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

Did you not read my posts fella? I've been told there are massive delays with the Extreme CPU (well into next year im told), im waiting to find out over the next couple of days if my order spec will even be met, it's two weeks ago I ordered now.

I was talking to my mate about it this morning - we compared it to BMW launching the new M3, but having a 6-8 month delay on the engine for it (lol) -I think it's a dire state of affairs.

I can also see that a large percentage of the people who have received theirs on this forum are returning them....

 

Don't know if this is the general experience or not, but I've been using my 1730 for a couple weeks now. It's overclocked to 3.0 GHz, SLI enabled and haven't had any issues. I got over 8300 on 3dMark06, and it's chugging along. I'm quite happy.

Now, I'm not a serious gamer. I use this machine for software development, but I am constantly trying to optimize and tweak for performance. So far so good.

 

Well, that makes two of us, I'm happy with mine too and I'm a gamer but I'm a bit pissed off that they didn't fix the LED in my speaker now I have to get the tech to come here again, they gave me a new LCD though, otherwise I'm happy with mine and not too worried about the 8800GPU.

 

Yeah, I'll post one as soon as I'm back in the UK... left my camera there

 

What is your new LCD? Which brand? Samsung? Any leaking or satisfying?

 

Does any one know what's the policy for returning a notebook you have recently bought from Dell,in the Asia-pacific region,or in India,to be more specific.It seems the payment methods are different too.Here in India,one has to pay the amount in advance thru Demand Draft or credit card,and it's only then that they start building your order.But in other countries,I suppose there's some period of time (14 days) after recieving your order till which you can pay the amount(thru credit,i suppose).
Iam planning to buy an XPS M1730,only that it wud be launched sometime in the next year in India.previously it was supposed to come in November along wid XPS 420,but now it has been delayed,i hope it has Nvidia Geforce 8800M GTX by then!Atleast it wud b worth the wait then!

 

Apparently the Samsung LCDs are the only ones available in Australia, so it is a Samsung, it has the light leakage which you can only see when the screen shows something really dark, but the rest of the screen is pretty darn good.

 

Could you put some videos on Youtube showing the screen in different situations (in the dark with a dark background, then chaging background to blue and finally a game or Internet Explorer)?

That would help us assess the quality of the Samsung screen compared to the previous model 3155...

If you can, would also be cool to see the lid color in a bright environment.

I saw your previous videos on youtube and they were good quality.

 

To the UK based guys about to reorder what kinda price are u getting discounted , i just played 2 reps off with one another and ended up cancelling my current order from 2 days ago and getting a new one with the last dude i spoke to , got

XPS M1730 CORE 2 DUO T7700 2.40GHz,800,4M
4GB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x 2G)
320GB (7200rpm) SATA RAID 0 Stripe (2x160GB)
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audio
3 Year Consumer XPS Premium Hardware Support

for £1870 and they chucked a free XPS backpack in for me , just wondering what kinda deal you guys are getting so i know if i have worked hard enough in my bargaining !

 

Well i tried but couldnt seem to get anything, but for £1889, i have what you listed there, minus 2GB of RAM, the backpack and 3yr hardware support (oh and that Advanced HD Sound software). So that seems pretty good, since the 3yr warrenty is at least £200 (not sure exact price).

 

do u want the email of the guy i ordered from ? i just kept saying Rock could do me a better deal then eventually he buckled.

 

Sure, though im not sure what he could do for me now i have ordered. And might wonder how i got his email

Worth a try though, ta.

 

That's a 15% discount isn't it? I think you have a better deal than anyone but a couple, excluding grouped orders. Average discount is more between 5% and 10%.

 

Well mate, i had also ordered , but when i logged onto the dell site they have dropped their prices by £150 i think , so i told him i was going to cancel and reorder or go to www.rockdirect.com i will pm you his tel number and extension and his email .

GL and just say that your friend got the deal i did and im sure he will go for it, i think its just down to luck with the rep you get when u make a purchase, get a good one and you can get shed loads off

pm to follow shortly dude

 

arrr sweet thanks for the reply pure, nice to know i got a good deal

 

Cool, i checked out ROCK before and i couldnt really see anything to bargain with XD ill see though. I'd just be happy with the 5% discount from my original order (before October 31st).

