Dell XPS M1730 review roundup

If you're down with your "laptop" weighing some 10.6-pounds, and you don't mind shelling out copious quantities of cash in order to see those frame rates hold steady in the triple digits, the XPS M1730 has your name written all over it. At least, that's what we've gathered from reading the first batch of reviews to hit the 'net. Generally speaking, the adoration for this so-called Beast was universal, as just about everyone came away thoroughly impressed with its gaming performance, mesmerizing LEDs and cutting edge hardware found all over. Truth be told, the only real digs revolved around its unwieldy size, ho hum port selection, paltry battery life and the humongous power supply. 'Course, anyone remotely interested in this thing is probably willing to deal with the aforementioned negatives in order to posses such an incredibly powerful mobile gaming rig, and if you've been holding that trigger finger waiting for the critics to give you the all clear, feel free to fire at will.

Read - HotHardware ("...a mobile gaming dream system...")
Read - CNET (8.4 out of 10; Editors' Choice)
Read - LAPTOP (4.5 out of 5 stars; Editors' Choice)
Read - PCMag (4.5 out of 5 stars; Editors' Choice)

[Flashpoint @ Dec 11th 2007 10:07AM]

But, can it play CRYSIS?

[AlexP @ Dec 11th 2007 11:13AM]

My iMac can, and probably better than this because it doesn't have to deal with Vista. :V

[Marduk @ Dec 11th 2007 11:26AM]

AlexP,

Way to perpetuate the stereotypes about Mac users knowing nothing about computers. For mac users, it's all about slick advertising and shiny cases. They have no idea what actually makes a computer work.

FYI, the world where your iMac will run Crysis is a world that exists only in your fevered mind. First you are going to need Direct X, and to get that on your Mac, you are going to have "deal with Vista" or XP.

And even if you overcame that obstacle, the iMac is like a golf cart. Good for puttering around the internet, but certainly no match for Crysis.

But hey, at least a lot of people thinks it looks nice. And as a Mac user, that's the key thing, right?

[BigPana @ Dec 11th 2007 12:30PM]

He may be a dumbass but Macs aren't just bought because they look nice. Why else would every movie be made on them?

[Derbeste @ Dec 11th 2007 1:44PM]

For the same reason that people IN those movies buy Armani.

They are LOOKING for ways to make things more expensive.

[John @ Dec 11th 2007 1:57PM]

@BigPana

Where do you get the info that EVERY movie is made on a Mac?

Hollywood isn't cutting big productions on Final Cut. Last time I checked Avid is the industry standard and it can be licensed for mac or PC.

[BigPana @ Dec 11th 2007 2:34PM]

I didn't say final cut...I said a Mac.

And yeah I'm sure that there are movies out there that where made on Windows. I don't know for a fact that EVERY movie is made on a mac so I guess it was a bit of exageration on my part.

[AlexP @ Dec 11th 2007 6:13PM]

Wow, you guys are so quick to jump to the guns it's not even funny.

I own two Macs, a Ubuntu machine, and a number of regular computers, including Dells and some we have built.

I'm not speaking out of my ass, I have tried the Crysis demo (YES, ON XP, I NEVER SAID I RAN IT ON OSX, FFS) and it ran at a steady 24-26 frames per second. Of course, I have the higher-end iMac, y'know, the one with the Merom XE.

Vista is a performance killer, that's all I can say. We were discussing Crysis on one of the forums I hang on and this guy only managed to get 15 or so frames per second with his 8800GTX-powered machine. I couldn't believe it either.

Yes, I had the DX10 "hack" (wow, manual settings change, what a hack!) on, but I do have to correct myself however: I was running at 1600 by 1200, not 1920 by 1200. For whatever reason the game wouldn't allow me to set it beyond that.

[fortunado @ Dec 11th 2007 10:08AM]

It only has an 8700 GTwhatever in it instead of the 8800GTX that just was released. I'd wait for that before I made that pricey of a purchase.

[JohnTitor @ Dec 11th 2007 11:08AM]

no one should get this while the Sager 9262 exists

[AlexP @ Dec 11th 2007 6:15PM]

Damn douchebags.

[tau zero @ Dec 11th 2007 6:36PM]

AlexP: I think i speak for everyone here (mac/windows/linux/c64 users alike) when i say:

FUCK OFF.

engadget doesn't need you trolling around all the comments. You don't sound smart or clever. and your arguments don't make sense at all. Are you telling me that your Merom equipped imac (with at most, a 2900XT gpu) can out perform PC's with QX6700's and 8800GTX's? i suppose it can, consiering your merom imac can also outperform the M1730, which has a 8700, c2e, physics processor etc.

[Dondi Simmons @ Dec 11th 2007 8:30PM]

Well I had it for 4 days now. It is a monster. But I had some minor issues with the Dual video card driver and wireless USB min card..

[Linh @ Dec 11th 2007 10:59PM]

why the hell does everything always come down to PC vs MAC? Isn't it obvious? Does no one care about the XPS M1730 anymore?
Poor Dell....

[Bacon @ Jan 23rd 2008 9:34AM]

I have the 1730 and it ran crysis on meduim all across the board 1920x1200. I think it needs new drivers as when sli was enabled I had decreased performance. This could be fixed easily with driver updates. I have the 1730 2.4 duo 4gb O ram running vista. Call of duty 4 my machine eats however on the same rez with everything on high. Ummm yea hope this helps a lill