Dell XPS M1730 Review

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Dell XPS M1730 Review

by Charles P. Jefferies

The XPS M1730 is Dell's new 17-inch high-performance gaming notebook, the replacement for the aging M1710. It is based on the latest Intel Santa Rosa platform and features cutting-edge Nvidia GeForce SLI graphics.

Before I start this review I would like to thank Dell for sending us a test unit.

Our test unit specifications are as follows:

• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Intel Core 2 Extreme X7900 (2.8GHz/4MB L2/ 800MHz FSB)
• 17-inch WUXGA display
• Dual Nvidia GeForce 8700M-GT in SLI (256MB each)
• Dual 200GB 7200RPM Hitachi drives in RAID 0 (striped data)
• 2GB DDR2-667 RAM in dual-channel
• Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN wireless
• Integrated Verizon Wireless Mobile Broadband
• 8X DVD Burner
• 9-cell battery

Build &amp; Design

A simple glance at the M1730 establishes that this notebook is not for those who do not want to show off. There is no other notebook like this on the market. For starters, the M1730 is absolutely enormous; its weight starts at 10.6 pounds and is two inches thick.

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Dell chose an intimidating design scheme for their flagship notebook. The visible exterior has a deep glossy black surface with a 'hydrographic' design pattern. The intricacy of the design can best be seen in a well-lit room. The back of the lid deserves special attention – two clear plastic windowed areas on the sides have a color background that is illuminated by the LED lights; our test unit has the Smoke Grey panels. The XPS M1730 is also available with Sapphire Blue, Crimson Blue, and Bone White. In the center of the lid is a large shiny Dell logo illuminated by a bright white LED backlight. The lid is an instant attention-grabber and the most visually striking part of the M1730 in this reviewer's opinion. The speakers in the front of the machine are illuminated by LED lights as is the touchpad and its buttons. While the LED lights on the back of the lid do not change colors, the ones on the front can. All the colors in the rainbow are available (more or less) and each speaker as well as the touchpad can be individually controlled via the Dell QuickSet software. The keyboard is LED backlit and visually impressive. This is the first machine I have ever tested with a backlit keyboard and I would like to see more notebooks implement this feature. It is useful in low light scenarios and for those late-night gaming sessions.

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The build quality of the M1730 is impressive, as it should be for the price. The chassis feels as solid as high-end competing notebooks from Sager and Alienware. There is zero flex in the palmrest or surrounding area, although the area beneath the display does not feel as solid as the aforementioned surfaces. Pressing on the back of the lid did not affect the display. The undersides of the notebook are made from magnesium and add to the build quality of the machine. In addition, they also help with heat dissipation. Moving to the top of the notebook, there is one display latch in the center of the display and it is solid. Its gunmetal color is a smart match for the black and gray exterior. The lid closes with a reassuring 'click' and holds secure. The front of the M1730 is angled nicely when the lid is closed; the M1730 may be big, but it is also sleek. Its front end almost looks like it was aerodynamically designed. The gaps between the various parts on the notebook are evenly spaced and everything fits together well, which shows attention to detail.

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Overall I am more than impressed with the level of build quality and the exterior appearance of the XPS M1730. The flashy looks are a selling point of the XPS M1730 – buy this machine to get noticed.

Display

The 17-inch glossy 1920 x 1200 pixel widescreen display that came on our test unit is the only option for the M1730. WUXGA is the highest resolution available on a notebook. This display is fantastic; for starters, it is the brightest single-lamp 17-inch display I have seen on a notebook. The high contrast makes colors pop off the screen; blacks are deep and whites are bright and pure. Viewing angles are excellent; the side-to-side angles are near perfect and there is minimal distortion from above and below. The picture is crystal clear and there is no distortion or graininess. Light leakage is minimal, with only a small amount coming from the bottom of the display.

