Dell XPS M170 and Dell Inspiron 9400?

an nVidia presentation talks about their upcoming Go 7800 video card and the release date of Sept. 29 on which the Dell Inspiron XPS M170 will be available "worldwide", it's likely we'll be seeing a refresh of the Inspiron 9300 at that time too, maybe the Inspiron 9400?

 

Hm... I saw this information somewhere else but I did not see the notebook chart. Thanks for the info.

I hope they will be putting a GeForce Go 7800 Ultra or higher level graphics card in the XPS instead of putting the same cards in the i9300 and the XPS. I hope that the next Nvidia Go graphics card will fit in the current generation XPS's.

 

didnt think they would have these until the very end of the year, i should have waited...

i hope we can squeeze one of those go 7800s into our 9300s.

 

me 2!!!!..but i wonder how much money that would cost to put it in the 9300 and how much it actually costs!!!...lol..prob. not worth it

 

I've gotten leads on an M140 which is also branded XPS. Are we looking at a 14.1" widescreen gaming notebook? If it contains a better card (7600?) than Sony's sign me up.

 

I think it will be way too much to put the 7800 graphics card in recent i9300's and XPS's, it would probably cost around $500 to buy the gpu alone. The 6800 Ultra is enough to last for a couple of generations of PC games, I imagine the 6800 Ultra will even run the new Unreal Engine just fine as long as the XPS has 2GB of RAM.

As for the XPS M140, I didn't even know Dell was releasing a 14" version of the XPS, its kinda like Hummer (GM) releasing a more "gass efficient" H3. I imagine the XPS M140 will contain the regular Nvidia GeForce Go 6800 or the equivelent 7000 level graphics card. Who knows if it will be better than the ATI X700 with 256MB of memory, time will tell.

 

I'm praying for a reasonable choice which would be the 7600. Going by the current progress of the industry, it will offer 6800 performance with the same power usage and heat as an X700/6600.

 

Maybe this M170 has something to do with the soo called "lexus" lineup??

 

The new naming scheme and the inclusion of more Media Center systems in the XPS line certainly suggests that. Or even if this is wrong, it's clearly positioning Dell in that direction.

 

so you're saying that other than the power usage and heat...the 7600 will be = 6800 in performance??

 

Right now, the dedicated GPU market is split into 4 segments.

Budget (X300/6200)
Mainstream (X600/6400)
Performance (X700/6600)
Enthusiast (X800/6800 and their variants)

All I'm saying is that every card in the following generation will more or less attain the same performance as the card above it in the previous generation. Let me cite a few examples from ATI.

X700 = 9800 (very close)
X600 = 9700
X300 = 9600 (very close)

Based on that, I predict that...

X1700/7600 = X800/6800
X1600/7400 = X700/6600
X1300/7200 = X600/6400

 

I talked to somebody at dell and all they have heard is model number.. and no sept release. it is 100% for october posably middle to end

i might end up waiting on my purchase to see what happens with the 9400 or maybe a cheaper 6800go alternative as i would really like a 15.4 screen instead of a 17 for more battery life

anyways if anybody finds out any specs and can post them that would be great

 

The slides and PC Magazine state explicitly that the new Lexus lineup and these models will be announced at the end of this month. Why would Dell want to miss the boat on offering the new card at its launch?

 

Well, it seems the M170 is available for purchase on Dell's UK site, although it looks like they've just copied and pasted all the Gen 2 details. Rather odd...

 

dell has it on the website now. looks like they changed the name of the xps from gen 2 to m170...the geforce go 7800 gtx is optional at $349 for the m170.

doesnt look like us 9300 users will ever see this card in our machines.


http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/xpsnb?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

 

I'm not too hot over having 1 GB memory as the standard. But on the plus side, it's only $275 to upgrade to 2 GB, and after you apply coupons, it practically costs the same as ordering 2-1GB sticks from NewEgg.

 

Me too, i dont want a hulking beast of a laptop. i think the i6000d is the maximum size i will buy for a lappy

 

7800 is not worth it because you are not getting double performance by paying double price. There are many games which even 7800gtx on desktop can't maintain a constant 60fps with vsync and all settings maxed. That's a problem for people who play games on lcd with vsync because if the framerate drops below 60, it will be lowered to 30.

 

Now that these machines are now available, with the spec, what are people's opinions, etc.? Which to choose. My intention is to have a close to top end gaming laptop, while avoiding the Sager 9890 size/wieght machines. I'll want to do top end gaming, development etc.

I've spent some time building some config's, and they come very close, in terms of price, and it SEEMS as though the 9400 is the superior machine... am I wrong? Please let me know your opinions.

Trying to draw up comparisons, it seems that the differences are:
PROCESSOR
9400: Intel ® Core™ Duo Processor T2600 (2.16 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 667 MHz FSB)
vs
M!&): Intel® Pentium® M 780 ( 2.26GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
MEMORY:
9400: Memory: 2048MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)
vs
M170: Memory: 2048MB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)

Wireless:
9400: Wireless Local Area Networking: Intel® Pro WLAN 3945 Internal Wireless (802.11a/b/g 54 Mbps) for Duo Processors
vs.
M170: Wireless Local Area Networking: Intel® ProWireless 2200 802.11b/g Mini PCI Wireless LAN Card

The M170 gets a free printer thrown in.

