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

I had a 1 week delay before my system went into production and a revised delivery date as a result. My system is now currently being tested and should ship on Monday

I have the Xtreme processor, Bluray and the Next-Gen Wireless n card. I was told the latter cause the delay.

My supposed delivery date is Tuesday. I don't think my system would have gone into production without a processor and I don't think the Dell web page would have continued to offer that processor if they were expecting extremely long delays...

 

I still dont understand how you have managed to get the wireless N card - when the rest of the entire world has been told that its not compatible with the extreme processor - surely if it was compatible Dell would offer it - it makes no sense at all for them not to. I really would have liked the wireless N - due to it being shedloads better than G, but I was told by many people that there was NO way it was compatible.

I agree about the web page though, I think i'm being fed a load of crap from my sales agent - I tend to respec my machine once or twice a week and check for price drops. Mine is still in pre-production after 3 weeks, and the sales guy keeps trying to sell me the "8 months +" delay on the X7900, and he says the order will not proceed unless I spec a different processor...I'm cancelling first thing tomorrow morning, then i'll see what alienware bring to the table next week.

 

"I still dont understand how you have managed to get the wireless N card - when the rest of the entire world has been told that its not compatible with the extreme processor".


On the US Dell site there is no other option with the x7900 processor but Intel® PRO/Wireless 4965a/g/n Mini Card. Check the specs for the Best configuration here: http://www.dell.com/content/product...b_m1730?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~tab=bundlestab

 

In Germany you get to chose between the following:

1. Dell™ Wireless 1505 Wireless-N-Minikarte - Europa
2. Intel® Pro Wireless1505 Wireless-N Mini-PCI-Karte - Europa
3. Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-PCI Card, EUR (FOR CORE 2 EXTREME)

The Next-Gen option was not available on the web site. My account manager said he could book it, but it would become available a bit later (hence my 1-week delay I guess).

 

If I were you I would cancel the order, respec, reorder and get a better price, keeping the Xtreme but also pushing for Wireless n.

Or you can wait for your delivery date, and reorder only then.

If all else fails, just create a new Dell account by giving your work postal address, so you can get another sales agent...

 

Yeah im cancelling tomorrow for sure - I just spoke to another sales agent on dell chat and he said the Extreme CPU is NOT on lead time at all.......I asked him to check twice, but he still came back and said that part is NOT on lead time - hes going to find out which part is delaying my order tomorrow, then we'll see what happens from there - but the 8800 is due out a week monday as well so that might be yet another cause for cancellation....And yes I will definitely specify the Wireless N in the next one.

 

I also originally specified the wireless next gen card but my mate at Dell then told me he would remove it as it was not compatible. I think there is a mix up somewhere! - I wonder whether Dell stated it was not compatible with that processor when they said it should have been the only option!?

I'm gonna check my device manager and see if it just came as standard, if not might get it sent through to me as a part.

 

The incompatebility mentioned on the web site si with th other cards. My order really does mention "Next Gern For Extreme Processor"!

 

I tried the 169.02 driver and the nvidia control panel didn't get installed... Did anyone else have that experience?

 

Hi just had something odd happen, installed Quake 4 patched it up to the current version and on launching into the game the textures are super low res, no matter what settings I select it's always the same. Anyone come across this or can point me in the right direction to resolve it?

 

The same thing happened to me so I just uninstalled it.

Don't know how to fix though, sorry.

 

First of all, Happy Veterans Day to all. 10 year US Marine here. OOORAH! Ok,... mine shipped today. WOOO HOOO! My question is this, with all these driver downloads, uninstalling, installing of drivers, which one should I use? This is my config:
Dell XPS M1730, Mobile Intel 2.4GHz, 4MB, 800 FSB Merom
PERSONALIZATION SHIELD, LCD COLOR WING OPTION,RED
2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm for XPS M1730
17 UltraSharp TrueLife Wide screen WUXGA for XPS M1730
NVIDIA G84 in SLI, for XPS M17
200GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive for XPS M1730
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit Edition English,Inspiron
Media Direct 3.3
Dell Travel ExpressCard Remote Control, IR
Blu-ray Disc Drive (BD/DVD/CD burner w/double layer BD write capability)
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy
Intel 4965 WLAN (802.11a/g/n) Mini Card
Logitech Gaming LCD
Norton Internet Security 2007 15 Month
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, for XPS M1730
Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Initial Year
Dell Wirless 355 Bluetooth Module (2.0+EDR)
Dell BH200 Bluetooth 2.0 EDR Stereo Headset
AGEIA PhysX Physics Accelerator.

