Review Date : 20th Jan' 08

The Laptop Year Book 2007 can never be complete without giving due credits to the stylish lightweight and almost an ultraportable model that marked a shift in Dell's strategy bringing it out of the slump. Yes, we are talking about the exciting Dell XPS M1330 notebook PC that packs in up-to-date hardware components and usability features in a trendy 13.3" form factor.

Dell XPS M1330 replaces the 1210 model that was launched a couple of years back. Needles to say that XPS 1330 boasts of stronger build, better performance and competes well with the recent stylish ultraportable and thin and light laptops from Apple, Sony and other mainstream companies.

At $1499, we built a custom configuration of XPS 1330 with 1.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, an adequate 2GB of RAM, up to 160GB of storage capacity, a slot loading dual layer DVD writer, Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card, a 13.3" widescreen high definition LED backlight display with NVIDIA GeForce™ 8400M GS graphics card that has 128MB of dedicated memory. Seeing a discrete graphics card is a definite plus within this lightweight category.

XPS M1330, despite the lightweight and thin form factor, is a sturdy machine with respect to build and credit partly goes to magnesium alloy casing. Since the model follows Dell's Design-First approach for the new XPS line, plenty of style elements are present including the choice of lid colors.

Making use of the extra space that a 13.3" form provides over the 12.1" XPS M1210 model, Dell has equipped XPS M1330 with a full-size keyboard that is a pleasure to type on. It does have a little bouncy feeling but the overall experience is great and except for the function keys, all of the rest are full-scale. The touchpad is also responsive.

XPS M1330 features a 13.3" widescreen LED backlight screen with 1280 x 800 resolution. Though one can save $150 by going with a standard high definition display, but LED backlight is an upgrade you should lock your configuration with. It gives you a much sharper and spectacular display with vivid colors.

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