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

I swapped the entire lid, with the screen etc included, since I removed the lid to install the graphics card anyways. I wouldnt want to start opening up all the screen and swap over the top plastic panel just yet...... lol

As Achilles said, Blue looks really nice in real life, not in the pics. I had Grey to start with, since I thought the colours would look sily. Boy am I glad I got the blue now!

 

Im still concerned about how hot the laptop seems to get! Although nTune reports the temps as being between 60-70c, and Ive never seen it above 73c, even after gaming, Im still concerned about how hot to the touch the top of the laptop is, where the GPU etc is!

I think Im gonna relax on the gaming until I get my Zalman cooler, which isnt being delivered til mid-March since its out of stock everywhere!!!

This beast really does get hot hot hot!! The air being exhausted from the back of the GPUs is almost as hot as the air coming out of my previously owned XBox 360!!

 

Hi everyone... Am new to this forum and and it's the first time I buy a dell (hope everything will be fine)

I finally ordered my M1730 (in the UK),
Here are the specs:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7700 (2.40 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2-cache)
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
DUAL SLI 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800GTX card
320GB (7200rpm) SATA RAID 0 Stripe (2x160GB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
Smoke Gray with White LED Backlights

I paid £1705 for it with a 10% coupon, I hope this is a good price???

 

Seems fine to me for the specs
Congrats!

 

okay, I seem to get 49 to 52 when i am not gaming and 69-72 when gaming.....is this good?

 

hey, how do i get my hands on some 8800s !

 

Zerg, thanks for the pic's, been wanting the see how the M1730 looks on the Zalman. It appears to fit it like a glove!

 

i am wondering the same thing but for cheap lol

 

Ok, here's my question - 32 bit or 64 bit?

Under 32 bit you only have about 3.2 odd usable RAM out of the 4 you paid for. Under 64 bit you have more usable RAM but a lot less freedom for drivers.

Just wondering if anyone can contribute to the debate as to which is going to provide a better result?

 

Where did you find the coupon???
Thats a really good price for a dual 8800m gtx

 

I'm currently using 64bit Vista Ultimate on an XPS M1710. It does NOT recognize 4gb of ram. There is something with the hardware I believe. I'm not sure if the 1730 can recognize 4gb of ram even with 64bit. Does anyone know?

However I have zero problems with drivers now, and when SP1 is released I'm sure it will run even better. Right now playing WoW and running All Office Applications I have zero issues.

 

Thanks! I appreciate the response.

 

Well Dell never ceases to astound!!! When I left work on Friday I was still in pre-proction, had been there for 9 days, and on arrival this morning....its been despatched!!! Guess the shipmennt of GPU's came in as Dazzy said.

The only problem is I am off to Africa this afternoon and won't be back for 2 weeks !!....what crap timing...looked to delay my flight but that is not an option, so now after agonising in the pre-production I am going to miss the delivery. At least our receptionist will be releived not to be terrorised by my constant forays at each sound of the doorbell

So all you guys waiting for your progress on the dell site...it means nothing really when it doesn't change...but when it changes, hang onto your hat as it changes fast!!!

Ho Humm...2 more weeks to wait, it'll be out of date by then

 

What are your specs??
My temps seem to be a lot higher - 58-68c when idle, and up to 74c when gaming.....

 

Ifti, are you still running 167.55 drivers for the 8800's? Have you tried any newer ones to see if they run better / more efficient?

I thinnk SergioP is running 169.61 - I'd be interested in the benchmark comparisons.

 

It isnt giving me any detailed status of my delivery since last night, is that normal?

How long do they normally take to deliver anyway, I am in the West Midlands area..

 

They usually take about 24hrs to appear on the deliverers system, well with UPS it is like that. You guys in the UK probably get your a tad faster.I would rckon your 1730 will be delivered in the next 24hrs, 48 at the latest. Congrats and enjoy ifti would probably be better placed to comment as I am in France and I think we have a bit longer delivery times.
Lucky fella

 

Well, looks like mine is being delivered Wednesday. 7 working days from order to receiving ain't bad in my opinion! Was the same with the last machine I ordered. Kudos to Dell for delivery!

 

Congrats Pommie, It's going to take loooong time for Wed to come lol. Dell is good when it comes to delivery, just their tracking system just gets everyone p*ssed off with it's inefficiency. If my computer comes in the next couple of days it will be 2 weeks from order to getting it, not too bad I suppose, though I would have preferred a week.

 

the peak has been 69 so far......I've only played UT3 so far though

Intel 2.8 GHz
4gb 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2
DUAL SLI 512MB 8700gt card
200GB (7200rpm)

 

Yeh still running the stock ones. They run all the games Ive thrown at it perfectly fine. If I change my drivers to any others I lose BluRay playback due to them being non-WHQL, which I dont want.