Speakers

The M1730's stereo speakers are located at the front of the notebook below the palmrest area. Two small speaker cones can be seen through the speaker grills; they visibly pulse when playing music at elevated levels. For notebook speakers, the M1730's are wonderful. Treble is respectable and while bass is a bit lacking, it is still noticeable which is not something that can be said about many notebook speakers. Sound is detailed; I could hear bullet shells hitting the ground in games and picks hitting guitar strings in acoustic music. Overall, Dell has equipped the M1730 with two competent stereo speakers which suffice for playing music and games.

The M1730 has two headphone jacks located on the left side, which allows two people to tune into a movie or other audio.

Processor and Performance

I had high expectations for the fully-loaded review unit Dell sent us. The Core 2 Extreme X7900 is a rare and special processor in that it will not work in most Santa Rosa notebooks; its TDP is higher than most notebooks’ cooling solutions can handle. The standard Core 2 Duo mobile processor has a 35W TDP in comparison to the X7900's 44W. A heavy-duty heatsink is needed to handle its high heat output.

The real advantage to the Intel Extreme processors is their unlocked multiplier, so overclocking is simple. I ran each benchmark that involved scoring the processor twice; the first time with the processor at its stock 2.8GHz clockspeed, and the second time overclocked to 3.4GHz via the BIOS. The maximum overclock is 3.4GHz. Dell allows the end user to set 2.8GHz (stock), 3.0GHz, 3.2GHz, and 3.4GHz via the BIOS, but they recommend that the machine be run with 2.8GHz.

Testing notes: Prior to testing, I defragmented the hard drive and did a Windows Update. I installed the latest Nvidia drivers (169.04) for the video cards. All frames per second (FPS) benchmarks were done with FRAPS.

System Performance Benchmarks

Windows Experience Index

2.8GHz:

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3.4GHz

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Performance Difference (Stock vs. OC) (Processor):0.00%

Oddly enough overclocking the processor did not help the WEI score at all. However, 5.7 is dangerously close to the highest-possible score of 5.9.

PCMark05

PCMark05 Comparison Results

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Dell XPS M1730 (Core 2 Extreme X7900 2.8GHz, Dual Nvidia GeForce 8700M-GT 512MB)	7,148 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1730 (Core 2 Extreme X7900 overclocked to 3.2GHz, Dual Nvidia GeForce 8700M-GT 512MB)	7,868 PCMarks
Sager NP9260 (2.66GHz Core 2 Duo E6700, 2x Nvidia GeForce Go 7950GTX video cards with 512MB DDR3)	6,871 PCMarks
Alienware m5790 (1.83 GHz Core 2 Duo, ATI X1800 256MB)	4,411 PCMarks
Fujtisu Siemens Amilo Xi1554 Review (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, ATI X1900, Windows XP)	5,066 PCMarks
Fujitsu LifeBook N6420 (2.00GHz Core 2 Duo, ATI X1600)	4,621 PCMarks
Fujitsu LifeBook N6410(1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	3,487 PCMarks
Sony Vaio SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Asus Z84Jp (2.16GHz Core 2 Duo, Nvidia Go 7600)	4,739 PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400)	3,646 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks

2.8GHz

3.4GHz

Performance Difference (PCMark score): 9.15%

The overclocked processor improved overall performance by about 9%. The M1730 is already blazing fast so it is doubtful whether the extra increase in CPU power will be noticed while running everyday applications. For more processor intensive applications, a nearly 10% gain is significant.

Processor Performance Benchmarks

wPrime

2.8GHz (view large image)

3.4GHz (view large image)

Performance Difference (32M): 00.77%

Performance Difference (1024M): 10.44%

The effect of the higher-clocked processor is slightly more pronounced in wPrime, which is almost entirely CPU-dependent.

