on November 4th at 8:34 pm 
Dell XPS M1210 Overview
- Pluses
- Great overall performance
- Great wide-screen display
- Nice design
- Lots of ports and connections
- DVD burner
- Comfortable keyboard
- Minuses
- Touchpad and mouse buttons
- The Loudspeakers
- Big size for an ultraportable
Final note
Although bigger for an ultraportable, the Dell XPS M1210 is packed with so many features that the ultraportables usually don’t have. A nice array of ports and connections, an optical drive and a long lasting battery life. Although branded as a multimedia machine, the loudspeakers will leave a bitter taste in your mouth and Dell could have mounted something better on this machine. The touchpad and the mouse buttons are a little bit cramped but this was expected from a laptop this size. The overall performance of the Dell XPS M1210 is astounding and we award the machine with an 8.5 for the design and a9 for the tech specs.
When you see an XPS you know it’s an XPS even without reading the tag. Classy and stylish, with that “business” looks, the Dell XPS M1210 will surely turn heads. Even the basic color choice is kept (exception: the gaming machine Dell XPS M1710 which has a red lid): black and silver – to underline the affiliation to the business class of this ultraportable. Following the modern trend in laptop design, the Dell XPS M1210 has those attractive rounded borders. A nice touch to the overall look are the blue-glowing media buttons located on the front edge.
The Dell XPS M1210 is of a solid construction, adapting to the rigors of a day by day travel which is exactly how an ultraportable is supposed to behave. The case is made of a sturdy magnesium alloy, giving the Dell XPS M1210 strength and grace at the same time. Pushing on the back of the lid won’t create ripples on the display. The hinges are solid and hold the screen in place without being too stiff or requiring some extra effort to open it. The lid closes without latches or magnets but sits very well in place, not opening accidentally.
The dimensions of the Dell XPS M1210 hardly place the laptop in the ultraportable category; it measures 11.7 x 8.7 x 1.4 inches and weighs 4.4 pounds (5 pounds with a nine-cell battery). These are more of a thin and light laptop dimensions, not of an ultraportable’s. A little bit smaller and thicker, than the Lenovo 3000 V100, and heavier than the Sony VAIO SZ, the Dell XPS M1210 still meets the expectations of the traveler needing power on the go.
The screen of the Dell XPS M1210 is real delight for the user. Although of 12.1 inches in diagonal (the only normal dimension for an ultraportable), due to the increased brightness you can watch movies or view a slide show from a considerable distance, comfortably. The glossy finish of the display makes the colors true and vivid. It also reflects the light and thus, we advise you to avoid exposing the screen in direct light. The viewing angles have the same disadvantages that we keep seeing in the laptop screens. Like in the Lenovo 3000 V100 , the Dell XPS M1210’s display horizontal viewing angles are better than the vertical ones (that require you to place yourself right in front of the screen for a correct color viewing). The 1,280 x 800 pixels native resolution is best for a screen of this size, creating the right balance between the real estate on the display and readability.
Right above the display there is a built-in 1.3 Megapixel web cam. What’s so special about this cam? It rotates so that you can capture shots in front and behind the laptop. The picture quality is quite good, but not as good as in the ones taken by the Apple MacBook Pro ’s web cam or the Lenovo 3000 V100’s. The colors seem a little bit dull and under exposed. The object outlines seem just a little bit fuzzy.
On the bottom of the screen there are two tiny speakers that deliver a sub par quality sound. We have expected more from a laptop that is reaching for the multimedia class. The sound of the Dell XPS M1210 is metallic and it is distorted at high volumes (assuming that you can get high volumes at all). We recommend using a set of headphones for a better sound experience in movies and games. Nevertheless, for an in-room audition or a tune playing in the background while you work, the speakers can do the trick.
The keyboard of the Dell XPS M1210 is a full-sized one. The keys are large and comfortable, allowing a pleasant typing. The travel and the feed back are good. The keys feel good to touch. There is a little bit of flex in the keyboard and some people may hate it; especially those having a powerful keystroke. The Dell XPS M1210 has very responsive touchpad and mouse buttons. The touchpad is a little bit under the deck’s level so that you can use it by feel. The mouse buttons provide a nice feeling to touch. The only issue we found with them is the fact that they are too small and cramped. But on a laptop this size, we expected this.
As we said earlier in this review, the Dell XPS M1210 is thicker than a laptop in its class. This translates into more ports and connections than a laptop in its class and an optical drive (8x DVD/CD Burner (DVD+/-RW). It has four USB 2.0 ports (compared to the Lenovo 3000 V100 which has three USB ports or the two USB ports of the Sony VAIO SZ), four-pin FireWire, VGA, S-Video-out, two headphones jacks, a microphone jack, an ExpressCard slot and a five-in-one media card reader (Secure Digital, Multimedia Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, XD), modem, Ethernet, and 802.11a/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and WWAN. We really liked the Wi-Fi Catcher option. If you look on the left side of the Dell XPS M1210, you’ll notice the dedicated button for it. Besides turning all radios on/off, it has the ability to search for a Wi-Fi network. If one is found, it glows green, if not it glows orange. You can do this with the laptop on or off, so you don’t have to boot up to search for a network.
On the software side, the Dell XPS M1210 comes with Windows XP Media Center Edition (and it is tagged as Windows Vista Capable), a copy of Corel WordPerfect, a 15 month subscription to McAfee Security Center, burning disc and web-cam software. You can also customize your laptop and select from a wide range of software but this will increase the price greatly. Dell’s MediaDirect software which lets you play your CDs and DVDs without booting the machine is also present.
Inside the Dell XPS M1210 there is an Intel Core Duo processor at 2.16 GHz, 1 GB of RAM at 667 MHz, a speedy 7,200 rpm 80 GB hard drive, the Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 graphics card with 256MB of dedicated memory. The Dell XPS M1210 is very well suited for multimedia, graphics-intensive applications and multitasking. In-game performance is also astounding but this is to be expected from a configuration like this. High scores obtained in tests prove that this is the easy choice for the ones needing power on the go.
The Dell XPS M1210’s battery lasted for about four and a half hours. Not enough for a long travel but way better than other laptops in its class. (compared to the two and a half hours that we got from the Lenovo 3000 V100’s battery.
The Dell XPS M1210 is backed up by an industry-standard one year warranty (on site, free parts and labor). Also, there is a toll-free 24/7 phone line where you can call for as long as you own the laptop. The Dell’s support Web site provides you with downloads, FAQs, and forums.
Final note
Although bigger for an ultraportable, the Dell XPS M1210 is packed with so many features that the ultraportables usually don’t have. A nice array of ports and connections, an optical drive and a long lasting battery life. Although branded as a multimedia machine, the loudspeakers will leave a bitter taste in your mouth and Dell could have mounted something better on this machine. The touchpad and the mouse buttons are a little bit cramped but this was expected from a laptop this size. The overall performance of the Dell XPS M1210 is astounding and we award the machine with an 8.5 for the design and a9 for the tech specs.
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