 

Anyone received a model with a slot loading drive yet? From all the pictures ive seen ive only seen tray loading.

Anyone who recently received their m1730? Ive heard that they recently revised the drive to be slot loading, I absolutely hate outsourced dell customer service, no help, no answers. just bs.



Is the Slot loading CD DVD drive on the m1330 loud?

You are now being connected to an agent. Thank you for using Dell Chat

Connected with XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
12:11:53 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
Welcome to Dell’s XPS Sales Chat. My name is Chris. I'll be your personal sales agent today. Give me a moment to review your concern. Please don’t go away.
12:11:58 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
You can also email us at [email protected]. We are available from 8am-11pm CST, Monday-Sunday. Rest assured that we'll get back to you as soon as possible.
12:12:37 PM Customer Reid
also does the m1730 offer a slot loading drive now? ive heard that they changed the drive to a slot loading form factor.
12:12:43 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
Hi Reid. It will make sounds specially if you try to make copies of CD's and DVD's but it will mot make too much noise.
12:12:55 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
Let me check on that, can you give me a moment?
12:12:56 PM Customer Reid
Im talking about loading and unloading discs
12:13:14 PM Customer Reid
is it load when unloading and loding discs, some slot loading drives are quite peircing
12:13:28 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
No it will not make sounds or noise as well.
12:16:18 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
One more moment please.
12:16:45 PM Customer Reid
Wow, OK so wait your telling me that the m1330 doesnt make any noise like pictured here, http://youtube.com/watch?v=-UpLZpuH5cw
12:17:38 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
I am sorry but we are not allowed to browsed on other sites here on Dell Home sales chat. I am afraid I can not look at that site.
12:18:06 PM Customer Reid
Oh well it shows an m1330 ejecting and taking in a disc
12:18:16 PM Customer Reid
and its actually noisier than ive ever heard
12:18:22 PM Customer Reid
Does the m1730 have a slot loading drive?
12:19:19 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
Yes it has a slot loading drive.
12:19:28 PM Customer Reid
is that a recent change?
12:19:49 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
What do you mean?
12:19:57 PM Customer Reid
The pictures dont show a slot loading drive
12:20:18 PM Customer Reid
the pictures show a tray loading drive
12:20:44 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
Yes, but I asked and gather info from our Dell Technicians and based on their report it comes with Slot Loading Drive as standard.
12:21:05 PM Customer Reid
So if my m1730 order is pending right now it should come with one?
12:21:13 PM Customer Reid
its "in production"
12:21:24 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
Yes.
12:22:04 PM Customer Reid
is there any furhter of an extent you can go to to confirm that, or are there pictures of the slot loading drive or updated pictures of the model with the drive?
12:22:24 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
I am afraid we do not have one.
12:23:11 PM Customer Reid
is there a way you can ask the technicians if it was a recent change or if they can 100% confirm that, because every picture of the thing online has a traymloading drive
12:24:34 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
Let me check.
12:25:59 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
Hold on please.
12:26:54 PM Customer Reid
ok
12:30:15 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
Ok I am sorry for the delay, I have one of our certified Dell specialist reply about that issue and I am sorry for the inconvenience since I gave you a wrong info. He thought you are looking at the XPS M1330 and the XPS M1730 comes with a Tray Loading Drive not a Slot loading drive.
12:31:06 PM Customer Reid
Is he sure that that info is current? I have heard that they have changed the drive
12:31:20 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
Yes I am sure he is.
12:31:35 PM Customer Reid
thanks
12:31:45 PM Agent XPS_AMB_Rep_Christopher
Welcome. Is there anything else I may assists you with?
Send
Session ID: 14865113

 

i read it but i thought you must have made a mistake how can they not have any extreme cpu its just been launched keep me posted mate cheers

 

mr greenfingers, got my M1730 today at midday. No problems with the build, very smart looking, I am going to call Dell tomorrow to see if I can get a discounted installation of a blu ray drive, if not I may send back and re-order, not sure yet, could always wait a few months and them just buy one and fit it myself along with another 2GB of RAM.

 

You should wait a bit for the blu-ray drive, they are probably going to get cheaper and better quality soon. The RAM that is in the laptop is 2 1GB sticks and there is only two slots, so if you want 4GB you will need to buy 2 2GB sticks but you can have 3GB if you just remove one of the 1GB sticks and put in a 2GB.

