-->*OFFICIAL: Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge*<--

Can you not use the integrated Webcam while holding the system in front of a mirror? How do you like the white color?

Is it better than this here in red?

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "combined memory," I'm pretty sure I read that you definitely do not get 256 + 256 = 512.

Instead, you get 256 total, with each card having identical memory. The advantage of SLI is that both cards operate on the same memory at the same time.

 

Videos are up
www.youtube.com/wogstaa

 

I just got my m1730 about an hour ago - am installing Battlefield two and the disk is making a heck of a lot of noise!! Real loud "clank" sounds and you can feel the disk spinning if you put your hand on the left hand side.
Do you think this is the disk or the laptop? (I installed this very disk on a m1710 about 4 weeks ago and it all went very smoothly and quietly.

 

It's the disk, the same thing happened to me with Tiger Woods 08 (got an exchange from EB Games and it did the same). You'll also find it will install pretty slow when this happens.

 

Mine is LPL0032 (aka LG)

 

You can also do it in the BIOS (F2 on reboot)

 

What is the recommended benchmarking program that people are using? I'd like to post my results for feedback.

 

wow, i'm sitting here just chatting on IM and my CD-ROM drive just popped open by itself..... is it just cos it's halloween.....

 

Not sure whats recommended - but on my travels i've mostly seen 3dMark06 benches..

 

congrats on the lg zergworld and 3dMark06 is most ppl's choice for
benchmarking

 

Just tested out the disco lights with Windows Media Center. I couldn't get the keyboard to change colours, is it meant to?

 

Keyboard, only has white backlighting and so do the lights on the back of the screen

 

Just tested with 3dmark06 got 7766 with latest dell drivers
http://service.futuremark.com/orb/resultanalyzer.jsp?projectType=14&XLID=0&UID=11843188
and 7944 with 167.25 drivers
http://service.futuremark.com/orb/resultanalyzer.jsp?projectType=14&XLID=0&UID=11844192

Both are at stock speeds, I'll overclock a little and see how they go, they were at about 66 degrees during the 3dmark test

 

No, it's deffinitely an SE model screen

 

I won't be doing any overclocking anytime soon, the drivers are giving me a hard time and they arent stable on my system even at stock speeds, so i'll just stick with the latest dell drivers

 

little disapointed the lights on the back are only one colour but ill live

 

I'm going to turn all mine off as soon as I get it - except the backlights on the keyboard - do you know if thats possible mr greenfingers?

 

I installed ntune but I've not done any overclocking yet

I wanted coolbits auto overclock to work but it doesn't seem to give me the option in nvidia control panel?

Ah no bother, found the option

 

Keyboard backlight can be turned off I'm sure... I've seen an option somewhere

 

Wow, i found this thread, as it was the best one on delays on these systems. So i decided to join up and reply in frustration aswell.

I ordered mine on 2nd October 2007, it went through the pre-production/production satges over about a weeks time. Ever since the 10th October it is stuck in the Delivery Preparation Stage. The EDD then changed to 12th of November, after it being 20th October initially.

I have rung Customer service and sent them emails, and they all seem to have no idea whats happening or say they will track it, but then never ring me back. I am F..K..G annoyed. To top it all off, they bloody charged me for it to! Which i find just wrong. They should wait till u have system at least.

This thread gave me some hope, seeing that all these systems in general are delayed. I am from Ireland and ordered it here. Just wondering if anyone elses system is stuck in this stage(Delivery Prearation) for a prolonged time?

As i said great thread, and all i want is my Computer. Looks absolutely awesome from pics.

 

Yes, you can turn any of the lights off in any combination, the keyboard backlight can be switched on and off using the Fn and left keys to toggle on and off.
check the videos I did of the lights.
www.youtube.com/wogstaa

 

I will when I get home wogstaa - am at work atm - cheers for that

 

Dell needs to fix up their logistics in the UK, In Australia, I got mine within 6 business days after ordering it and the estimated delivery date only changed once and it only changed by two days and the system was delivered the day before the final estimated date

 

I'm with wogstaa, how is it possible that Australian customers can get their machines so quickly, when they have to be manufactured from a different continent, but UK customers wait months! I am in the middle of an email exchange trying to get to the bottom of why 3 extra weeks were added to my order 2 days before delivery. I fully expect to get a reply to that specific query arounf the time they announce that my unit is being shipped.

 

Does anyone know the answer to this question? Thanks,

 

I got my 1730 within 11 days... from order to arrival.