Rendering Performance using Cinebench 10

Cinebench Release 10 is the latest version of Maxon's rendering benchmark, based on the Maxon CINEMA 4D animation software. It is designed to measure the performance of the processor and graphics card under real world circumstances. More information can be found at http://www.maxon.net/pages/download/cinebench_e.html

2.8GHz: (view large image)

3.4GHz: (view large image)

Performance Difference (Rendering, 1 CPU): 17.00%

Performance Difference (Rendering, x CPU): 14.66%

The overclocked processor provided a significant performance increase in the rendering benchmark.

Hard Drive Performance

HDTune 2.53

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The HDTune result for the dual 200GB 7200RPM Hitach hard drives in RAID 0 is stellar. This is the fastest hard disk performance we have seen in a notebook to date. Both drives were inaudible, even while reading and writing.

Synthetic Gaming Performance Benchmarks

3DMark06

3DMark06 Results and Comparison:

Notebook	3D Mark 06 Results
Dell XPS M1730 (Core 2 Extreme X7900 2.8GHz, Dual Nvidia GeForce 8700M-GT 512MB)	8,536
Dell XPS M1730 (Core 2 Extreme X7900 overclocked to 3.2GHz, Dual Nvidia GeForce 8700M-GT 512MB)	8,572
Sager NP5791 (Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.20GHz, Nvidia GeForce 8700M-GT 512MB)	4,941
Alienware M9750 (Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 2.33GHz, Nvidia go 7950 GTX video cards with 512MB)	7,308
Sager NP9260 (2.66GHz Core 2 Duo E6700, 2x Nvidia GeForce Go 7950GTX video cards with 512MB DDR3)	9,097
Alienware m5790 (1.83 GHz Core 2 Duo, ATI X1800 256MB)	2,625
WidowPC Sting D517D (Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz, Nvidia 7900GTX 512MB)	4,833
Apple MacBook Pro (2.00GHz Core Duo, ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 128MB)	1,528
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB)	2,183
ASUS A8Ja (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 512MB)	1,973
Dell XPS M1710 (2.16GHz Core Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7900 GTX 512MB)	4,744

2.8GHz (view large image)

3.4GHz (view large image)

Performance Difference (3DMark score): 2.52%

Performance Difference (CPU score): 13.22%

While the overclocked processor did not make a large impact on the 3DMark score as a whole, it did increase the CPU score by over 13%.

Ageia PhysX RealityMark

The M1730 is unique in that it has an Ageia PhysX physics processor card. Ageia's RealityMark is a physics performance measurement tool which, according to Ageia, can be used to gauge overall gaming performance during a game with a high amount of physics calculations. It is based on Artificial Studio's CellFactor: Combat Training game and its Reality Engine. More information on the benchmark can be found here: http://www.ageia.com/physx/rm.html

2.8GHz (view large image)

3.4GHz (view large image)

Performance Difference (PhysX Hardware): 8.80%

There is a huge performance difference between software rendering and hardware rendering as the benchmark shows.

Gaming Benchmarks

I tested a sample of the latest and most demanding games on the M1730. Each game benchmark was done over a 60 second period of actual gameplay (no pre-programmed demos).

I ran each of the benchmarks twice for the games, once with the processor at its stock 2.8GHz clockspeed and once overclocked to 3.4GHz, but unfortunately the processor performance difference was difficult to measure. The bottleneck in most games is the graphics cards and not the processor. I found that in all of my game benchmarks that the performance differences between the 2.8GHz processor and the 3.4GHz were insignificant. The reported scores are the ones done with the processor clocked at 2.8GHz.

How to read the benchmarks:

• Frames: the number of frames rendered during the 60-second benchmark
• Avg: the average number of frames produced in one second of the benchmark
• Min: the minimum number of frames per second (FPS) produced in a one second period during the benchmark
• Max: the maximum number of FPS produced in a one second period during the benchmark

The minimum number of FPS to have a 'smooth' gaming experience is 30. However, some games are more playable than others at less than that.

