M1730 GPU Update

I am looking to get a M1730 and was wondering what type of MXM the Dell XPS M1730 has...and also if it will be upgraded to one or even two of the spanking new 8800M GTS/GTX

Thanx in Advance

 

It's gonna be upgraded yes. Dell 'claims' it will.

It's not MXM..it's nothing.. It's a proprietary Dell format.

All Dell systems are.

 

DELL didn’t use MXM cards in the past, and AFAIK they still don’t. However, you can replace most dedicated VGA cards of DELL notebooks with a card released for that particular notebook model (sort of DELL's own MXM standard).

They will most likely release 8800GTX for M1730, therefore you will be able to do it. However it is much cheaper and safer for you to wait for it instead of buying one now hoping to upgrade later.

 

Yeah thats true but nobody knows for sure how much we will be waiting for...
So, its like waiting for something that might appear in dells notebooks 5 or 6 months from know (according to some people in this forum...)

 

Dell have promised that they will create an upgrade path in the future. See www.direct2dell.com for details.

 

Yeah thats true but nobody knows for sure how much we will be waiting for...
So, its like waiting for something that might appear in dells notebooks 5 or 6 months from know (according to some people in this forum...)

 

Went and read this blog entry and it sounds like Dell is backstepping from their original position. Just yesterday I spent a good deal of time on the phone with Customer Care while they tried frantically to find a reason for me to keep the M1730. They spent about 45 minutes sifting through internal tech releases on all upcoming parts and they could find nothing indicating that an 8800m SLI video card replacement was forthcoming for this laptop, let alone ANY video card upgrade for this laptop. Wanting a system that works as it should, I've returned the unit.

It sounded good in practice but it looks as though pure economics has won out and they've abandoned any efforts to create a feasible upgrade for the ailing 8700m chipset.

Sales will tell you anything to get the unit in your hands, but it's up to tech support or the returns dept to break the bad news to you that you're stuck.

I really do believe that if they'd simply followed through with 512mb per GPU, as the spec allows, then the vast majority of these performance hiccups would never have surfaced, and I for one would be quite happy with the unit. I'm actually quite angry and frustrated that there isn't an upgrade available or that I'd not done enough research in the first place to realize I'd have these performance problems.

I really wanted this laptop to work for me and if they do, at some point, upgrade the video card I'll likely be back but until then I'm getting my money back out and sitting tight.