Dell XPS 1730 Laptop Review
In the Dell XPS 1730 notebook line, Intel’s 45nm processors are available in the 13.3-inch M1330 laptops and in the 17-inch M1730 gaming notebooks. The M1330 is available with the Core 2 Duo T8100, T9300 and T9500 CPUS, while the M1730 now comes with the T8300, T9300 and T9500. The 15.4-inch M1530 is excluded from the processor refresh.
Those of you hunting for the latest technology in Dell’s 17-inch gaming laptop will be pleased to learn the M1730 has received its Penryn update. Since Intel announced its new 45-nanometer chips last month at CES, they’ve been ever so slowly making their way into systems. Dell is replacing the T7700 and the T7800 Merom CPUs with the T9300 and the T9500 Penryn chips, respectively.
“Dell’s XPS 1730 is the company’s flagship gaming notebook, and is available in several configurations. Dell has sent us the “lottery winner” configuration, which has every high-end part, feature, and doodad imaginable. With its Intel Penryn CPU (that’s overclockable), two NVIDIA 8800M GTX cards in SLI and loads of bling, the M1730 has every next-gen part available and is tricked out with lights like no notebook we’ve ever seen before. Some might say the M1730 is a bit over the top, but we love its audacious styling and find little to fault in Dell’s high-end laptop.”
The Penryn CPU has replaced the old Core 2 Duo T7700 and T7800 Merom chips. The new offering from Dell now includes the T9300 and the T9500 Penryn chips, which should bring the user all the advantages of the 45-nanometer technology. The real good part is the fact that the processor upgrade won’t add any price difference; they just come for free. That’s no wonder, given the fact that the Dell XPS M1730 is some sort of a premium notebook.
As exciting and powerful as the Dell XPS M1730 is, like the MacBook Air we just can’t feel that many people really need something like this. This is a system for people who want maximum performance in a transportable computer; outside of a short commute to and from work, it will definitely require the use of a power outlet. It would be nice if we could get the potential for this performance when we need it, but still have the option to shut down various devices so that we can save power when we’re away from our desks. That’s what Hybrid SLI aims to accomplish, and we are certainly interested to see how that pans out.
