Dell XPS M1710 - GeForce Go 7900 GTX 512 Mobile Gaming, Part 1
by Jarred Walton on April 18, 2006 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Test Setup
Since this is the very first notebook that I've had the opportunity to review, and it's also the first notebook we've received with the new GeForce Go 7900 GTX GPU, I felt it would be better to compare this against a couple of similarly equipped desktop computers for starters. Most of our readers are more familiar with desktop performance, and since this is a DTR notebook it seems fair to compare it with a couple relatively current desktop computers. The two desktop computers are also equipped with a 7900 GTX graphics card, at both stock clock speeds (650/800) as well as clock speeds matching the laptop's GPU (500/600).
All three systems have 2GB of RAM and dual core CPUs, helping to keep things "fair". Of course, the T2600 processor in the laptop costs about twice as much as either of the desktop processors, and if you were to overclock the desktop CPUs you could likely get another 30-40% in clock speed. Basically, this is not an apples to apples comparison, but the two desktop systems are thrown into give you a better frame of reference.
We ran a typical battery of tests, including games, applications, and a couple other areas. Time constraints limited the amount of testing we could get done before the NDA lift (and it's already a few hours late), but we will be providing a follow-up article with further testing and information. That said, if there are any specific areas that you'd like to see tested, feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment.
Since this is the very first notebook that I've had the opportunity to review, and it's also the first notebook we've received with the new GeForce Go 7900 GTX GPU, I felt it would be better to compare this against a couple of similarly equipped desktop computers for starters. Most of our readers are more familiar with desktop performance, and since this is a DTR notebook it seems fair to compare it with a couple relatively current desktop computers. The two desktop computers are also equipped with a 7900 GTX graphics card, at both stock clock speeds (650/800) as well as clock speeds matching the laptop's GPU (500/600).
All three systems have 2GB of RAM and dual core CPUs, helping to keep things "fair". Of course, the T2600 processor in the laptop costs about twice as much as either of the desktop processors, and if you were to overclock the desktop CPUs you could likely get another 30-40% in clock speed. Basically, this is not an apples to apples comparison, but the two desktop systems are thrown into give you a better frame of reference.
| Dell XPS M1710 | |
| Processor | Intel Core Duo T2600 (2.16 GHz 2x2MB) |
| Chipset | Intel 945PM 64-bit Dual-Channel |
| Memory | 2 x 1024MB DDR2-667 |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GTX 512MB (500/1200) |
| Hard Drive | 100GB 7200 RPM |
| Intel Socket 775: ASUS P5LD2-E Deluxe | |
| Processor | Intel Pentium D 920 (2.80 GHz 2x2MB) |
| Chipset | Intel 945P |
| Memory | 2 x 1024MB DDR2-533 4-4-4-12 |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB (650/1600) |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital SATA-2 250GB 16MB 7200 RPM |
| AMD Socket 939: DFI Infinity | |
| Processor | AMD Athlon X2 3800+ (2.0 GHz 2x512KB) |
| Chipset | NVIDIA nForce4 |
| Memory | 2 x 1024MB DDR-400 (2-3-2-7 1T) |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB (650/1600) |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital SATA-2 250GB 16MB 7200 RPM |
We ran a typical battery of tests, including games, applications, and a couple other areas. Time constraints limited the amount of testing we could get done before the NDA lift (and it's already a few hours late), but we will be providing a follow-up article with further testing and information. That said, if there are any specific areas that you'd like to see tested, feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
69 Comments
View All Comments
Schadenfroh - Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - link
We got a thread going in the notebook forums about it if you guys want to join us:http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">Text
Cullinaire - Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - link
On the BF2 page:"(If you look at what should be a circular map in the top right corner of the screen while playing, you'll find that it's an eclipse, clearly showing that widescreen resolutions are running with the wrong field of view.)"
Did you mean ellipse? Just wondering. Nice article. I'll get one when I win the lottery, otherwise I don't go to enough LAN parties to justify one of these :)
JarredWalton - Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - link
Tired. Yes, ellipse. I must have misspoke originally.Poser - Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - link
I assume this means you use speech recognition software for dictating your articles? Which do you use, and care to share any opinions about it? Even just a pointer to another forum posting would be great (and probably less distracting to this thread). I haven't ran across anyone who uses it on a regular basis for real work before.JarredWalton - Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - link
Funny you should mention that, because I was planning on doing an article on the subject shortly. Not to spoil the surprise, but I used Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 8. I toyed around with the speech recognition in Microsoft Office, and frankly it's pathetic by comparison. You can probably guess that I have carpal tunnel problems, which is what led me to Dragon NaturallySpeaking into first place. I've been using it for about six months now, and while it still isn't perfect, it actually works quite well overall. Probably the best $150 I spent in quite awhile.Regards,
Jarred Walton
Hardware Editor
AnandTech.com
nullpointerus - Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - link
I used to get that intense, throbbing pain in my wrists after hours of typing. Then one Christmas I received a pair of typing gloves. They are tight (like spandex?) and have splints in them. At first I really hated them, but after using them for months I found that I no longer needed them.See, if you fight the material and the splints, you get a pain different from CTS but much more annoying and immediate, so your wrists are trained to assume the proper position when typing. Once I found that I didn't need the gloves anymore, I gave them to a friend who was suffering from the same problem.
These are the kind I used:
http://www.imakproducts.com/products/smart_glove.h...">http://www.imakproducts.com/products/smart_glove.h...
A solid, natural keyboard with keys that depress easily; proper chair with good back a nd neck support and good armrests; good posture; correct input device height relative to your body, etc. also helped. There's no point in training your wrists if your computing environment doesn't allow you to keep them in the proper position.
Then again, I don't know how badly you suffer from it or how much typing you have to do each day. Maybe someone else will find this post useful if you do not. :-)
JarredWalton - Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - link
I may have to give that a try - the wrist supports I have help, but they haven't solved the problem by any means.bob4432 - Thursday, April 20, 2006 - link
carpel tunnel is not the only neurological condition you need to worry about when doing a lot of keyboard work. you also have muscle overuse syndrome, different types of dystonia (chronic muscles spasms) etc, so if you can get dragon working decently, go that route. your entire upper body will thank you. i may have to try out dragon again, i tried it 3-4yrs ago, or whatever else speech software was out there and it was pretty weak then....gramboh - Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - link
At 8.8lbs it's about the weight of a 17 inch Powerbook G4 so without seeing it I think it's portable. A MacBook 15 inch is 5.4lbs using the Core Duo CPU as well. I think this setup might be able to beat a MacBook in terms of performance which would be cool, because I like to see Apple lose at things, especially to Dell :). This is definetely a better gaming system than a MacBook with BootCamp running a measely X1600.timmiser - Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - link
I just bought an XPS M170 with the 7800 GTX Go and this looks like its pretty much exactly the same on the exterior. This replaced my Inspiron XPS notebook that had a 15.4" screen with the 3.2 GHz Prescott and Mobility Radeon 9800.With them both sitting on the table next to each other, the new XPS M170 is about a pound lighter and much thinner but amazingly with the bigger screen, the 17" XPS and the 15.4" XPS are the exact same height because the 17" XPS is much thinner it all equals out. They are also the same length (front to back) but the M170 is a couple inches wider. I am amazed that the overall size with the bigger screen isn't all that much bigger.