Finally Decided...

I've finally decided (almost) to go with an xps 1730 (I know it doesn't belong into Sager, but this room has helped me a lot to get some clarification on the 9800/8800 gtx issues) After talking to Dell, they confirmed that they currently see no inclusion of 9800gtx, let alone a sli version in the near future, so I figured 8800gtx sli should still do the trick and perform well enough for the upcoming games.

Dell XPSTM M1730 Inspiron (N07X7303)

Base
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.50 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 6 MB L2 cache)
Memory
4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
Video Card
DUAL SLI 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800GTX card
Hard Drive
320GB Free Fall Sensor Raid 0 Stripe - 2 X 160GB (7200RPM) Hard Drive
Optical Devices
Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load drive, including SW
Wireless Networking
Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-Card - Europe - Core 2 Duo Processors
Physics PCI card
Ageia PhysX Processing Unit Card
LCD
17.0" UltraSharp™ WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT with TrueLife™ with Integrated 2.0MP web cam

Any feedback/comments welcome.

Thanks

 

Nice setup, but i am wondering what will be the price and you missing OS.

 

Windows Vista Premium and price is about $3k (still deciding on number of GB so might be a little more/less).

 

Why don't you get a Sager 9262?

 

I would, if I were in the US. Although Sager does ship to the UK, shipping costs are approx $330 and if for some reason I have technical issues, I'd have to ship it back to the US since they don't have a UK representation.

On that note however, the same Clevo model is sold as "ROCK" in the UK (rockdirect.co.uk) but if you do a like-for-like comparison with dell, you'll reach a system that costs in its basic form £2400, i.e. $4800 (rather silly).

Otherwise I'd have made a Sager order straight away...(needless to mention the wonderful exchange rate benefit I'd be enjoying! )

 

you do know that 9800m GTX in sli has been confirmed so dell lied to you in that sense. Its true that the clevo's are more expensive in some regards.

have you seen here yet? http://www.kobaltcomputers.co.uk/acatalog/ComancheSLI.html

much cheaper than rock and you get quad core with the 9262

 

since you are thinking about a sli system, I'm guessing you're be willing to sacrifice almost all mobility and concentrate on power. In that regard, you should get the 9262. In addition to getting newer technology such as 9800gt, you'll also get QUAD CORE. Rock is over priced from what I've read, check out the clevo guide of UK sellers, theres some, but not alot. Seriously, DON"T get the Dell, you'll regret it later. The bang for buck ration on that thing is pathetically low.

 

i wouldnt say he would regret getting the 1730 from dell (or the 1710, they seems to be offering it again) its still a descent machine.
I would still reccomend the 9262 though.

 

Good to hear! To be honest the sales rep didn't sound terribly convincing either. And coming to think of it, it's in their interest to keep all announcements off the 9800 to maximise the sales of the 8800...

I will check out the clevo site, and will certainly wait for a while as right now i can already smell the announcement coming up soon

Also thanks on the advice with the quad, I was surprised that dell doesn't even offer any quad at all.

At a glance it seems similarly pricey as rock, the basic system with SLI costs £2600 (!!) = $5,200

Well, I'll have to wait for the muddy water to settle, and hope I can do a business trip to the US sometime soon!

 

I think I will make an (sort-of) 180 degree turn and settle down for a non sli notebook and get the 9800gtx instead. I saw the FPS benchmarks which seem fabulous for almost all games (crysis playable on high even, so I guess with some tuning it can become fluently playable) and the notebook is not so much of a monster (kobalt pc):

http://www.kobaltcomputers.co.uk/mojave_specifications.php

My question would be, is the extreme processor really necessary for gaming? (will a QX9300 have a profound gaming impact versus a T9600?).

Like that you get at least "some" portability, better price, and above all, no risk/getting angry when an sli version of 9800 gtx comes out since its a non-sli notebook

Last question, would it be sensible to get 64 bit vista on this machine?

THanks