Hi

Just ordered my XPS 17

4GB RAM, i740 QM, Nvidia 445M just have a few questions first.

How long should it take to deliver in the UK?

Are Nvidia Verde drivers alright for this or should I use modded?

any heat issues? should I get an aftermarket cooler?

 

Congrats on the order! Great specs too.

No idea on delivery to the UK, I think US average is 3-4 weeks right now.

Nvidia drivers may be usable by the time you get it, they only have to implement the id strings for our cards for it to be usable. Either way all you have to do is put the correct id strings in the .inf file and it will work.

No heat issues reported, the 4XXm cards run very cool, even overclocked.

 

3-4 weeks! any way I can rush a next business day order?

 

No not really, if it's a new build most of the time is in ordering parts and building it. If none of the parts are backordered you may see a 2-3 week turnaround.

 

it was one of the dell deals, wouldn't that hint towards clearing premade stock?

 

It could, but probably not. Dell doesn't know for certain how many they will sell so it's not guaranteed that they will prebuild any at all. Just watch your status on Dell's order status page and it should have an estimated delivery date.

 

I ordered an XPS 15 on the 31st of December. Today it has updated to Shipped although no tracking info yet. I am told this is the process where it is put into the shipping packaging and should ship today or tomorrow. I'm not in the UK so I have no idea how long it will take to get there but I am betting I will have mine by Monday which would be about 11 days from order. I didn't order the stock unit, I changed a few things and it is the 15, not the 17.

 

You can pick the fastest shipping, but you can't really control how long it takes to build. It's different for shipping to UK vs US. UK goes with the shipper right from China, but US takes cargo planes from China to the closest shipper location in the US, then it goes from the shipper to the shipping location. I wasted my money on overnight, because it came from somewhere that will always get to me overnight with ground shipping. Oh well

 

hopefully it comes within 2 weeks, think my patience will run out after that

 

Mine took exactly that long. Ordered 11/12/2010 - Delivered 11/26/2010. EDD was 12/8/2010 originally. And I think mine was held up due to the heat quality failures. But that was a good thing, cause mine never gets very hot, but I think some of the earlier ones got really hot.

 

bobbyb that is great. Mine is estimated to be here next month on the 2nd at this point. I ordered mine on the 31st also.

 

Hi, ordered my Dell XPS 15 on 24 December, it has an ETA as being 6 January *which is tomorrow* - currently it's waiting to be picked up at the airport by the courier so it should reach me by tomorrow.. that's pretty good speed seeing Australia has had about 8-10 days of public holidays.

 

already planning upgrades and its not even here yet, Seagate Momentus XT 500GB Hybrid SATA-II 2.5" 7200RPM 32MB [ST95005620AS] Can I put 2 of these in? replace the original 500GB HDD.

 

^^^Yes an no Maxiiboii, the computer only has 1 hard drive slot but you can usually pull the Optical drive out and put a caddy in with another hard drive. If you don't want to do that then no you can only use 1.

 

I read for the XPS 17 L701x version there were 2 hard drive bays.

 

Oh you have the XPS 17, sorry I thought you had the 15, yes you have 2 hdd bays.

 

Oh ok thanks, finally has anyone successfully ran a 460 / 470 / 480M on this laptop? or are there bios / psu problems?

thats weird my EDD is also 2nd of february and my order was processed 5th Jan, mines already been on in production for 2 days though so hopefully not long left

 

Are you talking the GPU? IF you are you can't switch the gpu in the XPS 14/15/17 it's in the mobo so it's not a changable MXM type.

 

What is really weird is that mine has been in production since the 1st of the year (Day after I ordered), when I look at it online. When I call the 800 number it says it shipped out on the 13th of January (my original estimated ship date which is in the future). Customer service says it has indeed entered the shipping process but no tracking information is available. Kinda confused.

 

Don't trust the Dell website for order status. Mine still says in production yet I just received a phone call from my customer service agent with tracking information. Should have it delivered on Saturday via FedEx. Not to bad considering I ordered on the 31st of December.

This is my first Dell ever. I am shocked by the high quality of their customer service after you place your order. I've never received a phone call after ordering a computer and being told that they would follow up on Monday to ensure that I received it.

 

I chose the option not to have the calls think I should of taken them up now

 

I don't remember if I did or not. Call their 800 for automated information (1-800-433-9014) and wait to talk to someone (didn't take more than 1 minute to get someone on the phone) and they will monitor your order for you and provide updates.

 

mines been marked as shipped now so just playing the waiting game, will the i7 740QM + Nvidia 445M give me a massive improvement in gaming performance over a 9600M GT and Core 2 Duo T6400?