Crysis Demo

Crysis has been a long time in the making and the gaming community has been highly anticipating the arrival of this advanced first-person shooter. Unfortunately the demo is a mixed bag for performance benchmarking because it does not support SLI. The benchmark results I am reporting are done with SLI disabled. I found that if SLI was enabled, the game skipped unnecessarily for an unknown reason. The settings I benchmarked with are as follows:

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I tested with two different resolutions: 1440x900 (WXGA+) and 1280x800 (WXGA). I ran the game in DirectX 9 mode as I found it had better performance with no discernible visual difference. The results are as follows:

WXGA+ Resolution

• Frames: 1082
• Avg: 8.033
• Min: 11
• Max: 25

WXGA Resolution

• Frames: 883
• Avg: 14.717
• Min: 8
• Max: 23

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I found the results for the Crysis demo to be less than desirable. The poor performance leads me to believe one of two things: one, the demo is not optimized, or two, there is an issue with the M1730's software configuration. To find out whether the software configuration was the problem, I reinstalled all of the system devices (such as the video card and wireless card) using the latest drivers. Neither changed the performance. The only change that did help was disabling SLI, which made the game skip less. Note that Crysis only existed as a demo at the time this review was written; hopefully the full game will have better performance. Electronic Arts said the full game will support SLI.

Unreal Tournament 3 Demo

Unreal Tournament 3 is another game that has been a long time in the making. It makes use of multiple processors, physics accelerator cards, and SLI. I benchmarked with the following settings:

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Level: Heat Ray (Deathmatch vs. AI)

• Frames: 1750
• Avg: 29.167
• Min: 19
• Max: 37

Level: Shangri La (Deathmatch vs. AI)

• Frames: 1734
• Avg: 28.900
• Min: 20
• Max: 35

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UT3 looked beautiful on the M1730's display; the performance was playable at WUXGA but I would not call it completely smooth. Regardless, the fact that the M1730 is capable of providing a playable gaming experience at this extreme resolution is without a doubt impressive.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty 4 is the latest installment of the Call of Duty series, however unlike previous games in the series this is the first one that is not based on World War II and actual events. I used the following settings for benchmarking:

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I performed two benchmarks during the first level; one during the training and the second on the ship. The second benchmark was more demanding because of all the explosions, shooting, and rain.

Training part

• Frames: 1614
• Avg: 26.900
• Min: 12
• Max: 41

Ship part

• Frames: 1536
• Avg: 25.600
• Min: 14
• Max: 44

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The game was mostly playable at WUXGA and it seemed like I was getting more than the mid-20s average framerate. However, as I noted with the Unreal Tournament 3 benchmark, it is impressive that the game is playable at such an extreme resolution. This game used the full power of the M1730's dual Nvidia graphics cards.

DIRT Demo

DIRT is a recently-released driving game with intense graphics. It proved to be the M1730's biggest challenge after Crysis. I ran the game at a reduced resolution of 1680x1050 (WSXGA+) to get playable performance. The full settings I used for benchmarking are as follows:

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Level: Avelsbachring track, Germany

• Frames: 1906
• Avg: 31.767
• Min: 24
• Max: 36

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While the game is not playable at 1920x1200 (WUXGA), 1680x1050 (WSXGA+) proved to be more than enjoyable. The framerate range was small which led to a consistent gaming experience.

Star Wars: Battlefront II

Battlefront II is not a new game but its settings can still be cranked up to the point where it will stress most graphics cards. The M1730 had a relatively easy time with the game, as I had no trouble playing at the highest resolution and settings. Note that this game is capped at 80 frames per second. I benchmarked with the following settings:

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Level: Jabba's Palace

• Frames: 3194
• Avg: 53.233
• Min: 15
• Max: 76

Level: Death Star

• Frames: 2947
• Avg: 49.117
• Min: 30
• Max: 68

Level: Courscant

• Frames: 3084
• Avg: 51.400
• Min: 8
• Max: 63

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Battlefront II was more than playable as I expected, even with 4X anti-aliasing. The minimum FPS are misleading as the benchmark started when the level first started; the game was still loading files needed for the game.

