xps M170 vs. xps gen 2

I just ordered the Xps gen 2 last week, it was shipped last Tuesday, which is the day before the M170 was released;thus, I can not change my oder anymore .
Is there a major difference bewteen these two?

I read a lot of complains about problems with the LCD in the xps gen 2 (sparkle effect and light leakage), was this fixed in the M170? Should I refuse the X gen 2 and wait until I get a coupon that I could use towards the M170? I got a 35% discount, and I am afraid I wont get a coupon like that for the M170 for a while. However, the LCD concerns me.
I ended up paying after taxes $2580 for a Pentium M, 760-2GHZ/2Mb/533 MHz, Tv tuner and remote, 1GB of ram, 100 GB harddrive, 8xCD/DVD double layer, Intel pro/wireless 2200,4 yer Premium warranty. Is this a good deal? How often to the 40% coupons are released, do you think you could use them towards the X170?

 

well...did u get the 7800 GTX graphics card??...i wouldn't pay that much for the m170..even with the coupons...i would wait a bit till the prices went down...and they won't be releasing any more 30-50% off coupons for a while....as shown on the front page of nbreview.com...so keep it!!!

 

No, no. I did not ge the 7800 video card. I am getting the XPS2 with the 6800 Ultra. At the end I will be paying like $2350 for the system after taxes. Yes I think I am going to keep the XPS2, which will be delivered to me today, rather than trying to exchange it for the M170 and paying more money. ...Thanks for the advice....

 

Dell has a 21 day satisfactory period where you could exchange your XPS Gen.2 in that time period. I would not exchange it as the XPS M170 is the exact same thing as the XPS Gen. 2 except the M170 has the option of putting the Nvidia GeForce Go 7800 GTX Ultra. Keep in mind that getting a M170 with the 7800 will cost an arm and a leg, I did a price comparison on the internet as the price tag was over $4000.

I haven't heard of Dell fixing ghe LCD "problems" though as sparklies are associated with pretty much all color LCD displays (my PSP has them, desktop LCD, even my cell phone has that problem). I doubt Dell will be releasing a good coupon for the XPS M170 anytime soon as the true next gen. XPS is just around the corner.

Dell did the same thing with the XPS gen. 1. They released the XPS Gen. 1, then updated it to the XPS Extreme Edition around the holiday season of 2004, then released the XPS Gen. 2 4 months later.

 

Can't you fork over the extra $400 for the 7800? That's still much better than ordering an M170 even after coupons.

 

Thansk for the advice......I will stay with the XPS2 for 21 days....and see if I keep it. But so far ....I am lovin it. I looked for sparklies really hard.....but I did not notice really anything. The only thing that I did notice is the light leaking in the bottom of the LCD. I know that the Samsung LCD is better than the LG from the reviews I read, but how could I know which LCD I have on my system ? (Samsung or LG)

 

Go to www.support.dell.com and go into portable support and enter your Service tag which is located at the bottom of your computer and they will tell you. I found out my 8600 has a Hitachi!

 

Does anyone know if the 7800 graphics card can be retro-fitted into the XPS Gen 2?

 

on notebookforums.com, someone actually did put a 7800gtx in their gen 2, they said it worked awesome. (or maybe it was the i9300 with the 6800ultra, i don't remember lol)

 

Yes, I put one in. It works fine!!


I may post pictures if people feel it will help them...

 

Hey Sublime, I would be interested in any photos you have. Did you have to do anything other than install the hardware and load new drivers? Did you have to touch the BIOS? Where did you buy the card from? How much (if you don't mind). How deep did you have to dig into the notebook to get to the card?

Thanks! And sorry for all the questions. I was thinking this probably wouldn't work. Very cool to hear that it does!

 

Well, I'll take some pictures tomorrow, so you can have the step by step of how to take the thing apart

I just went to Dell's site, and flashed my BIOS with the m170 BIOS, since I have an XPS Gen 2. After that, all I had to do was download the drivers, and install the card!!

Now here is where I get yelled at!! I wanted to find a cheap way to get the card, and I got a really good discount on the XPS. So, I bought one, switched the cards, and I will be reselling it on ebay. But before people get on my case for it, I 1. Will be sure to say the card has been switched and 2. make sure the buyer knows it has the 6800, not the 7800!!

Having said that, I guess how much I paid for it will depend on how much I sell the computer for. Only time will tell!!

 

Thanks sublime. Appreciate the info. I've only had my gen 2 a month, so I'm not feeling the urge to upgrade it yet. Hopefully 6 months from now the part will be easier to get.

Thanks again!