These are the "Rear Caps" on the Dell XPS1640:
Take a close look at the two pictures below. Showing two XPS1640's and their "Rear Cap" (ventilation). They are different. I drew a green line in approximately the same location. "v2" definitely has more ventilation slots towards the bottom. Looks like Dell has an upgrade policy going on regarding the early 1640's:
I opened the case and nothing seems clogged, the heat sink is in tact and working, and the fan still works.
I was looking at the cover however, and there are only three small (and I mean small!) vent ports on it.
I was wondering if anyone knows of an aftermarket cover with better ventilation? Or if anyone has had the same problem, what they did to correct it.
Do not upgrade... the upgrade killed my motherboard, I dont know what happened. I as installing it fine then it was totally unresponsive and would not shut off. I then had to take away the power supply and now Dell is coming to replace my motherboard.
View 10 Replies View RelatedThis is a newb question: My 1640 now has a 7200RPM hard disk. Will I be able to replace/upgrade it in the future with SSD?
View 9 Replies View RelatedIs this an easy thing to do?
I managed to find this drive on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dell-studio-XP...item5ad188bfc0
Is this the only drive thats confirmed to work?
So I tried updating my BIOS to version A14, the current one on Dell's site. Running Windows 7 Ultimate 64, btw. It seemed to update fine, but when it restarted, I got a black screen.
I waited about 20 minutes, powered off, then back on. It booted into Windows, now however my keyboard does not work. Most keys do not work, and the ones that do produce incorrect characters.
Also, whenever I restart Windows, it does not reboot. It will hang at a black screen until I power off and back on. Currently typing this on a USB keyboard.
When I go into setup, it does say version A14, so I'm assuming it went through, but for some reason is not compatible with my system. Can I downgrade to fix this, and if so, where can I find an older BIOS version?
For those of you that have a 1640 and have upgraded from Vista to 7, how long did the install take you? And my second question is...did you run into any complications with the upgrade process that I should be aware of before I start it on my wife's laptop?
View 10 Replies View RelatedI currently have an ASUS G50V-A2 and am looking to sell it to get a new Dell XPS 1640 with the new graphics chipset.
I have only had the ASUS since last October, but I am always wanting a new laptop every 6 - 12 months and this Dell has caught my eye.
Looking at the specs they are similiar, but the Dell does have a few upgrades to what I have:
2.66GHz processor (Asus - 2.53)
Vista Upgrade to Windows 7 (Asus - no upgrade)
1920x1080 (Asus - 1680x1050)
ATI 4760 (Asus - Geforce 9700GT) .....
I have an aging M1210 with 2 gigs of ran, a OCZ SSD & the C2D 2ghz T7200 processor.
I wasnt really planning on an upgrade but the pricing looks pretty good.
I am not sure if its worth it though. My M1210 with SSD is amazing.
I just dont know if going from a 2.0 T7200 to a 2.66 T9550 is worth it or if i should wait longer for an I7 system in this size?
I should be getting my upgrade (Pro 64) within the next week and was wondering which method is better. I obviously know that it will run a bit faster for the first month or so with clean install, however, my concern is with the activation of the dell free upgrade version. Will it simply be boot the free upgrade disk and install and it will be activated fine? Or, is there more to it? Also, say a year from now I wanted reformat/reinstall win 7... How would I go about doing that with the dell free upgrade DVD?
View 10 Replies View RelatedAnyone do it yet? I read that someone run linux, so am assuming XP can be done...I am game for trying if someone can just point me in the right direction...Will the webcam, face recognition etc work?
EDIT: Before people start flaming me, I have gone through the 1640 owners thread as much as I could.. thing just keeps getting fatter by the minute...
I was watching something on youtube when I noticed a small dust-like spot/dot on the screen and i tried cleaning it off but it wouldn't go away. It looks to be inside the screen (if that makes any sense) and is evident when there is a black background/or when the comp is off. So my question to you is
1) what am i looking at?
2) Can i get rid of it?
3) Do other people here a have similar issue?