I was told the Extreme Processor was delaying orders in the UK. But those who haven't ordered it with that processor I don't know what's holding things up?

 

I'm pretty sure it will be a brond new order mate... you will of course have to wait for the thing again but it should / will deffinitely be a new machine.

 

I posted my 3DMark06 results in another thread but thought i would also post them here in case anyone is interested, here were my results:

I just ran the tests with the trial version at default settings and got 8398 with the stock drivers and 8744 with the 167.26 drivers. Had SLI set to Single GPU for both tests.

I am running XP though and that might make a difference.

 

I'm using driver 156.66 2007-09-28

Is the 167.26 driver OK for use with 8700M GT?

 

Try this link it has a list of a bunch of drivers and is where i got the 167.26 ones.

Let me know if you have any issues.

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showforum=72

 

Does anyone know another way to verify that the Agiea PhsyX processor is installed? I cannot find anything in the device manager and the Agiea PhysX systray property says "No Agiea PhysX processor installed".

 

Very interesting, and nice find. Mine says the same so i am hoping that someone else can explain this.

 

Ok apparently, i ahve been told:

The coding on boxes sent to shipping is wrong. The shipping crew need to wait to get new codes before they can ship them. Apparently the IT guys do this and are working on the problem. However how the hell does it take them 3 weeks to make a CODE LABEL, ffs. Oh well, i'll get iit eventually i guess.

 

I was told by my account manager that they are expecting delivery of Wireless n Cards from Intel in 2 days. Those cards are holding up the production process in my case. I ordered mine on 10th October and my estimated delivery date is 8th November, and it is becoming to become unlikely they will meet the deadline - shipping from Ireland to Germany usually takes 3 days, so they only have 2-3 days left before I will experience a delay.

 

3dmark06 score : 8347 using the 156.66 driver, Vista Ultimate

 

What is DELLs return policy in the UK?

I'm having a few second thoughts about mine but im not sure what they will do about it...

1 - The screen has some light leakage at the bottom and top. Normally you wouldnt see it but if your watching a movie or in a dark area of a game its there. I also dont think the colors are uniform.... perhaps its just my eyes though

2 - I don't think im happy with the "bone white" back cover. I'd like to try RED i think. I seems to look a bit too bland with all the LEDS on the front.

3 - It's been running like a pig since i turned it on. Taking forever to copy files, and it keeps hard-locking on me for some reason (seems to be whenever i press CTRL+ALT+DEL to get to Task Manager the screen just locks up).

4 - Related to 4. It's just running so sloooow for some reason that im installing an application/game and the thing seems to almost 'stop'... cant explain it. I was thinking of trying to reinstall but that wont solve 1 & 2 even if it solves 3 & 4.

5 - HOT! I could feel the heat of the thing through the glass desk its sat on. If it was on my lap at that time i think i would be in the emergency room with burns

6 - Maybe related to 3 & 4. I'm not sure the hard drive performance is up to snuff, however the next option up on dells site is a massive £200 extra. What kind of options are those....

What will DELL do? Anyone else had anything simular?

---- The only other system i have seen that came close to the DELL was Alienwares M9750.... I can actually get a 7200RPM hard drive without breaking my budget.... but they are not using Santa Rosa, and the CPU is 200Mhz slower... No PhsyX either.... oh and ofc, 7950 GTX's instead of DX10 8700's though ive not been blown away by the performance of the 8700's yet, SLI seems to be flaky.

 

I'm sad to say i've had to cancel my order Dell have not been able to give my the same story twice with regards to my order, I have been on the phone to dell all through today and after every phone call i asked for them to send me an email stating what they said. I now have an inbox full of emails from dell all clearly lieing about my order, some saying the system is being tested, some saying they are waiting for a component, processor, hard drive. These have now been forwarded dell customer services( for what good i think it may do for those still holding out) and also a few UK computer magazines. I leave for canada on Wednesday, but think i will not be ordering an xps when i get there. Good luck to those still waiting.
Also for those in the UK still waiting i recomend sending an email regarding the price difference between us and your system in Canada as i got a refund of £180 before i cancelled.

 

Because of the color and panel leakage, they will offer a replacement, as this is not covered through tech support. You may have to call your account manager though, as customer support can usually only get you a same-config replacement - but then a color change means same price, so potentially customer support will be bale to do it.

