Please help with a purchase decision for development: Dell XPS M1330 / M1340 / M1530 / M1540 / Macbook Aluminium

Question

Hi there!

Ok, I hope this post doesn't raise any alarm bells by not being entirely programming related, but it is critical towards my programming! I have a major dilemma and I’m afraid to make the wrong (and very expensive) purchase decision for a laptop, so I am hoping anyone out there can help.

Processing Needs: I am a self-employed software developer and utilize applications and services such as MS Visual Studio Team System 2008, MS SQL Server 2008, Expression Studio, Oracle 10g Express, PHP myAdmin, Robotics Studio, SharePoint Designer 2007, and I run a few MS Office applications.

Graphics Needs: Occasionally I also get involved in the UI design aspects of our projects calling for a combination of Adobe Fireworks, Flash, and After Effects. I also use Google Sketchup sometimes depending on the project…don’t ask :)

Portability Needs: I work in an air-conditioned office, take my work home, and once or twice a week visit clients, and portability hasn’t really been much of an issue for me. I currently have an HP Pavilion DV5000 (15.4” widescreen, 1.6Ghz Core2Duo, 2GB DDRII 533Mhz), and its not such a bother lugging it around, but a slightly smaller laptop would be nice. A smaller resolution may not be so great for programming, but I would usually connect this to an external monitor at the office.

Comfort Needs: I’d like to work with my laptop on the couch or sometimes in bed when I’m at home, so I guess any intensive heat build-up is undesired. I can’t take my current laptop to bed any more as my wife complains about the noise and heat it gives off! As I mentioned before, I work in an air-conditioned office, so any heat build-up can be ‘managed’ there. A backlit keyboard also would be a welcomed bonus.

Essentially it’s a toss-up between:

• Dell XPS M1330 [3 year warranty]
• Dell Studio XPS 13 (M1340) [3 year warranty]
• Dell XPS M1530 [3 year warranty]
• Dell Studio XPS 16 (M1540) [3 year warranty]
• Apple Macbook [1 year warranty]

The configuration I was looking at for both the M1330 and the M1340 is a 2.4Ghz Core2Duo and 4GB Memory. However, I noticed that the Studio XPS 13 (M1340) is a 2.4Ghz P8600 1067Mhz FSB, whilst the M1330 is a 2.4Ghz T8300 800Mhz FSB – is there any noticeable difference here? Also, the M1340 comes with 4Gb DDR3 memory whilst the M1330 comes with 4GB DDR2 memory – any noticeable difference here also?

The Macbook is still an option, as I can either use Bootcamp to install Vista or Parallels virtual machine to run Vista thru OSX. My only concern here is with the new trackpad and right-clicking in Windows (tho’ most of the time I would work with a mouse).

I’m really leaning towards the Studio XPS 13, but the reviews I’ve read about it running hot and the badly positioned heat exhaust at the back is putting me off it. I must know if anyone can truly vouch for this, and if it is a huge problem.

Although, if anyone knows of any laptops coming out in the next 2 months that will meet these requirements, please let me know! :)

Sorry, it’s a lot to take in, but I hope it provides anyone with as much information necessary to help me with this decision.

Thank u!

Answer 1

I have the regular XPS M1330. It is about 8 months old. I have the 9-cell battery and integrated graphics.

I have never run into problems with it overheating. In fact, I can compile large sources for a few hours on a hot, sunny day, and the laptop fan barely starts to kick in. It stays mostly cool to the touch (wireless adapter gets hot, but that's different story). Most of the people who tell you that it overheats were victims of the faulty discrete nVidia GPU. From the description of what you do, integrated graphics are probably plenty for you. The Intel GPU is very good at 2D rendering and decent with 3D rendering.

The 13.3" monitor is a great size for programming. I open Vim in full screen and have plenty of workspace to get my work done. I came from dual-screen monitors, so it was an adjustment getting back to a smaller resolution, but it is very do-able. The 13.3" size also is very portable and I carry my laptop around wherever I go.

I had a MacBook before the M1330 but found that right-click is the killer feature that I really needed, so I had to give it up.

As a bonus, Dell has excellent support for Linux. Not sure if that's your thing, though. Ubuntu will install without a hiccup with everything working out of the box. Gentoo is also reasonable to install, with Dell's laptop patches built right into the kernel.

My only complaint was that when I received the laptop, one of the bottom panels was hanging loosely and the screws laying in the bag. After screwing them in with a tiny screw driver, everything worked great.

I highly recommend the M1330. It has been great laptop. The 9-cell battery can give me about 6 hours under Linux after optimizing some things. I am a college student and have yet found myself running towards an outlet to plug in.

Good luck with your purchase,

Answer 2

It looks to me like the XPS falls on the consumer side of Dell's offerings. I have yet to come across a consumer Dell laptop I liked. Their business line of laptops are very nice though. I'm currently using a Latitude D531 and it's the best machine I've ever used. I found the same to be true of the Compaq Armada (Pro) vs Presario (Home) series.

I would like the performance to be a little better though. Next I would probably go for a Dell Precision with Intel. You can also get it with a 15" display that can do 1920 x 1080.

If you want less heat go with Intel instead of AMD. My current machine is an AMD and the fan kicks on more often than I would like.

Answer 3

I would go for Dell Studio XPS 16 (M1540) [3 year warranty] Mainly because you want a bigger screen as a coder. The nicer design for the Studio XPS is always a bouns. I like black :)

Answer 4

I have a XPS M1530. Its a really amazing laptop, i am planning on getting a bigger screen for development though, because even though it is on 1440 x 900, its not enough for development. My only problem was that it came pre-installed with vista home edition, i upgraded to ultimate to get all the features i required.