Before my current laptop I was using a Lenovo (I don't remember the specific model number). This is important to note because (while very cheap) Lenovos do not have a good reputation for customer satisfaction. With that said my first impression of my new Dell XPS was very good. The laptop boots very quickly, which is a welcome change from a Lenovo.

The packaging for the M1530 is very well done. It has complete manuals for the computer, along with all the software needed inside a box beneath the laptop. It also comes with a couple cool features like a remote that plugs into a slot in the side of the laptop. This remote has some basic functions like up, down, left, right, OK, fast forward, rewind, play/pause, previous track, stop, next track, volume up, volume down, and mute. This is a pretty cool feature if you want to play music on your laptop without being near it. To install the remote you simply have to put the battery in the remote, remove the place holder, and insert the remote. It sits almost flush with the body of the laptop (about a millimeter further out). It is easily removed by pressing against it, and reinserted the same way.

The XPS I got had to have the motherboard replaced because the power plug was loose. I called Dell and they sent a tech out within a few days to replace the entire motherboard. The tech took about 30 minutes and I have not had any problems since. The laptop boots up quickly (about 20 seconds), and comes out of sleep mode almost instantly.

As for the OS, well I removed vista almost instantly and installed Windows 7. The only problem I've had on windows 7 is that some of the function keys don't work as intended. Most of them work fine (including the brightness and number pad function keys). The scroll portions (on the right and bottom of the mouse pad) also do not work, although I haven't installed the latest touchpoint drivers.

The fingerprint scanner does not work for me. I absolutely cannot get it to read my finger print, but I think it's a pretty useless feature anyways.

The dell XPS M1530 comes with the following interfaces pre-installed.

- Dell Power Adapter

- 3 USB 2.0

- VGA External Monitor

- HDMI External Monitor

- Ethernet

- Firewire

- 3 3.5 mm audio ports

- SD card reader

- TV Port (tivo?)

The one problem I found with my dell was the hard drive.  It only came with a 160 gig 5200 RPM hard drive.  It is often said that the HD is the 'choke point' for a laptops speed, so I decided to get myself a 500 gig 7200 RPM hard drive for pretty cheap.  Installation was extremely easy.  On the opposite side of the laptop from the remote slot there is a bracket for the hard drive.  To remove the hard drive you simply have to remove two screws and slide the hard drive out.  To remove the bracket you need to unscrew 4 more screws from the bracket/hard drive.  It took about 5 minutes to swap the hard drive.  That was easy!

Note: The stock hard drive did not have any problems, I just wanted more speed and space!

Battery life isn't terrible, although it isn't fantastic either.  On average my laptop lasts about 4-5 hours, depending what I'm doing on it (usually pretty intensive work).  If I am using very memory intensive programs (ableton live) it lasts quite a bit shorter - about 2 to 2.5 hours.

The biggest con I've encountered so far is the keyboard.  I am an extremely fast typist, and sometimes my fingers will snag the bottom of adjacent keys as I lift my finger from one key, but non have broken yet (over about 3 months).  It seems frail.  The touch pad has locked up on me for very short periods of time, but that could be due to my lack of touch point drivers.  All and all the Dell XPS is a great buy for the price.