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

i would say we will be able to upgrade our cpu's if we buy them ourselves, i have read on the internet that people have put the x9000 in the m1330 so i would say that we will be able to update them if we feel the need and the fact that dell released a new bios which main upgrades is to add support from them also supports this

 

Did a little research and the m1330 with dedicated graphics cards have the same chipset as the m1730 the PM965 so i see no reason why we won't be able to run the newer processors.
this pretty much comfirms it for me but leaves me wondering why dell are not going to offer a upgrade program for them

 

Does the new bios support Penryn??
I dont see why we cant upgrade the CPU either. As I said earlier, I dont see why Dell would change a mainboard in a system a little into its life, if they changed the mainboard it would be in a newer system altogether.
The CPU should be easily upgradable, but done by yourself rather then through Dell.

 

Here we go - upgrading the processor ..........

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xpsm1730/en/sm/cpu.htm#wp1084976

 

From what I have heard ppl are waiting for 21 days, in my case its 22 days... so I hope you dont get it delayed after all the computers you buy...

 

Release Title: BIOS: Dell XPS M1730 System BIOS, English, XPS Desktop M1730, A06

Fixes and Enhancements
Enhancements
------------------
1. Updated Intel microcode to support Penryn CPU.
2. Added support for Blu Ray/DVD+/-RW Combo drive.
3. Support newer version of Intel processor.
4. Added enhancement for thermal control.
5. Added enhancement for MediaDirect control.

 

i updated to it for no reason and difference it made to me is my gpu temps seem to be back to normal now which is good

 

Has anyone on here Beat Crysis?? If so Did you think that in "The Core" The aliens were really hard to beat? Maby Im just suffering from Low frame rates soo it makes it really difficult who knows? But bottomline is I need 8800's!

 

I beat it in normal mode.

 

Thats exactly what I thought, but it took them 3 days just to process my order.

I therefore emailed my account manager and complained, and stated the unit was needed by the 15th Feb! lol

He has just replied stating the order has been processed, and that it may get to me on the 15th but the time frame is very tight. He said he would ring me Monday morning to discuss.

Im hoping by saying 'a bit tight' he means around the 15th somewhere!!

If not then yeh, it will be around the end of this month. I'll find out for sure on Monday I guess.

 

From what I have read they are expecting the cards on the 3rd week of feb, so unless htey make exceptions to top clients you may very well get it delayed for a week more at least...

 

The reason i think Dell is not going to offer a CPU upgrade to Penryn for these comps is because its REALLY not that big of a performance increase... The M1730 is built for gaming.. Thats what the 8800gtx's are going to do.. An they are going to do it VERY well. The CPU's in there are already way ahead of software... If you take a look at the benchmarks on the Mac Pro (New 8-core Dual-Quad Penryns) There is not much of a performance increase.. an in some cases a loss.. SO thats why i think Dell is not going to waste time on an Upgrade process... An as far as all you people that say (I am going to wait for the new tech) You will NEVER have a comp.. Because when the penryn comes out, guess what, another NEWER bigger an badder CPU is gonna be just over the horizon.. Then your gonna wait for that also? I think not... So i say stop whining an get the comp an be happy that they are even offering a GPU upgrade for us.. Because if they didn't offer the upgrade.. Guess what we would be *%^$ Outta luck... So no more /ZOMG /EMO wheres my PeNrYn??? GO with what you've got..

 

Its more to do with less power consumption and lower thermal output than actual performance with these new Penryn chips. Less battery drain and less heat is something I think a lot of notebook users would find desirable.

ten

 

Except us with XPS m1730, to whom it would make no difference lol

 

i agree that theres not much point upgrading from your x7900 to a x9000 but for people with t7500 or t7700 its a different story seems its still cheaper to buy the cpu aftermarket and upgrade. a upgrade from 2.4 to 3.4ghz would be pretty nice and having lower heat output at 3.4ghz

 

is it possible to install processors bought from other sources?