What video drivers for this system SHOULD I install? Any suggestions for me, I would greatly appreciate. Thanks a bunch!

 

I think you're two best options are

a) 169.04
b) 163.75

169.04 appears to give higher performance (by how much I'm not sure) but also appears somewhat unstable when I tried it out (some system freeze-ups), and some others reported the same. However, some people have used it without complaints.

163.75 is also pretty new but is more stable. I haven't had any freeze ups with this one and it performs quite nicely and has been getting good reviews. Previously I was using 156.66. I tried out many of the drivers before settling on 163.75

Still, you should get more opinions, and judge for yourself.

FYI - I tried the 169.04 as well as 169.02 a few times each. 169.04 froze up my system whereas 169.02 failed to install the nvidia control panel which I need to configure SLI and 3D settings.


169.04 driver - http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15825

163.75 driver - http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers/vista&sort=2

Either way, make sure you uninstall your existing driver cleanly, reboot, and install the new ones with the modded inf.

Once 169.xx goes out of beta I will try again.

 

Ok, I really REALLY appreciate this info. I also REALLY appreciate the fact that you attached links for me. This is the first and ONLY "forum" (?) that I am on, and it is a blessing. Thanks for this, and ALL that other stuff that you guys are going to help me with, just from reading your comments!

Jim OUT!

 

we aim for 1730 perfection here at our house Jim.
and for the record, this is the best forum for 1730 info on the net period. in English in so far as i know. Either way, i think....on second thought, we'll leave it at we rule.

ok that was fun.

 

I'm getting pretty frustrated with this system and once the Dell tech fixes the LED in my speker I'm gonna do a full reinstall of Windows Vista and see if my problems go away. Now in the Counter Strike source strees test I'm getting 111FPS average wheras I was getting 178FPS before with the same settings and now when I try to run SLi in split frame rendering nothing seems to work properly.

 

Wog,... what the HECK are you talking about with "run SLi in split screen rendering"? GOSH,... I hope I don't regret getting this thing. LucidBurner,... as far as I know, this is the only forum for the 1730. And yes,... it is fun!

 

Wogs, did you try alternate frame rendering?

 

No, I have read that it creates lag between the input and the rendering. So if you press shoot, you may shoot slightly after you press it, I was using split frame rendering before and it was working fine, I have completely removed drivers and reinstalled them and still have the problem, even with the drivers that were working fine before. I will give alternate frame rendering a go and see what happens.

 

I tried alternate frame rendering, performance is worse than single GPU, I am reinstalling the 169.04 drivers... again, and will be preparing for a format and reinstall soon after the Dell tech fixes the other problems (hopefully)

 

There are at least 5 more: 2 French ones, 2 German, 1 Japanese.

The French forum has some good techies in it, but there are less people. The German ones was full until product release (70 pages) but now people don't post as much.

This one is the one where people post most. Anything interesting in the other forums I would post here, so it does concentrate all the wealth of other forums into one, big forum

 

One issue I haven't licked yet is with divx playback. I'm not sure what to attribute this to, but I'm getting blocky, pixelated behavior that I didn't get on my previous machine. I also get clear playback on my other machine, so I know it's not a source encoding quality problem. I tried various divx player preferences as well as nvidia control panel adjustments to no avail. Anyone else seen this and know of a fix?

 

Ironically, the video playback is perfect if I use WMP11 instead... which is fine by me. Just so long as I can view videos with the expected quality playback

 

Although... this doesn't take care of streaming video playback... ah well.

 

Woot... my M1730 is in production! YAY ME. Only took a few days too. Hope this means the "delays" have started to clear and that its going to ship soon. My last order went into production and went through to delivery in the same day.

 

That was from Dell UK.?

Anything Special in the Machine.? Also when did you place the Order if I might ask.

Since my re-order of my Original Order is still sitting in Pre-production :-(

Frag. Out.

 

Anyone got any tips on how getting an LG/Sharp screen in the laptop while ordering?

