Cheapest DELL XPS M1730 ever???

The price? £0 Read below (if you are interested )

Just over 2 1/2 years I shelled out a HECK of a lot of money to but a Dell M1710, mainly because I was mvoing around internationally, and I wanted an absolute top-end laptop with an internationally supported warranty. I got lucky then - while I was deciding, DELL got the exclusive rights to the 512MB 7900 GTX, so I ordered it, and in a moment of genius (or more likely, blind luck) I decided that on a machine that expensive, I would take the full 4 year XPS warranty.

1 year later, my 1st GPU went. Next day, Dell had replaced it. As my laptop passed it's 2nd birthday, the 2bd GPU went, and I got a free upgrade to the 7950 GTX, because 7900's were end of lifed. Then, 2 week's ago, the entire machine just died. I had had a really bad time with the Dell support in India, have spoken to several supervisor's, a floor manager, had 4 engineer visits where the replaced the mobo twice, the graphics card twice, the CPU and the heatsink. Nothing - mahcine get no power at all. They wanted to take it away for a 5 day check at their lab, and I decied enough was enough. I politely, but firmly told them they were not taking, went through the history of the call, and now I am getting a new XPS M1730. And it is a pretty NICE spec - see below:

- Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T8100 (2.10 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 3 MB L2 cache)
- 17.0" UltraSharp™ WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT with TrueLife™ with Integrated 2.0MP web cam
- 160GB Free Fall Sensor (7200RPM) Hard Drive
- 4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
- Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW (DVD read/write) drive, including SW
- DUAL SLI 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800GTX card
- Dell™ Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-Card - Europe - Core 2 Duo Processors
- Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth 2.0 Module (up to 3 Mbps) with Enhanced Data Rate EUR
- 4Yr XPS Premium Warranty Support - Priority Call In and Onsite Support

yes, it is the bottom end CPU, but the rest seem pretty close to as good as I could hope for, if I was BUYING it. Let alone getting it for free. And the intriguing thing about the email was they specified the 4 year warranty upgrade. While I REALLY doubt it, wouldn't it be GREAT if I get a new 4 year warranty on the new machine. Then maybe I can get a free upgrade in another 3 years time.

Well, this wasn't written to irritate people - just wanted to share the joy, and get back on the forums so I can start getting drivers and other hints agina.

ciao 4 now

 

Dude, that is AWESOME!!! :smile:

 

Wow, congrats dude that is sick!!! Shell out ~$500 and get an x9000 = Fully decked out m1730 for a grand total of $500!!!!!!

 

Thanks!!

yeah - I just need to see what the warranty is. I know I can replace memory without impacting warranty, but I am fairly certain a CPU replace will void warranty?

BTW - other than paying Dell's premium - where can I get an x9000? I am based in the UK now.

The other thing to upgrade is the disk - the M1730's that have 2 disk in raid - does that mean I'll have a spare HDD bay in the machine? Then maybe I'll get a SSD drive as well.

And then, finally, maybe a blu-ray drive. But that will come is a long time from now....

 

Don't mess with CPUs. You have got excellent service from dell because you didn't try to mess with the hardware yourself. Unless you have a specific need you don't need a faster cpu. You don't have a spare HD bay. RAID config will use both.

 

I would probably only consider doing this after the machine is out of warranty.

Still waiting for the machine - it will be 2 weeks before I get it. From the spec they sent me, I don't think it will have 2 drives in it (the spec mentioned only 1 drive) ... so in that configuration, will there be a spare bay??

 

In that case, yes, there will be a free slot.

 

Cool. Given the config, I wonder if I will be able to get an SSD, then re-install and use the SSD for OS, etc. Or should I just look at getting another 160GB 7200 and set them up in RAID....

 

If price is no object.. sure. I would go with a 320x2 raid anyday if I were you and had enough cash for an ssd

 

Not so much that price is no object, sadly. SSD is more of a medium to long term goal, I think.

I'm trying to decide if I should leave the system alone until I have had it for a couple of weeks, and make sure there are no issues with it, and then look at setting up RAID, and re-install - maybe with vista 64bit (I have a technet subscription, so I can pick and choose OS's).

 

But I will look at the 320GB drive prices... maybe that is something I could afford

started doing some browsing... I think I could get 2 of these:
Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB 7200RPM SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200BEKT)
priced at: £58.99 with VAT (£67.84)
So 2 of them for £135.

or I could get:
OCZ Solid Series 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1SLD60G) OCZ Solid Series 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1SLD60G) priced at: £119.99 with VAT (£137.99)

but from the reading I've done, the OCZ Solid series is the "bottom of the line" series (below their CORE and VERTEX series)... so maybe I'll wait a while for more resonable pricing.

 

It has arrived. Got here 9 days ahead of schedule - MAN this thing is big. And HOT!

What surprised me is that Dell still have not fetched the old machine.... they were supposed to fetch it a week ago. Wonder how long it will be before they remember to fetch it.

Well, time to find drivers, and get things updated .... ciao 4 now

 

ohh ... and to my GREAT joy, I have discovered that they HAVE supplied the new system with a brand new, 4 year warranty!! Bought the Dell M1710 in May 2006, and the new system has a warranty until January 2013!!

 

gratulation my... i gonna pay for my almost £2890 for 3 year anyone know how can i upgrade my warranty or can i ?? just half year old but my LCD panel been changed 1 times .New screen i got, not truelife colored, i got something cheap samsung instead the original LG panel the red seems missing more orange i can say ... and i just fighting with they customer sevice again in india... from uk.... anyon know if i change something like cpu ram hdd am i still in warranty i kept all my original parts and RGwanderer now 500GB scorpio uu can get i got 2 of them...

 

As far as I know, you should be able to upgrade your warranty, as long as the machine still is IN warranty. Check with DELL.

Based on this experience, I think I will always use the 4 year warranty - it is true I had a terrible time trying to get the original problems with my M1710 resolved, but the net result - a NEW top end laptop, and a new 4 year warranty (which is 2 years 8 months beyond my old one) means it was SO worth it.

I figure my inital upgrade of 1 yr to 4 yr on my M1710 cost me an extra £150 or so, and for that, I have received:
replacement Geforce 7900M GTX 512Mb (died after 1year 1 month)
replacement Geforce 7950M GTX 512Mb (died after 2year 4 month)
replacement machine - this M1730 I spoke about (costed it at around £1900 to build, if I was buying it).
So that is a great deal for £150...