Well, my XPS 2 finally arrived today. I'm just posting a few quick comments for now and will be updating the review with more info as I do more testing.
Specs:
2.0GHz P-M
512MB (will upgrade to 2GB soon)
60GB HD - Hitachi 5K80 HTS548060M9AT00 5,400RPM 8MB cache(will upgrade to 100GB)
WUXGA LG LPL0000
Sony DW-D56A DVD±RW
Intel Pro 2200 b/g wireless
Out of the box, I inspected the case for dings and scratches, and found a few scratches on the plastic covering the aluminum LCD cover (as others have mentioned before):
Otherwise everything looked nice and clean (and not like a refurb/return).
The video break-out-box with S-video, composite and digital audio was included in my box.
I also got 5 cds: Windows XP Home SP2, Dell Drivers and Utilities, Application (PowerDVD), Application (MyDVD, RecordNow) and WordPerfect.
I haven't checked the internal battery yet, but the spare 9-cell I got is Made in Japan. UPDATE: Both batteries are Made in Japan and are Sanyo, according to my serivce tag.
I ordered the basic 60GB drive and got a Hitachi 5K80 HTS548060M9AT00 5,400RPM 8MB cache. Nothing special, but it's definitely not 4,200RPM. I plan to swap in a 100GB/5,400RPM Seagate.
I got the Sony DW-D56A DVD±RW, which I've read may be a re-branded LITE-ON SOSW-852S. I was hoping for the NEC since my desktop NEC drive has been great, but no such luck. I haven't done any testing yet, except playing a DVD for a few minutes, but I will be sure to do some thorough burn and playback tests, since I've heard about problems with the Sony. Once, after stopping my external firewire drive, I noticed the DVD drive spun up for some reason. It was quite loud (like a leafblower) and sent strong vibrations through the whole notebook. I ejected the disc and the noise stopped. Otherwise, it was fine during normal CD and DVD playback.
Has anyone been able to convince Dell to replace their Sony drive with an NEC?
As far as I can tell, I have the Chinese keyboard. I haven't done much typing on it yet, but I haven't noticed anything negative about it. It's very firm with no flex.
Unfortunately (?) I got the LG screen LPL0000. There is minor light leakage along the bottom, but I think it's acceptable for me. I'll attach some shots, including some shots from the LOTR:TTT DVD:
Because of the exposure, none of the shots look exactly like the screen in person. The first shot looks worse than it does in person. The second and third shots (from TTT) are the closest to what it really looks like. The last screensaver shot is close to what it looks like too, but maybe it makes the light leak seem a bit less obvious than in person. The verdict on light leakage is that it's very acceptable for me.
At default settings, the color, contrast and blacks are quite good. I'll try some tweaking later to see if I can improve it even further. So far, no dead or stuck pixels spotted, but I may do a closer look. Every suspected dead pixel turned out to be a speck of dust, easily taken care of with compressed air. The horizontal viewing angle is great, the vertical viewing angle is narrower. There's definitely a narrow sweet-spot area where colors and contrast look the best. I haven't seen the Samsung to compare, but the maximum brightness setting on the LG isn't what I would call super BRIGHT. The maximum brightness setting is good, but I wouldn't mind another notch or two. It's acceptable.
I was slightly worried that WUXGA would be too high resolution for normal use. When I ordered, I might have chosen WSXGA if it had been an option. But seeing the screen in person (even at 96dpi), the resolution is fine. Now, I'd probably be disappointed with WSXGA.
There are sparklies. I read all the screen threads and was hoping for a Samsung screen, but I was open-minded and wanted to see and judge for myself whatever screen Dell sent me. To be honest, if there wasn't all the hype about sparklies, the screen probably wouldn't have bothered me at all. But since I know what to look for, it's very obvious. During normal surfing and reading text, I don't really notice them until I intentionally focus on the background. In a way, the sparklies are kind of like those 3D Magic Eye images: you have to defocus your eyes a bit to see the effect. But once you see them, your eyes are drawn to them. As posted in another thread, the sparkle effect seems to go away if you're looking down at the screen from a slight angle.
