Derrick
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We had the pleasure to use the top-of-the-range XPS M1730 for a few days, and while we have some reservations, there is no arguing that this is a behemoth.
It’s rather impressive to think that there are notebooks available that are able to perform much faster than most of today’s desktop PCs. Dell has been particularly hard at work perfecting its XPS (Xtreme Performance Systems) range of notebooks. We had the pleasure to use the top-of the-range XPS M1730 for a few days, and while we have some reservations, there is no arguing that this is a behemoth.
Considering that this notebook is not really the ideal portable companion due to its bulky design and its weight of nearly 5kg, we’ll call it a desktop-replacement notebook because that is actually what it is designed for. Even though it ships with a really nice backpack, this is still not the type of notebook you’d want to carry around with you every day. Instead, if you are a gamer who needs the power of a desktop computer hidden in the chassis of a notebook, then this is the ‘notebook’ for you.
Everything from its design to the strategic placement of colour-changing LEDs, and integrated Logitech GamerPanel LCD has been added to enhance your gaming experience. Its rather bulky design also hints that there is more to this notebook than meets the eye. As it is with most notebooks of this calibre, the developers have put a lot of thought into the design and placement of virtually every feature. Little things, such as the placement of the single Ethernet port in the centre of the spine at the back of the notebook and the positioning of the air vents (also at the back), make using this notebook an absolute pleasure. You’ll also notice the full number pad next to the keyboard – a handy addition some gamers will appreciate.
Taking a peak under the hood, you will notice that this is no ordinary notebook. For one thing, it features two 250GB hard drives configured in RAID 0 or 1 – there is also the option to have a solid state drive installed. It sports an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, but you can opt for an Intel Core 2 X9000 Extreme. More impressive is the SLI configuration of its two 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8700m GT graphics cards.
Once our benchmarks results were obtained, we installed Call of Duty 5 to see how well this monster notebook performed in real life. While it understandably did not out-perform our desktop test rigs, it managed to wow us nonetheless. Its gaming performance was really good and we enjoyed using this notebook as a gaming device, purely because it is so portable. About the only major downside to this, and any other desktop-replacement notebook, is that its battery life is not particularly good. We managed to get about an hour’s run time on the battery alone running games – not really enough for any productive gaming on the road. However, when using office applications, the battery lasted just under two hours.
Again, we’ll emphasise the words “desktop replacement,” and if you are happy with that, then you will love what the Dell XPS M1730 has to offer.
It’s rather impressive to think that there are notebooks available that are able to perform much faster than most of today’s desktop PCs. Dell has been particularly hard at work perfecting its XPS (Xtreme Performance Systems) range of notebooks. We had the pleasure to use the top-of the-range XPS M1730 for a few days, and while we have some reservations, there is no arguing that this is a behemoth.
Considering that this notebook is not really the ideal portable companion due to its bulky design and its weight of nearly 5kg, we’ll call it a desktop-replacement notebook because that is actually what it is designed for. Even though it ships with a really nice backpack, this is still not the type of notebook you’d want to carry around with you every day. Instead, if you are a gamer who needs the power of a desktop computer hidden in the chassis of a notebook, then this is the ‘notebook’ for you.
Everything from its design to the strategic placement of colour-changing LEDs, and integrated Logitech GamerPanel LCD has been added to enhance your gaming experience. Its rather bulky design also hints that there is more to this notebook than meets the eye. As it is with most notebooks of this calibre, the developers have put a lot of thought into the design and placement of virtually every feature. Little things, such as the placement of the single Ethernet port in the centre of the spine at the back of the notebook and the positioning of the air vents (also at the back), make using this notebook an absolute pleasure. You’ll also notice the full number pad next to the keyboard – a handy addition some gamers will appreciate.
Taking a peak under the hood, you will notice that this is no ordinary notebook. For one thing, it features two 250GB hard drives configured in RAID 0 or 1 – there is also the option to have a solid state drive installed. It sports an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, but you can opt for an Intel Core 2 X9000 Extreme. More impressive is the SLI configuration of its two 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8700m GT graphics cards.
Once our benchmarks results were obtained, we installed Call of Duty 5 to see how well this monster notebook performed in real life. While it understandably did not out-perform our desktop test rigs, it managed to wow us nonetheless. Its gaming performance was really good and we enjoyed using this notebook as a gaming device, purely because it is so portable. About the only major downside to this, and any other desktop-replacement notebook, is that its battery life is not particularly good. We managed to get about an hour’s run time on the battery alone running games – not really enough for any productive gaming on the road. However, when using office applications, the battery lasted just under two hours.
Again, we’ll emphasise the words “desktop replacement,” and if you are happy with that, then you will love what the Dell XPS M1730 has to offer.