With its handsome design, sharp screen, and long list of options, it’s hard not to love the Dell XPS M1330. For buyers who need a constant computing companion, it’s worth a long look.
The Dell XPS M1330 just misses the weight cutoff for a true ultra-portable, but the 4-pound laptop is nonetheless light and easy to carry. The chassis is available in matte black or red, and its full-size keyboard is unusually comfortable to type on. We especially like the touch-sensitive multimedia control buttons above the row of function keys.
The real draw, though, is the option to outfit the notebook with a wide-screen (1,280×800) display that’s LED-backlit, a $200 premium that’s worth every penny. The LED-lit panel is brighter and delivers a higher contrast ratio than traditional screens—plus, it uses less power, boosting battery life. On the M1330, DVDs showed lifelike color reproduction and very good shadow detail. Sound quality from the built-in stereo speakers was a bit thin and lacking in bass, however
The XPS M1330 has most of the inputs and outputs you would expect (USB, FireWire, flash-memory card reader, ExpressCard slot, VGA, LAN), plus two headphone jacks and a welcome High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) port for connecting to a high-definition television (HDTV). A fingerprint reader, a Webcam, Bluetooth and 802.11a/g/n wireless, and embedded Dell Wireless Broadband connectivity rounded out our test configuration’s very complete set of options.
Models in the XPS M1330 series start at a reasonable $1,299, though options and upgrades in our test model nearly doubled the price ($2,404). Equipped with a 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB of RAM, 128MB nVidia GeForce Go 8400 GS graphics, and a 160GB hard drive, the test unit scored a solid 4,523 on Futuremark’s PCMark05, demonstrating it can more than handle productivity chores. Its demonstrating of 1,893 on Futuremark’s 3DMark06 means avid 3D gamers will want to look elsewhere, but it’s got the chops to handle some games if you turn down the resolution and graphics effects settings. The nine-cell extended battery delivered just over three hours of run time on the DVD drain test, which should equate to about five hours of normal use.