Overall Gaming Impressions

The dual 8700M-GT video cards do struggle in the latest games but only at extreme resolutions with maximum detail settings. All in all the M1730 delivers solid gaming performance. I find it impressive that two cards with 128-bit memory interfaces can produce around 30 frames per second in many of the latest games; normally WSXGA+/WUXGA resolutions are too demanding to be played on 128-bit cards.

Heat &amp; Noise

The M1730 has one of the largest cooling solutions I have ever seen on a notebook. The entire backside of the machine is essentially one giant vent. There are two large-diameter fans in the bottom of the notebook which force outside air into the notebook. During normal use the notebook is nearly silent; the fans come on in intervals and usually do not stay on for more than a minute. It takes a skilled ear to hear the fans even with no background noise. In a silent room, a quiet movement of air can be heard when the fans turn on. While gaming the fans are always on, but again, they are extremely quiet. I noticed that in games that make use of the Ageia PhysX card such as Unreal Tournament 3, the left-most vent jets out warm air and slightly more noise is made. I should note that when the system is overclocked, the fans are locked at full blast which IS noisy. I do not recommend running this machine overclocked due to the noise level.

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The surface of the notebook stays slightly above room temperature which is also impressive. The back of the bottom of the notebook can get toasty after a while but it never felt too hot to touch.

Overall, Dell has done an excellent job of finding a way to cool down the beastly components of the M1730 while keeping the machine quiet.

Keyboard

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The M1730 has a full-size keyboard with separate number pad. It is LED backlit which is a handy feature in a dark or low-light area. The overall feel of the keyboard is not as high quality as the rest of the machine in this reviewer's opinion; the keys feel thin and I do not feel that the keyboard is as solid as it should be. There is an ample amount of flex when slightly more than average pressure is used. On the plus side I like the way the keyboard sounds and most keys are in their normal positions.

Touchpad

The M1730's touchpad has a high-end feel to it. Tracking is reliable and precise enough for most uses. The touchpad buttons feel solid and make a satisfying 'click' noise. The only potential downside to the M1730's touchpad is its relatively small size; I would not mind if it were a bit larger.

Input &amp; Output ports

All descriptions are from left to right.

Left Side: DVI, S-video, USB, Firewire, 5-in-1 card reader, fixed optical bay, microphone jack, 2x headphone jacks

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Right Side: Expresscard/54, wireless On/Off, Wifi Catcher button, 2x USB, Kensington lock slot

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Front: Stereo speakers, media controls, infrared sensor

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Rear: Power jack, USB, Ethernet

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I like the number and variety of ports offered, but I am surprised to see there is no HDMI port. The M1730 does have a DVI port though, which will output HD content.

Wireless

The M1730 comes with an Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN wireless card as standard equipment, which supports 802.11a, b, g, and n wireless formats. I had no trouble connecting to wireless networks and it held wireless signals well, even through walls. Oddly enough the M1730 does not come with Bluetooth wireless as standard equipment and our evaluation unit did not have a module installed. It did however have Verizon Wireless Mobile Broadband WAN built in, which worked beautifully. I was able to connect to the Internet over the fast EV-DO network within seconds. I measured download speeds around 1 Mbit/second and upload speeds approaching 700kbps. Built-in WAN can be a handy feature but its usefulness on the M1730 is debatable, since this is the type of machine that will spend most of its life on a desk.

Battery

The battery in the M1730 serves as more of an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) than anything else. Running with the screen brightness at full while surfing on Verizon wireless WAN, I measured 56 minutes of life. With the screen dimmed and the wireless turned off, battery life improved by about 20 minutes. Consider for a moment how much power this notebook consumes; Dell's regular Inspiron 17-inch notebook achieves almost 3 and a half hours of life with the same battery. With dual hard drives, dual video cards, and an Extreme processor, it is no wonder that the M1730 cannot stay unplugged for long. Anyone buying this notebook is probably not concerned with battery life so I do not view it as a con.

