. Centrino2 is due to be released some time in June, which is a brand new platform from santa rosa. also, 1520 uses a modular graphics card, in other words, you can remove and possibly "upgrage" the graphics card in the future if it is available. this is definately working for 8400MGS owners who require more powerful option like 8600MGT. as for 8600MGT owners, untill dell release a similar modular card with a better GPU, then tough luck.

i hope this answers all the question anyone might have regarding the comparison of 1520 and M1530.

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: May 18 2008, 07:57 PM

auto update as long as all your drivers are up to date

no issues so far. have been using sp1 since the first day it was released. vista is still as resource hogging and demanding as usual.

i dont mean to brag, but my 3DMark06 score at 1280x800 all default settings is....... 4800 (+-50)
my specs is in my SIG.

for your reference, XPS M1530 at default factory clock churns out an impressive 3800 (correct me if im wrong).

you mean like this? (check out the attached image) lol

u r absolutely right. i never did push my 8600MGT to the limit, just playing on the safe side. i believe my precious can do 5000 3dmark06 score. looks like all the tweakings and optimizing have finally paid off in a sense of pride and satisfaction.




Attached thumbnail(s)

by premium xps i assume you are talking about xps M1730 with the choice of either SLI 8700MGT or 8800MGTX. well, i wouldnt want to know what kind of score those cards can achieve because it will make my score and my 8600MGT look really bad and puny. anyway, SLI 8800MGTX on M1730 can achieve well over 10K on 3DMark06. 8700MGT is not that powerful though. to be honest, the score that im getting now is actually pretty close to a single 8700MGT card. the reason 8700MGT cannot perform that well is because it is essentially a superclocked 8600MGT with the same 128-bit bus limitation.

dont waste your money on vista ultimate. it's nothing more than a marketing gimmic. doesnt really improve performance.

OPINIONS REQUIRED
guys, do you think i should spice things up a little by making a list of owner and their highest 3DMark06 score on the first thread? would you all want to participate?

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: May 21 2008, 09:49 AM

Latest BIOS is A07. info regarding this release is available on first page of this thread

interested in joining the inspiron 1520 3DMark06 members high score list?

not a problem. im sure many of us here are running in stock too. every little tweaks and optimisation you do will count.

yeah, and to compare the tweaks we make and the drivers we use.

well, to be honest with u, cpu does not play a major role in 3DMark06 benchmark, especially when your cpu is quite close in terms of performance compared to T7500. if you have a copy of 3DMark06, try just running the 2 cpu tests and compare it to the marks i posted earlier. the difference in cpu is even more irrelevant when running full benchmark. the difference will only be 2-3 marks higher on T7500 (all other hardware tweaks being equal).

intel turbo memory is a sort of ready boost and ready drive that works in conjuction with windows vista ONLY. it basically works by caching frequently accessed programs into the cache memory and push them to RAM at no access time latency. most of us are familiar with the use of usb thumb drive to perform ready boost, which is fine, but external usb drive cached files are discarded every time your pc reboots because the content are considered volatile. built in hardware ready drive solved this issue.

for dell owners, it will show up as Flash Cache Modules (FCM) for intel turbo memory.

nothing can come close to pure RAM performance. intel turbo memory is a method used when memory is not abundantly available and the main purpose is to sit in the middle between the slow hard drive and super fast RAM. because flash memory does not suffer from seek time latency, it is therefore theoretically faster than HDD.

that said, the more RAM you have, the less benefit you'll see from having intel turbo memory and vice versa. for example, there is a tremendous increase in computing performance when using FCM with 512MB or 1GB RAM. for 2GB RAM, the performance increase is less than 512 and 1GB, but still there are some improvement. 3GB RAM onwards see very little benefit from using FCM.

in other words, im trying to squeeze as much juice as i can from my inspiron 1520. hope this info helps.

that's the problem with pendrive ready boost. everytime your computer restarts, the caching has to start all over again. so if you use for pc for a short session, you'll hardly notice the difference.

for me, the differences i see are in
1. faster laptop startup from cold boot (built in FCM does not discard any cached startup data) [differences of 5-10secs only though]
2. improved battery life because intel turbo memory "bonds" with your hard drive and acts like a hybrid flash drive. in other words, your hdd now has a 512MB of flash memory and has become a hybrid drive. [10-20min extra batt life depending on usage]

dell used to offer FCM for XPS only because it is considered a premium item. i got mine from online retailer.

added u to the proud owner list. congrates on the ownership

i think the thermal pad is no longer doing its job. this is what i observed when i open up my laptop. the pad is totally dried and hard like a solid flat rock. had to remove it and applied high performance thermal paste on it. my CPU idle temperature is around 46C. GPU around 47C.

this is my WEI score

Processor Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz ...........5.1
Memory (RAM) 2.00 GB ...........4.8
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT ...........5.9
Gaming graphics 1022 MB Total available graphics memory ..........5.4
Primary hard disk ...........5.4

i used to get 5.5 for gaming graphics score..dropped 0.1 recently. kinda busy, so no time to improve performance. the graphics power i have on my laptop now is trailing quite close to 8700MGT. if it weren't for that crappy DDR2 memory , i could have easily beaten 8700MGT.

yeah, correct me if im wrong, you can check my 3DMark06 score from Post #1605 which is 4873. that's what i call "value for money". lol

reference to my claim, http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphi...List.844.0.html

and i quote "NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT 3DMark06 4717".

but of course, once you OC 8700MGT, it will show its true colours...

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: May 22 2008, 07:56 PM