The new King of the Hill in Mobile Gaming
Written: Mar 26 '06 (Updated Mar 26 '06)
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Pros: Fast, cutting edge mobile graphics, bright crisp display, TONS of connectivity options.
Cons: Expensive, but not anywhere as expensive as an Alienware or other "Boutique Brand"
The Bottom Line: This unit offers everything a multimedia pc needs - except an onboard TV tuner. It has the best graphics available as of this writing.
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| kweckstrom's Full Review: Dell XPS™ M170 (IMX170S2) PC Notebook |
I recently picked up an Xbox 360. In the past several weeks of playing it, i've been having great fun. Prior to the 360, I had been playing the usual PC games. FEAR, Quake 4, Battlefield 2 and the like. I also had an unhealthy addiction to World of Warcraft. After a year of World of Warcraft, I discovered the same thing anyone with 4 level 60 characters had discovered - the end-game content stinks. Molten Core runs were simply the same thing over and over again, and everything else was so ridiculously hard you had to have a VERY specific strategy to every single boss in the instance. Not that that's "bad". In fact, I can say that Blizzard probably couldn't have done it any other way.
But I digress.
If you take a look at the short list of PC games I listed earlier, you'll notice something familiar. They are all 'FPS' games. FPS, as most of you know, stands for "First Person Shooter". Ever since Wolfenstein 3d arrived way way way back in 1992, this has been the type of game predominant on PC's. For the most part, almost every game released for the PC has been a variation of this theme. Maybe this is why I was addicted to WoW - because it was "different". It may also explain why games like "Diablo" and "Starcraft" are so popular. They're different.
But again, I digress.
I had reached an epiphany. I was bored with PC gaming. I had this enormous gaming rig that had a dual core Athlon 64 4800+, dual 7800GTX nvidia cards, 2GB of RAM, 3 74GB Raptors striped in a RAID0 array, all of which cost me in upwards of $4000 in PC gear all said and done. And for what? To play a juiced up version of Wolfenstein 3d. So my choice was made. I was going to sell off my PC parts and go for a high-end notebook that had enough capability to play whatever 3d game I wanted to throw at it. I still needed a PC for my day-to-day stuff. And I certainly couldn't rule out buying yet-another-rehashed-wolfenstein-3d when it came available.
I took a look at the Alienwares, the Falcon Northwests, the Voodoo's and what not. They took forever to build and cost a LOT more money. The most I really wanted to spend was around $2500 and I didn't want to wait a month or more to get it. So the "last man standing" was the Dell XPS M170.
The M170 is the "3rd" generation of the XPS. Back in the day, I actually had an Inspiron XPS (first generation). But it had its share of problems. The ATI 9800 Mobile GPU initially had a problem requiring me to swap it out. It was also roughly the size of Arizona, only it generated MUCH more heat. The 3.4ghz Desktop chip it used made for one VERY hot lap. The 2 air vents in the back of the original XPS were enough to scorch your fingers. On top of all that, the intermittent fan noise was a constant reminder of what you get when you buy into first generation technology.
This time around was very, very different.
Ordering process:
Relatively painless. I wanted to keep costs down, so I opted for the 2ghz Pentium M. A 2.26ghz model was available, but I didn't find the additional $600 worth the cost. I also opted for a 60GB 7200RPM Hard Drive to keep costs down. I really don't need a lot of storage on my Operating system partition. What I DO need is secondary storage - which I did in the form of a Network Attached Storage unit (but that's a whole other epinion!) One of the things I noticed with the Alienwares and Falcon Northwests is that you could order a lower resolution panel. I actually view this as a plus. Game performance is usually considered "Fill Rate Limited" or "CPU Limited". The higher your resolution, the earlier you will hit your fill rate limitation. In other words, if you set your video card to 1440x900 and you get 60 frames per second, you may only get 30 frames per second at 1920x1200 if your game is fill rate limited. With the dell, you only have one choice of panel - 1920x1200. Which means if you drop your resolution to obtain a more playable frame rate, you will have to deal with scaling artefacts caused by running your panel at a "non-native" resolution. Of course, the plus side of a 1920x1200 resolution panel is all that screen real estate.
I also opted for a year of "complete care", which covers accidental damage. I highly recommend this insurance, particularly if your household houses small children. Or dogs. Or family members with telekinetic powers that hold grudges for a particularly long time. Or a spouse with a short fuse and a big drinking habit.
The Process
My notebook was ordered on a monday. The "Estimated Due Date" was 3 weeks later. It actually arrived 1 week and 1 day later (the following tuesday). In between those times, my notebook went through the following phases:
Pre-Production: This is the phase used to determine whether your credit card was stolen by the employees at your local Rib Joint named "Doug's Grizzle Dumpster and Heartburn Emporium".
Production, which consists of 4 phases:
Kitting: Random parts for your notebook are put together into a box and sent down the line to:
Building: This involves someone slapping your parts together.