The XPS M1730 AC adapter is as big as some ultraportable notebooks (view large image)

Power Adapter

There are few notebooks that get a mini-review of their power adapter, but the M1730 is one of those special notebooks. Most will be shocked by the sheer size of this brick. It is so large because it needs to provide over 200 watts of power; the standard notebook power adapter provides 65 or 90 watts. The M1730's adapter weighs several pounds by itself. Its power cord is about twice as thick as the standard Dell power cord. I liked the blue power LED Dell put into the brick; most of the time they are green.

Operating System &amp; Software

The M1730 is available with Windows XP Professional different versions of Windows Vista; ours came with Vista Home Premium 32-bit. I find it rather odd that such an expensive machine does not come standard with Vista Ultimate. I was most surprised at the amount of bloatware pre-installed; there is as much on here as there is on a traditional Inspiron notebook. It took a good half-hour to rid the system of unwanted software.

Customer Support

Dell XPS systems come with special service as part of the price premium. According to Dell, the majority of service calls are answered within 2 minutes. The M1730 comes standard with a 1-year limited warranty and 1 year of XPS warranty support. In-home service is also standard.

Conclusion

Dell has respawned its flagship XPS gaming notebook into an even bigger and more powerful beast. The M1730 is one of the fastest gaming notebooks on the market and is certainly the flashiest. The M1730 is the most attention-grabbing notebook I have seen to date; its exterior appearance is sleek and intimidating. Taking the M1730 to a LAN party is sure to get one recognized. Dell has done a wonderful job with the M1730 inside and out; the software support may not be perfect at the moment but the hardware is all there, which is what counts.

Pros:

• Stunning exterior
• Impressive gaming performance
• Overclockable Extreme processor available
• Gorgeous screen
• LED backlit keyboard
• Customizable LED lights
• Runs cool and quiet

Cons:

• Some gaming performance issues
• Keyboard could feel more solid
• Vista Home Premium and bloatware on a machine starting at $2,700?

 

Wow! You can crush a baby with that thing!

Very nice review BTW.

 

I have one question, though first, at last someone reviewed the thing with some games that matter. So thanks for that.

My question is about the UT3 test. Why was the Texture & World Detail was set to 2? Or was that an error? (See: http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/28226.jpg)

 

(edit); nvm, game section just magically popped up after i posted this, lol.
nice review. i wish you tested out the latest games at it's native resolution and see how they compared to the 7950gtx sli at the same resolution. the 3dmark scores may seem a bit decieving from what i read.

i am dissapointed in finally finding out from a reputable source that the keyboard on this beast has horrible flex for something this expensive. i would guess that the alienware m9750 has zero keyboard flex compared to this dell?

 

Kind of a short review isn't it? Only took me two sittings to read.

That Crysis issue is odd, it would be nice to know if the game runs properly when it's actually released next week. I know you no longer have this to test though unfortunately.

Though the M1730 is loved by some and hated by others for its looks, I overall think it does look cool, and yes intimidating as you say. The keyboard looks odd, and doesn't fit the design.

The ability to overclock rather easily is nice, though the performance really does come down to the graphics card. I hear something else might be coming next week we should look out for in terms of graphics

 

i actually think this high gloss finish with all the circus lights on it would make me feel embarrassed. with my naturally sweating hands the laptop would become an oily mess in less than a minute. so i am surprised you guys are liking it, heh.

i have read that the crysis demo is not sli-enabled until nvidia puts out the correct drivers for it so there won't be any performance gains unless you hack the inner working files of the game. but, i am a little shocked to see that you only got an un-playable 9fps average and not even native res?

 

Thanks for the comprehensive review as always Chaz!

