Display driver for M17x R1: Is driver labelled "beta" necessary?

On Dell's Driver download page for display adapters, for an M17X R1 with GTX260M and Windows 7 OS, I see not only the driver I so far have always installed (labelled clearly referring to GTX260, posted 08/2010), but also one posted 06/2010 and marked explicitly "for R1" with the name (after download) "NVIDIA-NOTEBOOK-BETA-DRIVER-_P06_R273147".

(1) Should this driver be installed as well?

(2) If yes, before or after the GTX260M driver?

I read the very good old post on clean installs ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...er-install-order-guide-alienware-systems.html), but nothing is mentioned there. Thanks much.

 

Always use the newest from Dell. I don't even know why you'd consider an older driver with the word Beta in it.

As a note, you can also install the first (08/2010) driver from Dell, then go to the nVidia website and download the latest drivers. Those should also improve gaming performance, so it's recommended.

 

Thank you, Hybris, for clarifying. I have successfully rebuilt the system a number of times without that beta driver, but still noticed the occasional driver issue with the august 2010 one (up to system freeze every now and then). So I wondered if it was maybe a driver fixing an issue specific to R1s. I find it hard to understand why Dell keeps that driver up though. I will also follow your advice and get nvidia's most recent, of which I had shied away as I had assumed that the Dell posted one might have AW specific code. Thanks again!

 

Dell drivers sometimes do have specific codes, that's why it's recommended to install the Dell driver, then update from there.

Good luck. I hope I didn't sound too snarky. On second read, I didn't like it very much, but I'm sure you understand.