News

• The Good: Beautifully designed and extraordinarily lightweight for a 13-inch notebook; packed with powerful hardware suitable for a wide range of activities, from multitasking to gaming; exceptional wireless connectivity
• The Bad: Just some small, nitpicky things, like the lack of a third USB jack and speakers that don't deliver as much oomph as some users might like
• The Verdict: Smart industrial design and high-end components combine to make Dell's latest performance notebook a highly desirable piece of gear

Dell's new XPS m1330 notebook is such an elegantly designed and powerful machine that it's given me reason to consider dumping my current two-year-old laptop, which complains loudly whenever I try to play games on it — like a nagging girlfriend.

From the moment I pulled the m1330's chic, Crimson Red frame (it also comes in a more professional Tuxedo Black and classy Pearl White) out of the box I knew I was in danger of cheating on my current portable PC. At a feathery 1.8 kg it barely registers on the scale, and its wedge-shaped frame—measuring less than an inch at its thinnest point—made me want to slide it into my messenger bag and take it with me wherever I went. When I opened it up I was further seduced by its sleek lines, brushed metal interior, 13.3-inch backlit-LED screen, slot-loading DVD drive, and gently glowing indicator lights and buttons.

Simply put, I'm not sure which of us did a better job of turning the other on.

A great body—and a CPU to match

If the m1330 were an actress it would likely be someone like Cate Blanchett—a stunning combination of brains and beauty that can do wonders in just about any role you want to put it in, whether it's simultaneously running a boatload of productivity apps, churning out 3D graphics in the latest Windows PC games, or playing back movies and music.

Booting up took less than 30 seconds by my watch, thanks in part to the fact that the laptop ships with very little in the way of pre-installed third-party junk applications. And it runs the Premium version of Microsoft's new operating system like a dream, with Aero Glass functionality fully enabled.

The m1330's spec sheet reads like a what's what list of premium notebook components, beginning with an Intel 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU. It's the fastest dual core processor I've yet experienced in a laptop, and ideal for just about any computational activity, whether it's simultaneously running multiple productivity apps or manipulating sizable media files. It also goes easy on the included 6-cell battery, which lasted more than 150 minutes during a DVD playback test (I made it all the way through Pulp Fiction on lithium ion juice alone).

The book's GeForce Go 8400M GS graphics chipset from nVidia ran the two brand-new games I tested, Shadowrun and Halo 2, fairly well. A regrettably small amount of onboard video RAM — just 128MB — forced me to tinker with the visual settings for both games, but they ran as smooth as butter once I found the sweet spot. A healthy 2GB of fast RAM also played a key role in keeping my games from getting bunged up.

The rest of the m1330's hardware, including Wireless-N, optional support for mobile broadband through Telus (starting in August), and a Wi-Fi finder that detects signals even when the book is closed and powered off, provide little to criticize.

If I was forced to lay into something, it would probably be the m1330's port suite. While the existing inputs and outputs—which includes FireWire, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, microphone, two headset plugs, two USB jacks, and two Mini-Card slots as well as an 8-in-1 multimedia card reader—meet and exceed my personal needs, some users may lament the lack of an old school dial-up modem or wish that it had an additional USB port.

People considering the m1330 for extensive entertainment use might also be slightly disappointed by the laptop's fairly weak — though quite clear — SigmaTel stereo speakers, which required me to sit close to distinguish quieter sounds, thereby making the slide out mini remote (ostensibly meant to let users enjoy media at a distance) something of a useless perk.

The build I tested goes for $2,199—no small fee, but reasonable given the m1330's combination of lightweight portability and powerhouse components. Like all Dell machines this book can be thoroughly customized, lowering or raising the price accordingly. The thing is, I can't think of a single component that I'd downgrade or leave out. The m1330 is, quite simply, everything I want in a laptop.

And that brings us back to the start. I fear I may soon be breaking some bad news to my current notebook. You might think me shallow for being seduced by a younger, sexier machine, but, when push comes to shove, it's the laptop's brains and brawn that I'm most attracted to. And that would be par for the course. The objects of my affection usually tend to be a fair bit smarter than me. Just ask my wife.