Although I am not a gamer myself (though I occasionally play the classic CS 1.6) I can't help but be very impressed by the performance. The hard drive performance in RAID mode is incredible. The looks are still far from my cup of tea though and I agree with Andrew on the keyboard. But being a business notebook kind of guy I guess not liking the design is to be expected

You shouldn't tease people Andrew. Spill the beans already

 

Rack up another great review for the ChazMan.

This is the first time a notebook is being officially reviewed with the Ageia RealityMark benchmark.... nice.

I like the backlit keyboard... but I think the MacBook Pro's have the nicest ones. And the extra lights do nothing for me.

The price for overall performance is questionable though, as compared to the other competition. (Clevo/Sager, Toshiba, Alienware/Arima)

And why the bloatware Dell??? ... not making enough with the marked up prices?

 

You got the 3DMarks score for "Dell XPS M1730 (Core 2 Extreme X7900 2.8GHz, Dual Nvidia GeForce 8700M-GT 512MB)" mixed up in the chart, Chaz. It's 8356, not 8536.

I have to agree with Gophn, Great review, Chaz. Still don't like the Design though.

 

conclusion: SLi is sketchy, wait a couple weeks for the 8800M.

nice review!

 

Well now I know why I was getting 3-4 FPS in DX10 mode, if even the M1730 can't get a decent amount in DX9 mode. Quite impressive performance and a good review. One question, though: can the lights be turned off completely?

 

nice review!, good god that thing is a beast!

 

I'm curious how these dual 8700M GT SLI compare to the previous gen dual 7950GTX SLI? I presume the 8700M GTs will be slower, but it'd be interesting to find out definitively how much in actual games rather than 3DMark which seems to favour DX10 generation cards. Very nice benchmarks BTW.

 

Basically Vista + Unoptimized drivers are not doing it any favours.

Vista does not support SLI properly, add to that the drivers seem to be pretty flaky at the moment.... I think the reviewer is correct that the hardware is there, and the software just needs to catch up. Hopefully in the coming months SLI support in Vista will improve as will the drivers and the 8700 will see some dramatic improvement in some games.

For some reason only NVIDIA knows of, they choose to use a 128-bit Memory Bus instead of the 256-bit found on the 7950 GTX. Though this is not the first time NVIDIA have choosen to equip a "High-End" product (in their words) with a 128-bit Memory Bus *cough* GeForce FX 5800 Ultra *cough*. Unfortunatly this handicaps the card when the resolution increases, since it has less memory bandwidth (roughly 50% less). That means you lose more FPS as the resolution increases compared to the 7950.

What is somewhat better though is the fact the 8700 GPU supports DX10 (yay?) but also appears to have superior shading power. This could make a big difference in games that are shader intensive, even to the point where it could be that the 7950's GPU becomes a bottleneck and the 8700 takse the lead. The Oblivion Benchmarks on TomsHardwareGuide seem to show how other areas of the system can be a bottleneck for a game. It's unclear if the increases seen in Oblivion with the M1730 were down to sheer CPU power, or if the GPU was resonsible also. IMHO Oblivion is a game that is pretty intensive shader wise, it makes a lot of use of HDR, and i believe that this helps the 8700 shine in that title.

This is just speculation of course, we wont know for sure until the drivers get better and the "newer" games get out there. Eitherway it seems that the performance of both setups (8700 or 7950) in SLI gives a great experience in games so its not too much of a problem. Take whatever you can get and dont worry about it too much.

 

Errr... wow.. I think the SLI is seriously screwed up on it. I play COD 4 at WUXGA with max settings and get more FPS than that.. DiRT is the only game that gets more, I even get more in Crysis, 8fps average with the stress test on DX10 very high WUXGA settings.. Drivers bad mabe?

UT3 looks like a 20% improvement though. but still practically nothing over a single 8700m GT..

Still though, cant wait for the 8800m I have 700$ in my paypal right now going to the first company who'll sell me one

 

For The Love Of God, What Is Wuxga? Thank You.