After running 3DMark and looking at a few more DVD scenes, I don't think I would notice the sparklies at all during gaming or watching videos, only while browsing or using a word processor.
I still haven't decided whether it's worth the hassle (and gamble) of trying to get a replacment screen. Other than the sparklies, all other aspects of the screen are fine: no dead pixels, decent viewing angles, good color and contrast, minimal light leakage. From what I've read, the Samsung still has some less obvious sparkles and may be prone to more light leakage. For now, I'll see if I can live with this one. I'm also going to go to Best Buy and check out all the screens there for comparison, now that I know what I'm looking for.
3DMark03: 11,030
3DMark05: 4,871
Tests were run on XP Home SP2 straight out of the box, with default Dell drivers and settings and all the excess Dell garbage running in the background. I'll do a wipe, install XP Pro and work on performance tweaking after I finish giving it a basic test drive. I did notice tearing on some of the 3DMark tests, but I didn't play around with V-sync or any other settings.
Speaker sound quality seems quite good (for a notebook). They seem to do better with music than movies (louder with less distortion), but maybe that's just because of the different dynamic ranges or the sound chip.
The media buttons work fine with the bundled Dell Media Experience and PowerDVD. I'm not sure if it's possible to program them to control other applications once I wipe the Dell stuff.
I plan to give the S-video, composite and digital audio out a test later on.
The fan noise is constant but seems relatively quiet. I haven't noticed any extraneous buzzing or humming yet. Of course, I have it next to my loud desktop right now, so I'll have to try it in a quiet room later.
I didn't buy the XPS 2 for the LEDs, but they are fun to play with. I'll keep them off most of the time, unless someone comes up with a way to sync them with an audio player.
Before the XPS 2/9300 was released, I was planning to get a 15" notebook, so I was afraid this might be too bulky, but it's really not as huge as I thought it would be. I haven't carried it around anywhere yet, but the size/weight seems fine and the 17" screen seems to be worth the tradeoff. For it's size, I wish they would've included a numpad though, even if it meant the main keys would've been off-center. It's not a deal-breaker for me though.
Preliminary verdict after a few hours: it's a keeper. The screen is pretty good, other than the nagging sparklies. I'll see if playing with the settings can improve it. I'm leaning towards just keeping this screen, unless I can be convinced that the Samsung is 200% better and completely sparkle-free. I'm going to give the Sony DVD±RW a thorough workout and if it falls short in any area I'll try to get Dell to swap it for an NEC.
---
update #1:
I tried actually using the notebook on my lap for 20-30 minutes. I had it on top of a 3/4" board, to give it some airflow and to keep it directly off my legs. It still got unbearably hot after 10-15 minutes. I never planned to use this as an actual lap-top, but I thought I'd give it a try. It might be ok with an additional laptop cooler on top of another base or something like this:
http://www.raindesigninc.com/ilap.html
Anyway, I have a nice mobile laptop stand I can wheel around when I'm away from a desk.
---
update #2:
I did a more extensive look for dead pixels and I think I've found one in the far lower left corner. It's so small that I don't notice it at all during normal use and can only see it when I'm 4-5" away from the screen. Also the sparkle effect sort of hides it. It's even smaller than the dust specks I mistook for dead pixels.
Doing this close-up examination of the screen with solid color backgrounds really brought the sparkles out and started giving me a headache with the "holographic" pattern swimming in and out of focus.
I'm still in the testing phase, so I'm looking for problems rather than using the notebook like I normally would, but the sparkles are beginning to bother me a bit more. I think I'll try to give myself a few days to try to get used to them, once I finish testing and reinstalling everything, but now I'm leaning towards trying to get a Samsung or at least trying to see one in person.
