Dell's M1730 "Beast" officially gets official

Well kids, it's official... the Beast is loose. Dell's M1730, which had been extensively leaked over the past few months, has been made public on the Dell blog (they even go as far as naming us in the notice). As expected, the gaming laptop is crammed full of over-spec'd gear, like the Core 2 Extreme X7900 (which they say is now overclocked to 3.2GHz), dual NVIDIA GeForce Go 8700M GT GPUs, and a slew of other lap-burning components sure to make even the toughest dude start crying immediately. The whole fugly package is available for purchase on the Dell website right now, but approach it with extreme caution. Look, all we're saying is this: when the Beast crushes and dismembers everything you hold dear, don't say we didn't warn you.

[Dhanik @ Sep 27th 2007 9:07AM]

Its fuglier than i thought it to be!

[Temmink @ Sep 27th 2007 10:27AM]

"Beast crushes and dismembers everything you hold dear"

especially your wallet I assume :|

[willyboy @ Sep 27th 2007 9:26AM]

Someone beat that thing with an ugly stick!

[Dan @ Sep 27th 2007 9:53AM]

hmmmm Dell Beast or MacBook Pro.. That is the question

[White_Pheonix @ Sep 27th 2007 10:13AM]

A choice between power and looks? That's basically what that comparison is. On the one hand, the M1730, which is fast enough to do pretty much anything most people would want to. On the other hand, a MacBook pro, which is still fairly fast, but its main selling point is appearance.

[Dan @ Sep 27th 2007 10:21AM]

Yea I hear ya.. Dell actually has more available in the form of RAM, dual HD, docking ability etc but you end up paying more for that too.

[Corey @ Sep 27th 2007 4:20PM]

MacBook Pro for me....I wouldnt be caught dead with that thing in public. MacBook Pro looks 50x better than this aesthetically....and I still love the backlit keyboard. The new 15" LED screens are really nice too. Also...theyre not slow by any means. Top of the line laptops for sure.

[Dan @ Sep 27th 2007 10:37AM]

Yea I'm still leaning Mac for now. If I want desktop power I'll buy a Mac Pro! That's not saying that the Beast vs MacBook Pro wouldn't be close in a speed race as they sit now. I think the Dell is just too big and bulky for a device that is meant to be used on the go.

[Marek @ Sep 27th 2007 10:46AM]

Also 4 hrs (that's what I get) of battery life vs. 4 minutes. Should probably think about that too.
Apple Care just gave me a new battery (that doesn't randomly just charge to 50%)!

[KVM @ Sep 27th 2007 10:49AM]

You really only need that kind of power if you're going to be gaming and if that's the case a MacBook Pro isn't even in the running. I downloaded the Crysis beta yesterday and that's one game you'll need a beast to run...

[mdm-adph @ Sep 27th 2007 11:00AM]

blah blah blah apple blah blah blah macbook pro blah blah blah it looks great blah blah blah I have lots of money blah blah blah did I mention its appearance blah blah blah I wear hipster jeans with Vans.

Now can I be a part of the club?

(For the record, I've owned a Mac for years, but am tired of the cult that exists today.)

[Shibathedog @ Sep 27th 2007 12:01PM]

Amen.

Looks are nice, but I'll take functionality over looks any day. At my university the macs are always screwing up whether they be student owned or university owned.

It is damn ugly though haha.

[dduck @ Sep 27th 2007 10:15AM]

that thing fell off the top of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.

[Masonator @ Sep 27th 2007 10:55AM]

Im trying to think what you'd call this. It stops itself from being a laptop by the worrying liklihood of it burning through your lap, then your couch, then your carpet. And its not a desktop because you can close it (rather than carry it). When trying to merge both Laptop and Desktop together you're left with either 'Lap-top' or 'Desk-top', which isn't very useful at all. Hence 'Dappy'. I've just priced one up on the uk dell site for 3600 odd. Its a nice Dappy. Dappy Dappy Dappy.

[Chris @ Sep 27th 2007 11:07AM]

A few points:

1. This is a desktop replacement. It's not meant to be "ultra-portable" and have Super Joy Longevity battery life. If you want portability, look elsewhere.

B. It's not really THAT ugly...

Finally: This system is HORRIBLY underwhelming. Very few configuration options on the site, and they pigeon-hole you into picking things THEY think you should have. Pass. Looks like Clevo gets my money now.

[anonymous @ Sep 27th 2007 11:17AM]

why does it appear that 3.2-3.6 GHZ is a ceiling for CPU speeds?

We have been at this speed for a few years now. When are we going to see the 5+ GHZ chips start to appear?

[bjrcboy @ Sep 27th 2007 11:38AM]

There really is no need. The faster they are teh more heat. Cpu's of today are much more efficent then they use to be. For instance a 2ghz cpu today is faster then the 3.4 prescotts..

[Speed addict... @ Sep 27th 2007 11:32AM]

It will crush everything you hold dear, including your back from carrying it...

