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

I Have an M1730 on the way, it was given to me as a replacement for my constantly glitchy m1710 that has been replaced 4 times now.

I really hope i Get the LG screen, I hate the curtain backlight effect

So wait they took the subwoofer out completely? Can anyone else confirm this! I love the sub! Anyone know where to get an Expresscard Sound card/subwoofer all-in-one?

Does the m1730 come with a case for free or no? Im guessing im going to need one.

Is it lap freindly? I see the whole damn bottom is made of vent, Does it get ridiculusly hot when you put in on your lap, Do you have to keep your legs away from a certain area?

Anyone brave enough to see if the 230w adapter is backwards compatable with the m1710, 1520 1420 etc? My m1710 adapter works with all of them, and vise versa but preforms and charges more slowly, But a 1420 might just explode on contact with the 230w adapter... if so i hope they made the plug completely different.

Does the LightFX visualizer Feature Under Quickset make the song blip or crackle when the LEDS are changing color?

Diffirent battery then the m1710 Right?

To clarify Are you all sure the m1730 has 8700m GT's?? Ive seen 8700 GS 256mb thrown around dells website lately.

Does the keyboard and LEDS darken and lighten more smoothly? The old "breathing" effect was very choppy, Like someone was just clicking down the brightness.

Does it come with an HDMI to DVI cable? or adapter? Ive heard both.

Anyone had any HD video pixelation or Audio choppiness?

Anyone who can give an in-depth opinion of the speakers loudness in comparison the to m1710 with the sub?

As soon as i receive my m1730 ill take pictures alongside my m1710 and 1520, and even a 1405 (which is probobly about the size of the power brick from what i hear) so ill keep you guys posted.

Can someone confirm that the M1730 with the T7700 is missing the CPU Overclock menu in the bios Under preformance? Ive heard both that Dell made the whole m1730 unlocked to overclocking and that only the x7900 is overclockable.

I also have an X-FI Expresscard so i will let you guys know if i notice a diffirence before and after using the card.

Also anyone tried to connect to both an HDTV with the Component SPDIF adapter and HDMI DVI adapter at the same time? Can you power 3 screens at once? (monitor, lcd panel, hdtv, or hdtv x 2 and lcd panel, etc)


ALSO Do the 3 headphone out ports also function as an analog 5.1 channel out like it did on the m1210??

Configuration (tenative)

T7700 2.4ghz 800mhz
2gb ddr667
200gb 7200rpm
dvdrw
physx
dual 8700m GS (gt?) w 512mb gddr3 (2 x 256)
Blue wings
bluetooth 2.0
Wireless N
About 40 more days of warranty, so my warranty will be up within 2 months of the m1730 launch unless i extend it.

I saw pre-release pictures of the m1730 and thought it looked like a transformer but i really like how it turned out even if it is 11 pounds.

Has anyone tried to put a Gelaskin on this thing? maybe razorblade out the wings and logo.... Someone do... or i will... and ill post pics.

 

most questions ever in one post? there some kind of award?

 

"Does the m1730 come with a case for free or no? Im guessing im going to need one."

Mine did but it was part of the deal.

"Is it lap freindly? I see the whole damn bottom is made of vent, Does it get ridiculusly hot when you put in on your lap, Do you have to keep your legs away from a certain area?"

No keep it off your lap, it is a desktop replacement notebook not a "lap" top.

"Does the LightFX visualizer Feature Under Quickset make the song blip or crackle when the LEDS are changing color?"

No.

"To clarify Are you all sure the m1730 has 8700m GT's?? Ive seen 8700 GS 256mb thrown around dells website lately."

GT's in mine.

"Does the keyboard and LEDS darken and lighten more smoothly? The old "breathing" effect was very choppy, Like someone was just clicking down the brightness."

Not smooth.

"Does it come with an HDMI to DVI cable? or adapter? Ive heard both."

Cable.

"Can someone confirm that the M1730 with the T7700 is missing the CPU Overclock menu in the bios Under preformance? Ive heard both that Dell made the whole m1730 unlocked to overclocking and that only the x7900 is overclockable."

No OC menu unless you have the xtreme.

"ALSO Do the 3 headphone out ports also function as an analog 5.1 channel out like it did on the m1210??"

Yes.