 

Should be a very large difference Maxiiboii, lol the config you had before is a few generations and probably 25% or more of a performance difference.

 

the config was laughable indeed :$ it could BARELY run L4D2 and when it did it could fry me a full english with all the heat exerted.. i'm hoping I can actually play games like SCII, BF2 BC on this even if settings are mediocre..

 

You should be more than good on those game lol. With my 425m oc'd to 700/1400/900 and my 740qm I can play SC2 on high-ultra at native res with few drops below 30fps. I haven't tried out BF2 BC on this yet but considering I could play it on Medium with my M11xR2 you should be good lol. The 445m is right around the GTX 260m range sometime a bit better as far as games go so you'll be set for a while.

 

Ok thanks for the input +rep

 

The wait is killing me. Fedex shows it should be delivered tomorrow though! Got my Swiss Gear Pegasus backpack in the mail today also!

 

Awesome! I love my Swiss Gear.

 

I've never owned a Swiss Gear backpack. I saw that someone else here had one and liked it. It looks like it is very well made. I had a Targus that I bought at the beginning of 2010 for about the same price and it lasted about 4 months before the fabric started coming apart. Hopefully I can squeeze the last year and a half of school out of this one.

 

Fedex? mines being handled by WWI :S

 

Has yours arrived today?

Also has anyone successfully overclocked the 445M to near 460 / 470M speeds was it stable?

 

Hasn't showed up yet (it's 8 AM) but it shows this morning to be on a Fedex Truck for delivery so I should see it today!

 

750 GPU has been stable for me. 940 VRAM ran fine for a while but then crashed, so I am currently down to testing 930.

 

After getting off the phone with dell mine apparently arrives on tuesday, Cant wait

 

Mine just showed up about 15 minutes ago. Loving it so far! Just downloading software and copying stuff over from my external HD right now.

 

Excellent!

 

So far I am liking it. Pretty much still loading software. Itunes locked up once but I think that was my fault.

 

you going to be loading any games? ^^ also any heat issues? does the palm rest get warm as they say?

 

I have been downloading updates for this and that all afternoon. I loaded Microsoft Flight Simulator X and ran it with the graphics on high. GPU temp got up to about 79 C and the GPU got up to about 69 C. Palm rest gets warm but not hot. I have it on a cooling pad though. Will check out temps again later when I disconnect everything. Currently downloading the big patch for BFBC2 with Vietnam. Fan runs a lot but isn't loud. The one thing that I noticed is the Bluray DVD drive is pretty loud and vibrates a lot when installing software. I got the 720p screen and it looks great to me.

 

I'm waiting for the xps 14...but it appears dell ships accessories seperately these days - which is kind of weird considering I'll get my latop bag BEFORE I get the laptop! When I got my previous current lappy (XPS 1530) everything shipping together in one box (which seems to make more sense)

 

930 crashed. Down to 920 now.

 

mines gone from Shanghai - Korea - Kazakhstan - Germany so far, it just cleared customs and departed so with any luck I may have it tomorrow if not tuesday

 

You should have it by tomorrow if it is in Germany now. Mine arrived there late in the evening and was with me on Monday morning in Brussels.

 

Okay so one full day in and here is what I have noticed.

Just played BFBC2 for about 30 minutes. Max CPU temps were 80 C and max GPU temp was 83 C. Temp of the room I am in is about 74 F and it is on a Targus Cooling pad (although I don't think it really helps much).

Left hand rest gets just slightly warm, not hot.

Fan runs constantly no matter what I am doing although you can't hear it hardly ever.

Keyboard is very nice. I like typing on it a lot. Trackpad works better than any I have ever used.

Anyway, Hope you get yours tomorrow Maxiiboii!

 

What kind of settings are you using for BFBC2? also unrelated do you need any of the previous games for BFBC2 to work or does it work as is?

fan noise is never a problem for me I always have music on, so I never take notice. Is it true the trackpad has multi touch?

Thanks BobbyB

 

I am using medium settings at native resolution and getting 40-45 fps while running fraps. Occasionally dips down to 35 if I am near a huge explosion or something. BFBC2 is a standalone game and you don't need any other games for it. There is also an expansion out for it called Vietnam. Great game.

Don't know what multi touch is. Do you mean like two fingers to scroll or something like that? If so yes it has it.

 

I agree. From what I've been reading, once the package clears customs in Germany, it has been delivered the next business day every time.

 

Think I will be getting this game then
yes 2 fingers to scroll etc.

I hope i'm not an exception then.

 

Tonight I played BFBC2 for about an hour and this thing is getting hot. GPU pretty steady at 87 C. Gotta try to find someone to do a repaste job for me.