Well for various reasons I delayed the actual purchase until a couple of weeks ago by which time Dell had released the much slimer, sexier, dare I say “cooler” XPS M1530, the big brother to the M1330 that I had drooled over some months ago. So I’m pleased to say I am now the proud (ok, MAC fanboys, as proud as a PC owner can be!) owner of a top of the line Tuxedo Black XPS M1530.

It arrived a couple of weeks ago, the day I was scheduled to leave for a 10 day holiday in the South Island and having just returned I am yet to really get to put it through it’s paces, but it looks pretty nice. It weighs less than it’s Insperon and Vostro cousins and has a much nicer finish. The build quality is a little suspect in places, the camera bezel above the screen is fairly flimsy and looks like it is a prime candidate for breakage and I actually had to remove some screws and refit one of the bottom panels when I first unpacked it as they hadn’t been slotted in correctly. It performs pretty well and battery life seems good for both the 6 cell and 9 cell batteries. I’m still not convinced about the glossy screen but it seems that the non-glossy versions are getting fewer and further between.

I’ll post some more thoughts as I get the laptop setup and start using it but I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve seen so far. I wouldn’t call it “Legendary Design” but hey, it’s designed and it looks pretty good amongst it’s competition so I’m not complaining.

Well anyway…

I’m in the market for a new laptop and as such I’ve been out on the interwebs diligently doing my research, trying to find that ideal (read: perfect) candidate. I have fairly simple criteria, needing a higher than average spec machine (cutting rather than bleeding edge), large fast hard drive, plenty of ram and a WSXGA screen… that’s 1680×1059, with a decent GFX card.

First up, you have no idea what a tough ask the screen seems to be! Most manufacturers, Apple included, seem to limit this resolution to the 17″ models which are, to put it mildly, rather less than portable and hardly “laptops”, anything in the 13″ – 15.4″ realm is generally limited to the lower 1280 x 800 WXGA resolution which just doesn’t cut it when you live in pallete intensive applications like Photoshop, Fireworks and Visual Studio. I would also like the exterior to be reasonably attractive… or at the very least not ugly!

With the above said I can already hear the cries of “Buy a Mac!” coming from every corner. It seems most of my colleagues are indeed using Macs when not at work but I have long since accepted my fate as a Windows user, and to my surprise, with a few glaring exceptions Vista really isn’t as bad as I imagined it would be (No really!).

The unfortunate downside to looking for a Windows based machine however is the total lack of focus on the hardware design. When compared to the latest Apple hardware, with it clean sleek lines, beautifully beveled edges and spectacular attention to detail I find even the nicest looking PC’s are left desperately wanting.

Compaq‘s have been trying to copy the Apple design formula for a while now with absolutly no success, the HP and Toshiba lineups are, well, neat and tidy (read: boring!). Acer and Asus have both tried branding partnership with Farrari and Lambourghini respectively, the results of which are amusing if nothing else. Sony seem to be trying with their Vaio’s and as for Dell… lets just say if you put lipstick on a pig… it’s still just a pig. Dell have made one move in the right direction however, with their new XPS1330 but they seriously need to start applying that design thinking across their mainstream laptops and not just the ultra portables.

So what did I settle on you ask? I caved and I’m going with a Dell Vostro 1500. It’s not pretty, even among some of it’s competitors, but the bang for buck ratio is good, it meets most if not all of my other requirements and it was a more favourable option than its ugly step-sister the Inspiron 1520 with it’s clown makeup… I mean “colour faceplates”.

I’ll let you know how it works out!

Having worked in both traditional design studios and small corporates
I definatly agree with the concept of allowing design teams to operate in a more free
form creative environment as opposed to the sometimes overly ridged corporate environment.
I do my best work when I can run with an idea and experiment, sometimes in directions
even I wouldn't have envisaged early in a projects life cycle.