A note about WUXGA resolution: I'm still working back and forth between my desktop so I turned the resolution down to 1440x900, so I can see it clearly without moving over to the other desk. 1440x900 seems to be the clearest of the lower resolution options and it's usable for text when I'm working between different machines. Again, once I start to use the machine normally rather than testing, I'll get a better feel for the WUXGA.
I used the Hitachi drive utility to activate Acoustic Management and maximize performance. The drive wasn't making a lot of noise, but I wanted to try it and I think it has gotten a bit quieter.
---
update #3:
After comparing some other notebook screens today, I called Dell for a replacement screen. (More details in my post below.)
I tested the break-out-box, TV-out and digital out today. It worked great and was very simple and quick to set up. I used Media Player Classic to play a DVD and an avi with AC3 and the digital output was decoded by my receiver just fine. I hadn't used Nvidia's dual-monitor function until today, but it was very painless. And no matter what mode you're in (extended desktop or clone), if you play a video in a window on the desktop it will play full screen on the TV-out. Very nice compared to the old TV-out on my desktop.
I also plugged in a CRT to the VGA out and it seemed to work equally well, though I didn't spend enough time to set a higher frequency on the CRT.
I configured the wireless to connect to my Netgear with WPA-SPK. It worked fine for connecting to the Internet, but I ran into trouble with connecting to shares on my LAN (WinXPPro and Win2K desktops). I'm hoping a clean install of XP Pro will allow me to connect to my LAN machines.
---
update #4:
I did a clean install of XP Pro SP2 and got the network shares working. Did a quick benchmark run with the 76.50 drivers in Quality mode.
3DMark05: 5104
---
update #5:
3DMark05: 5231 in Performace mode with 76.50 laptop2go drivers.
Got my Samsung replacement screen today. It still sparkles, but not quite as bad as the LG. I'll be keeping this one. More detailed notes below.
I did notice a very faint hum/buzz from somewhere when using the mouse wheel to scroll in IE. As others have posted, the sound went away when I disabled smooth scrolling. Even if I hadn't been able to get rid of it, it was such a quiet sound I don't think it would've bothered me at all.
---
update #6:
Well, the Sony DVD-RW refused to read a DVD data disc I had burned on my desktop NEC drive. The disc reads fine in a Lite-On DVD-ROM and the NEC DVD-RW in my desktop. I'll give Dell a call about exchanging this Sony for an NEC.
---
update #7:
I finally started playing Farcry. It's amazing, especially at the resolution and performance of the XPS 2. After a few minutes of Farcry, I'm now 100% sure that the XPS 2 was the right choice for me rather than the 9300. At WUXGA with games like Farcry, you need every bit of extra graphics power possible. Not to mention, future games which will undoubtedly be even more intensive.
The Samsung is really growing on me. I still have gamma at .84, but I raised Digital Vibrance to half way between low and the first medium setting. Now that I've had a chance to use it for a while under normal conditions rather than just testing, I really like the colors and contrast and it really is cleaner than the LG. And again, something that others haven't really mentioned is that the glare really seems a lot less prominent than on the LG. Even in a bright room, it's easy to forget that the screen is glossy at all.
I set up Remote Desktop. It's great to be able to have not only the XPS 2 in any room in the house, but also full access and control of my desktop. And the WUXGA real estate gives me plenty of room to run a full screen (1024x768) desktop side-by-side with a browser or other programs running locally.
I also have full control of my TiVo (TiVoWebPlus) and wireless network streaming playback of all the recorded shows. Now, I can watch shows anywhere on the XPS or plug in the TV out to watch on any TV screen.
