m1730

Dell first: 256GB solid-state drive on laptops

Updated at 11 p.m. PST with information about Apple.

Dell is doing its part to usher in the age of the super-sized solid-state drive. For the first time, Dell laptops can be configured with the newest large-capacity SSDs from Samsung.

Back in the day (last January), laptop buyers were stuck with a Henry Fordesque choice: order any solid-state drive you want with your laptop as long as it's 64GB.

What a difference a year makes. On Friday, Dell quadrupled this to 256GB. The Samsung SSD is now available as an option on Dell's XPS M1330 and M1730 … Read more

Dell has the first 320GB 7,200rpm laptop drive

Desktop types are always kicking their laptop counterparts around, stealing their lunch money, and making fun of their slow and undersized hard drives.

Most laptops have slower 5,400rpm or even 4,200rpm hard drives, usually between 120GB and 250GB in size. For high-end types, there are 320GB laptop hard drives, and also 7,200rpm laptop hard drives, but you couldn't get both of those specs in the same laptop drive [dramatic pause...] until now.

Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Seagate have all recently announced 320GB 7,200rpm laptop hard drives, but Dell is the first to stick them in a … Read more

Graphics upgrade for Dell XPS notebook coming

Dell will offer an Nvidia dual graphics chip upgrade for 17-inch XPS M1730 gaming notebook owners--but stepping up won't be a cakewalk for MediaDirect users.

The upgrade from the Nvidia dual 8700M GT to dual 8800M GTX graphics is in the works and will likely be released later this month, according to Dell.

Some users were upset when Dell upgraded the graphics in newer models of the M1730 to the 8800M GTX. The XPS 1730 with the 8800M GTX earned a score of almost 13,500 in 3Dmark06--which is about a 49 percent performance gain over two 8700M GT … Read more

Penryn comes to Dell XPS M1730

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. There will be no price differential between the older Merom chips and their Penryn replacements.

Dell's XPS M1730 laptop now lists two Penryn CPU options, the 2.5GHz Core 2 Duo T9300 … Read more

Gaming laptops: The bold and the beautiful

The Dell XPS M1730 we just reviewed took home an Editors' Choice award. This massive, 11-pound laptop is about as good as it gets for mobile gaming. It serves up a most powerful mix of components, from a Core 2 Extreme CPU to Nvidia SLI graphics. The M1730 even finds room for Ageia's PhysX processor. While we liked what we saw from the M1730 in our labs, what helped it score so highly was a number of new features absent from previous XPS models. There's a gamer-friendly, 10-key number pad, a useful status LCD above the keyboard, and … Read more

Dell jumps the gun on its big new gaming laptop

We've been waiting around for some time now for official word on the Dell XPS m1730. We got a behind-closed-doors peek at the system last month, and we've been hearing rumors and leaks from all corners of the Web.

The original release date for Dell's sequel to the popular 17-inch XPS m1710 got pushed back more than a month, and was still up in the air earlier this week. But this morning, after some more spec info turned up online, we got an official marketing e-mail from Dell with the subject line: "The XPS M1730 - … Read more

Semi-secret Dell XPS laptop semi-delayed

Dell is keeping tight-lipped on this, but apparently they've got a new high-end XPS gaming laptop coming out soon called the XPS m1730. We all know about it, as it's been leaked on Engadget, Laptoping, and our favorite French tech Web site, LesDeLLiens, among other places.

The purported M1730 should be worth checking out if the various online accounts are correct--it offers Intel's new Core 2 Extreme X7800 CPU, a Blu-ray drive, SLI graphics, solid-state hard drive options, and other high-end parts. From the photos we've seen, it does have one major advantage over the current … Read more

Laptop leaks: Dell's new gaming rig

Imagine our surprise when we were surfing around the Web this weekend and found some alleged top-secret leaked info about a new upcoming 17-inch gaming laptop from Dell, reportedly called the XPS m1730.

Of course, after all the previous leaks about Dell's 13-inch m1330 and the rest of Dell's current laptop lineup, you'd think the company would pretty much expect this kind of thing.

In any event, our favorite French tech Web site, LesDeLLiens.com, reports that the XPS m1730 will be released (at least in France) on August 27, and it supposedly will offer Intel's … Read more