Twin GeForce 8800M GTX upgrade now available for Dell's XPS M1730

If you pulled the trigger early on an XPS M1730, you may have gotten "stuck" with "just" a GeForce 8700M GT or similar. If you just can't be behind the times, Dell is finally offering a solution with the GeForce 8800M GTX upgrade kit. Said package includes dual SLI 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express graphics card designed specifically to boost frame rates and install all sorts of Vista-compatible bragging rights. If you're comfortable with doing the swap yourself, the upgrade price sits at a penny under $1,100. For those seeking professional help, you'll be coughing up $1,218.99. For those of you not frozen in place by sticker shock, you can peek the how-to guide for installation after the break.

[Via Laptoping, thanks Danijel]

[Chrisboff Posted Jun 25th 2008 11:06AM]

May as well buy a new laptop.

[KAL326 Posted Jun 25th 2008 1:00PM]

Maybe not, its still a $1,000 up charge to go from a 8700 to dual 8800GTX cards in a new M1730. So if you want best dual mobile cards money can buy, your going to pay through the nose either way.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2008 11:08AM]

4850CF on M1730
When?
How?

[Eric Mendes Posted Jun 25th 2008 11:17AM]

When I first glanced at this pic I thought it was a DJ table, haha. I guess that's what boredom at work causes.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2008 11:37AM]

will my previous post magically show up when I post this? Thank you god of broken Engadget comment system! :) be Praised!

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2008 11:41AM]

that price is just for the graphics card?

good gosh.you could buy a mac with that.

[Torch Posted Jun 25th 2008 11:54AM]

Buying a Crap today is the dumbest thing someone can do. I mean, previously it was different hardware so you don't really have a choice other than to pay obscene amounts of money for an under powered machine, if you absolutely needed to use Crap OS for some reason.

But right now, why the FUCK should you pay some rip off company multiple times the cost of the hardware, for an x86 Intel CPU and other standard parts. You might as well get custom hardware and just buy Crap OS x86 and patch it to run on it.

[Dale P Posted Jun 25th 2008 12:23PM]

Without upgrading Apple's standard spec, the prices are comparable to similar PC offerings... sometimes even cheaper. It is only when you pay Apple costs for memory upgrades that you see a price hike, but you can just as easily buy your memory from alternative sources.

If there were a premium for buying Apple, something which has not been true since the Intel transition, then it would be justified by their fantastic case designs and the inclusion of stable, extremely user-friendly software.

The fact you are talking about Apple's pricing in a post about one of their main rivals charging over a thousand dollars for a graphics solution only makes your rant funnier.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2008 11:48AM]

That was quick.

[Rick36 Posted Jun 25th 2008 11:50AM]

If you have that much money to waste you could get a lobotomy and a refurbished pre-intel CPU macbook

[MRCUR Posted Jun 25th 2008 12:46PM]

A pre-Intel CPU MacBook you say? Huh, never heard of them. The MacBook lines has always had Intel CPUs.

The iBook line, which was the MacBook's predecessor, had PowerPC CPUs.

[sixth Posted Jun 25th 2008 11:53AM]

I can only imagine:

1. The amount of HEAT this thing puts out.
2. The amount of power thing consumes.
3. FORGET about battery life! :-)

[mayq Posted Jun 25th 2008 12:00PM]

maybe he can also put humpty dumpty back together again

[Lowest Ranked Posted Jun 25th 2008 12:07PM]

From the picture it looks like he's holding nothing, although he is showing us the disappearing thumb trick from ages ago.

[bhattsan Posted Jun 25th 2008 12:14PM]

Umm..this option has been available for *months* and was already reviewed by other sites months before. I also noticed this with the x9000 news release yesterday, yet another thing out for months! Heres their own article on this from 4 months ago!!

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/14/dell-xps-m1730-with-8800m-gtx-sli-reviewed-that-sucker-is-fas/

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2008 12:24PM]

um.... today's article is about the upgrade kit, not the configuration itself.

RTFA.

[OneLove Posted Jun 25th 2008 12:17PM]

twin wallet running in SLI required.

[El Duderino Posted Jun 25th 2008 1:15PM]

Is he throwing up Crips with his hands? NO WAI.

[Carman Posted Jun 25th 2008 1:41PM]

Hands up who doesn't even own a 1730 but still watched the video... \o/

Every real man loves takin shit apart.

[michaspi Posted Jun 25th 2008 2:11PM]

*raises hand*

[michaspi Posted Jun 25th 2008 2:10PM]

Lame video. I was fully expecting him to lower an engine into the laptop after he removed the keyboard, just like that Intel commercial.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 25th 2008 7:35PM]

The cost was pretty much what I was expecting. I have one 8700M 1730 and an 8800M 1730. Seeing the difference, I think the upgrade is worth it for those who couldn't wait for the 8800M to be available. It is just a tad of a 'sheesh factor' that Dell doesn't offer anything for the 8700M's... but I guess that's not surprising.

Why all of the comments about the Apples? It's a completely different class of machine. Besides, the M1730 manages to just as cool while in full-on gaming than a Crapbook Pro running Solitaire on Parallels...