---
update #8:
I'm trying out undervolting to help the system run cooler and quieter and hopefully improve battery life. My current stable settings are:
Min VID: 0.732V - tested Prime95 6+ hours
Max VID: 1.084V - tested Prime95 7+ hours
I tried my headphones for the first time today. The headphone output has a very annoying hiss that I haven't been able to get rid of. It's there whether on AC or battery, while watching video, playing music or even when no sounds are playing. On other systems, I have solved similar hiss problems by muting the Mic input, but apparently there is no such setting for these sound drivers. My headphones are cheap Aiwa HP-X222s, but they don't have this hiss when connected to other sources. This is disappointing because I expect to be using headphones a lot. I'm still looking into other ways to fix it.
EDIT: This method suggested by mich43L seems to minimize the hiss problem (***read update below):
Run->regedit. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0005\Settings
"EmulateAllMasters" change the last 01 to 00 and reboot.
***UPDATE: I don't recommend changing this setting, because it seems to disable Subwoofer volume control. For me this meant I was still hearing sound from the Subwoofer even when the main volume was muted and Subwoofer slider was at 0.
I finally went through the online tweak guides and changed some Registry settings and shutdown some services and startup items. I ran 3DMark05 again to see if my score improved, but it was within a few points of my high score. No improvement at all.
---
update #9:
Tried some Ultra overclocking with this method and set a new personal record:
3DMark05: 5699 @495Mhz
76.50 laptop2go drivers
I8kfangui to max fans
I finally burned a few tests discs on the Sony today and they all seemed fine (both DVD videos and data discs). I checked them for errors with DVDInfo and tested them in a couple set-top players and my desktop DVD-ROMs. They all played and read fine. I use 8x Taiyo Yuden DVD-R media, but it would only burn at 4x-6x.
The one problem I've had with the Sony is that it refused to read a DVD-R burned on my desktop. I ended up having to put the disc in my desktop drive and transfer files over the network. After I went through that hassle, I tried it again in the Sony and it was able to read the disc. I guess I should probably try a random sampling of old discs to see if the Sony has any more problems with them. I don't want a drive that can't read my old files.
I the Intel Pro Wireless 2200BG and a Netgear WGR614 v4 router. I started out the Dell drivers, then I tried Intel's latest drivers, both with Windows (XPP SP2) managing the wireless connection. Both drivers had intermittent speed drops and lost connections. After searching around, I found a few mentions of the older drivers working better on the 2200BG.
If you're having network connection problems with the 2200BG, give these a try:
wireless 8.1.1.0 - generic TIC 88663.exe
(driver version 8.1.0.28)
download link
I disabled Windows management of the wireless connection and let Intel's Proset manage the connections (Proset management with Intel 90159 drivers wouldn't connect at all).
I also turned the adapter Power Management to Manual/Maximum Performance and made sure Transmit Power was at 100%.
This has made a huge difference. I haven't noticed any lost connections since I've been using this driver and the card seems to get a connection much quicker than the newer driver versions and Windows control did on startup. Web pages even seem to load faster.
I'm still having some stutters with Farcry, even though I turned down the settings from Very High to High and resolution down from 1920x1200 to 1680x1050. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I'm guessing that it's my 512MB of RAM. I have 2GB on order, so hopefully that will improve game performance.
---
update #10:
I just swapped my Sony DVD drive for an NEC ND-6500A DVD±RW. I think the NEC must be a refurb because the mount was scratched and bent so far out of shape it wouldn't fit the slot. Rather than complain, I decide to bend the mount back and see how the drive actually performed before giving Dell another call.
First off, the NEC read every disc that the Sony refused or had problems with. I also tested a random sampling of older CDRs and DVDRs and the NEC read all of them without hesitation. The NEC seems to burn a bit slower than the Sony, but I can live with an extra minute or two. This slowness seems to be common for notebook drives in general and it seems par for the course for this specific model. I did a number of read/write tests and error scans of the discs on both the NEC and my desktop DVD drives. All the NEC discs passed without errors. The NEC is rip speed locked, but there seem to be firmware patches to get around that. I've kept the stock firmware for now, in case I have to return it.
Anyway, I'm keeping the NEC and shipping the Sony back. The NEC is a bit slower, but it reads everything I throw at it and it from what I've read, it should be more reliable in the long run.