 

Optimised for Dell?

Whats actually different from that and the Kingston Value Ram?

The KTD-INSP6000B/2G Kingston Ram for Dell part costs a lot more and isn't stocked at many retailers and hence it commands a price premium....

I would of read between the lines with that Kingston for Dell model being a way Kingston/Dell could scam more money from consumers?

 

Optimised for Dell?

Whats actually different from that and the Kingston Value Ram?

The KTD-INSP6000B/2G Kingston Ram for Dell part costs a lot more and isn't stocked at many retailers and hence it commands a price premium....

I would of read between the lines with that Kingston for Dell model being a way Kingston/Dell could scam more money from consumers?

 

@Mrbubbles,

Are you sure about the overclocking? You may not have it because you have the t7500, But on the m1730 page it says "overclockable processors" as one of the features and in a video they said they designed the computer itself to be overclockable.

If this is true then Does anyone have an opinion on if i should make the push for Dell to upgrade my T7700 to The X7900?

My Current system is an M1710 With a T7600G Overclockable to 2.56 within warranty and 3.2 out of warranty, It gets a 5.6 on the Windows experience index, The t7700 Gets a 5.1 apparently, and the x7900 gets a 5.6. The t7600G has a 667mhz FSB and the t7700 Has a 800mhz FSB but i still think by what im seeing that the t7600g is far superior to the t7700.


Thoughts?

And how about the Sub, Could someone play a high bass song and rotate the lappy around a little and see if there might be a dedicated sub hiding somehwere .. ;-( I love the mini-sub!!! And Im kind of serious if anyone knows of an Expresscard mini-Subwoofer

 

From everything that I have read on the Dell Australia website only the X7900 is OCable (up to 3.4), maybe it differs in other countries. The T7500 and T7700 do not mention on the Dell Australia website that they can be OCed.

 

The X7900 is the only overclockable processor, that is why they have a huge premium on the price, over $1000 in Australia to upgrade from t7700 to X7900. Definately no subwoofer in it, though the sound is still pretty good. If you are using it as a desktop replacement you could buy some decent 5.1 speakers with a pretty good sub for a pretty decent price

 

Yeah but there was a good amount of price diffirence between the t7600 and the t7600G because the G was overclockable, So i really think that if they are replacing an m1710 with a t7600G and 7950GTX they should give me the overclockable processor, especially if the alternative scores .5 lower on the windows experience index. Any opinions?

 

Oh and how about the SD card slot, Can you Insert a 150x 2gb SD card and leave it in the slot without it really sticking out much, to use with Readyboost? Or does it stick out? Pics maybe?

 

I am a bit wary of this approach, however I contacted Dell this morning and as a standard they said if i wanted to change the configuration, I would return the laptop and make a new order. This is obviously the 'standard' response from Dell. If I go ahead now and take receipt of the laptop I AM going to return it, who would be best to contact first, customer services or Sales? Mine was an internet order and i don't seem to be able to get in contact with the same sort or level of people you have had experience with.

I just want to make sure I don't get a laptop that I don't really want, purely down to the fact the config is not exactly what I want.

 

I just got an email from Dell and the guy said:
"In regards with your enquiry on the upgrade of the video card, the system is configured with the 8700M graphic card at the moment. In regards with your enquiry on the video card, please be advised that the option to upgrade the video card after the point of purchase is not available."
I will question him a bit more.
In my response I wrote:
"With regards to the video card upgrade, will there be any upgrade available in the future, because I am quite disappointed with the gaming performance of the machine Dell labels as the 'Beast'"

 

I also told him about my dead pixels and light leakage and he wants me to see if the dead pixels and light leakage occur on an external monitor. ??? I don't think so

 

I understand your concern. Maybe they treat internet sales differently.

But one things is sure, you WILL be allowed to return your laptop no matter what. If you order anew than I am sure the switchboard will let you speak with a Sales specialist...They are the best people to work with, as they can arrange money reallocation with finance. Also even for Internet sales, you are usually allowed to determine when you want your old system to be picked up by UPS. If you tell them you have a new purchase going, they usually pick a date after the expected delivery date. Try to call sales before organising a return, though, as Sales can usually take care of this. It is better if they handle this from the start, so that it doesn't clash with customer service.