Does the 1640 play GTA IV well? In the official owners forum (1640 w/4650) somebody said its very sluggish but from youtube vids it appeared to play it very well. Can anyone confirm that it plays well at a modest resolution (WXGA)
View 3 Replies View RelatedWith all the hand wringing folks have been doing about the lack of drivers for a clean install of Win7 I thought I'd jump in to the deep end of the pool with my FZ190 and investigate an alternative. My good friends Rajesh and Dr. Pratik have done clean installs of Win7 on FZ models, but I decided to take a different approach... the "dreaded" OS in place upgrade. Partly out of curiosity, I wanted to see if it would work, but mainly because I have a ton of software that would need to be reinstalled, if I did a clean install. That would mean days or weeks of inventorying every thing I have installed, digging up installation media and then installing all the stuff. I just don't have the spare time. So...
This past weekend I imaged my C: drive (all my data and I mean ALL my data is on D:, I am a fanatic about that). MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP OF YOUR C: DRIVE BEFORE YOU TRY AN UPGRADE! I ran the Windows 7 Update adviser and it said I had some issues:
Quote:
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT - NVIDIA Not compatible The driver installed for this device is not compatible with Windows 7....................
im new here just wanna ask about my new xps studio laptop..
i bought it with a 64bit vista OS, the problem is i cant install a cad software because its for 32bit..can i install my laptop with a 32 bit OS? would it be no problem regarding my drivers?
I know there is two partitions on my harddrive; one for everything (C and the other is recovery (D..
When I use my vista disc that it came with does it automatically do it for me or do I select which partition to reformat (or reformat both partitions)?
Then what do I do with the drivers disc? install during reformat or after?
I received my new XPS 1640 (2.1gHz, 4GB ram, 512mb vid, Vista 64bit) on Thurs. April 2nd.
Worked fine and dandy over the weekend, but then Monday the 6th I contacted Dell through their customer service feature and their rep took control of my computer trying to update the BIOS ....
Suppose I purchase one today at full retail price. Then, in say a week, there's a 20% (or whatever) coupon that comes out, or they go on sale.
Can I call Dell and ask for the difference? I know they have a 21 (or whatever) day return policy, so I would imagine the sale or coupon would have to come within that time frame.
Another question: Does the return policy time begin when I order or when it ships or when I receive it? .
Edge-to-Edge HD Widescreen 16.0 inch WLED LCD (1366x768) W/2.0 MP
vs
Edge-to-Edge FullHD Widescreen 16.0 inch RGBLED LCD (1920x108
Is the 16'' with regular WLED bad?
I just recently bought a XPS 1640, and I am wondering if I have chosen the right hardware for the laptop. I'm a college freshman, so I need a long lasting laptop with good battery life and hard drive space.
Here are the specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo P8700(2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB/3M L2 Cache)
4GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz 2 Dimm for XPS 1640
15.6 inch Wide Screen 16:9 900p HD+ WLED LCD W/2.0MP, XPS 1640
ATI Mobility RADEON M96XT - 1GB
320GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Intel 5100 Wireless-N (1x2) Half Mini-Card
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion P Primary Battery
Is this a good combination of hardware? I know a TAD bit about computers, but not any in depth stuff.
I have the first generation XPS 1640, the one with the ATI 3670, and was wondering what kind of cable I would need to get it connected to my TV.
That said, it's not a HD tv (so a HDMI cord won't work). I need some kind of VGA to RCA cable.
Easy enough to find, but I've encountered some user reviews of these cables saying something along the lines of:
"Please remember that this cable will only work with VGA devices which can be configured for component video input".
I'm really debating on which laptop to get, since I've heard a fair share of both good/bad reviews from both models.
I'm not really a heavy gamer, just a little Counter-Strike 1.6 and WarCraft III.
I was looking for portability with the 1340, but the aspect of full 1080p on the 1640 keeps pulling me back!
I'm just worried that the 1640 will be too big for me to be considered "portable" and more of a desktop replacement. .