I'll see what I can do for you, I'll post the links here when they are up.

 

Thanks mate. That would be great.

 

Now my bloodys speakers are crackling when I play music, anyone else have this problem?
Music doesn't crackle if I am using a USB headset but does if I'm using the headphone port. Probably something wrong with sound card?

 

Okies, i should get my XPS tomorrow, according to delivery place. What is easiest way to check all spec. Express delivery my ***. Taken over 5 days to deliver, since being with courier Interlink,

 

I had cracking noises for a while and mostly got rid of it by chnaging the sample rate and bit depth to a lower quality, eg.g CD quality or DVD quality versus Studio Quality.


* Right click the tray sound icon and select Playback Devices
* select speakers/headphones and click Properties
* select Advanced tab
* choose CD quality
* apply/OK

Also, try the Virtual Surround and Loudness Equalization options from the Enhancements tab. I have much better sound now.

 

up to you mate i dont think they will upgrade you in any way but they will prob give you some cash back i got offerd £200 to be honest if it was the blu-ray drive or the ram i wanted upgrading then i would have took the £200 and upgraded later my 1730 is top notch build screen the lot but as i want the extream cpu if pos im happy to get a refund and reorder im in no hurry

 

What with having no girlfriend, no life etc

 

i think if i didnt have a girlfriend or a life i mite just want the laptop now like hmmm you maybe

glad to see you keep those positive posts coming

 

Guys,... tell me that this is an awesome buy. I've been waiting for this cpu to arrive for 29 days. I see a TON of people thinking of returning the cpu, but what the heck?

 

The CPU is great IMO - I'm able to overclock to 3.0 GHz and the system is running swiftly and happily, albeit after various customizations.

If by "cpu" you mean the whole machine, then I also think it's great (at least for my purposes). It does take a while to configure it according to one's liking.

 

Yes that's correct wogstaa. Check some of my earlier posts on this thread - somewhere in the 40's or 50's I think. I ordered, bought, returned and recieved the refund for my XPS 1730 a week ago or so.

It's all back there. The Samsung screen IMHO is not good enough. I won't be buying another XPS 1730 until Dell advises me that they can provide either Sharp or LG alternatives which as of today they can't yet. I also included pics of the light leakage but no vids. I'm going to be emailed when the better screens become available. If I haven't bought a new notebook by then I will get another 1730.

I found that games weren't that bad - a bit annoying sometimes - but web browsing, email and word/excel sucked hugely! The brightness/leakage at the base created a sort of darkness above it - which makes you sort of have to look away and back and move your head to get away from it - hard to describe but bloody annoying. I've seen it referred to as the curtain effect where you get bands of light and dark. Anytime you have sort of one colour on the screen it was very noticeable - eg this forum. Movies were bad too. Basically it sucked enough for me to return it which was a big pain in the ass.

The machine itself was spectacular for a notebook, good value, fast, good graphics etc. But the screen was unworkable for me. I'm tossing up between the 1720 and waiting for the better screen and just living with my old Asus F3Jm for the moment.

 

Can we keep the arguments to a minimum please?

 

Moon i dont think there that much arguing going on , just a kiwi with some littleman syndrome!

 

ok moon angel ill choose to ignore rather than reply

 

Yea, he also probably munchin on sum fush und chups!

 

well soon as I get the refund I will be ordering the extreme cpu 4gb ram just because I’m lazy and don’t want to have to operate on the beast 320gb hd blu-ray and the xps backpack all for £90 more than my original order with 2.4 cpu and 2gb and I get a free game this time and Bluetooth built in :wink:

 

Mr. bubbles I read in a previous post or thread that you are an artist of sorts can you suggest some good software and hardware I may want to look at as I’m into art in a big way and want to start playing around on the laptop when away with work I may have this totally wrong if I do my apologies

 

Good to see consistency from BigBadFun

What's wrong with a bit of banter? Keeps the forum from going stale, on reflection I am not going to bother sending it back and reordering, the machine is spot on, no light leakage seen yet but I only got about 30 mins hands on yesterday, today I will clean the bloat off, get 169.04 installed and start some benchmarking, OC'ing and most importantly game playing!