 

My experience has been universal so far in that neither side (Customer services or Sales) have been able to give a satisfactory or even the same response. Has anyone on the forum in the UK done a sale via the Net and had to either send it back for replacement or to change the configuration?

 

iv just been given a lexar 16gb express card ssd from a friend but dont realy know what its used for can anyone help is it just like a big memory card??

 

pretty much, Most people who have those 16gb flash cards mount their OS on them to boot and get system files faster, but then your primary drive would be pretty cluttered.

You could just enable Readyboost when its in an speed up your computer a bit.

;-)

 

Im back. Ive decided to send back the "beast" until the 8800 comes out. hopefully its the 19th. If the base model is now 2699, then one with the 8800 shouldnt be more than 3100 or so right?
I hope they offer configs that cater to everyone.
The highest 3dmark06 i got was 8400 or so, and that was with unofficial drivers and overclocking, both of which i didnt feel comfortable using given the price of this thing and the fact that its new.
hopefully they release the 8800 with the new drivers or at the very least release the new drivers even if the 8800 is delayed.

all this stuff is going to be around the same time as cod4, crysis, nfs s, so hopefully they all play at more than decent fps.

until then see ya folks.

 

What he said..c ya 19th

 

You honestly believe that (a) it will be out anytime soon and (b) you will be happy with it? Yeah right...

 

thanks will give it a go when i get my 1730

 

love reading your posts your always so positive lol

 

Anyone also want to comment on the Preformance diffirence in Both DX9 and DX10 games Between the 7950GTX and the Dual 8700 M GTs, Ive heard conflicting opinions saying that since the 7950 is the top of the line DX9 card its much faster and more powerful then the 8700mGT because the 8700m will be one of the lower end cards after the 8800 8850 etc.


Also still interested to know if the 230w adapter works with any other dell laptop, But again be careful ;-) The message on my 1520 and m1710 both say "insert power adapter of __w or GREATER" so maybe 230w would work. It just gets annoying plugging in and color coding the adapters. But both of my other laptops are going back anyway.

 

And order status BTW, But ive been informed that it should ship out by the end of this week.

Order Date: 11/5/2007
Order Status: In Production
Shipping Method: Next Business Day
Est. Ship Date: 11/12/2007
Est. Delivery Date: 11/13/2007
Carrier: Not Shipped
Tracking Number: Not Shipped

 

And Anyone with an m1730 Already Could you put an SD card in the reader and tell me and/or take pictures of how far it sticks out of the slot? Ive grown accustomed to using readyboost with a 2gb sd card and just leaving the SD in all the time.

 

He he... can't believe nobody has kicked my butt yet?

Anyhow - ordered my 1730 on 1st Nov and it's due on the 9th Nov. Currently 6th Nov - "Build Complete - Ship from Factory" - to New Zealand.

Got smoke grey, 2.4Ghz, 4Gig Ram, 2x160Gig 7200 Drives, Vista Ultimate but no Physics Acc. Gonna be mainly for video editing.

 

i was thinking the same thing myself lol

im using mine for gaming and blu-ray

 

Here you go: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=171671
A little searching wouldn't hurt

Anyway if you don't wanna read though all of that here is my take on it:

The 7950GTX does so far have more raw power mostly due to its 256-bit bus agains't the 8700mGT's 128-bit. However as has already been stated countless times: The 8700mGT is DX10 ready, which should provide with an upper-hand in DX10 dependent games. Also with driver developers making drivers more and more lean, it should take the upper hand on most scenes. Rumours also has it that the 8700mGT SLi beats the 7950GTX SLi. Wether this is merely speculation or fact is hard to say.

 

On dells website it lists the cards as being


Dual 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8700M GS
NVIDIA® SLI® Technology
Ageia PhysX processing unit

Is the 8700m GT a multiconfigurable card like the 8600M gt available in both 512 and 256 in the same card? Or is the card that we are getting/have a 8700m GS SLI, is anyone 100% postive they have GT's I know one person already said he had GT's but is anyone sure?

 

ain't that the truth, they are still ironing out the current video glitches.

 

I have a Lexar 16GB expresscard that I was hoping I could use as an extra fast disk drive, but it's performance characteristics are not sufficient for ReadyBoost.

I use mine as a basic portable storage device...

