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

Happy for you Sergiop, hope it arrives in double quick time. Mine is still in pre-production, been there for 5 days now.
Think ifti is glued to his window waiting the arrival. Lucky guys...enjoy.

 

Hello Proud XPS m1730 owners

I was wondering if anybody knows where to download some additional widgets for the LCD display. I'm looking for a widget/s that can display CPU Temp, GPU load & temp, FPS, etc.

 

Yeah, its not showing in ups yet, so im thinking that it will be picked up today, and it will take 2 days, hopefully and if i am lucky it will arrive friday

FRAPS

 

Im just keen to hear how easy it is for him to swap the GPU's over! Hanging out for him to post a nice Youtube video of it too

 

guys, does anyone know where/if i can upgrade to the x7900 from the t7700, aslo where can i get it from- does anyone have a spare?

 

Ok guys, here I am!!!
I do have to sleep as well you know!! lol

Well Im at work now, and my order is out for delivery!! My office is by the window so I'll know when its here - thing is, I need to leave by about 3pm, so Im hoping it doesnt turn up too late!!!

Yup I will be making a full video of the upgrade, from unscrewing the very first screw, through to putting it back together and screwing up the last screw

Congrats on the system. The one good thing about not having BluRay is that you can go ahead and install whatever drivers you want to install, without worrying about whether it is WHQL certified and whether its gonna knock the BluRay playback capability off.
I, on the other hand, have some BluRay movies, and use my laptop to play them, so I want to keep the BluRay playability, hence Im gonna be stuck with the stock drivers for a while I guess, until Nvidia release some Beta's.....as long as it plays the games I have, Im OK for now. I dont have Crysis just yet, and I'll wait til the beta's are released before I buy it

I have the extreme processor - will be interesting to see what 3DMark06 score it gets with the stock drivers - although its mostly GPU based anyways...

In regards to Media Direct, I had exactly the same with my current 8700's. It just keeps saying an update needs to be performed. Proceed to download the update and then do this....

1. In Windows, Install Media Direct, but NOT from the autorun Setup file. Browse the disc and in one of the folders (I think the folder name starts with win.... ), run the setup file within that.

2. Once that has completed and its installed, go back to where that setup file you just used was, and there should be a folder in there for BD Playback. Go into that and run the Setup file.

3. Once complete, run the update you downloaded.

4. Restart the system.

5. In Windows, go to your autorun settings, and set it to autorun a BluRay movie in Media Direct.

6. Insert the movie, and it should autorun in MD, and play fine.

For some reason if you open MD first, then try to play the movie, it will still complain about updates. If you just autorun the disc, it should work fine.

NOTE: The above is for using MD in Windows only, since I do not have it installed to work from Boot using the MD button. Not sure if it will play back the BD movie through there or not, but I never bothered using it that way anyways. I prefer it in Windows.

Hope that works for you, certainly did for me

Not yet, there is an upgrade program and this has been announced, but the program hasnt started yet. You will get the chance to purchase the card alone, and a technician will come and replace it for you, but you just need to sit tight and wait for now unfortunately.

In my sig - Vista Ultimate 32bit.

Apparenty Vista 64bit takes a chunk of the memory anyways, so it wont make much difference to the amount of free RAM you are left with. Read back a few pages, 10 or so I think, someone posted a very good explanation on this....

rofl
You will feel the excitement as well - if you arent already! Keep looking out the window, where the hell is this guy!!!!!!

Will do. I actually removed the drivers etc from my system within safe mode last night before I went to bed. So when I get home, hopefully with the new system, I can get straight into the hardware etc.

I'll have to wait until around 9pm though, so when I get home its gonna be agony just looking at the systems and waiting.....

I have to wait for my daughter to go sleep you see. She's 2 years old, and she'll make a racket in the video - you'll just hear her carry on (she's a girl, so she dont stop talking!!). Once she's in bed I can start the upgrade without fearing her coming in and messing things up!

I'll create the video, but Im sure you'll understand I'll be too busy to edit and upload it tonight

I'll defo get it uploaded for you guys tomorrow though. I hate the 10 minute limitation on Youtube videos, so it may have to go into 2 parts - I'll try not to, but its a lengthy upgrade.....

 

My order was made 1 day before and delivered probably 3 after... This means I have to buy more computers from Dell if I want to beat you in the next one xDD

 

Yes, you should be able to upgrade the CPU fine. I havent created a video on this yet, and probably wont do until I get the Penryn processor, which wont be for quite a while yet TBH.