 

Mr Greenfingers, Processor power is the main area to look at unless your into 3D animations then the graphics cards play a bigger part. Photoshop CS3 is the best package for 2D art IMO but you 'must learn' to use a graphics tablet if your serious and only get Wacom as it is the best out there.

Some people draw a sketch and scan it then colour it but I believe you should learn to draw directly on the tablet. It's faster when you get the hang of it. I still haven't got the activation key from my work for photoshop so I'm still offline with artowrks at the moment!

 

nice one doove i was so tempted to keep mine.
but im getting the best spec that dell have to offer now and the eta if orderd today is 28th of nov not bad

 

thanks for the info Mr Bubbles thats exactly what i want to learn how to use the graphics tablet and wacom is the best think ill have a look now thanks and i saw the pick you did of your kids looked great!

had a look think i mite order the Intuos3 A4 looks good or it may go on the christmas list!

 

I itching to do some on the M1730 as this monitor is a bit better than my old 17" crt!!!! Plus the cursor with tablet shouldn't stutter anymore.

My graphics work (paid work) is mainly with document formatting, layouts and scripting so I can't spend half as much time on the tablet as I'd like. Things will change once I get the software key! :-(

BTW, my avatar is a book cover image I did for a novel I'm writing as well.

 

show off lol only joking mate looks good I’m into photography and all types of art I really want to do some large scale art for my home maybe some pop art or something along those lines what’s the book about?

 

Just a sci-fi adventure, I'm 35,000 (30%) words into it so far. I estimat it should be about 120,000 when fully fleshed out (if I actually manage to finish). Part of me getting this notebook was helping me write and do graphics, not just playing games. Gotta go to bed now, the missus is call...

 

Has anybody tried or got an external cooler for the M1730, someone earlier on posted a link to a Zalman cooler:

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/audio-and-laptop-products/zm-nc1000-notebook-cooler

I want to find out how good it is, does the M1730 fit on it okay etc.

 

lucky man off to get some insperation i think lol :wink:

 

Thanks but I think it may be hardware related because the it was perfectly fine before the technician 'repaired' it , he did't have access to my passoword so I know he didn't change any software settings. I'll look into it though. The technician is coming back again to see why the LED in my speaker isn't working still, hopefully this time i'll be home to give him more info and make sure it is fixed before he leaves

I read your posts before and I think the screen is pretty good, but then again I've been using a 1280x1024 5 year old monitor for the past few years. Let us know if you find out when the other screens are available, I just got mine replaced (with another samsung of course) so it shouldn't be a problem to get it replaced again when the LG or Sharp screens are available, if they ever are.

 

zergworld, I tried what you said but it didn't help, thanks anyway. I'm starting to get pretty pissed off now, if the tech cant fix it next time, I am not going to be any happier and may request a replacement.

 

how do i install the 169.04 drivers? when I run the installer, it refuses. Did anyone have the same experience and what is the solution? Thanks.

Here's the text:

---------------------------
NVIDIA Setup Error
---------------------------
The NVIDIA Setup program could not locate any drivers that are compatible with your current hardware. Setup will now exit.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

 

gl with the X7900 mate

If you manage to get that spec this side of January i'll be astounded (based on the delays and lead times ive been told) Theyve taken 4 days now, and they still cant tell me if they can get me an X7900 this side of xmas and I placed my order nearly 3 weeks ago now hes also started being vague about the LG panel as well - after being "200%" sure last week that it would be built with an LG panel.

 

169.04 work fantastically (apart from sus/hib not working 100% but that seemed to be a common theme with my machine)

Card reader + quickset didn't work.

I've decided to send mine back for a new one. I'm starting to notice the problem with my cruddy screen, on the lid where the colour inserts are, it squeaks like crazy. I've tried 8 different driver sets on both x86 and x64 and I cannot get windows to hibernate/suspend 100% of the time (50:50 chance of working)
My battery has deteriorated by 6% in under a week, took my m1710 2-3 months with considerably more use to get the same effect.
Windows becomes buggy/unstable after 2-3 days and just about everything crashes.
I've memtested for 4 hours, primed for 6 hours and run the dell diag fully 3 times and nothing has come up.
There was also a dent in the side of mine when it arrived which is now really annoying me.

Nvidia also NEED to get some good drivers out asap, as I reckon it's the drivers causing windows to slowly bugger up and sus/hib not working all the time.