 

They'll use the same drivers as the 8700, but why would you want to wait 6 months for a few more 3DMark06 points? Seems a bit petty to me. If your system is broke (which it's not) then get a replacement. 8400 points is nothing to shrug off on a notebook, if it's not good enough for you then you really should get yourself a desktop and stop complaining.

 

Well i just ordered this in hopes of Using a razor blade to slice out the wings and the logo from the skin.

https://www.gelaskins.com/skins.php?Device=5&Category=10&Skin=121&ProductCode=239


Any current m1730 owners tried skinning it yet? is the back of the lid easily scratchable??

 

Guys, try the 169.04 drivers here
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15825
They are the best drivers I have used so far but make sure to uninstall the other drivers first and use Driver Sweeper to remove the old drivers
http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?page=driversweeper

I managed to get 8276 in 3dmark06 with these which is way higher than I got with any of the other drivers

 

im not sure but we are getting 256mb and the alienware is using the same cards but 512mb

 

has anyone maybe though about buying the dual 512's From alienware as a spare part? Do they run on the same type of single card? lol that would be a SICK upgrade!

 

the lid of the alienware m9750 is kinda cool and all, but I was just looking on the placement of the components(usb, cd drive etc) and I dont like the layout, especially the dvd drive location

 

Also regarding the 16gb Expresscard, Sometimes you have to do the test a few times to get readyboost to recognize the drive, almost all Flash drives and expecially SSD's are compatible.

I found using ready boost with a 2gb 150x SD card really makes my system startup alot faster. maybe 5-10 seconds

 

Dell now says on the Australian website that delivery may take 3 to 4 weeks. So they must be having shortages

 

Well I finally did it on 10/26/07....

Ordered my XPS 1730 and it's supposed to be shipped "today" 11/6/07... We'll see if it ships on time.... LOL

Don't even play games, but BOY... If I ever decide to.... WOW!

I *do* about everything else on a computer though, including video editing, and am on the road a lot....

About the only thing I wanted that I couldn't get yet was 64bit Vista Ultimate, duel 512MB video cards instead of 256MB, and HDMI...

Hopefully they will offer the hardware upgrades later when the new video cards come out....

 

DiverJim, I use a DVI-D to HDMI converter and it works a treat! - Only cost me about 2 quid.

 

I just got a phone call from Dell and they are going to send a tech out to replace my LCD and fix the LED in the left speaker
On the 8800 the guy said that he knows nothing about it but if they were to release it for the 1730 (which is very likely) there would likely be an upgrade option available

 

Good - I hope they sort it mate.

Re the 8800 - we seem to be going around in circles to be honest - some Dell people know nothing about it - others are "sure" it's coming before xmas...

puremind seems convinced due to the info he has from various people that it's coming - i'm inclined to agree & say I think it's coming because of the post from the Dell EMEA guy on the German forum - thats the best "official" indicator yet imo.

The problem for me is I need the laptop for my work - my current one is really struggling - so if I cancel for the 8800 I could be waiting and struggling for quite a while, going to talk to the sales guy about the price drop this morning anyway - if nothing is done about that im cancelling for sure - lol at a £400 quid total price drop before mine is even built...

 

Hi,

I've had to send mine back.
Two problems, (well there is a third but it probably Vista based)
1) The laptop actually would not sit level on a level surface! The top left, top right and bottom right pads would touch the surface and when I put my left hand down to start typing it would lift up the right top corner - MOST IRRITATING!

2) It's a LCD with the inch of white haze at the bottom.

3) Vista froze 3 times within an hour of getting it. I was doing a series of installs that really weren't that demanding.

Because of all the above I've decided that €3K is way too much to pay for something with all these problems.

One caveat I have though is that Dell support is excellent, even the call centre stuff was clear and appreciative of my problem. They will collect it tomorrow and refund me by Monday.

Before talking to them I wasn't really even thinking of reordering off them, but I will think about it again, if only for the Dell XPS premium support team (~when I phoned I got thru to a guy in America, who was very appreciative and outlined all my options.)


Yours,
72oo

(Temporarily without a laptop!)