Specs:
2.0GHz P-M
512MB (will upgrade to 2GB soon)
60GB HD - Hitachi 5K80 HTS548060M9AT00 5,400RPM 8MB cache(will upgrade to 100GB)
WUXGA LG LPL0000
Sony DW-D56A DVD±RW
Intel Pro 2200 b/g wireless
Out of the box, I inspected the case for dings and scratches, and found a few scratches on the plastic covering the aluminum LCD cover (as others have mentioned before):
Otherwise everything looked nice and clean (and not like a refurb/return).
The video break-out-box with S-video, composite and digital audio was included in my box.
I also got 5 cds: Windows XP Home SP2, Dell Drivers and Utilities, Application (PowerDVD), Application (MyDVD, RecordNow) and WordPerfect.
I haven't checked the internal battery yet, but the spare 9-cell I got is Made in Japan. UPDATE: Both batteries are Made in Japan and are Sanyo, according to my serivce tag.
I ordered the basic 60GB drive and got a Hitachi 5K80 HTS548060M9AT00 5,400RPM 8MB cache. Nothing special, but it's definitely not 4,200RPM. I plan to swap in a 100GB/5,400RPM Seagate.
I got the Sony DW-D56A DVD±RW, which I've read may be a re-branded LITE-ON SOSW-852S. I was hoping for the NEC since my desktop NEC drive has been great, but no such luck. I haven't done any testing yet, except playing a DVD for a few minutes, but I will be sure to do some thorough burn and playback tests, since I've heard about problems with the Sony. Once, after stopping my external firewire drive, I noticed the DVD drive spun up for some reason. It was quite loud (like a leafblower) and sent strong vibrations through the whole notebook. I ejected the disc and the noise stopped. Otherwise, it was fine during normal CD and DVD playback.
Has anyone been able to convince Dell to replace their Sony drive with an NEC?
As far as I can tell, I have the Chinese keyboard. I haven't done much typing on it yet, but I haven't noticed anything negative about it. It's very firm with no flex.
Unfortunately (?) I got the LG screen LPL0000. There is minor light leakage along the bottom, but I think it's acceptable for me. I'll attach some shots, including some shots from the LOTR:TTT DVD:
Because of the exposure, none of the shots look exactly like the screen in person. The first shot looks worse than it does in person. The second and third shots (from TTT) are the closest to what it really looks like. The last screensaver shot is close to what it looks like too, but maybe it makes the light leak seem a bit less obvious than in person. The verdict on light leakage is that it's very acceptable for me.
At default settings, the color, contrast and blacks are quite good. I'll try some tweaking later to see if I can improve it even further. So far, no dead or stuck pixels spotted, but I may do a closer look. Every suspected dead pixel turned out to be a speck of dust, easily taken care of with compressed air. The horizontal viewing angle is great, the vertical viewing angle is narrower. There's definitely a narrow sweet-spot area where colors and contrast look the best. I haven't seen the Samsung to compare, but the maximum brightness setting on the LG isn't what I would call super BRIGHT. The maximum brightness setting is good, but I wouldn't mind another notch or two. It's acceptable.
I was slightly worried that WUXGA would be too high resolution for normal use. When I ordered, I might have chosen WSXGA if it had been an option. But seeing the screen in person (even at 96dpi), the resolution is fine. Now, I'd probably be disappointed with WSXGA.
There are sparklies. I read all the screen threads and was hoping for a Samsung screen, but I was open-minded and wanted to see and judge for myself whatever screen Dell sent me. To be honest, if there wasn't all the hype about sparklies, the screen probably wouldn't have bothered me at all. But since I know what to look for, it's very obvious. During normal surfing and reading text, I don't really notice them until I intentionally focus on the background. In a way, the sparklies are kind of like those 3D Magic Eye images: you have to defocus your eyes a bit to see the effect. But once you see them, your eyes are drawn to them. As posted in another thread, the sparkle effect seems to go away if you're looking down at the screen from a slight angle.