 

yeah well so i've been told, haven't tried it myself

 

That's exactly my point. They still haven't resolved the issue. The Sli 8800M GTX is scheduled for release late feb just as it is for the dell. All laptop manufacturers are scheduling for the same time frame (alienware, clevo, sager, gateway, dell, etc.), which indicates they're all having the same problem. They're likely waiting for the new motherboards to be manufactured and there's been delays for it.

The upgrade program for the clevo involves a motherboard swap, I'd bet money that the same thing will hold true for the XPS M1730.

 

I would like it personally. I use mine for a lot more than games and the added battery power would be welcomed very much.

ten

 

I didnt know that. As long as I get it arounf the end of Feb Im happy

I agree, the GPU is more important, well for me anyways. Im not bothered with the processor at all. The processor I have is perfectly fine for me, especially since the system is always plugged into power etc.

Ive seen packing lists from people that have their 8800 M1730's on order. The part numbers are exactly the same. A new mainboard would have a different part number. Above all else, as Clevo, we would have heard something about the mainboard change. If there was to be a change it would have been done by now - not at the very last moment when people have already placed their orders with the same part number etc.

Im 100% sure this wont happen. The M1730 was designed with the 8800GTX card in mind at first, in terms of power consumption, and so on. Dell would certainly have changed their mainboard, and thus the part number, by now if there was to be one.

 

I can't see why the 1730 would need a different motherboard for the 8800 anyway, dell uses a proprietary socket for their gpus and they would have manufactured their 8800m GTX cards to work with the current motherboard, this would also be more cost effective as well as easier for dell.

 

^^^
exactly.
There are enough 'Dell haters' that would jump at the change to release blogs etc covering Dell's embarrassing mistake if there was one, just like they did with Clevo/Sager!

 

I spoke with dell teck support person at first he said the 8880 may not be able to be upgraded because of the mother board then he did some check and advise me the 8800 chould be install in the 1730 .Then he advised me dell did not had part yet avalible for upgrade.The last to dell people advised me that the upgrade program would be out.The last persion in the part department said inthe next 2 months we would be able to upgrade.

How much do you think dell pays Nvide for each 8800 sli unit would not mind paying what dell pays.

 

dell will purchase the cards from nvidia in 1000 minimum order quantitys. So probably £200 per card tops + vat.

 

200euros about 350 usd .Any chance dell does the upgrade program for under 700 usd ?

 

if it is that much in usd, one of u guys oughta buy a load in, then sell them off to us guys in the UK for 900.., our price will prob push the $1200 mark if not higher..

id buy

 

Hey guys,... been gone for a tad time. Ok. I got an update CD from Dell that was an update to the Roxio DVD player. It gave the player Bluray capability. But it only worked once. Now any time I put a Bluray in it, it tells me it needs an update. I am not always near a WWW connection. So,... what have you done about it, if you'd had this problem. Thanks!

 

hi james. I dont own a bluray drive so cant really help you there sorry bud.Bit strange how with windows xp dell wont LET YOU choose the BLURAY option. Strange.

 

hey guys i just pulled the trigger on the m1730 a few hours ago. However, I was wondering what is the screen resolution? I never had a laptop this size and they didn't give me a choice

here are my specs

Dell XPS M1730 - gray
Intel Core 2 Extreme X7900
2GB DDR2 SDRAM 667Mhz (4GB already have)
DUAL NVIDIA SLI GeForce® 8700M GT (256MB)
17 UltraSharp TrueLife WUXGA
200GB HDD / 7200RPM
windows vista
built in bluetooth

total price $2,541.77 (EPP discount, instant savings, adjustment)

is this a good deal?

 

The resolution is 1920x1200,
you should have probably gone with the 8800gtx sli instead of upgrading to the x7900 cpu, do they have the 8800gtx in the country you ordered from?

 

yea i agree with wogstaa. Drop the x7900 cpu and go for dual 8800m gtx cards. You wont regret it. Everyone cant wait for dell to launch the upgrade program.I will put my order in straight away as soon as it goes live.