Testing: This isn't an actual phase. Dell wants you to THINK they test your computer, but based on my prior experiences and given the location where they actually BUILD these machines, the "Testing" phase is more likely process involving local clerics for the purposes of cleansing evil spirits.
Boxing: This is the LONGEST phase of the "production" process. In fact, you are likely to NEVER SEE the prior three steps when you check your order status. I know I didn't. It was "Pre Production" for a few days until suddenly it was in the "Boxing" stage. Little is known about the boxing stage except it takes several days. Until recently, nobody knew WHY it took several days to box these computers. But after mine arrived, I saw on the outside of the box a stamp that read: "Assembled in Ireland." Now it all makes sense.
See, when you hire the irish to box PC's, delays are part of the normal process. First, a man named Clancey will have an empty box. Then his Colleage 'Angus' will toss him a small box of cables to put into the box. After a successful packaging of the cables, they will celebrate by going to the pub for a pint or three. When they come back, Angus and Clancey will dutifully package the Quick Start Guide. Overwhelmed with the fine job they've done, they'll head to the pub to celebrate another job well done. And so on.
But seriously, the Boxing stage essentially is the stage where your computer is boxed in a small dirtball third world nation where the average rate of pay is 36 cents per week for the standard 122 hour work week. (See? My first explanation was BETTER, WASN'T it?) It is then flown to their fulfillment center in Oklahoma (State motto: "3.5 Million People, 4 last names!") It is then shipped overnight to your local carrier or choice. I opted for the free UPS ground shipping. In fact, it doesn't really pay to opt for overnight shipping since you will get it MAYBE one day faster. And even that is questionable. My notebook, once it made it to the local carrier phase, was shipped to somewhere in PA - a 1 day transit zone for UPS. Sure enough, it showed up in PA on Monday and I had it in my grubby mits on Tuesday.
Out of the box
In the box you will find:
1. A box with your "incidentals": Rebuild software, Manual, carry sack (a flimsy little thing, obviously made to keep your unit from being scratched), Screen wipes (which work REALLY WELL by the way!), and the like.
2. A "Quick Start" guide, which I promptly ignored.
3. A box containing your notebook. 2 foam inserts hold it safely in the box.
Upon removing the unit from the box, I noticed almost every surface is coated in some kind of plastic. The screen, the keyboard area, the outer cover, etc. This plastic is obviously there to satisfy the old italian housewives that cover every possible seating surface in their homes in plastic.
Dimensions
This notebook is NOT the lightest notebook you'll ever own. It tips the scales at a little under 9lb, which is definitely not what most would consider "light". However, if I were to compare this weight to what a PC with identical functionality would weigh, it's a blessing.
The screen is a VERY sharp 17" model. It looks absolutely stellar. The screen itself appears to have a somewhat glossy coating which seems to enhance the screen's contrast. My unit fortunately had absolutely no dead pixels.
The keyboard is the BEST keyboard I have ever used on a notebook. The keys are spaced perfectly, they aren't crammed into a small space. While the layout is typical of a notebook, I find that typing on it is extremely comfortable. It's very responsive and I make very few mistakes with it. If you are a touch typer, you will have no problem with this keyboard.
Above the keyboard you have 4 LED's depicting Caps Lock, Scroll Lock and Num Lock status as well as Wifi and Bluetooth operation. There's also a nice fat power switch straight due north of the center of the keyboard.
The touchpad is crap. All touchpads are. While a touchpad will do in a pinch, using one is roughly as fun as an IRS audit. The touchpad also has a horizontal and vertical scroll area which don't work once you've uninstalled the mostly useless ALPS mouse software. But you know what? I won't miss them because, like I mentioned, touchpads are crap.
Bottom line: Ergonomically, the Dell is a very sound machine. It's roughly an inch thinner than the first generation offering, and a smidgen lighter. The keyboard is top notch.
Performance
When it comes to PC technology, I'm hard to impress - and thus far this PC has impressed me a great deal. The sharp screen has excellent contrast in games. And the onboard 7800GTX Go discrete graphics card is almost every bit as good as its desktop counterpart. While *I* don't play World of Warcraft anymore, my son still does. Over the past weekend he played a total of maybe 6 hours worth. I make it a point to watch him play - particularly with "social" games like World of Warcraft - to make sure he doesn't get himself into any trouble. My son had the advantage of being on one of the "test servers" that allowed you to instantly make a level 60 character with advanced gear. This allowed him to enter the higher level dungeons which house most of the graphically superior areas. World of Warcraft simply looked stunning the entire time at 1920x1200 with 4x anti-aliasing, maxxed anisotropic filtering, all eye candy options turned on.