After running 3DMark and looking at a few more DVD scenes, I don't think I would notice the sparklies at all during gaming or watching videos, only while browsing or using a word processor.
I still haven't decided whether it's worth the hassle (and gamble) of trying to get a replacment screen. Other than the sparklies, all other aspects of the screen are fine: no dead pixels, decent viewing angles, good color and contrast, minimal light leakage. From what I've read, the Samsung still has some less obvious sparkles and may be prone to more light leakage. For now, I'll see if I can live with this one. I'm also going to go to Best Buy and check out all the screens there for comparison, now that I know what I'm looking for.
3DMark03: 11,030
3DMark05: 4,871
Tests were run on XP Home SP2 straight out of the box, with default Dell drivers and settings and all the excess Dell garbage running in the background. I'll do a wipe, install XP Pro and work on performance tweaking after I finish giving it a basic test drive. I did notice tearing on some of the 3DMark tests, but I didn't play around with V-sync or any other settings.
Speaker sound quality seems quite good (for a notebook). They seem to do better with music than movies (louder with less distortion), but maybe that's just because of the different dynamic ranges or the sound chip.
The media buttons work fine with the bundled Dell Media Experience and PowerDVD. I'm not sure if it's possible to program them to control other applications once I wipe the Dell stuff.
I plan to give the S-video, composite and digital audio out a test later on.
The fan noise is constant but seems relatively quiet. I haven't noticed any extraneous buzzing or humming yet. Of course, I have it next to my loud desktop right now, so I'll have to try it in a quiet room later.
I didn't buy the XPS 2 for the LEDs, but they are fun to play with. I'll keep them off most of the time, unless someone comes up with a way to sync them with an audio player.
Before the XPS 2/9300 was released, I was planning to get a 15" notebook, so I was afraid this might be too bulky, but it's really not as huge as I thought it would be. I haven't carried it around anywhere yet, but the size/weight seems fine and the 17" screen seems to be worth the tradeoff. For it's size, I wish they would've included a numpad though, even if it meant the main keys would've been off-center. It's not a deal-breaker for me though.
Preliminary verdict after a few hours: it's a keeper. The screen is pretty good, other than the nagging sparklies. I'll see if playing with the settings can improve it. I'm leaning towards just keeping this screen, unless I can be convinced that the Samsung is 200% better and completely sparkle-free. I'm going to give the Sony DVD±RW a thorough workout and if it falls short in any area I'll try to get Dell to swap it for an NEC.
---
update #1:
I tried actually using the notebook on my lap for 20-30 minutes. I had it on top of a 3/4" board, to give it some airflow and to keep it directly off my legs. It still got unbearably hot after 10-15 minutes. I never planned to use this as an actual lap-top, but I thought I'd give it a try. It might be ok with an additional laptop cooler on top of another base or something like this:
http://www.raindesigninc.com/ilap.html
Anyway, I have a nice mobile laptop stand I can wheel around when I'm away from a desk.
---
update #2:
I did a more extensive look for dead pixels and I think I've found one in the far lower left corner. It's so small that I don't notice it at all during normal use and can only see it when I'm 4-5" away from the screen. Also the sparkle effect sort of hides it. It's even smaller than the dust specks I mistook for dead pixels.
Doing this close-up examination of the screen with solid color backgrounds really brought the sparkles out and started giving me a headache with the "holographic" pattern swimming in and out of focus.
I'm still in the testing phase, so I'm looking for problems rather than using the notebook like I normally would, but the sparkles are beginning to bother me a bit more. I think I'll try to give myself a few days to try to get used to them, once I finish testing and reinstalling everything, but now I'm leaning towards trying to get a Samsung or at least trying to see one in person.