If I get another Samsung its going back again - its just not worth the money for that kinda stuff.

Oh the other thing is I'm in Ireland, but I think Dell main factory for Europe is in Limerick, maybe they might have a few LG's knocking about!

( I've to get my refund in the next day or two, and I'm now 95% sure I'll re-order, but I'm definitely waiting for the 512+512 8800M, no matter how long it takes... )

 

Hey,

Where abouts did you order your m1730. I'm trying to make out where the LG screen can be gotten.

 

I just called my Account Manager and I got a store credit for the price diff. What accessories can I add? I was told they could not send out a BD drive as an accessory. Isn't it just a swap out? How about the TV Tuner TVT8RMC or Creative Package? Do these require any factory harware modification? He told me to pick something from the accessories section for the XPS M1730 which isn't much besides a bunch of wireless cards.

 

United States

 

9th of November. And yeah DELL UK.

Nope nothing special in it, 2.4ghz & 320gb RAID + XPS Backpack. I had placed an order on the 6th and that was still in pre-production until the 9th when i re-ordered to take advantage of the £150 off they have at the moment (until Nov 14th).

 

"Where abouts did you order your m1730. I'm trying to make out where the LG screen can be gotten."

72hundred, I ordered mine in the US and the screen is made by LG: LPL0032. There are no dead pixels and lighting is uniform. I still think that my 3-year old Toshiba Qosmio G10 17-inch screen is far superior to this one but it could be just a personal feeling. Reducing Gamma from 50% to about 30% in Nvidia Control Panel made the colours look more vibrant to me.

I believe Dell US will take your order even if you are not from USA. My system was built in Malaysia, anyways.

 

Hmm - I ordered mine on the 4th Nov - Pretty Much standard - 320gb Raid/4gb Ram - But with 2.8Ghz

It was original ordered in October - But I canceled and Reordered as it was £300 cheaper on the 4th than it was on October.

Thanks for the Answer.

Frag. Out.

 

had a rep for nividia come into my shop today asked him about the 8800 cards never seen someone avoid answering question quite like it he just smiled and walked out lol

 

Makes you wonder why its such a big secret. Wouldnt they want to "hype" it up a little? Not keep it quiet until the release day when no one expects it? Humm

EDIT:

More M1730 Goodness on YouTube. Wonder how many of these Santa will be leaving under someones Christmas Tree the year. =)

<object width='425' height='355'><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Rov6p4KzcwA&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Rov6p4KzcwA&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width='425' height='355'></embed></object>

EDIT EDIT:

Woot. Go DELL. Looks like the "delays" really are clearing. Thats from 09 (Friday) to 12 (Monday) its been "Built", "Tested" and now about to be shipped. And hopefully on Monday the 19th of November i wont be cussing at the awsome new 8800's that are now available on it

 

I have found info that Sager/Clevo are due to release the 8800M mid of December. The extra price for the 8800M versus 8700M will be around 200 EUR

 

I now know why some extreme processor orders get delayed. it is the Intel Wireless n card for extreme processors which is in fact delayed.

My order has been rescheduled again, to 13th december this time (order was placed on 10th October).

I have cancelled to take advantage of the price cut and reordered with delivery date of 13th December (could have had 30th November withotu Wireless n). My account manager just told me today that the Intel Wireless n card is delayed by 19 days, which explains the 13th December delivery date.

I am sticking to it. This is perfect for me as it now seems the 8800M will appear around mid of December (see my post on Clevo). This means if it appears in December I can still return and reorder with the 8800M chip.

I am not too fussed about the delay as I am getting my new company laptop on Friday, with 2,4Ghz Core2Duo and 4GB RAM! And it is a Dell...!

 

Yeah well i can't hang on till December to get my laptop, so i guess im stuffed. It's the DELL or nothing. Unless they are around on the 19th or shortly after, then ill have to pick one up when i upgrade in 2009. Just intime for rumours of the 9800M

Since the 8800M is going to cost more, then DELL are going to most likley keep the 8700 as the standard option with the M1730. Then allow you to select 8800's as an upgrade. Makes sense to me anyway. I guess the 7950 will vanish and be replaced with the 8700, then the "extreme" performance product will be the 8800? I doubt that DELL will start including 8600's in SLI in the XPS M1730 anyway. It works out too, 2x256 = mainstream, and 2x512mb = enthusiast. Sneeky,

 

You shouldn't wait for oyur order as you are spending time without a laptop.

