Ok i just got myself a Dell XPS M1330 yesterday, got a pretty high-end one with 2.5ghz 6mb cache, 4gb ram, 200gb 7200rpm hdd etc in it, so far everything's been good except for one thing that annoys the f*** out of me.

When i first got it and played music, the sound will be distorted towards the end of every single song, and they are pretty darn obvious, otherwise when i do other stuff like opening programs, there'll be some very slight crackling sound in the music, i was so irritated at this supposedly top of the line model that i reformatted my laptop and reinstalled all the drivers.

So far it's been good, no more major distortion with the sound but i think i've heard some very minor ones, if this goes on i'm gonna call Dell and ask them what the hell is going on.

Anyone else with the same "luck"?

Ok did that but i'm not sure if it's made any improvement, since there's no more obvious distortion after the reformat i did. It could be me being oversensitive but i think i still hear some very minor distortions, occasionally.

I'll have to try installing other media players and see if there's any difference.

Anyway is Vista known to have issues when it comes to wireless connection? I was at my friend's place and her laptop connects fine and fast with her wireless router and mine was just painfully slow. Or could this be a Dell problem.

But the thing is i connect fine at other wireless spots, i think, or perhaps it could be faster.

Ok the sound issue is definitely bugging the shit out of me, i've tried all the things mentioned in the dell forum but it is still happening.

I can't tell if it's the sound card issue or the display driver issue, when i watch a show, eg lost, when the scenes are changed from blank to picture the sound will crackle.

Grrr...i'll try downgrading the sound driver to a vista generic one, if it still persists, will have to call dell and ask for a replacement.

been there done that, no luck

Tried reinstalling with vista's generic driver, same thing, guess i'll have to call dell.

About your abnormal noise problem, is it something like the audio popping at random times making the static sound?
And is it ok right now?

I just had a dell technician coming over to check, replaced motherboard, speakers, wireless card and hard drive, all to no avail, there's still the random crackling sound when i play music while doing other things. Now waiting for the next round to replace the whole motherboard along with cpu's and others.

Let's just hope this will solve the problem, the guy told me he's had such case before and that person decided to live with it after having his xps replaced with the same problem.

If this is a known issue, it's quite stupid for dell to sell a faulty laptop. I guess because this is really minor most people don't even realize it, un/fortunately i've got sharp ears and i hear it.

Oh well, i'm not sure if i'll ask for a refund or live with it, if dell gives some freebies then i probably will, at least their service is not bad.

hmm, seriously none of you guys ever noticed any slight static or popping sound when you run programs with music playing?

anyway dell should be replacing my system in the next few days, according to the technician that tried to fix my laptop, he's got one case where after replacing, the new laptop gave the exact same problem, and the guy just decided to live with it.......

which is not something that i want to live with, and yet i don't feel like getting a refund...zzz

maybe i should try installing xp and see if there's any difference

you serious? did you even call dell and ask about it?
zzz does that mean every single xps m1330 comes like this?

in that case, i shouldn't even bother get a replacement? either a refund or live with it

wow that sounds terrible, zz why didn't i surf more and check out more on forums online before i purchased, so i should expect mine to meet its maker in 6 months' time eh...

but then again, this laptop is too sexy to resist...love its lightweight and sleek design
getting my blue replacement soon

Ok my Dell XPS M1330 has finally succumbed to the dreaded graphics card getting fried problem too, and guess what, it is exactly around 6 months!

Zz had i known about this earlier i might reconsider buying this, right now the technician is here replacing the motherboard, and he said the problem is still probably not fixed yet despite having a newer motherboard.

Fortunately i have 2 years of warranty, it's just damn mafan if this happens every 6 months zz, might need to get extra warranty.

Well i didn't know about it when i bought it, like i said, had i known about it i might have reconsidered. I bought it because it's the cheapest high-end lightweight laptop around.

It's not too bad since i have 2 years warranty, will probably purchase more if the motherboard isn't fixed in the future.

But i'm just wondering why haven't they found a way around this by now, i'm pretty sure this happens to all m1330 and if we keep changing motherboards it should be a pretty huge cost to them.

It's the dreaded classic inevitable Dell XPS m1330 death call, your graphics card is fried after 6 months, time to call Dell and ask them to replace your motherboard, better do it now before it dies completely.

Mine only took like half an hour, why would it take so long for yours? Changing the motherboard is just a matter of unscrewing and screwing.

I bought mine with 4gb ram, kinda pointless anyway since Vista 32bit only recognizes up to 3.5gb.

Probably a faulty ram?

have you guys ever had the problem of having stuff underneath your keypad? i've got something under my 'i' key, probably scraps of food or something, it's harder to press it now and i can't seem to blow it off or shake t off.....zzz

any idea how i can possibly take the 'i' key out?

Really? I'm always in praise of how much cooler this laptop is compared to my old Toshiba laptop, with normal use in my room my M1330's temperature on the palm rest barely rises at all, unlike my Toshiba which is still kinda hot even with proper ventilation.