The warranties are also a bit different:
9400: Standard: 3-Year At Home service with Accidental damage cover & E-Learning course
vs.
M170: 4-Year International On-site service

Prices:
(N01945) Inspiron 9400 £2,624
(N01XPS6) XPS M170 £2,586

Please let me know what you think.


+- complete specs based on my configs...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
N01945 Inspiron 9400

£2,624
Includes VAT & Shipping
Buy Now, Pay in 2007
Conditions of Finance


Intel ® Core™ Duo Processor T2600 (2.16 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 667 MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Professional, SP2
Genuine Windows XP Pro SP2 Backup Media
Dell System Media Kit: Resource CD - contains Diagnostics and Drivers
Standard: 3-Year At Home service with Accidental damage cover & E-Learning course
No Dell Media Experience
Memory: 2048MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)
Hard Drive: 100GB (7,200 rpm) SATA Hard Drive
LCD: 17" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WUXGA (1920 x 1200) Display with TrueLife™
Video Card: 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7800 Go graphics card, PCI-Express x16
CD/DVD Drives: Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive with Software
Floppy Drives: No Floppy Drive Option
Primary Battery: Second Primary 9 Cell 80 WHr battery
Additional Battery - Ships Separately: 9300 second 9-cell , 80 Whr Li-Ion primary battery
Power Supply: AC Adapter 90W Power Cord
Keyboard: Internal Keyboard - (QWERTY)
Colour Choice: No QuickSnap™ Cover Option
Modem: Internal 56K v.92 Capable Fax Modem
Wireless Local Area Networking: Intel® Pro WLAN 3945 Internal Wireless (802.11a/b/g 54 Mbps)

for Duo Processors
Bluetooth: Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth 2.0 Module

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

(N01XPS6) XPS M170
£2,586
Includes VAT & Shipping
Buy Now, Pay in 2007
Conditions of Finance
Initial price also includes an upgraded support service for your added protection. Intel® Pentium® M 780 ( 2.26GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Professional, SP2
4-Year International On-site service
Dell Media Experience 3.0 Basic- Inspiron
Memory: 2048MB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)
Hard Drive: 100GB (7,200rpm) IDE Hard Drive
LCD: 17" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WUXGA (1920 x 1200) Display with TrueLife™
Video Card: 256MB DDR 3, NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX, PCI-Express x16
CD/DVD Drives: Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive with Software
Primary Battery: 80Whr 9 Cell LI-ION Primary Battery
Additional Battery - Ships Separately: 9300 second 9-cell , 80 Whr Li-Ion primary battery
Power Supply: 130W AC Adapter
Keyboard: Internal Keyboard (UK/Ire QWERTY)
Modem: Internal 56K v.92 Capable Fax Modem
Network Cards: Internal 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Wireless Local Area Networking: Intel® ProWireless 2200 802.11b/g Mini PCI Wireless LAN Card
Bluetooth: European - Dell™ Wireless 350 Bluetooth 2.0 Module
Subwoofer: Integrated 5 Watt subwoofer (internal speaker amplifier) with bass reflex port Dell Colour Printer 720
FREE Dell Colour Printer 720
Cables: Dell USB 2.0 Printer Cable - 3m Black Cable
Standard Warranty: 1 Year Next Business Day Exchange Warranty
Printer Ink Cartridges: Dell A920/720 Standard Colour Ink Cartridge
Printer Driver: 720 FI Printer Driver for Inspiron
Order Information:
Included : 1 x 720 Black Ink Cartridge + 1 x 720 Colour Ink Cartridge
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

HMM - seems they may not be the same GPU's:
http://nvidia.com/page/go_7800gtx.html

I've popped Dell a mail, see what they say...

 

Well, if I were to get one right now, I would go with the 9400. It seems to be an overall better system to me. But I would say the XPS still has it beat by a little but in terms of gaming. As you noted, the 9400 only has the 7800 Go, not the GTX that the XPS has. I am not sure what the performance differences are there, but I would think that the GTX is not so much better that it would be worth getting a slower and less power efficient CPU.

So my opinion: Better gaming: XPS
Better system: 9400

Which you choose is all up to you!!

 

Thanks sublime,

I'm kind of leaning that way myself. There's always the hope that I could upgrade the GPU at some later date, given what I've seen about the 9300's on the forums, but naturally I won't count on that.

Anyone know of a site (like www.tomshardware.com ro www.anandtech.com) that do laptops "shoot-outs", or "mobile GPU comparisons, so I can get a feel the difference?

the Anandtech review of the dual core sounded pretty impressive.
CiaO 4 NoW

 

Hmm - note sure how accurate this is (I'm quoting someone else on another forum):

That's quite a big difference ...

*scratches head*

 

The XPS M140 has a killer GPU! The Intel 900 GMA!! The fastest on the market ! Just kidding.. The Intel GMA 900 is actually very crappy, its a deacient amount worse then the ATI X200. The XPS M140 has been out for several months too. But the XPS M140 was never designed for gamming. Its just designed to be a good multimedia notebook, and get great battery life. With the 9 cell it gets just over 7hrs with brighness all the way down and running very light apps. If the XPS M140 actually had a good GPU it would be quite a cool little notebook.