 

Mine dropped in price by about $100 plus they are giving an extra 160gb hard drive for free. It kinda sucks that they have new offers every week and when you get it you just watch the price drop and wish you waited. But I love using it and thank god I don't have to use the 6 year old piece of crap I was using before At least I can play some games now

 

72hundred, mine doesn't sit level either, I just put a piece of plastic under one of the feet and its fine now. I dont mind because I'm going to get a keyboard so I dont have to use the built in one.
Vista is also pretty crappy for me as well, many blue screens and crashes since I got it, but I can hang on till service pack 1 comes out.

Anyone who hasn't ordered, DON'T get the Norton Internet Security option like I did, it's a pain in the arse and I've had to reinstall it 5 or 6 times over the past week because of some problem. It actually tells me to uninstall it to fix the problem

 

just checked and mine is on its way

now i paid £2600 for this spec
List N1017305 - XPS 1730 Good 200-50741
1 XPS M1730 CORE 2 DUO T7700 2.40GHz,800,4M 210-18761
1 Ageia PhysX Processing Unit Card 221-10005
1 17.0" UltraSharp¿ Widescreen WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT Display with TrueLife¿ with 2.0MP Web camera 230-10134
1 Smoke Gray 320-10170
1 Not Included Resource CD 340-13279
1 Euro Ship Accessories Euro Power Cord 340-14750
1 English Documentation XPS 1730 340-14762
1 Eng, Frn, Ger, Spn Placemat XPS M1730 340-14893
1 Memory Dual-Channel 2048MB (2x1024) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM 370-12184
1 400GB (7200rpm) SATA RAID 0 Stripe (2x200GB) 400-13824
1 Blu-ray Disc DVD+/-RW Optical Drive including software 429-12763
1 UK/Irish 220V AC Adapter Power Cord 450-11557
1 AC Adapter 230W 450-11569
1 Primary 9-cell 85WHr Li-Ion Battery 451-10485
1 XPS M1730 Backpack Carrying Case 460-10251
1 Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8700M GT graphics with NVIDIA SLI Technology 490-10695
1 Dell™ Travel Remote Control 506-10024
1 For Vista only: Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audio 510-10173
1 Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-PCI Card, EUR 555-11012
1 Uk/Irish Internal Keyboard (QWERTY) 583-11662
1 Software Drivers XPS M1730 613-10521
1 English - Vista Home Premium 619-10906
1 English Microsoft Works 8.0 (Word Processor, Database) with Recovery CD 630-11001
1 UK Internet Service Provider (Orange & Tiscali) 640-10280
1 English - Adobe Reader 8.1 640-10395
1 Dell Support 3.4 640-10551
1 English McAfee Security Centre 8.0 - 30 Day Trial Version 650-10792
1 Base Warranty - 1 Year XPS Premium Hardware Support (incl. Gaming and On-Site Support)

its now i belive £500 cheaper with no gr2 game and no bluetooth

i can now spec one with 7900 gpu and 4gb ram for my original price of £2600

cant wait to see what they will do to keep me happy

 

sorry to bother again but looking to upgrade the ram...

Quote:Originally Posted by puremind
You need RAM that has been tested on the Dell, so you need Either Dell or Kingston.

Not any RAM will do. I know it because I tried to buy 2x2GB DDRAM from a cheaper brand and my system was noticably slower, and got warm with all sorts of issues while playing video or games.

I had to sell them on eBay and buy the Dell modules instead. If you buy non Dell, just may sure you buy Kingston optimized for Dell XPS M1710 (don't pick the Kingston Value RAM).

Optimised for Dell?

Whats actually different from that and the Kingston Value Ram?

The KTD-INSP6000B/2G Kingston Ram for Dell part costs a lot more and isn't stocked at many retailers and hence it commands a price premium....

I would of read between the lines with that Kingston for Dell model being a way Kingston/Dell could scam more money from consumers?

 

Find some RAM and contact XPS technical support and see if they can tell you if it will work in the system, otherwise contact the manufacturer of the memory and see what they have to say, generally any RAM should work anyway, I'll let you know if I get my RAM anytime soon (which isn't looking likely), There are some must-have games coming out for Xbox 360 so I don't think I'll have the money for the RAM. But then again my Birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I always get lots of money
I'll let you know if I get it

 

just got off the phone and mine will be hear tomoro morning i start work at 11:30 so hope it turns up befor then