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5
[RATINGOF] 5
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FEATURED REVIEW
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Title: Studio XPS 16 is the best I have owned
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Date: September 24, 2009
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Product Uses: Connecting with Friends, video processing, gps navigation, document creation, media player
Review:I was debating whether or not to buy a PC or a Mac to run Windows 7 (Which I prefer to Mac OSx). I really like the hardware that Mac uses. However, matching up side by side, I was able to get a more powerful laptop than the Mac Book Pro in the XPS 16. This also cost me $1,400 less. When I received the XPS 16 I was so surprised at how thin, sharp, and stylish the XPS 16 was. Then I installed Win 7 and WOW. This computer and OS is the quickest, smoothest, powerful laptop I have ever touched. Every piece of the laptop is high quality. The heat dissipation complaints are over rated. It does get hot when running on the "high performance" battery state and running several programs. However, this PC has plenty of power to run in the "balanced" state and stays comfortable on the lap. I encode Blu-ray DVD's without a hitch, the powerful processor does this task in decent time, best I've seen for a laptop. The screen is just the sickest thing since sliced cheese. All in all, I give this laptop my highest possible rating! (Studio XPS 16, 8Gb DDR3 Ram, 1Gb Dedicated Video, 3.06 Ghz dual core processor, 1920 x 1080 resolution, HDMI, dsplay port, serial ATA,and 3 USB ports to boot)
304 of 318 people found this review helpful.
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5
[RATINGOF] 5
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5
[RATINGOF] 5
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5
[RATINGOF] 5
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4
[RATINGOF] 5
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FEATURED REVIEW
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Title: Highly Satisfied
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Date: January 29, 2009
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ProsThe 1080p LED screen is very vivid and sharp. I watch a lot of DVD's and I'm highly impressed. My wife has an Inspiron 1525 with a standard screen and the LED blows it away. The design/look of the laptop is very modern but as others have said it is a finger-print magnet. The back lit keyboard is nice when you need it. The facial recognition software is pretty cool but it isn't really any easier/quicker then typing in a password. I upgraded to the T9400 6mb Cache 2.53gHz processor and it is blazing fast. I've played Half Life 2 and the graphics card seems to work great at high resolution but I wish there were other optins for high-end cards. Sound quality is better than average but still pretty much what you would expect from a laptop. Wireless connectivity and the multimedia buttons work great.
ConsThe blue ray player didn't work with new Blue Ray DVD's initially. Specifically it wouldn't play the Dark Knight. The XPS customer service was phenomenal and they actually overnighted new hardware and sent a local technician to install it the next day. They then followed up twice with phone calls to make sure I was satisfied. (It now works great). I'm constantly wiping off finger prints. It would have been nice to have options for other graphics cards.
Review:I've owned a number of Sony, Dell and IBM notebooks and this one is by far my favorite. The LED screen alone is worth the purchase.
372 of 380 people found this review helpful.
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| Overall: |
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5
[RATINGOF] 5
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Title: Very pleased
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Date: November 22, 2009
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Review:Received my XPS 16 last week. I am very pleased with my purchase. This is my 3rd XPS laptop. It is sleek in design and blazing fast. All the chatter about heat seems to be just that. It runs cool and quiet. The i7 q820 processor is amazing. I had a few freeze ups the first day. I updated the bios to the most current and no issues since. Build quality is excellent as expected by dell.
The only minor complaint I had was dell has dropped the ball a bit on delivery time. They are taking much longer then they should to deliver the laptops but will add it is worth the wait.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Overall: |
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4
[RATINGOF] 5
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Title: Good value on the Core i7 CPU
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Date: November 22, 2009
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Product Uses: autocad revit ecotect, presentations, office work
Review:I have been waiting for some time to get my hands on a new laptop, preferably something with 4 CPUs as I do a lot of rendering at my architectural practice. The XPS Studio 16 is far less money than the Dell M6400 Covet and looks almost as cool.
CONSTRUCTION
Build quality is good. The keyboard is firm and the keyboard backlighting is almost required now; once you have it, you'll never want to be without it. The black finish is a bad choice for showing dust and fingerprints. The screen cover is acrylic and subject to scratching, so leave something between the keyboard and screen when closed (like the protective foam that ships with the laptop). It's not easy getting the lid open; the hinges are fairly stiff.
The XPS has a small subwoofer that helps the audio sound better than most laptops.
It has all the ports you'd expect, but only 2 USB ports. It should have more. Video output is VGA only -- no DVI. Because of the design of the screen hinge, you can't get any ports off the rear; they come off the sides. This bugs me a lot, but is common on new laptops. The power comes off one side, and the network port comes off the other. Not very cool.
The unit is solidly built, but no heavier than I anticipated. 16" is as large as you'd want to cart along with you to the airport.
HARDWARE AND PERFORMANCE
I bought this unit with the Radeon 4670 video card, which will easily run all the CAD products I use. The Radeon (hardware) / Catalyst (drivers) combination has shown almost guaranteed compatibility with Revit, whereas all the Geforce cards we've owned have been problematic. The Core i7 CPU is making quick work of the rendering, along with the 6Gb of RAM I ordered. However, if you're not doing rendering work or something else requiring 4 CPUs, the i7 would be more than you need.
I ordered the 1680 x 945 resolution screen, which is more than enough; older users might even find the resolution too fine here. The 1920 resolution screen would be just too high for anyone but gamers looking for ultra fine detail.
I had some trouble with the Intel 5300 AGN wireless being flaky with WiFi connections. I had to go to Intel's website to find a driver update which has hopefully solved that problem.
WINDOWS 7
Windows 7 is a great OS. One neat tool it provides is the Easy Transfer utility which finds your old profiles on your old computer and transfers over all your email, file, and email accounts. Brilliant!
FINAL COMMENTS
I had thought about getting a Macbook Pro for its build quality and backlit keyboard, but ended up with the XPS Studio because of the i7 processor and lower price of the Dell. I own several Dells, and expect this one to serve my needs well alongside the others which still run, including a desktop from 2002 which shows no signs of wearing out yet. If you're looking for quad-core capability, this model is hard to beat.
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