It literally looked no different than my high-end desktop. I was amazed. I popped a few more games on there to see how they behaved. This machine did not bat an eye at ANYTHING i threw at it. FEAR, Quake 4, Unreal Tournament, Elder Scrolls Oblivion (which required a driver update), all ran amazingly fast with all options cranked up. Sure, FEAR required I drop a few things, but if I wanted to live with a 20fps experience I could have left everything cranked up to max.
The 2ghz Pentium Mobile CPU obviously has no time keeping up. Apps open instantly, anything I did on my desktop takes roughly the same time on this notebook - except when it came to Multitasking. One of the shortcomings I've found in this notebook is the lack of a Core Duo processor. Multicore is the future for Personal Computing, and I'm very very surprised that Dell didn't opt for the XPS as the first platform to offer the Core Duo. But for my purposes, a single core will do everything I need.
The only other achilles heel is the Hard Drive. While the 60GB HD sports a rotational speed of 7200rpm, it doesn't hold a candle to a RAID0 stripe of 3 Raptors running at 10000rpm. But still, it performs about on par as a desktop 7200rpm drive. Of course, I kind of have to guess here since this is my first experience in a LONG time with a single 7200rpm drive. Luckily, I don't find myself waiting often.
Sound is handled by an AC97 codec - nothing incredibly fancy. However, the included sound on this notebook is certainly better than most. The XPS M170 like its XPS notebook predecessors includes a small subwoofer in addition to the two stereo speakers. Note to those who are serious about gaming - if you read the reports on Notebookforums.com, adding a PCMCIA Soundblaster Audigy improves general frame rates up to 15%. That's a pretty big improvement that just goes to show how onboard CPU-bound AC97 codecs can rob your game of precious CPU power.
Included on the front of the notebook are several buttons for controlling media operations (volume, play/pause, ff, rew, stop, etc)
Connectivity
Wow. You couldn't possibly ask for more here. 2 USB ports on the left. 4 more in back. 2 external monitor outputs (1 15 pin analog, one DVI), a 56k modem, a gigabit ethernet port, a TV-Out, a headphone jack, a microphone jack and a 1394 firewire port round out the input/output jacks. Also included is an SD card reader for you digicam toters. There is also a single CARDBUS slot.
I also opted for the Wireless A/B/G Intel 2915 card which seems to work admirably with my setup (straight wireless G). The XPS unit has 2 antennas, one on each side of the LCD panel. This allows for excellent range and diversity switching. I even opted for the Bluetooth card which I haven't tried yet, so nothing to report here.
Bottom line: I can't think of anything Dell missed.
Battery Life
Let's be honest here. You aren't buying this machine for its battery life. In fact, I'm sure they could sell this unit even if it didn't HAVE a battery and had to be run on AC power only. But that's my take, like it or not. However, with power management enabled, I did manage to eek out 2.5 hours out of this thing - but not while gaming. I was just doing straight desktop apps. In the battery life department, the XPS is no thinkpad, but I don't really expect it to be.
Now, let's look at the few downfalls this machine has.
First of all, the lid of the notebook is this shiny brushed aluminum number which is reportedly VERY easy to scratch. A lot of the forum dwellers recommend a product called "Plexus" to keep the scratches at bay as well as keep the lid clean.
Secondly, the 1920x1200 native resolution might be a bit restricting with some newer next-generation titles. Time will tell. For now though, it's all systems go. I personally would rather have the higher native resolution anyway since i'm only gaming 15-25% of the time.
Next, the Hard Drive. Say what you will about notebook hard drive technology, they simply don't "feel" as fast as desktop hard drives even with similar specifications. While the Dell certainly has a zippy 60GB 7200 RPM drive on board, I've certainly seen better throughput out of other 7200RPM drives. But the job this drive performs is certainly admirable. It won't hold you back.
Finally, there's one last complaint. The blue "bling". The Inspiron XPS M170 is festooned with egregious blue LED output. There's 2 large blue "XPS" logos on the lid. A 3 inch blue glow from each side. 2 more blue glows on the front lid area. I know that blue LED's are the stuff of gamerboys, but as a 36 year old guy I'd like a way to TURN THAT CRAP OFF! Wouldn't it impede battery life anyway?
UPDATE: Note - not only can you turn off the "bling", you can *CHANGE ITS COLOR!* Why anyone over the age of 16 would want to do this is beyond me, but if you want to change the color of the system fan LED's, logo LED's and speaker LED's, you can configure them independently in the system BIOS. Personally, i'd just turn that crap off.
None of these "downsides" are enough for me to give this notebook a low grade. If half-stars were allowed, i'd give it 4.5 stars. Compared to its predecessor, it's more solidly made, faster and runs MUCH cooler. No more sweaty legs for me.
This one's a buy.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2500
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: Greater than 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
kweckstrom
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Member: Karl Weckstrom
Location: Emerson, NJ
Reviews written: 100
Trusted by: 99 members
About Me:
Voted "Most Likely to be Photographed as a Bigfoot Sighting" by his senior class.
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