[Chris Moroz @ Sep 27th 2007 11:40AM]

There's a reason Dell calls their portables Notebooks and not Laptops... they're not meant to sit on your lap. Also, in person it's actually VERY cool looking, not sure why they can't get pictures that look nice, but it is H-U-G-E!

[parasharenator @ Sep 27th 2007 2:53PM]

yeah,,The Beast finally,offically gets official.But there are two main 'glitches'.It's still not customisable,i dunno how long one wud hav 2 wait 2 cnfigure his dream machine.t it was supposed to be launched in US,Asia and Europe.And presently it's showing up on only the US site.When is it expected to come to India?

[Mark @ Sep 27th 2007 3:13PM]

horrid ... just horrid.

every person on the dell design team (if there is one) should be fired.

[Tuxy79 @ Sep 27th 2007 7:01PM]

Looks terrible. Why does Dell insist on making ugly pcs?

[Ogy @ Sep 27th 2007 10:23PM]

Ugly or not, atleast they changed the surface around the K-bord. I had that "portable" (actually still have, in the closet) Gen2 and after 1st month of use palmprints were developed over the palm rest surface.
BTW it is in closet now because of the infamous "dell vertical line issue" now counting dozen, which still remains unresolved. Unless someone considers 750 pounds for a replacement screen as a resolution.
If there is someone considering spending ridiculous amount of money on that huge pile of today-latest-tommorow-forgotten technology, purchase extended warranty, you'll need one.

[Aaron @ Sep 28th 2007 11:29AM]

OGY, contact Dell, they will fix the line issue for you on Gen 2's, they did on mine.

[Ogy @ Sep 28th 2007 8:57PM]

I have contacted dell advocate, dell direct2dell team, US, UK,you name it. Closest I could get is to purchase extended warranty for it. To purchase it from UK support, since it comes under their division. I'm in China now:) I found also based on many many stories all over the internet, that US support is doing a great job to fix the mistake. Kudos to them, but rest of the world is havin a random selection of individuals.
Anyway, thanks for the advice, respect the attention.
Admin, sorry for going off-topic.

This beast gets my thoughts going but.. Thanks, but no thanks.. I got vaio now:) Shame on me..

[lorax1284 @ Oct 1st 2007 12:22AM]

How much do you want for the closet-bound Gen2? Is it for sale?

[Brian @ Sep 28th 2007 9:50AM]

I can only order the base model, yesterday they had 3 packages available for customization.

Now I can only choose blue with only a few options! Are they being sold out that fast?

[carguy84 @ Sep 28th 2007 10:16AM]

Umm who would buy this, or a macbook pro, if they're looking for a desktop replacement when this is available:
http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=14886

Quad-core, 3 HD's, SLi...

[OutCell @ Sep 27th 2007 11:39AM]

Never heard of Sager but their specs are amazing!! Thanks M8!

I wish i saw this before buying my T61p Lenovo, i might have changed my plans :P

[carguy84 @ Sep 28th 2007 10:17AM]

For sure!

[JR @ Sep 29th 2007 5:35PM]

I have an XPS M1710 (the what is now obsolete model of this laptop, much prettier in appearance...) mine has what was the best of the best hardware a year ago with the VERY FIRST overclockable mobile processor exclusively from Dell and even running at normal speed it still burns the crap out of my lap. I can only imagine what kind of burns you would get from this laptop overclocked or even under clocked! Should have some kind of neon yellow sticker that says "WARNING! THIS LAPTOP WILL CAUSE SEVERE BURNS!"

[LaptopBudget.com @ Sep 29th 2007 5:39PM]

Recycled keyboards with gloss? Yuck.

~Ryan
Cheap Laptops For Sale -- Under $200
http://www.laptopbudget.wordpress.com

[old timer @ Oct 8th 2007 5:52PM]

You youngsters may dis this Beast and say it's too big and hot to be a laptop, but let an old timer tell you how impressive this thing is.

My first personal computer, back in 1982 was an Osborne 1. This was the first "portable" computer on the market. It had dual-floppy drives (92k each), a 5" diagonal B&W screen, an Intel 8080 CPU. It weighed 32 pounds and cost $1995.

Compare this relic against The Beast and note that the Dell weighs 1/3rd, has a screen has 11 times the viewing are, 1,100 times the storage capacity, 31,000 times the memory, and the list price is only 50% more. I'm sure if you actually took inflation into account, the Dell would cost less!

Call it ugly, but also call it FAST and very reasonable for the computing power you're getting!

(No, I've never worked for Dell or any of their subsidiaries, nor have any relatives I know of.)

[steve @ Nov 29th 2007 4:23AM]

I do believe that the m1730 is a much beta gaming notebook than the mac pro.
however if you want looks and a lil gaming side get the mac pro, but if you want top end specs in the gaming side and proccesor get the BEAST
I was looking at this and the mac pro, i havnt yet come to a conclusion yet
but if i do purchase the m1730 i dont know whether to get xp pro,vista,vista ult
??????
peace