My Comparison of XPS 17 3D vs XPS 17 Optimus (Non3D)

I received my XPS 17 on Weds day and wanted to point out a few things in comparison to the 3D version that I used for a couple weeks.
1080p 3D vs 1080p AG--First of all the "Antiglare" screen seems to be the same good quality panel but with less contrast ratio than the 3D screen because of the matte surface. So your blacks wont be as dark and colors wont be as rich as the 3D screen- which is what I expected. That is why so many displays are glossy nowadays- to maximize color richness. There is a "softer" glow to the screen in comparison to the 3D screen. The tradeoff is no reflection like the glossy screens which is great because my workplace has bright lights and its nice to have a non-glare screen for a change.
INTEL HD 3000- Its nice to see extra features that the 3D version didnt have like, wifi display, Intel GPU settings, etc. Its nice to know that there is another GPU available now, whereas the 3D version it did not exist.
I can just right click on the desktop, go to Nvidia Control Panel and customize which GPU I want to contol certain programs- cool.
GAMES---After playing Crysis 2 and Portal 2 for a couple of hours each I see that the performance is the same compared to the 3D version- which is to be expected but I just wanted to make sure. I have the 550 because I am not a demanding gamer, Portal 2 settings were max except for vsync/AA and Crysis 2 settings were only on "high" but with 1080p. Temps/fps were the same as the 3D version.
USB 3.0 Problems---The first night I used this non-3D version I transferred 268 Gb to the laptop using the USB 3.0 port and my USB 3.0 HDD and it took only 1.5 hours. Nothing has failed on me yet, whereas the 3D version that I used had inttermitent problems. Thats not to say I wont have any problems tommorow or the next day but so far so good.

VERDICT---If you want the absolute best screen, and dont care about the Intel HD 3000 then buy the XPS 3D version. Otherwise if you are like me, and want to be able to use 2 GPUs and have a 1080p Antiglare screen, then the non-3D XPS version may be for you.
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So the non 3D comes with the matte screen? No option to get glossy? And how is the overall gameplay from a FPS standpoint? Crysis in particular. Got a friend looking to buy. He wants what I got (sig) but may not have the money.

And...........how did you swing that great deal in your sig???

 

Apparently the non 3D only comes in the AG 1080p screen as far as I know.
There is always the option to purchase the glossy screen lcd panel and replace it yourself
I consider the overall gameplay pretty damn good for a sub-$1000 laptop with a 1080p screen. Try buying the same laptop for under a grand. Crysis 2 can be played with 25-30 fps lowest detail settings which is "high" and 1080 res.
I got that deal buy using the $400 coupons available last month and purchasing the cheapest configured XPS 17 and upgrading processor/6230/keyboard comes out to $974 plus tax.
I think today may be the last day to use the $450 coupon if you configure it past $1600?

 

Thanks for the comparison. I don't really game but I got the AG screen and notice similar behaviour to the color and blacks on the screen. Have you been able to get better colors out of it? I tried raising the saturation a bit to around 20 and it looks a bit better.

Thinking of downgrading to the XPS 15 with the fancy screen.

 

I would like to calibrate the screen also, hopefully someone with a professional calibration tool can do this and share the settings in the future.
I think no matter what we do it wont get close to the same black levels as the glossy 3D screen though.
It doesnt bother me too much because I think the screen is very nice regardless and can get very bright too. I was really worried about the screen brightness because I have seen alot of laptops with matte screens and low brightness levels produce really washed out colors-this screen is matte but still has good contrast ratio.

 

I know its a little off-topic, but CAN the XPS 17 connect 3 external displays via
1x VGA, 1x HDMI & 1x DisplayPort all @3 x (1920x1080) ???
making it a total of 4 independent displays.

Can activate Smart Taskbar via Realtime Soft UltraMon

 

Forums are funny : )

When I was considering the Clevo P170HM most were complaining about the glossy screen and even replacing the glossy screen with third party antiglare screen on their new machines.

No count of personal preference?

 

how do the screens compares when used outdoors when it is sunny?

I still think that the 3D screen reflect a little bit to much, i think i rather had a matte, i don't care to much about the colors/blacks, just that the screens i useable in outdoor/bright places. Without constantly seeing myself..

 

With no additional hardware or software you can only run 2 display at a time. With additional hardware and software i'm sure you can run as many display as you want.

 

You can also get the non 3D with the HD+(1600x900) as well. I know, I know...WHY? I can replace the display cheaper than having it built by dell, but the main reason I wanted to post is that there is a wealth of info in the L701x threads dealing with screen swapping and calibration that I thought might come in handy for this bunch. Me personally, since I still have the HD+ screen I used the profile user provided by Mitchell2.24v on his thread and it really makes a difference. You just have to make sure to set it both for the Nvidia and the Intel, which you Beertha, lead me to. So thanks again.

 

Always glad to help fellow XPS owners.
Oh yeah, I am a dude. My brother and sisters used to call me Bert, beertha, beerthalamew, barfalalamew, etc so I used beertha for a username.

By the way I experimented with finding a way to switch between the 2 GPUs we have on our laptops. I think somebody asked if there is a way to run all display with the Nvidia GPU instead of the Intel GPU. So I went into Device manager and disabled the Intel GPU in the hopes of the NVIDA GPU taking over- not a good idea. All display output went to zero and I had to reboot and reenable the Intel GPU. Just FYI.