I am beyond my 30 days so i guess a return is out of the question? I am really not happy with it.
I didn't notice it too much because i got used to leaving it on my lap on top of a laptop bag ... so i don't feel any heat.
But it is soooo hot that i literally cannot even hand it to my wife, it would burn her.
The hot zones are all along the back, all along the left side, and the bottom on the left side.
I am dreading calling dell customer support, i know it is horrible for personal products
Anyone know how to enable scrolling on the XP3 1330 touchpad? I just got Vista reinstalled on mine and I cannot find where to enable this
View 15 Replies View Relatedclarify me on the available screen choices for the 1640.
There seem to be:
1) Edge to Edge High Definition 720p LED Display w/ TrueLife (1366x768)
2) Edge-to-Edge HD+ Widescreen WLED LCD (1600x900)
3) Edge-to-Edge FHD Widescreen WLED LCD (1920x1080)
4) Edge-to-Edge FullHD Widescreen RGBLED LCD (1920x1080)
However, the WLED LCD versions (1600x900 and 1920x1080) seem to be not 16" in size but rather just 15.6", while the 720p LED Display w/ TrueLife and RGBLED LCD (1366x768 and 1920x1080 respectively) are 16" in size. Is this correct? If so:
- Why are some of these screen smaller than the others?
- Are the quality of the screens 1,2 and 3 all the same execept for the 4th, the RGBLED version?
- Some people review that the RGBLED LCD is phenomenal, while others state that has inferior contrast ratio than the regular WLED models?
Where are we in all of this and why is Dell making these choices so complacated as far as names, screen sizes and features?...
I personally went to a Dell retailer and saw a model featuring the Edge to Edge High Definition 720p LED Display w/ TrueLife (1366x768), which I assume is a WLED model though its not stated as such. I have to say, albeit the low resolution, image quality, color depth, contrast ratio and viewing angles are among the best Ive seen on any display currently on the market.
Just out of curiosity, what is the difference between these 3 model numbers? Aside from the numbers : )
View 6 Replies View RelatedSo without realizing it I let the warranty on my SXPS 1640 run out in February. I found out when the hard drive crashed March 1st. No big deal I know how to replace a HD and it is not worth the fight to try and get the warranty extended since I was a day past.
However the next week I get the BIOS message about the AC Adapter is not recognized on boot.
After doing research for 2 weeks now I know it could be 1 of 3 things, battery, adapter, or motherboard.
This makes me sick at my stomach. I have been a loyal Dell customer for 5 years and I finally get a lemon.
If I chose not to get the tuner card in the system when I customise it, does it not have the ugly rubber port on the left hand side? Now that they have started charging for the tuner I think it's better off me just getting a usb tuner because then it frees up slots inside and I can take it out whenever I want and use it on any computer.
View 10 Replies View Relatedhow their system performs with WoW? cause i can't go past fair video quality, w/o the game just being choppy and unplayable. i can't even get past 30 fps, this just seems ridiculous to me. i have all the latest drivers, my pc undervolted, a cooling pad, so i doubt its overheating. i'm using W7, if anyone has any suggestions for me other than a fresh install i'd greatly appreciate it. if worst comes to worse i'll do a fresh install, but i'd rather not redownload all the i have on my laptop.
View 10 Replies View RelatedSo before my initial thread got derailed, a couple of people wanted to know my final config for the system I ordered.
Studio XPS 1640
Intel Core 2 Duo T9800(2.93GHz/1066Mhz FSB/6M L2 Cache)
4GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz 2 Dimm
16.0 inch Wide Screen 16:9 1080p FullHD RGBLED LCD W/2.0 MP
ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3670 - 512MB
500GB 7200RPM Free Fall Sensor Seagate Hard Drive
BluRay Combo Drive
Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11 AGN Half Mini Card w/ My WiFi
Additional 9-cell Battery
That plus it came with 3 years warranty/in-home service/accidental damage protection/lojack, with tax and shipping ran me just under 2k. Good price?
