Dell Studio XPS 16 with RGBLED - opinions?

deadkenny

deadkenny

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It's expensive, but I'm quite tempted by this laptop.

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/p...=ST&cid=41141&lid=1069630&acd=124047434820569

(specifically the XPS 16 with the RGBLED option)

Key importance is the display is a 1080p (1920x1080) display with RGBLED, which if I understand it right means a colour gamut of Adobe RGB or near.

Which makes it rather attractive for photography.

There's a review here, though it's based on a slightly older model as they now ship i5 and i7 processors instead of Core 2 duo. Also get a 7200rpm 500GB hard disc, 4GB or more memory, 1GB video memory option, and Win 7 64bit. Though you can configure the options how you like.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/laptops/review/2009/03/10/Dell-Studio-XPS-16-with-RGB-LED-Display


Anyone got one, or looked into getting one? What are your opinions, especially for photography use?


I'm interested in how well the Adobe RGB matching works. I'm curious about how an Adobe RGB display works with sRGB material also (i.e. the entirety of the web). Is editing on an Adobe RGB display much better than using an sRGB display where the colours are approximated through software, and how well will old photos shot and edited Adobe RGB on a standard sRGB monitor display on this?

I wonder too if calibration is required, and I'd assume standard calibration hardware and software wouldn't work as they'd be geared to sRGB.

On the side, I should think it would be reasonable for games too :D

Oh, and if anyone knows how noisy it is, that would be a big help. I'm after a powerful laptop as a desktop replacement that would be perfect for photos, but my experience of desktop replacements has been one of very noisy laptops. Though that's based on 5 year old laptops.
 
I bought one and sent it back, the colour gamut is terrible and massivly difficult to calibrate, the reds and yellows are way, way too saturated and cant be calibrated using standard gear £100-200 gear

Its beautiful for watching blu ray or dvd but for photo work i found it impossible to work with, my honest opinion is save yourself £200 and opt for the W-LED screen which is far more colour accurate and needs little calibration.
 
Thing is though, should it be calibrated at all?

I thought (at least part of) the idea of calibration was so you could get the monitor profile software to approximate Adobe RGB on the simple gamut of an sRGB monitor.

Theory goes these things are spot on Adobe RGB.


Edit: A couple of threads I've found on this...

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/836076
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1004&message=32207564

It seems there are various issues but sounds like it can be calibrated and colour space aware applications should be perfect. However I can see there will be big issues with non colour space aware apps or those that just assume sRGB (i.e. most of Windows), so could end up with having to flick between profiles.

Hmm. It would make sense for some kind of compatibility option for legacy apps. Though I'd be interested to see what Windows 7 adds to the mix.

Oh and one post said there was a bios fix that improved the display.

These are all based on older versions though. The new XPS may or may not be different.
 
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Mine was horrible in Photoshop, id heard about the bios update but i was using the most current version and thats still the most current version, i would say buyer beware.

deadkenny said:
Thing is though, should it be calibrated at all?

I thought (at least part of) the idea of calibration was so you could get the monitor profile software to approximate Adobe RGB on the simple gamut of an sRGB monitor.

Theory goes these things are spot on Adobe RGB.


Edit: A couple of threads I've found on this...

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/836076
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1004&message=32207564

It seems there are various issues but sounds like it can be calibrated and colour space aware applications should be perfect. However I can see there will be big issues with non colour space aware apps or those that just assume sRGB (i.e. most of Windows), so could end up with having to flick between profiles.

Hmm. It would make sense for some kind of compatibility option for legacy apps. Though I'd be interested to see what Windows 7 adds to the mix.

Oh and one post said there was a bios fix that improved the display.

These are all based on older versions though. The new XPS may or may not be different.
Click to expand...
 
I quite like my XPS M1730, it's one of the older ones but runs all of Creative Suite 5 very well.
 
I've had mine for almost a year now. I love it. The RGBLED screen is stunning. Mine calibrated perfectly using my Spyder 3. Colours are spot on in Lightroom.