Depends on the courier.
With me - Im in London, and Dell tend to use Walsh Western for my deliveries, and it usually takes about 2 working days.

Aha.
I have the 8800, which seems to run hotter then then the 8700. When I had the 8700 I was also getting temps similar to yours.

Ive been playing Gears of War - although Im thinking of getting rid of it once I complete the game, since Im sick of all the bugs that Epic wont sort out!

 

Thanks ifti, They posted mine with Walsh Western aswell according to the packing slip..

 

Well I've had a machine before, so I know what the machines like, you must be in agony waiting for it Racing Snake!

The courier company have to call first to arrange a time to deliver. They won't just randomnly show up, well at least thats the way it works here in Australia. They usually will organise for a delivery 2 days after they call.

 

Yeah Pommie I am going up the wall, I am off on a business trip this afternoon and won't be back for 2 weeks so the waiting is just getting worse. I know I will have something good to look forward to, and waiting for me when I get back...but bloody hell...I HATE waiting. maybe my flight will be delayed Why don't they go on strike when I need them to

 

Walsh Western dont ring to arrange or confirm delivery, they just deliver.

 

Were you planning on taking the machine with you if it had arrived in time? Its quite heavy! Not the most portable laptop ever made......

On that note, I'll be flying back to Perth in 2 weeks. Has anyone here had any luck with a decent bag that will fit the XPS M1730? I can imagine this is going to be a nightmare finding one. Either I go out to a store and try buying one which I then take home and try out. Or I take the laptop with me to the stores... which I don't really want to do!

 

That's not very good... I was impressed when they called to arrange a delivery time over here.

 

@Pommie
YesI was hoping to take it with me, as i wanted to get the tax back, I am a foreign resident so qualify for the VAT refund. I travel often so will have to do it next time. I also ordered a backpack so transporting it is not really a problem. I also had one before for a couple of weeks then returned it as it was not working and I couldn't be bothered with spending hours on the phone to Dell trying to sort it out. Especially not when two days after my order they brought out the 8800's, so I returned it for a newer version. I only had the old one for a week, just enough to wet my appetite and make me even more impatient to get my hands on my new one.

 

Make sure you get a cooler for the beast as well!

 

Well I'm off to the airport now, so will speak in a couple of weeks when I get back and had a chance to play with my new beast. Can't wait....but I suppose I have to.

 

Ifti, I was just looking online for a cooler. What cooler do you have/are you getting mate?

There are sooooo many coolers available on the market, its doing my head in. Trying to read reviews on each one, but the reviews are more from people who picked up a cooler and like it, even though they don't really know if its good or not...

I hear everyone talking about the Zalman Cooler NC-2000. Is that what you have/ are getting?

 

Racing Snakes, have a good trip. You have something to look forward to when you come back now!

 

Have a good trip. Although I have a feeling all you will be thinking about is when you are gonna get back and play with your new toy!!

Yeh thats the cooler Im looking to get - the NC2000. It fits the M1730 perfect and has ultra quiet fans. Also I liked the fact that it distributes air across the entire underside of the laptop, rather then just having 2 fans that push air sitraight up to a certain point of the laptop.
Its more expensive then most other coolers, but Ive read reviews stating its one of the best.
It seems to be in short supply though for some reason. Ive ordered mine but have to wait until the 14th March to get it!!!

 

Yeah, I agree Ifti. They seem to actually have the Zalman Cooler out here in black, and actually in stock?! Thats a nice change for Australia... Do you know if any members of this forum have one and have posted pic's/vid's/reviews?

 

If you go back a few pages - I think its only about 3 or 4 pages - in this thread, you will see Zerg who has posted some pics of his one up....

Man, send me one over!!!!

 

Ahhh yes, I remember seeing those photo's now. Don't remember him actually saying much about it. Thats the problem with threads, especially ones as large as this one, you can never remember where you saw/read things!

I'll have to order one for Perth in a couple of weeks.

 

Hmm, my machine doesn't have Blu-ray - whats the current consensus on best performing drivers for those who don't have BR to lose?

 

The driver issue seems to be a trial and error thing. Some people install a driver and claim it does good things for their machine. Others install the same driver and find it makes their machine crash and become unstable... I stuck with the standard Dell drivers for this reason...

 

Its best to check LaptopVideo2Go.

To be honest, I dont like their drivers. They take desktop drivers and modify the .inf file so that they are runnable on a mobile GPU chipset. Desktop graphics cards and drivers differ from notebooks, since they have different heat and cooling requirements - notebook GPUs are in much more of a confined space etc. Hence mobile drivers need to be different to desktop drivers. Also you get other issues, such as non-WHQL certification, and you dont know how stable they by until you try them on your system, since they were not initially made for your mobile GPU. A driver that works fine for one person, may not work well for another person using the same laptop! Hence these drivers are good for those who like to tinker with their systems, and squeeze the most out of it.

