In this third part of the Dell XPS M1330 review, we will look at the case features.

The keyboard of the XPS M1330 does not flex, and it lends itself to typing very quickly. However, the keys are a bit on the noisy side compared to my e1405, and my wife complains now when I type in bed – this is probably one of my bigger pet peeves.

The touchpad buttons, on the other hand, are silent, although I am not especially fond of the surface, which is very lightly textured – it takes a light touch to use it smoothly. The touchpad is also set very shallow to the palmrest, so running your finger alongside the scroll edge is not quite as secure as the e1405.

Another even bigger issue I have with the design is the control bar above the keyboard – the status lights – numpad status, caps status, Bluetooth and wifi status – are barely indistinguishable from one another at the normal angle of view and distance.

In addition, the audio control keys are flush, touch-activated, and using them in a hurry (like, you are in a public place and forgot and left your volume on and need to mute it) is difficult. I would have preferred physical buttons for this reason. I liked the buttons the on leading edge of the e1405, I could find the mute button with my finger without even looking.

The LED-backlit screen (a $150 option) is remarkably thin, and definitely the finest screen I have ever seen on a notebook. It is ridiculously bright – all of my previous notebooks I used at max brightness, the XPS I usually keep it cranked down to 70% indoors to avoid getting a tan – I love it. It is also very contrasty with excellent blacks. Basically its about all you can ask for in notebook display quality today.

The power outlet is on the left of the machine, which I am not fond of – I prefer it be in the back – but because of the wedge-hinge design of the display, there are no rear ports at all. On the same side are VGA, Fast Ethernet, HDMI and mini-Firewire ports. The HDMI is a nice addition – besides being DVI-compatible (through a HDMI-to-DVI cable), it is also a great way to get both audio and video out of the machine. A great use for this, I have found, is the NetFlix Watch Now service, which has a great selection. I watched some epidodes of MI-5 on my Panasonic widescreen with the HDMI cable.

It is disappointing, if not puzzling, as to why Dell decided to include a fast Ethernet adapter on this high-end machine vs. Gigabit Ethernet. My home network has been all Gig-E for a couple of years now.

On the front of the machine are the headphone and microphone jacks. There are conveniently two headphone jacks for sharing a movie, which is a nice feature. Some reviews have reported that the second jack has some noise, but I have not noticed any (update, the left-hand jack definitely has noise, but its only perceptible at very low listening levels). There is also a power indicator and SD/MMC Ms/Pro media slot.

On the right hand side there is an ExpressCard slot, which I occupy with the infrared remote control, which is well designed and works as advertised. There is a configurable wifi switch, which through the BIOS can control any combination of EVDO, BT, and Wifi radios. I set it to control the EVDO and Bluetooth radios, since I usually don’t use them to save battery power.

Next to this is the ‘Wifi Catcher’ switch, which I don’t entirely understand the purpose of, nor why it needs to be a physical switch vs a software feature. When you turn the wifi catcher on, it just pops up a window which basically gives you the same information as the Vista ‘Connect To A Network’ wifi info window – signal strength, security, SSID, etc.

The slot-loading DVD is next. I am rather indifferent as to slot-loading vs. tray loading. Slot loading saves a little elbow room, but it’s a noisier to load and eject and probably a little more difficult to replace. I have upgraded CD drives to DVD-R very easily on other notebooks, upgrading the optical drive when its slot-loading is more difficult and/more expensive, I would expect.

Finally, there is another USB 2.0 port on this side of the computer, for a total of two. Dell gets some heat for this in reviews, but personally I have never used more than 2 – kb and mouse.

Above the screen is the VGA webcam, which I will probably never use, as well as a blue LED to indicate when it’s on. While we are on the topic of the blue LEDs – all of the LEDs on this unit are blue, and they are too bright. Especially the one on the power adapter, which I can see reflected on the ceiling of my room. A little black electrical tape goes a long way I suppose.

Finally, the power adapter is pleasantly smaller then the usual Dell brick. However, it is the same length, which is always a foot shorter then I’d like.

In the next post, we’ll look at the performance of the Dell XPS M1330.