I also use it for development work so processing power is important. It performs almost as well as my water cooled desktop.

Andy.
 
I can't fault it then. Being used to developing on high-end desktops I wasn't expecting it to handle Visual Studio as well as it does.

Also the internal broadband modem is great. Since I work on client sites with secure networks it means I can remain online all day and not have to worry about access.

Andy.
 
I'm not 100% sure if its that screen or the WLED one I have but its 1920*1080 and beautiful to look at

dropped clear of a grand on a studio 15 and its i7 4gb ram separate graphics memory ect and its lovely - bitch at the guy on the phone - I got a free printer
 
I've the RGBLED one and, frankly, the screen is a pain. It has a plastic "protector" that sits away from the screen itself, so when you carry it around the keys make the protector flex and can end up scuffing the screen and the inside of the protector. I'm also about to get the screen replaced because of light burn-through on one corner. Brand new it's a gorgeous screen, but Dell really seem to have forgotten about the fact that portable laptops (as opposed to "desktop replacements") are carried around and not treated wsith kid gloves all the time..
 
Cuchulainn said:
I've the RGBLED one and, frankly, the screen is a pain. It has a plastic "protector" that sits away from the screen itself, so when you carry it around the keys make the protector flex and can end up scuffing the screen and the inside of the protector. I'm also about to get the screen replaced because of light burn-through on one corner. Brand new it's a gorgeous screen, but Dell really seem to have forgotten about the fact that portable laptops (as opposed to "desktop replacements") are carried around and not treated wsith kid gloves all the time..
Click to expand...
That's weird, mine doesn't do that. Almost a year old and carried around every day and the screen doesn't have a mark on it. In fact the whole machine looks brand new. What do you carry it around in?

Andy.
 
I have it in a messenger bag. It's happened with two screens so far. It's a lovely laptop apart from that (and the keyboard that failed), just seems to have some quality control and design issues :)
 
Been looking into this further and most opinions seem to be that if it's calibrated right (and that requires calibration hardware that supports RGBLED and a lot don't), it's the best laptop panel on the market.

However it is apparently a TN panel and opinion from photographers is that makes it "rubbish". Which is odd because whilst I've seen a lot turn their nose up at it being a TN panel, most seem to love the XPS RGBLED panel.

Seems it's a display that is misunderstood a lot though, because the gamut is much wider than sRGB (and wider even than Adobe RGB apparently), it will naturally display colours in regular applications differently to 99.9% of computer displays, which are normally sRGB. Non-colourspace aware apps I suspect would make it tricky to use, but with proper calibration, use of colourspace aware apps and photos with colourspace marked it should be fine, and in theory excellent for Adobe RGB photos.

Negatives seem to be the power requirements and some have commented that Dell don't supply a powerful enough AC adapter, and other complain of over heating.

Plus Dell seem to have discontinued the panels and there are reports that under warranty the panels are being replaced with standard LCD panels, ripping off the customer in the process as they are £200 or so cheaper!

Interesting article on Adobe RGB colour space here which makes a point about bit depth where for sRGB the usual bit depth (of the display, or the file, or both??) is sufficient, but with the same bit depth and the wider gamut of Adobe RGB, you can end up with banding.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/sRGB-AdobeRGB1998.htm

TN panels are typically 6bit per RGB colour (I think) whereas 8bit is preferred. Adobe RGB if I undertand right is typically best at 16bit, but are there such displays? Though I get confused with the 'bit' technologies referenced as there's bit depth of each red, green and blue colour, and bit depth of number of colours in total, and probably other meanings.


Hmm, don't know. Dell UK still have the RGBLED displays available, but if warranty will be an issue then maybe not. I'm still interested in a wide gamut display but looks like the only alternatives are in desktop displays and the pros go for IPS and VA panels, and these are very expensive plus I don't really want to go with a desktop.
 
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