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XPS 1330: Good webcam vs. LED screen

post #1 of 12
8/11/08 at 12:20pm
Thread Starter 
I am trying to help my sister buy a notebook for school. She decided that she wants a 13 inch laptop, and I have had good luck with dell so I figured the 1330 would be a good one. However, she is having a hard time deciding between the good webcam on the standard screen, and the better LED screen with the VGA webcam.

She uses skype with a webcam a lot because she has friends overseas. But she also might use the notebook outside, so the brighter screen would be nice.

Do you guys have any opinions on which is the better thing to have? I was also wondering if it would be possible to buy the better webcam and put it in with the better screen, though there must be a reason that Dell didn't do it...probably a space issue...

Thanks for your help guys
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post #2 of 12
8/11/08 at 7:59pm
I would go with the led. I am not impressed with the 2mp cam in my 1530. I am only able to get 7fps using it in 2mp mode.
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post #3 of 12
8/11/08 at 8:28pm
i'm not sure about the led 0.3mp is kinda low. the one i have 2mp works just fine, i think it really depends on your internet connection and the person's who yo are talking to. the slower, the more fuzzy.
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post #4 of 12
8/17/08 at 12:28pm
Webcam aside, I'm interested to hear what owners of the LED screen think of it. Is it brighter? Crisper? Thinner? Save more battery life? Does it make waffles for breakfast each morning?

I'm pretty impressed by the standard Dell WXGA screens, so is it worth the extra $150? Very curious.
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post #5 of 12
8/18/08 at 5:48am
The waffles are pretty tasty, but the damn 1330 never finishes them until after I take my shower in the morning.

I think the LED looks a bit better, but not a terrible improvement over my 1210 or 170 (which has some backlight leakage)

The main thing that has impressed me is that it runs cool. Twice now I have gone to close my lid and it was cold to the touch. Maybe I have been sitting closer to the AC at Starbucks, but I can't recall that feeling with my 1210.

Less heat => less battery usage, but I cannot confirm since I don't have a similar laptop with the different screen.

LED is worth it in my book. Webcam, maybe nice if you use it a lot, but not for me.
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post #6 of 12
8/19/08 at 2:47am
Thank you for the reply Mr. Wayne. Loved you in Rio Bravo. You and I are actually going to have fairly identical sigs pretty soon, as I plan on ordering an M1330 this week to go along with my M170.

One last question - the HDMI is a big selling point for me, as I want to use the M1330 with my 22" LCD when I am at home (I refuse to use VGA). Any experience using the HDMI with an LCD? How about with a HD television (Plasma or LCD)?

Gaming stays on my baby (m170), so the Intel X3100 will do, but the 8400gs is an option that I would consider. Any issues with it?

Thanks for any help :-)
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post #7 of 12
8/19/08 at 10:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Donkey. View Post
One last question - the HDMI is a big selling point for me, as I want to use the M1330 with my 22" LCD when I am at home (I refuse to use VGA). Any experience using the HDMI with an LCD? How about with a HD television (Plasma or LCD)?

Gaming stays on my baby (m170), so the Intel X3100 will do, but the 8400gs is an option that I would consider. Any issues with it?

Thanks for any help :-)
Definitely go for the LED. It is superior to CCFL in every way... brightness, color, crispness, battery life, and size (MUCH thinner!). And it makes better waffles, and gets ready in the morning much faster without constantly asking you if it looks bad.

And yes, the HDMI connection works fine with an LCD at full native res, with zero interference from an VGA cable. If your monitor does not have HDMI input, I suggest an HDMI-to-DVI cable, like this one from Monoprice.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

As for outputting to an HDTV... that also works fine. You can use either an HDMI-to-HDMI cable, or an HDMI-to-DVI cable, depending on what input your TV accepts. I do this all the time to watch recorded DVDs and TV shows from my laptop onto my TV, and it works fine. The only thing that I need to do is to change my desktop resolution from 1280x800 to 1366x768 when connected to my TV, since my TV is a 1080i TV with 1366x768 res.
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post #8 of 12
8/19/08 at 4:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Donkey. View Post
Thank you for the reply Mr. Wayne. Loved you in Rio Bravo. You and I are actually going to have fairly identical sigs pretty soon, as I plan on ordering an M1330 this week to go along with my M170.

One last question - the HDMI is a big selling point for me, as I want to use the M1330 with my 22" LCD when I am at home (I refuse to use VGA). Any experience using the HDMI with an LCD? How about with a HD television (Plasma or LCD)?

Gaming stays on my baby (m170), so the Intel X3100 will do, but the 8400gs is an option that I would consider. Any issues with it?

Thanks for any help :-)
An HDMI to HDMI cable works well for M1330 to HDTV. It worked very well on both my 1080p and 720p HDTV's.

I also vote for the better screen. To be honest, although having one IN the laptop is the best, you could easily just buy a better one that pops onto the top of your screen anyway if that's necessary.
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post #9 of 12
8/19/08 at 7:11pm
Thank you again for the replies. I see that you both use the 8400M in your laptops and neither of you seem to be having any problems with HDMI. The Intel X3100 option also comes with HDMI, but the words "Intel GMA Vista driver" and "high-def HDMI output" just don't belong in the same sentence IMO. Intel IGPs have never inspired much confidence for doing anything but basic graphics in the laptops that i have used, let alone HD output.

So...

Nvidia 8400gs...check
LED screen...check

Thanks for the help guys/girls!
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post #10 of 12
8/20/08 at 1:44pm
Thread Starter 
Well, my sister finally decided on the LED screen, she considered the Studio 15 for a while, but liked the small size of the 1330 too much. Thanks for all your help everyone!!
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post #11 of 12
8/21/08 at 10:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Donkey. View Post
Thank you again for the replies. I see that you both use the 8400M in your laptops and neither of you seem to be having any problems with HDMI. The Intel X3100 option also comes with HDMI, but the words "Intel GMA Vista driver" and "high-def HDMI output" just don't belong in the same sentence IMO. Intel IGPs have never inspired much confidence for doing anything but basic graphics in the laptops that i have used, let alone HD output.

So...

Nvidia 8400gs...check
LED screen...check

Thanks for the help guys/girls!
Be sure to enjoy =D
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post #12 of 12
8/22/08 at 3:55am
I haven't used the HDMI to my monitor, but have used it in connecting to my projector (1080p) and TV (1080i) with no problems.

FWIW, in windows, I have to select HDMI audio (and thus cancel Sigmatel) for the sound to go over HDMI. When switching back to Sigmatel you have to re-open the audio configs and it is a bit of a PITA.

HDMI/sound work flawlessly with Ubuntu to the same proj/tv setup.
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