The Dell XPS M1330 has received high praise for its design and feature set in a 13.3″ portable form factor, but the most popular selling laptops are in the 15.4″ screen size. Dell, being in the business of selling more laptops and making customers happy, figured it

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would be wise to offer something that’s larger and appeals to more people. And that’s exactly what the M1530 is — a larger version of the M1330.

Dell would expand the line, and sure enough, in September the company announced the XPS M1730, a 17-inch gaming monster. Now, to fill the gap between the two sizes, the Dell XPS M1530 ($2,174 direct) has joined the XPS family. It maintains the same metallic finish and stylish chassis that made the M1330 so appealing. The system is ideal for workaholics who chain themselves to their desks and home theater enthusiasts who fancy things like a slot-loading Blu-ray drive and components that scream luxury.

While the M1530 is less of a shock than it might have been otherwise — the 13.3-inch XPS M1330 stole much of its larger sibling’s thunder — the reality remains that the new system is a far sleeker and more attractive design than just about any large Dell portable to date. The outer shell is refreshingly minimal for Dell and even makes use of aluminum on the edges. It’s a refreshing break from an industry still dominated by plastic or low-cost metal bodies. That said, the colored part of the shell is prone to showing palm prints and may occasionally need a wipe-down to remain pristine.

The M1530, like the M1330 before it, is slightly wedge-shaped, going from 1.2 inches in the front to 1.5 inches in the rear. At a hair under 6 pounds, it’s a bit lighter than most 15-inch laptops we’ve seen, and the overall look is slim and attractive. A few color options are offered, although the only difference is in the back of the lid, which is available in black, white, or red. Our review unit had the matte-red finish (Dell calls it crimson red), which looks great and is the color seen in Dell’s ads and promotional materials. More color options (as with the current Inspiron line of laptops) would have been welcome.

trustedreviews Consequently, the XPS M1530 is every bit as enjoyable to use as its inspiration, while the touch pad remains well placed and proportioned. Other than this there are some very minor differences, with the glossy black strip that encases the touch sensitive buttons extending a little further down and around the edges of the keyboard.

laptopmag reviews The Dell XPS M1330’s near-perfect combination of powerful performance, stylish design, and go-anywhere mobility elevated it to one of our favorite notebooks of 2007. Now Dell follows up that gem with the XPS M1530, which packs in everything that we liked about the M1330 (mobile broadband, discrete graphics) and adds a larger display and a Blu-ray drive. In short, the XPS M1530 one-ups its excellent little brother, giving Dell yet another killer machine in its stable.

laptopping reviews he Dell XPS M1530, which is similar to the 13.3-inch XPS M1330, is configurable with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, from the T5250 chip at 1.5GHz to T7800 at 2.6GHz. The system comes with the NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS 128MB or NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 256MB GPU, managing 15.4? widescreen 1280-by-800 pixel display, and supports up to 4GB of DDR2 memory. The notebook ships with a hard drive, offering up to 320GB of storage, or a 64GB Flash memory-based solid state drive. Users can choose between a DVD burner or a Blu-ray optical drive, both with slot loading mechanism.

Summary-:

 The good:  Thin, sexy design; strong performance; includes media remote control and HDMI output.

The bad: Not as revolutionary as the previous 13-inch version; fewer configuration options than Dell’s Inspiron line.

The bottom line: Dell’s turn toward a “design-first” philosophy continues to pay off with the XPS M1530, easily the best-looking 15-inch laptop in recent memory.

Specs: Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (2.0 GHz); RAM installed: 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM; Display: 15.4

Cnet rating -:  7.8/10

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