Our XPS M1210 review unit cost £2,332 for a mix of high-end components: a 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo processor, 1GB of fast 667MHz RAM, a blazing 7,200rpm hard drive with 80GB capacity, and an Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 graphics card with 256MB of dedicated memory.
Performance
The M1210 earned a very high score on our performance benchmarks, making it exceptionally well suited for intense multitasking and even graphics-intensive tasks while on the move. The M1210's 4 hour 24 minute battery life was above average for a laptop in its weight class.
(Longer bars indicate faster performance)
(Longer bars indicate longer battery life)
System configurations:
Dell XPS M1210
Windows XP Media Center; 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo-T2600; 1024MB DDR2 SDRAM PC4300 533MHz; Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 256MB; Hitachi HTS7210G9SA00 100GB 7,200rpm
Gateway NX100X
Windows XP Pro; 1.2GHz Intel Core Single U1400; 512MB DDR2 SDRAM PC4300 533MHz; Intel Mobile 945GM 128MB; Hitachi Travelstar 5K100 80GB 5,400rpm
Sony Vaio SZ100
Windows XP Pro; 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo T2400; 1024MB DDR2 SDRAM PC4300 533MHz; Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 128MB; Fujitsu MHV2100HB 80GB 4,200rpm
Edited by Matthew Elliott
Additional editing by Nick Hide
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David Long 5 October 2007
Good: Compact size, Twin Headphone sockets, 4 USB ports, Mega Battery Life
Bad: Not quite enough graphics power for the latest games
Comment: I picked up my Dell m1210 2nd hand for £550 and wasn't expecting much from such a small system. I was planning on giving it to the wife when I found a more powerful system for myself. It been 7 months now and I still use it daily.
It packs quite a punch for such a compact. I use it mainly for web development and it runs Apps like Photoshop, Office and the like with ease. It's even reasonable at gaming - I've played Halo 2, Half-life 2 Episode 1, Counterstrike source, Team Fortress 2 and more. Although I need to keep my settings med-low to get a good framerate it's definitely playable.
The long battery life is another great benefit. I have the 9cell extended battery which sticks out a bit. I get about 4-5hrs doing web dev (Running iTunes, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Firefox) and about 2hrs gaming.
The model I have is feature packed to with wifi a/b/g, bluetooth, Firewire, 4x USB, S-video out, Twin headphone sockets (really handy when watching a movie together in bed and not wanting to wake the baby). The twin headphone sockets and mic double as 5.1 surround sound output too.
The built-in webcam is excellent for video conferencing and the mic is very clear, I don't need to lean in close to be heard. Great for recording lectures too.
DVD-RW drive is nothing special but does the job. Discovered it only supports -R which is a pain as I have a stack of +R discs which I use with my desktop.
The bottom of the laptop has rubber feet which raise the laptop off the desk slightly - this aids cooling but also makes it a little chunkier than other compact laptops.
The built quality is great - it really feels like an expensive piece of kit. The mat finish on the cover is nice to touch and the glossy screen makes colours really pop. The same DVD on my friends Macbook Pro looks washed out compared to the sharp vivid colours on the Dell m1210.
My spec is 2.13GHZ Centrino Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR2 667mhz ram, 64mb Nvidia 7400m, 160GB HDD
If you are looking for a compact portable laptop which still has decent power I highly recommend the m1210. If you worried about the small 12.1" screen I wouldn't let it put you off too much. As the resolution is still reasonable (1280x800) you can really things done on it and you get used to the size. When I'm at home I sometimes hook it up to my 19" flat screen and use my bluetooth keyboard and mouse and it's just like having a desktop.
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