Regarding the screen, customer support may stransfer you to a technician, so they can attest you can't improve it through their help. Just do it and then go back to customer service. I had 3 replacements like this and 3 through sales which involved improved components (I used the bad panel to upgrade my config a few times, but only an account manager can arrange this).

I wouldn't bother with tech support regarding your other problems.

Replacement may allow you to stall until the new 8800M graphic chip is available onor around 19th November.

I got some internal information that they will offer this chip very soon.

By the way I have seen pictures of the blue, red, white and grey versions, and the red appeals to me most with grey my second choice.

I have ordered in white, but I guess I am more excentric than that.

 

Hi Harry

Customer service is usually not "in the know". They can only see on their screen what you can also see on their internet tracking system.

You should call your XPS specialist.

My dell specialist tells me the wireless n card from Intel is delaying my order. They should receive a shipment by the end of the week.

Also, those who ordered early went through the "safe launch" phase, which means their systems got tested intensively and hence had longer delivery times. I have this information with the EMEA press reviews manager at Dell.

I think Dell have been unlucky with some of their providers. It was out of their control really and should soon be solved.

This is the same reason why we won't have Raid 0 SSD until a longer time in Europe: procurement capacity issues.

 

Just curious, if they replace the system, do they replace just the laptop or everything in the box(like manuals and cables ect)?

Im still well within the "7 day window" that people said DELL will replace with, but i have been searching their site so i know what to expect but ive not found anything regarding their policy in the UK. In the US it seems that within 7 days you can return it without reason, but does not say if it has to be "unused" ect.

 

People running Xp are usually getting higher scores than vista users

You should probably call dell, it looks like its not installed if it doesnt say in the task manager, or it may be faulty.

Are you using XP or vista? and what resolution is 3dmark running at?

 

Well just got off the phone with XPS support for over an hour regarding the "Physx Processor not installed" in the control panel. The guy there took over my machine using Dell Connect and after some time stated that it did not look like it was installed.

So they are now shipping me out a new one (not sure how long that will take, they said 7 business days) anyway its not an issue because it is something i can live without until then.

I am curious though as i never would have looked until klubjunkee brought it up, so others may want to check it out as well. Does anyone's Ageia control panel say that it is installed?

 

Don't know who your source is and wouldn't mind finding out cause the Dell Rep. I spoke to yesterday said they had no idea when it will be intergrated into the 1730.

 

Dell will have UPS pick up your box with everything in it as soon as you have received your replacement.

I once forgot to put the power adapter and some cd's in the box and called dell and they said I could keep them...This is Dell service...

I think you should just call them tomorrow.

 

Sorry, I can't. But think just a second...when was Dell not the first to integrate the latest Nvidia chips? They were always there...If Nvidia launch in November, Dell will.

Also I don't see the point of a launch after Christmas.

 

uk returns policy is 7days and as long as you keep it in good nick it dose not matter if you use it

 

Any one got an idea what 1024Mb (512+512) of 8800 is going to cost in replacement?

I've the 8700's now and blown away by 'em, but might want to upgrade in 12 months or so... if games demand it.


Cheers.

 

Ah well thats good to know. I sent an email to them but i shall ring them as well tomorrow.

I have to admit im still not impressed with the game performance. I tried UT3 (Demo) and actually was impressed with the results but i just tried Bioshock and it didnt play all that well... also lowering the res below 1920x1200 makes the image look slightly blurry.

If i dont get the XPS M1730 im not sure what other laptop could possibly be better game wise. I doubt the 7950 GTX in SLI would be much faster all in all... dispite the fact no DX10 so Bioshock and UT3 will not look as nice anyway (even if they run faster).

Also Alienware are the only ones offering SLI 7850's still (UK) so id have to go with one of their systems which is rather pricy and has less than the DELL. Maybe i was just expecting too much from the GPU's to start with, I just want to run at a sharp looking res with all the bells and whistles. AA and AF never really has concerned me.

 

I also called Dell today and they connected to my system AGAIN (Yes, this is the second time) to verify the Agiea PhysX in once again not installed (This is my replacement for this same issue and swamp loads of BSOD and video issues). The tech tried to BS me in saying the Agiea card was working because the PhysX demo worked. I was quick to point out that it was only in software mode and Ageia support site mentions it should be a property in your Device Manager which it wasn't. So now, I've got a tech coming Monday to to install the twice missing PhysX card. I'm gonna call the account manager tomorrow to see what perks he's gonna throw in before I decide to return this thing entirely.