Did Dell make a huge mistake with the XPS?

The inspiron XPS was sold with a promise that the GPU could be upgraded down the road. However, next generation cards use the PCI-express interface, not supported by the XPS. Did Dell paint itself into a corner with an unforseen paradigm shift? Or are the consumers going to get the short end of the stick? My guess is the latter, where Dell puts double the RAM on a Radeon 9700 and calls it an upgrade. What do you think?

GPU cooling (100°C->75°C)* Inspiron 8600 * 1.8ghz Pentium M * 128 MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo (337/242 -> 400/300) * 2x256 MB DDR2700 SDRAM * Aquamark 3: 24058 * 3DMark'03: 3404 * 3DMark'01 SE: 13120

 

I think i'll remove the XPS from consideration for a year or so

Im sure those customers would be upset that the most notable feature of their laptop (and probably the reason they chose the XPS) would be useless, or even if not useless, at least much less important..

Even if they continue making mobility versions of desktop AGP cards, they would be on the same playing field as regular laptops with PCI Express cards wouldnt they? Except that they would have to call up dell to do the job for them instead of doing it themselves..

Oh well

 

I dont really think Dell consideres that a problem they think of it as a way to get money out of people faster. For example with the 8600 they are unlikely to upgrade that video card anytime soon. They will probably just kill the line and make a new machine with a better video card. Whether that will fit in the 8600 is unlikely but possible (bios not compatable).

You also have the problem with ATI only having one higher place to go with a notebook card (9800). And they seem to be working on pci express technology (probably a miniboard with 4x or 8x bandwidth.

I also dont think that many laptop manufacturers will try to keep up with their desktop counterparts.

On a side note I doubt that game designers will keep pushing the polycounts and minimum specs as not everyone has a 128mb video card in their desktop. They keep streching the line on the far side of the spectrum and ATI and Nvidea keep making better cards. But the prices are extreme. Only hardcore gamers would really intend on buying these cards.

So as I see it untill another technological revolution comes around to make everything affordable and powerfull gaming requirements will probably peak.

 

Any rumors of a pci express XPS to come out ?

 

I was wondering the same exact thing, and even wrote a post about 1 month ago, but seriously? Whats the deal, I mean, its turning into dust as soon as the 9300 or the REAL 6000 with a better gpu comes out.

I don't know, but I think they will do what the did with the Desktop line, probably like scrap it and make an iXPS Gen 2, building it around the lines of the Alienware 7700 or the Sager 9860 or something, using the desktop p4 915 chipset. I don't know, but thats what I think.

Then again, as soon as you do that, the MR9800 is history, but it could come in useful at times, like on a non-centrino/sonoma non-superpricy notebook.