The third pillar of the M1730's graphics system is an Ageia PhysX processing unit. While the CPU is busy doing things like artificial intelligence and the graphics card is rendering the visuals, the PhysX unit calculates all the movements and interactions between objects. Complex object interaction is certainly possible without a PhysX unit, but to the detriment of either AI or graphics speed.
Dell could have ruined the entire exercise by fitting the wrong type of screen, but it hasn't. The 17-inch display on the XPS M1730 runs at a highly-impressive 1,920x1,200 pixels. This resolution is significantly higher than most other 17-inch laptops, and since SLI graphics works best at high resolutions, it's ideal. The only drawback is the fact the screen is too dark. It's very difficult using it indoors, although bizarrely, despite it having a glossy coating, it's perfectly visible outside.
The XPS M1730's hard drive configuration is a bit of a mystery to us. It's available with single hard drives of up to 320GB in size, but the dual hard drive configurations only allow for two 250GB drives simultaneously. This allows for a maximum 500GB of storage and not 640GB as we'd have preferred. The good news is that The Beast is available with a Blu-ray drive, and the DVI output port is HDCP-compliant so you can watch copy-protected flicks in full 1080p. A DVD rewriter drive is also available should you wish to save £270.
Performance
For those of you who've scrolled straight to
the performance section, we'll put you out of your misery. Even though
our review sample doesn't use a Core 2 Extreme CPU, it's still the
fastest laptop we've tested. PCMark 2006 returned a score of 5,830,
which is way higher than the 4,828 returned by the Lenovo Thinkpad T61p -- and that used a 2.4GHz CPU.
Gaming scores were equally impressive. It racked up 8,870 in 3DMark 2006, which is the highest we've seen on any laptop. Its closest competitor -- the Alienware Aurora mALX --
scored 5,905. If you're after a laptop that plays the latest and most demanding games at high resolutions, The Beast is truly the one to own.
The XPS M1730 is by no means perfect -- some games are still too demanding to run at full resolution, even for its blisteringly quick components. Culprits include Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, but you can scale back the resolution and detail levels slightly and still have a good old frag-fest.
Battery life was pretty laughable -- hardly surprising, since it's powering so many different high-end components. It lasted approximately 30 minutes in our intensive BatteryEater test, which will come as no surprise to you. If you stray too far from the mains with an XPS M1730, you're going to run out of juice quicker than vending machines at marathon finishing lines.
Conclusion
The XPS M1730 is the best gaming laptop in the
world right now. It slays the Alienware mALX for several reasons: it's
nearly 2kg lighter, its display resolution is significantly higher and
it's less expensive. If you're a fan of hi-res PC games, you needn't
look any further.
Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday
Update: A previous version of this review stated an incorrect 3DMark 2006 score.
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laurencepeel 25 August 2010
Good: SLi physx card screen lights build is very strong play every game aviable to windows
Bad: nothing i can think of other than battery life being an the most 1 1/2 hours
Comment: -the battery is really a UPS
-on battery the graphics cards are only as go as a 8600m gs
-cpu support
core 2 duo t7xxx t8xxx t9300 t9500--- i recormend the t8xxx or t9300 and t9500 all 45nm and just work better with the the system
core 2 extreme x7800 x7900 x9000 --- i recormend the x9000 it 45nm and runs the coolest (but its still hot)
-core 2 extreme are overclockable
-graphics cards
8700m gt --- dont go for it unless you dont want to play games
8700m gt x2 SLi --- well it better but only by 0-40%
8800m gtx x2 SLi --- 3x faster the the 8700m gt and i will work with games but it runs hotter and has a higher rate of failer
9800m gt x2 SLi --- run slighly cool and slighly faster than the 8800m gtx and has a much low rate of failer
9800m gtx x2 SLi the best cards for the laptop but runs hotter than the 9800m gt and is slighly fast
-RAM up to 8GB DDR2 667MHz --- dont get non maching stick e.g 1+2gb or 4+1gb ect get single stick or dual maching for best perfomace
overall i think this i one hell of a laptop if your think of buying one do it now you wont regret it
gorey 28 October 2009
Good: Gaming and Business ability originally
Bad: Flawed GPU 8800m SLI keeps failing
Comment: Originally bought the latop to complete business and gaming functions, was great for a short time until failures started to happen. The main flaw in the laptop is the 8800m GPU system it gets to hot and burns out on a regular basis. The internet forums and dells own community site has numerous examples, In my opinion do not buy this laptop new or secondhand unless you want an expensive doorstop. Dell has not got the resplacement parts for these and will try to make you wait long periods of time to repair with what is meant to be a Premium Next Businees Day warranty service.
krnielse 7 October 2009
Good: Great at payment
Bad: Poor at delivery and service
Comment: Dell is great at letting you pay, but very poor at service and delivery. Never delivered my product and 3 months later still waiting for money back.
Never Again!
See all 5 user reviews