In the meantime, check the M1730 Service Manual, and that shows you how to upgrade the CPU - you basically need to strip the system down!

You may be able to ring up Dell parts and see if they will sell you the part - they may even send a technician down to install if for you. Not sure how much they will charge though - not even sure if they will sell it to you on its own TBH.

Let us know how you get on

 

I bugged my account manager so much, I could tell he was getting annoyed! lol. But Im the customer, and I dont give up easy

Also, it was ordered alongside another 3 laptops (D531's) for work. I dont care about when they are delivered though, obviously

I may even keep the remote, microfibre cloth, earphones, etc as spares lol. I cant see them ever getting used by the guy at work, and I hate to see them go to waste........lol

 

Thanks for the reply, yeah, i have been trying to contact dell parts online- to no avail, i will keep trying its defo on the list of upgrades, but i fear it will cost alot

 

Yeh it will probably be a bit steep. Thats why I tend to get the highest possible spec at the time of ordered (besides the easy upgrade components that Dell charge rip-off prices for - like the RAM and HDD etc).

Then again, you may be better of saving the money for the 8800 card when the upgrade program launches? IMO the GPU upgrade will have MUCH more impact then the CPU upgrade....

 

Man, he STILL hasnt turned up!!!!!!
Come Onnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(You guys WILL be sick of me by the end of the day, guaranteed ) lol

 

They've updated the Australian site and it cost $798.60 to upgrade from the 8700 to the 8800.

 

Yeah, thats at the top of the list lol... and possible a dual boot of xp64, i have found a guide that corrects the booting issue, its just the doing it of it all lol.

depending on the upgrade program price, i might build myself a kick ass desktop for the money instead, but thats only if its like £700ish.. i REALLY hope its not that much lol, but i think really dell can charge what they want lol, we all want it too bad!

 

is that stand alone upgrade? or in the price at production?

 

Just a quick question for the aussies and asians specifically but everyone else as well I guess. Wondering if the early light leakage problems with the screens are still occuring or whether they have been sorted. I'll probably be spending around AUS$5k for this machine so obviously I want everything tip top.

While I'm here I may as well ask about the 4GB RAM, 8800M GTX and X7900 upgrades and whether they are worth the extra cash. I've already decided I won't be getting the physics card cause I think it's a waste of money but feel free to talk me in to that too.

Thanks for the help and advice so far.

 

Yup Dell pretty much have current 8700 owners by the balls with this one. I thought they would charge around the £400 mark TBH, but it could be anyones guess! Especially after seeing the £700 to upgrade to it when building a M1730!! The upgrade price needs to have a labour charge built in as well fo rthe techy to install the card, and I cant see them wanted the 8700's back at all.

Light leakage depends on which LCD screen you end up with. The Sammy seems to be the worst (I have it!) but TBH it really doesnt bug me enough to want to go through the hassle of changing it. While the LG is supposed to be the best. And before you ask - no you cant request which one your system is built with! Its the luck of the draw Im afraid!

Dont get the RAM from Dell. They charge way too much. Get it from somewhere else and fit it yourself, its a very easy upgrade. Check my videos on Youtube on how to upgrad ethe RAM etc.

8800GTX is defo worth the extra cash if you can stretch to it. Its got double the bandwidth and memory over the 8700 and is much, much better overall.

The processor is really up to you. I wouldnt go for the 2.2 - either go for the 2.4 or the extreme 2.8. If your budget allows it, go for the top whack, since its not an easy upgrade to do later on. If not go for the 2.4, and then see how you go with that. Remember, many of the parts in this laptop can be upgraded later down the line, unlike standard laptops.

TBH the physics card is pretty useless at the mo, if you dont get it, you wont miss it! However, Nvidia have just taken over Ageia, so it could be used a lot more in the future. For now, as I said, its pretty useless though.

 

I didn't mind the Samsung panel that much. Either way, its the only panel available to Australia...

 

Thats why you didnt mind it! lol
Nah I think its OK. Fair enough it does suffer from light leakage but, as i said, not enough for me to go through the hassle of trying another....

 

No sign yet ifti?...were all waiting

 

iTS ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



ROFL!
I was by the window all day and didnt notice it had come. Just went to the toilet and notice dthe box in reception!! lol

 

crack that puppy open!

 

The blue looks really nice as well!!! Makes a big difference to my Grey!