When the 8800 come out you can just send back your laptop (or cancel the order if it appears before delivery) and just reorder a new one. The good thing is you are allowed to keep your laptop until your new 8800M-based system arrives and garranty gets refreshed!

I reordered today with delivery date of 13th December (due to Wireless n card from Intel). This means if the 8800M appears on this machine I will be able to get it anyway...

 

As I keep saying....order now, return later in December when the 8800M appears...

 

Hmmm now I am thinking there could be a problem with my laptop, I have just installed GRAW2 and it wont let me select anything higher than low for textures no matter what I select. Has anyone else had this problem or can someone install it and see if it is a general issue, low textures just look cr*p but on Company of Heroes it uses Hi-Res textures.

 

You could, but my order comes this week so it will be well outside the 7 day approval by the time they start shipping 8800M's.

 

You can return your order within 7 days and reorder. This will give you another 4-5 weeks and refresh your 7day approval...

 

I'm not sure i follow. If i return my order i have no laptop again....

Also it seems the "delay" has vanished (at least for the config i want) so basically 3-4 days to deliver from ordering now. Thats a lot of returned laptops if i re-order each time, which would be pointless anyway, i cant fully use a laptop im returning, putting all my files and so forth on it to wipe it off a few days later to return....

Basically its either wait, or take what they have now. Some people might be able to prolong their order by dicking about returning it for a fresh 7 days, but thats pointless since you might as well just wait and order when it arrives. Eitherway you have no laptop so yeah.

In your case your setup wont arrive until December, so assuming the 8800m turns up then, or just after you take delivery, you can return and get a different config. If i had an estimated date of Decemember i would probably have bought from Alienware or RockDirect because i need a computer asap. I was trying to wait for the 8800m but its taking too long and im without a laptop till something happens ~ Does not help that most of it are just rumours so we have no definate information on whats going to be available.

From the looks of it though the 8800 is going to increase the price of the system by a small chunk, so DELL will probably not simply remove the 8700's but add the 8800's as an upgrade to the standard config. I'm not sure what those quotes were on but €150-€200+ over 8700, we dont know if thats SLI or a Single Card. If its single then 8800 in SLI could be an expensive prospect anyway.

 

No, you can keep your laptop until you receive the new one. That's what I have been repeating 10 times in this forum.

Just add the Intel 1505 Wireless n card to your config (for just 10 EUR more) and you will have a delay of 4 weeks instead of 3-4 days).

You do. Dell won't pick up your laptop until you get the new one coming.

You can change your setup so the new system will ship more slowly...Since you can keep your initially ordered laptop with you until you are finally sastified (whatever that means) the extra delay is of no negative consequence. It only serves limiting the number of reorders, thus increasing fairness toward Dell.

 

Hmmmm. You must have gotten a pretty good rep because when i wanted to change config and return my laptop, first thing they did was collect the first one... they told me id have to make a "new order". Which is why i have no laptop now and am waiting for the replacement.

 

Hi Maza,

How did you go with this?? Those screen issues were exactly the same for me and I found them unacceptable. I wish I could have "lived" with it but I just couldn't stand it. The light bleeding was liveable with actually if that's all it was but it was the blotchiness and weird light and dark cloudiness combined that I couldn't handle.

Ditto on the SLI driver issue and ditto on the general performance of the machine. Great little machine EXCEPT for the screen which was a show stopper unfortunately.

 

Hey guys, I am about to jump the gun and get the M1730 over the Sager 5791 because of the SLI. The only thing that is holding me back is the idea that I might able to get one of those Dell coupon codes. Those are so hard to come by for the XPS.

So what do you guys think, is it gonna be available between now and Thanksgiving or Xmas ?

 

I'm with RobHague on this one, evrytime I have broached the subject with Dell UK they just state, we will need the machine returned and you will have to to re-order. This is fact, check out Mr Greenfingers, puremind are you ordering from Dell UK???

 

Right, has anyone created a dual boot with vista and xp? - If so how did you go about doing it?

Can I just install XP onto the recovery partition, can I delete media direct as I don't use it?

The problem I've got is the machine already has 4 partitions on it so I can't create another one for XP!