XPS 1730 Vid Cards...

Apparently, the 8700GTs in the XPS 1730 are replacable, and are not soldered to the motherboard (was told by a dell rep). Obviously it's somewhat involving, but they said that new ones could be installed...I asked in the first place because of the necessity of the SLI motherboard inside, and the difference in video card placement.

Anyone here have opinions on whether it will be able to house the later 8800s?

I was pondering about the 9000s from next year, but realized that the santa rosa will have changed by then, plus the 9000s will require more wattage, including the platform...

Someone help me get this straight

 

It might be

However, you shouldn't be getting a laptop with the intent to upgrade. That's what desktops are for.

 

cant exactly help you "get this straight" when probably no one knows. They said they will be doing an upgrade program for the 1730 when new graphics cards come out and swap them. probably the 8800m(or 8700gtx).

 

Yes, I realize, although I don't think a desktop will be very practical to take to class.

 

For me, taking a 8-10 pound laptop to class isn't very practical.

Edit: V What he said V

 

And won't give you the battery life needed.

 

well i dont think he rele cares what you guys think, i was going to do the same thing, and 8 pounds isnt bad, like what 2books worth of weight....o nooo....and theres usually plugs in all the classes so you should be fine, and if not get an extra battery.

 

That's cool if he doesn't care, just making sure he knows what he's facing. There's no practical reason to take a laptop to class, maybe a single person does it out of a few classes, but I've yet seen them used for actual school work. Most of the time, they're just surfing the web.

 

The laptop is for people who plan to go to Lan Parties and such instead of lugging everything like the mouse, keyboard, screen and desktop.....

 

I haven't been keeping up, but is it confirmed that the XPS M1710 doesn't have a MXM-III (or Dell's proprietary version thereof) SLI motherboard?

 

yep, i agree, if you're strong it really isnt that heavy

 

i apologize if i sounded rude lithus, but it was just an opinion, personally i dont think tht its that much wieght. and odin, i thought it was MXM HE? possibly? it has to be if they can upgrade to a better card later.

 

Well, it's probably not MXM at all, it's probably Dell's proprietary modular, but if it is I was wondering whether or not it was confirmed if it had two type III or type HE modular slots. Previously there was talk that it only had one high end slot which was filled with some sort of 8700MGX2 and one MXM-II slot for the PhysX processor. I was wondering if we had new info since then.

 

ohh yeah, i thin your right, the 8700gt in the clevo 5791 is mxm he though. thats neat witht he 8700 though, you could potentially have a quad SLI laptop.

 

that would be cool. and insanely hot!

 

I don't think a 9x00 would use more wattage than a 8x00, I think it would use less. But why are you thinking about that when the 8800M is not even out. And I was like you, I thought I could carry an M1710 to class. I didn't mind the weight, but it was too big, I couldn't fit anything else in my bag if I had the M1710 in the bag that's why I settled for a Vostro 1500. Right now the lowest price of the M1730 is 2999$, if you bought a nice Vostro for under 1000$, you could use the remaining 2000$ to build a KICKASS desktop, something that would totally kick the **** out of the M1730. I built myself a quad core system with a screen and all the jazz for under 1600$ and bought a Vostro for 1200$, which makes 2800$, cheaper than a single M1730.

 

Type HE and Type III only applies to MXM. This is Dell's proprietary slot. As long as there's motherboard support, one can attach it to the XPS M1710 (assuming, of course, that they haven't changed the slot). This I find unlikely, since it doesn't look like the old m1710/e1705/e1505. The new precision (M6300 I think) looks like it based on the old ones, so taking the Quadro FX 1600M is possible. Don't know why you would put it in an XPS though.