How do I check which screen it has again? If its a LG I may just swap the whole lid

 

Just gonna check to make sure it has the card and then I'll pack it pack up ready to take home!!

EDIT: YIPEEEEE it has the 8800mGTX!!!!!!!!1

Cant wait to get this baby home!!!

Just gonna check the LCD now, if I can remember where the code was!

 

and so the torture begins

 

Ifti, wondering if you have any further comments regarding the T9300 vs the T7800 chips. It seems like the T9300 is a better option due to the extra 50% cache and AUD$350 cheaper. The X7900 is way too expensive (AUD$850 more than T9300), much more performance to be gained from upgrade to 8800GTX's.

 

I'm interested in opinions about the best coloured lid? I was thinking of getting the Smoke Grey - it seems the best match to the rest of the lappy (based on online pics anyway)?

 

Larger cache is always good - you will notice the difference.
As I said earlier, the 8800 card is the most important for now.
If I were you Id go for the T9300 and the 8800......

Grey does definately match the rest of the laptop nicely - it isnt as 'loud'.

 

The display is LPL0032 - is that the correct code? If so which make is it???

Still not sure on whether I want to keep the blue or the grey!!
I have all my lights set to Blue at home, so maybe the blue lid would be better.............choices, choices!

 

Yup agreed. T9300 and 8800 it is, now just to wait till Friday until they offer me something better than crappy Bluetooth Headphones. I mean really ...

 

You can always change the colour scheme ... but the lid would always be blue =)

 

its the LG.The best panel out of them all. And 8800m owner ya git. ya got a physx PPU in there ?

 

i have the blue, and im in the uk, we could set up a timed swap if u want lol, ill take jan & feb with the blue, then we could swap for 2 months and so on lol

 

I like the bone white colour alot... Was a hard choice between that and gray, went with the gray in the end...

* Note, the colour is actually grey, just telling it like the colour is listed on the Dell sight as gray

 

Im so jealous of Itfi btw!

I guess thats a perk of being in the IT industry...

 

Sorted!! I may swap the whole lid over then, as well as the GPU My lappy is gonna be awesome!!
Not checked for the PPU yet, will check that later on tonight when I open the unit up to do the swap

No chance!! lol

 

Just to let you guys know, I also bought a seperate case from Dell - one where you can pull out a handle and wheel the thing along.

The M1730 fits in perfect. Its actually inside it now.






Dell havent been too bad TBH. CC rang me to let me know each stage of the build etc, and have just rung again now to ask if Ive received it.

 

Dude, i hate you!!!! you got the perfect screen on the first computer... no replacements needed for the screen!!! so lucky!!! congrats!

 

lol say no and get another for me!!!!!!

 

My own M1730 has the Samsung screen. This second one has the LG. I'll probably just swap the entire lid over, since you need to remove the lid to change the card anyway

Cant wait to get all this donw tonight - Youtube video will be up some time tomorrow - and Im phoning in sick for the rest of the week

 

And tell your boss it got delayed until next monday!! XD

 

OK Im gone.
Got a few jobs to do, and the next time you guys will hear from me is when I have the 8800 in my machine at home

 

My boss isnt in this week
Turned out to arrive in perfect time!

 

nice!! you know that i want to see those videos more than anyone here, so please leave now!!!!!!!

 

Congrats ifti, good for you and nice to share the excitement of waiting, from your posts I would diagnose you have a bout of malaria coming on , I would put in for a couple of weeks off.... just to be on the safe side....

Now the long wait for mine...damn still on pre-production....but they did this to me before and it suddenly went to packing, hope it does the same. I hate waiting

 

hey - what is the part code again? MX888 or something like that? Can anyone confirm - I just spent 10 minutes going through random pages backwards and can't find it - and the search doesn't show anything for MX888

I hate having a bad memory - lol

IFTI - there's a LOT of screws bud - you might want to edit the video for high speed or something

 

Pokes Ifti in the eye.... no fair....

Seriously though, will be interested in the video's they helped convince me I wanted an M1730

Still waiting for a call from Dell, boy they suck....

Cheers

 

ETA 21/02/08!!! I love UPS!!!

 

So yours has been posted then?

Man, this sucks mines still on Pre-Production, I would be convinced if they bloody changed the order status to something abit more accurate, pfft

 

Hey SulZero, I know how you feel I am in the same boat, been in Pre-Production for 6 days now. There seems to be a big lag on their updating of the building progresss, dell suck at this end. hang in there it will arrive, and when it does you will be the happiest guy on this forum.