A note about WUXGA resolution: I'm still working back and forth between my desktop so I turned the resolution down to 1440x900, so I can see it clearly without moving over to the other desk. 1440x900 seems to be the clearest of the lower resolution options and it's usable for text when I'm working between different machines. Again, once I start to use the machine normally rather than testing, I'll get a better feel for the WUXGA.
I used the Hitachi drive utility to activate Acoustic Management and maximize performance. The drive wasn't making a lot of noise, but I wanted to try it and I think it has gotten a bit quieter.
---
update #3:
After comparing some other notebook screens today, I called Dell for a replacement screen. (More details in my post below.)
I tested the break-out-box, TV-out and digital out today. It worked great and was very simple and quick to set up. I used Media Player Classic to play a DVD and an avi with AC3 and the digital output was decoded by my receiver just fine. I hadn't used Nvidia's dual-monitor function until today, but it was very painless. And no matter what mode you're in (extended desktop or clone), if you play a video in a window on the desktop it will play full screen on the TV-out. Very nice compared to the old TV-out on my desktop.
I also plugged in a CRT to the VGA out and it seemed to work equally well, though I didn't spend enough time to set a higher frequency on the CRT.
I configured the wireless to connect to my Netgear with WPA-SPK. It worked fine for connecting to the Internet, but I ran into trouble with connecting to shares on my LAN (WinXPPro and Win2K desktops). I'm hoping a clean install of XP Pro will allow me to connect to my LAN machines.
---
update #4:
I did a clean install of XP Pro SP2 and got the network shares working. Did a quick benchmark run with the 76.50 drivers in Quality mode.
3DMark05: 5104
---
update #5:
3DMark05: 5231 in Performace mode with 76.50 laptop2go drivers.
Got my Samsung replacement screen today. It still sparkles, but not quite as bad as the LG. I'll be keeping this one. More detailed notes below.
I did notice a very faint hum/buzz from somewhere when using the mouse wheel to scroll in IE. As others have posted, the sound went away when I disabled smooth scrolling. Even if I hadn't been able to get rid of it, it was such a quiet sound I don't think it would've bothered me at all.
---
update #6:
Well, the Sony DVD-RW refused to read a DVD data disc I had burned on my desktop NEC drive. The disc reads fine in a Lite-On DVD-ROM and the NEC DVD-RW in my desktop. I'll give Dell a call about exchanging this Sony for an NEC.
---
update #7:
I finally started playing Farcry. It's amazing, especially at the resolution and performance of the XPS 2. After a few minutes of Farcry, I'm now 100% sure that the XPS 2 was the right choice for me rather than the 9300. At WUXGA with games like Farcry, you need every bit of extra graphics power possible. Not to mention, future games which will undoubtedly be even more intensive.
The Samsung is really growing on me. I still have gamma at .84, but I raised Digital Vibrance to half way between low and the first medium setting. Now that I've had a chance to use it for a while under normal conditions rather than just testing, I really like the colors and contrast and it really is cleaner than the LG. And again, something that others haven't really mentioned is that the glare really seems a lot less prominent than on the LG. Even in a bright room, it's easy to forget that the screen is glossy at all.
I set up Remote Desktop. It's great to be able to have not only the XPS 2 in any room in the house, but also full access and control of my desktop. And the WUXGA real estate gives me plenty of room to run a full screen (1024x768) desktop side-by-side with a browser or other programs running locally.
I also have full control of my TiVo (TiVoWebPlus) and wireless network streaming playback of all the recorded shows. Now, I can watch shows anywhere on the XPS or plug in the TV out to watch on any TV screen.
---
update #8:
I'm trying out undervolting to help the system run cooler and quieter and hopefully improve battery life. My current stable settings are:
Min VID: 0.732V - tested Prime95 6+ hours
Max VID: 1.084V - tested Prime95 7+ hours
I tried my headphones for the first time today. The headphone output has a very annoying hiss that I haven't been able to get rid of. It's there whether on AC or battery, while watching video, playing music or even when no sounds are playing. On other systems, I have solved similar hiss problems by muting the Mic input, but apparently there is no such setting for these sound drivers. My headphones are cheap Aiwa HP-X222s, but they don't have this hiss when connected to other sources. This is disappointing because I expect to be using headphones a lot. I'm still looking into other ways to fix it.
