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Dell's XPS, Beef it Up

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CIOL Bureau
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Dell's XPS range of laptops has a lot going for it. To start with, they're the sleekest designs ever to come from the major PC manufacturer. And secondly, they offer amazing value compared to some of the other big brands in the business.

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The 15.4-inch XPS M1530 is a lot like the smaller 13.3-inch M1330-they both have the neat tapered design, come in multiple colors and they both can be customized to the hilt! But they're both for different people. The M1330 is for someone who wants a more portable laptop without compromising on performance or features. The M1530 is for someone who would find a 13.3-inch screen too small, and who prefers a mainstream size laptop with some serious muscle to run games and graphics intensive apps with ease.

The M1530 can be configured with an Nvidia 8600M GT graphics card (with 256 MB RAM) while the M1330 can only have 8400M GS with 128 MB. The 1530 can also be configured with a high-res 1680x1050 screen and Blu-ray drive which are not available in the 1330. But the rest remains the same.

Prices for the M1530 start as low as Rs 51k (including delivery and taxes). Our test machine (configured for about 70k), did 4865 in PCMark05 and 3856 in 3DMark06; figures that you don't normally get from a laptop! And thanks to the extended 9-cell battery (which sticks out), we managed a healthy 5-hour plus of battery backup. With the standard 6-cell, you should get about two and a half hours easy. But it's not just the performance of the XPS notebooks that is so satisfying. It has more to do with the materials used; the aluminium palm rest, the distinctive colors in soft-touch finish and the backlit touch-sensitive keys. It's more of an experience than being just a notebook PC. Just a shame that you cannot experience it before you buy, yet (Dell will be tying up with some major retail chains soon).

In effect, the XPS M1530 adds what the M1330 lacked, which it could not include because of the small size. So if the bulkier profile and extra weight doesn't matter to you and if you need the extra boost in performance, the M1530 will deliver maximum bang for your buck.

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