Opinions on Dell XPS 16

Has anybody bought and/or used one of these laptops before? I'm considering buying one to replace my old desktop, and to have something to take with me on trips and to friends and relatives houses. I'm never really going to be far away from an outlet, so the apparently low battery life (even with the 9-cell battery isn't a concern)

I intend to use this for a few years, so I'm going with some fairly high-end options so I can get longer use out of it. This also includes a nifty $100 gift card which I'm probably going to put towards a nice HD monitor a little later. :icon_bigg

If you have any tips or alternative you'd like to suggest, I'm all ears... not looking to spend money on a piece of crap.

Here's the configuration I'm considering;
Studio XPS 16
Operating System
Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit, English
Processor
Intel ® Core ™ i7 720QM 1.6GHz (2.8 GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
Memory
4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
Monitor
Full HD Widescreen 16.0 inch RGBLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP
Video Card
ATI Mobility RADEON® HD 4670 – 1GB
Hard Drive
500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
System Color
Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish
Network Card
Integrated 10/100 Network Card
Adobe Reader
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9, Multiple Languages
CD ROM/DVD ROM
Slot Load Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
Sound
High Definition Audio 2.0 with SRS Premium Sound
Wireless
Intel® 5300 WLAN Wireless-N (3x3) Mini Card
Bundle
Microsoft Works

Anti-Virus Software
McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months
Battery
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Service
1 Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis - Important Information
Service 1
Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year
Miscellaneous
$100 Dell Promo Gift Card - Arrives in 6-8 wks, carries a 90 Day Exp. Dell.com/giftcard
Bluetooth Options
Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)
Sub total:$1,864.00

 

Thanks for the tip, I'll look into them.

 

Sort of true, sort of not. While most Dell laptops are built in the same Quanta/ASUS/MSI/Foxconn factories as HP/Acer/Lenovo/Apple notebooks the designs are entirely from Dell. Nothing similar at all. Nope, none.

That said, I should be getting mine soon here (waiting for the silly tracking number) and could happily give you a informal review of it, or you could just got to http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4764&p=2

 

EDIT: Looks like I'm going to be waiting a little while longer to buy this. I was planning to finance to take advantage of the 0% interest for a year they were offering and not be out a large chunk of cash, but Dell's finance company - CIT - filed for bankruptcy yesterday. -_-


I guess maybe it's the higher-end XPS line thats based on those whitebooks, I forgot to include 'Studio' in the topic title.

Thanks for the link, phate. That review pretty much matches up with everything else I've been reading.

I've been looking around and haven't heard anything too negative about this model line, except that technical support from Dell has been moved from Business (USA-based) to Home (India-based) support. I think I'll just add another year to the warranty and go for it, it's going to be hard to determine reliability with a brand new processor and (I assume) new motherboard anyways.

 

The problem with whitebooks is that looking for spare parts (LCD screen, mainboard, battery) tend to be A LOT harder to find and more expensive compared to Dell laptops, even their high-end ones. You are more likely to find used/second hand or brand new parts for that laptop cheaper than whitebooks.

The dell XPS series is still reliable, so you're getting a very good laptop. Given that it is a i7... I'm not too sure how it will do on battery.. the i7 is like a xeon cpu....

Have you tried looking for a similar setup but with a core2duo cpu? they are better with the battery, as far as I know.

 

Core2Duo is stock on the XPS16 low-mid range, I assume the i7 was added/chosen as an option...

Lots of other extras in the spec posted there, including the 9-cell battery