Dell m1330 nvidia issues?

[Gooberlx2]

I was perusing the Dell Outlet and there seems to be pretty killer prices on the XPS m1330. I saw a few of them at a conference recently and thought they looked awesome. I love the 13" size, design and the LED backlit screens (which just blatantly stood out among everyone elses' laptops...except for maybe a Macbook Air and a couple MBPs).

But I did some searching and saw posts at various places, dated to early-mid '08, that the nvidia card on those laptops were problematic with heat issues....but I couldn't find any relatively recent updates on the issue.

Any comments on whether these issues been sorted out and if it's a safe bet to purchase from the outlet (assuming many of the m1330 listed in stock may have suffered from that very problem)?

Anyway, my expected usage:
- The usual internet, office, blah blah blah
- music, watching movies, including h264 and vc-1 content (which is why I'm concerned about the discrete GPU)
- light gaming (spore, diabloII, quake3, Hitman, COD2)
- light photo and video editing...nothing intensive.
- Probable dual-boot with Linux (either Opensuse or Ubuntu), and cygwin from within Windows

 

[996GT2]

It seems that many of the 7 series, 8 series, and even some of the 9 series GPUs are affected. The problem allows the GPUs to overheat easily, and thus greatly reduces the life of the chips. If you get a computer with an NVidia GPU, you should check your GPU temperatures to make sure that they aren't going beyond the normal range of 60-80C (the latter is during gaming and heavy graphics use). If your temps are good, then your GPU should be OK. My Thinkpad has an NVidia Quadro 140M, which uses a G86 core. However, my temps never go > 70C even with the GPU overclocked for gaming, so mine is most likely unaffected.

The only surefire way to avoid this problem is to get a laptop with an ATI graphics chipset...for example, a Thinkpad T400 with the hybrid Intel HD4500/ATI HD3470 combination (the latter of which is about 2x as fast as the 8500M GS in the dell anyway). With the hybrid setup, you can choose integrated graphics when you want battery life and the ATI chipset when you want to play games.

The T400 also has an LED backlit screen, and doesn't weigh much more than the Dell. It's only slightly larger since it's a 14.1" vs a 13.3". But best of all...you get get legendary Thinkpad bulid quality and 8-10 hours of battery life with the 9 cell extended battery, something that the Dell M1330 cannot do because it's not using the latest Montevina chipset.

 

[Parasitic]

I think Dell is offering extended warranty on affected models...I certainly hope that my M1330 isn't affected.

 

[compman25]

Dell has replaced my motherboard 3 times already because of the nvidia problems. I wish they would let me exchange it for one with the intel graphics.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: compman25
Dell has replaced my motherboard 3 times already because of the nvidia problems. I wish they would let me exchange it for one with the intel graphics.

Ooh....well...that says a lot.

I guess I could go with the integrated, since I don't plan on doing heavy gaming anyway. Makes the system cheaper too. I think I saw one on the outlet yesterday: Tuxedo Black, LED screen, 4GB RAM, 2GHz CPU and 9 cell battery for something like $619. Maybe they'll refresh the whole laptop line soon anyway.

Bah...it won't be until well in to January when I can afford to buy a laptop anyway.

 

[iamwiz82]

If you aren't gaming then don't worry about the graphics card and just get the onboard. My e1720 has the Intel and I haven't run into a problem doing anything yet.

BTW, sign up for the Dell Outlet email, they send out coupons almost monthly. Usually 15-20% off.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Doing a little research on engadget and notebookreview, I guess there's going to be an update to the line called Studio XPS 13 sometime either at the end of this year or early next. I guess it's just as well since I can't afford anything now...I just wanted to get a headstart on my research.

Good idea about outlet emails though.

 

[bharatwaja]

Dell is offering The 8400M GS for free on the M1330 now, here in India...!!!!
In the customization, Under Graphics card, its says [Add Rs.0] for 8400M GS, and I can only assume they're doing it cause they want to get through the bad stuff quickly, to hell with them. I'm getting a ThinkPad this time, goodbye Dell.