Review: DELL XPS M1730

The recent version of DELL XPS M1730 gives it a power of two 8800M GTX in SLI. A powerful combination, this laptop rushed through all our tests with ease.

Design

A commendable fact is that the size has not changed much from the original 1730. Its still that wonderful design, with a strong casing. The attractive lighting, shiny carbon like surface and the overall feel is superb. The laptop has been designed with only gamers in mind, and it should be rather appealing to them. The screen is a 17” WUXGA, with a maximum resolution of 1920x1200 pixels. The brightness is great and so is the color quality, but the only area where the screen suffers is the reflectivity. Its a total strain on the eyes, and the viewing angles are not good either. The location of connectivity ports is also strategic, which means reduced clutter on the top. Four USB 2.0 ports, Firewire, S-Video, DVI, LAN, 5.1 audio support and card reader ports, all are present to give you a decent lineup of connectivity options.

Performance

Powered by an Intel Core-2-Duo T7700 2.4 Ghz, 4GB RAM, 200GB RAID x2 hard drives, 8800M GTX in Sli, this notebook is a power performer. The 8800 beats 8700 by a considerable difference, and the inclusion of it is a great decision. A score of 10824 in 3DMArk 06 and 6458 in PCMark 05 is seriously awesome. All games, and by all I include Crysis too, ran perfectly well at high settings and all eye candy turned on.

Conclusion

A great notebook without a doubt, the XPS 1730 with 8800M GTX is a marvelous performer. Its a sure winner, if you don't consider the price tag that comes with it. All gamers are happy, and Dell is laughing to the bank.

Pros

+ Great graphics
+ Awesome design

Cons

- Bulky
- low battery

If I start mentioning the complete set of Pros, the page would finish two times over.