Personally I think the stock dell 167.55 drivers are perfectly fine. Sure, there is still much room for improvement, but Ive had no issues. The drivers give me a good 3DMark06 score, while they run everything Ive thrown at it, such as Gears, BioShock, Company of Heroes, NFS Prostreet, and so on, all at max settings. Overall, Im pretty happy with them.

I'll wait until Nvidia release some Beta drivers for the 8800mGTX before I think about changing my drivers now, since the Nvidia ones will obviously be WHQL and be made directly for the mobile GPU. They also test their drivers, unlike LV2G who modify the inf and stick the driver up for you to download and try out, no matter what the consequences.

Dont get me wrong, Im not knocking LV2G drivers, since they obviously are more up to date, and sometimes give better performance etc. I just dont see the need for them right now since 167.55 drivers are giving me all the performance I need, and more

 

Still waiting for Dell to phone me back!

Will let you no whats going on as soon as I no Ifti.

 

Veggie - give em hell!!!

 

Left 4 messages over the last 7 days but still havn't been called back yet =/
Every time I try to phone my account manager his always away from the desk blah blah blah...

Is there another number I can ring?
Basically they cancelled my order 7 days ago because my Debitcard and home addresses didn't match which is fair enough and my fault.They still have my 2600 pounds though!

This is the story of my life lol...

Some of you might have seen I was going to import a Sager laptop from ISTNC in the US.Paid them 1700 last 17/10/2007 which i cancelled at the start of Jan this year.Havn't had 1 reply from them yet!

So 4 months and 4300 pounds later (Total) I still don't have a laptop!

/Rant over

 

Veggie try the click to chat option or the click to call option, Dell did the same thing to me near about, they charged my bank account 3600$ instead of my preferred account. I had my money released and back in my account in less than 10 mins.

 

Thanks

I'll try that.

 

Bloody hell!
You havent got the money back from the Sager yet??
This is why I always pay for this kinda stuff with a credit card, since that way you have another layer of protection and could just ring the credit company and get them to chase up etc.
I think the only other number you can try is the general customer care line, but be prepared to listen to crappy music for an hour or so!

When my account manager was too slow or didnt respond, I would go straight through to his boss and complain. When Im spending thousands I expect the best service. In the end I had that account manager changed and have a new acount manager, who has been fine and is reaping in the comission from my orders!

 

Sent his Boss this email.
Hopefully I'll get a phonecall today!!!
Think I can get a little compo out of this ^^?The Birthday bit is made up But thats mainly because I was expecting delivery on the 29/2 and now there have to redo the order so I'll get stuck at the back of the pack =/This way maybe I'll get put on priority.

I recently brought a XPS M1730 but there was a problem with my house address and my debit card address not matching.I updated the address on the card to my new address over a week ago now but I have not been called by Dell nor have I been able to get in contact with the 2 people mentioned in this email, This is really starting to get to me as I wanted to give this to my Brother for his birthday present which is on the 3rd March.

I've tryed to call Mitha Raghavendra a few times and have left a voicemail but have been unable to get in contact.Partly my fault since I work 6.30am-2.30pm but Mitha's hours are 4.30am-1.30pm so I always miss her.

I've also noticed even though the order is cancelled the money I paid has still not been returned to my account even after 7 days which has me a bit worried as I don't really no whats going on at this point!

Her number is 0870 366 4543 Extn 77014

My account manager is Nimit Parmar 08709075128 - 70031

I've also left him a couple messages and have tryed countless times to get in contact with him over the passed 4-5 days but his always away from the desk!

I'm seriously thinking about cancelling my order now and ordering elsewhere.I needed this laptop by 3rd March for my Brothers birthday but I don't see it happening for some reason, The amount of money I'm spending on this I was expecting A+ customer service.

Can you please get somebody who can help to phone me ASAP on **********

Thanks

 

Give it a few hours and see if they get back to you.

 

Veggie, that sucks mate. If I were you, go grab a cuppa, sit down and phone up the general customer care line like Ifti said, turn on loudspeaker and surf the web whilst you wait for your turn in the cue. If you can't get through to your accounts manager, do this, at least you can let off some steam on someone else, who'll then let your accounts manager know you're getting pissed off!

 

I did this and the customer care rep was actually better then my account manager. Whenever there was a change in the status of my order, he would ring me straight away and let me know. I didnt even have to check the online status page, since his info was more up to date anyways!

 

Got some tracking details at last, been picked up from Dell, Raheen and last update is Call Lock Out, what ever the heck that means...?