 

I'm in the USA, but I couldn't get them to get the price down with that lol....I didn't want to actually spend $3000 on laptop How big of a difference are the graphics going to be not going for the 8800GTX?

is that similiar to a 1440x900 size on a 15 inch? If I don't like it, I will probably send it back and order the alienware m15x (when they get better config options)

 

Any word on when the 8800 gtx is being released in Australia guys?

 

mtv. Seriously dude drop the 8700m gt cards. You will not regret the paying extra for it. Think of it this way. If ur willing to pay $1000 for the upgrade when it launches after you recieve ur m1730 u will kick yourself when you realise the 8700m gt`s aernt that fast.

 

Oh and MTV2004 the screen on your new machine is quite nice!

 

take it from someone who has an m1730 already. The 8700m gt`s are nice and quick but not that quick. They only just marginally beat the 7950gtx in SLI and that was over 1 year ago technology. The 8800m in SLI will be so fast it will be a joke

 

lol, I was actually fighting to get the 8800GTX instead of the faster processor. I am going to try again today but i seem to get shut down

This is my first true gaming laptop btw

 

Honest dude you wont regret it!. Theres so many people here waiting on the upgrade program to launch. You wont regret paying the extra for the GPU and going with a t7500 cpu.

 

Just so you realise how faster 8800gtx is over 8700gt... One 8800GTX beats SLI 8700GT...and SLI 8800GTX is raughly 50% increase of performance over single card Whether X7900 won`t give you any noticable increase in performance in games over T7700.

 

Get the 8800GTX over the 8700GT any day. Like DDT5 said above, I believe I read that the 8800GTX SLI is 48% faster then the 8700GT SLI.
I cant wait to get my hands on it!

 

what BluRay player are you using? Roxio?

I installed MediaDirect in the OS since I never run it from boot, and I had exactly the same issue. Every time I ran MediaDirect and selected to play the BD Movie, it would bring up a message saying it needed to update. I would let it update, and it would just redownload the same installation file again, and this did nothing, I would still get the update message.

However, I noticed that if I go into AutoPlay options, and set Windows to autoplay and movie within MediaDirect, without me having to open MD etc first, it plays fine! So now I just insert the disc, and windows plays it in MD perfectly fine without me having to do anything.

Maybe you can set the autoplay options for Windows to run your movie in Roxio?

 

I had problems with playing HD video (not blue ray) in windows media player. Media player classic was the one, which played it. Probably you should give it a try. It's included in k-lite codec pack, which you can get here http://www.k-litecodecpack.com

 

Apparently Media Player does not support HD or BD playback in Windows 32bit. Only the 64bit version supports it.
Read it on the MS site. Dont know why they made it like that though.

 

48? dude, thats like only one 8800GTX vs sli 8700GT. The 50% increase in 3dmark means nothing as it is made at 1280x1024... Do a 3dmark at 1920x1200 and compare it with the 10k that the guy at notebookforums got... and you will get a more clear picture of the increase in performance

 

i got rejected lol, I have a 21-day return in case I am not digging the dual 8700GT cards. I mostly play UT3, so I will see how it goes ..... at least I got a really good price with my current specs

 

What you got is more than enough for UT3...don't waste any money on better GPU. Congrats

 

ifti, how did you order the dual 8800GTX cards? Where do you live?

 

I think he's in the UK.........I was wondering the same thing

 

ifti ordered a new XPS M1730

byz

 

UT3 runs really nice with the SLI 8700m. I have it running at the moment. Highest res (1920x1200) and all settings at max, and its runs as smooth as anything.

lol
Ordered another XPS for someone at work. When it arrives, the cards are getting swapped
My account manager at Dell has marked the order as urgent, so hopefully I will be one of the first to get my hands on it! I gave him a deadline of the 15th, and he said he'll try to get as close to that as possible.