Dell XPS 1530 makes an appearance in US

Darius Chang | Nov 28, 2007

For a manufacturer whose bottom line focus gave us low-cost but boring portables, Dell surprised us with the XPS M1330. It not only looks good, it's one of the slimmest 13.3-inch notebooks in the market. However, despite belonging to the gaming XPS line, the M1330 is not exactly a blazing-fast machine and has only a midrange Nvidia GeForce 8400M graphics card.

So when the US maker announced the availability of the new XPS M1530, we got excited all over again. Not only is the larger 15.4-inch screen more comfortable for endless hours of shooting and looting (virtually, of course), the high-end 256MB GeForce 8600M GT video card should make short work of most gaming titles (though the XPS M1730 still retains the throne as a premium gaming desktop replacement). If 15.4-inch is not enough to make you happy, hook up to an external display using the HDMI port. A built-in Webcam is also included for face-to-face confrontations. It even has a fingerprint sensor for those who take data security seriously.

The tapered design makes the unit look very slim for a midsize machine. In addition, the XPS M1530 could also be the first notebook to use brushed aluminum material for the palm rest, which gives it a rugged, no-nonsense look. However, we worry that prolonged gaming could make this area as uncomfortable to touch as a steering wheel on a hot afternoon. Dell has confirmed that the XPS M1530 will be available in Asia Pacific soon, though no launch date was given. Dell US' Web site lists this XPS with a starting cost of US$999, though at this price you are looking at a rather weak Nvidia GeForce 8400M video card.

Filed under: Notebooks
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