EDIT: This method suggested by mich43L seems to minimize the hiss problem (***read update below):
Run->regedit. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0005\Settings
"EmulateAllMasters" change the last 01 to 00 and reboot.
***UPDATE: I don't recommend changing this setting, because it seems to disable Subwoofer volume control. For me this meant I was still hearing sound from the Subwoofer even when the main volume was muted and Subwoofer slider was at 0.
I finally went through the online tweak guides and changed some Registry settings and shutdown some services and startup items. I ran 3DMark05 again to see if my score improved, but it was within a few points of my high score. No improvement at all.
---
update #9:
Tried some Ultra overclocking with this method and set a new personal record:
3DMark05: 5699 @495Mhz
76.50 laptop2go drivers
I8kfangui to max fans
I finally burned a few tests discs on the Sony today and they all seemed fine (both DVD videos and data discs). I checked them for errors with DVDInfo and tested them in a couple set-top players and my desktop DVD-ROMs. They all played and read fine. I use 8x Taiyo Yuden DVD-R media, but it would only burn at 4x-6x.
The one problem I've had with the Sony is that it refused to read a DVD-R burned on my desktop. I ended up having to put the disc in my desktop drive and transfer files over the network. After I went through that hassle, I tried it again in the Sony and it was able to read the disc. I guess I should probably try a random sampling of old discs to see if the Sony has any more problems with them. I don't want a drive that can't read my old files.
I the Intel Pro Wireless 2200BG and a Netgear WGR614 v4 router. I started out the Dell drivers, then I tried Intel's latest drivers, both with Windows (XPP SP2) managing the wireless connection. Both drivers had intermittent speed drops and lost connections. After searching around, I found a few mentions of the older drivers working better on the 2200BG.
If you're having network connection problems with the 2200BG, give these a try:
wireless 8.1.1.0 - generic TIC 88663.exe
(driver version 8.1.0.28)
download link
I disabled Windows management of the wireless connection and let Intel's Proset manage the connections (Proset management with Intel 90159 drivers wouldn't connect at all).
I also turned the adapter Power Management to Manual/Maximum Performance and made sure Transmit Power was at 100%.
This has made a huge difference. I haven't noticed any lost connections since I've been using this driver and the card seems to get a connection much quicker than the newer driver versions and Windows control did on startup. Web pages even seem to load faster.
I'm still having some stutters with Farcry, even though I turned down the settings from Very High to High and resolution down from 1920x1200 to 1680x1050. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I'm guessing that it's my 512MB of RAM. I have 2GB on order, so hopefully that will improve game performance.
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update #10:
I just swapped my Sony DVD drive for an NEC ND-6500A DVD±RW. I think the NEC must be a refurb because the mount was scratched and bent so far out of shape it wouldn't fit the slot. Rather than complain, I decide to bend the mount back and see how the drive actually performed before giving Dell another call.
First off, the NEC read every disc that the Sony refused or had problems with. I also tested a random sampling of older CDRs and DVDRs and the NEC read all of them without hesitation. The NEC seems to burn a bit slower than the Sony, but I can live with an extra minute or two. This slowness seems to be common for notebook drives in general and it seems par for the course for this specific model. I did a number of read/write tests and error scans of the discs on both the NEC and my desktop DVD drives. All the NEC discs passed without errors. The NEC is rip speed locked, but there seem to be firmware patches to get around that. I've kept the stock firmware for now, in case I have to return it.
Anyway, I'm keeping the NEC and shipping the Sony back. The NEC is a bit slower, but it reads everything I throw at it and it from what I've read, it should be more reliable in the long run.