 

WUXGA or Wide Ultra XGA means you have a max laptop screen resolution of 1920x1200 which is the highest resolution available on a notebook.

Read more about resolutions and screens in the Notebook Screen Guide

 

Textures don't affect performance that much; I actually didn't realize the textures were set to 2.

I did test the games at the notebook's native resolution, or rather, at the highest playable resolution. For most games that was 1920x1200.

Yes the flashy design definitely takes some getting used to. The machine's hydrographic design does hide some fingerprints.

I was also surprised at the crap performance in Crysis, but we all need to keep in mind this is a demo. I'll reserve my judgment for the final game. One can only hope it will be better optimized than the demo.

SLI was definitely working in some benchmarks but as some members already noted, it could do better.

The lights can be turned off completely, yes.

Vista didn't help this machine, I can tell you that. You're right about the optimized drivers - I feel that the 8700M-GT has more potential.

WUXGA means Wide Ultra Xtended Graphics Array, or a display with 1920 pixels spanning horizontally and 1200 vertically.

 

As already noted, it's 1920x1200 not 1900x1200 you lose twenty four thousand pixels without that small 20 at the end

 

Thx. I correct my above post. Besides, losing 24,000 pixels when you have 2,304,000 pixels isn't going to be that noticeable :wink:. It might be annoying when watching HDTV but you should should get more FPS(1% more I reckon ) at that resolution when gaming(if the 8700m GT were capable of playing games at that resolution ).


BTW, excellent review Charles.

 

nice review...

case is ugly to look at... much prefer the light show looked instead...

however, it's very sad... premium price for middle of the road performance... for that price i would much rather get the xps desktop instead...

also crysis review is out and the final build doesn't run any better than demo...

crytek overshot the tech ceiling quite a bit... no amount of upgrade is going to get you to run the game at acceptable framerate the way the developer intended for you to see the game(ultra high) setting.

waiting for 8800m is a must for this beast... if the rumor is true that the 8800m is based on clock down 8800gt... even better if u get two 8800ms...

 

why option "hardware physics" is turned off in unreal tournament 3 ?

 

^
What he said .

 

I realize this is a small feature, perhaps extremely small to most....but no bluetooth??? Come on, this laptop was designed to be a powerhouse! Why skimp out on such a small feature?

Because it's a relatively small aspect to have, *shouldn't* it of been included??? I mean we're not talking triple hard drives, sli technology, or any of the hard core features....just a bluetooth technology. Why leave it? Very lame in my opinion.

 

^^ I have Bluetooth on my xps m1730.

 

Sorry. My fault, it does, just not standard. Still....for a such a powerhouse....why isn't it standard? Still seems funny to me.

 

Yes same here.

It was enabled for the benchmarks.

 

As it's still not fixed, I'll reitterate.

 

Bluetooth is included as standard now btw.

 

Second that.

 

Yeah, the 3dmark06 score needs to be fixed, and:

should read Crimson Red, should it not?

 

Argh... the 8800M GTX has been announced by Nvidia ans we're still waiting to see the cards in laptops.

It will be really really very interesting to see what kind of difference the review of the 8800M's has to show!

 

The 8800M already using in the 1730, but the price make a lots of gamer back off from it.

If the 9800M release, 8800M become cheaper, that will be nice!

 

I recently purchased the fully loaded Dell M1730 laptop The laptop for the first few days was perfect, super fast performance and its all bundled into a great looking package however, there are numerous software conflicts and issues, Dell's tech support are completely useless I have now made a total of 20+ phone calls (I have also built a number of machines so have a fair amount of experience)

Dell's customer service is terrible my company currently has 5 Dell workstations and a Dell Poweredge server and to be fair these machines have never had any issues but after my experience with Dell's tech support and customer service I will never purchase a dell machine again, Dell's warranty and the extra warranty they try to sell you is not worth the paper its written on!

Buyers Beware!

 

does it have a HDMI port now? the config site offers a HDMI cable option