Dell Computers

Dell’s XPS 630 is a stylish and competitively priced mainstream gaming PC that can be souped up with extras such as an Ageia PhysX accelerator, a Blu-ray Disc drive, and up to 4GB of DDR2-800 Corsair Dominator memory. And though Dell recently integrated its XPS and Alienware development teams for future products, a spokesperson confirmed that the company will fully support current XPS notebooks and desktops (such as the high-end 730 H2C, the multimedia-themed XPS 420, and the iMac-rival One) for the remainder of what is typically a 12-month life-cycle for these products. The company declined to confirm when the first Alienware/Dell hybrid systems are likely to appear.

Our $3229 XPS 630 system (the price drops to $2889 without the bundled 22-inch Dell SP2208WFP monitor, and lesser configurations start at $1199; pricing is as of June 6, 2008) packed 3GB of RAM and Intel’s 3-GHz Core 2 Extreme QX6850 processor–an older quad-core chip that continues to deliver strong performance. Two speedy 160GB, 10,000-rpm Western Digital Raptor hard drives configured in a RAID 0 array provide a modest 320GB storage. The system also carried dual 512MB nVidia GeForce 8800 GT graphics boards bridged as one via SLI (nVidia’s Scalable Link Interface).

 Dell lets you choose either Windows XP or Windows Vista as the operating system for your XPS 630. Our unit, equipped with Vista Premium, earned a score of 123 on PC World’s WorldBench 6 test suite–on a par with results we’ve recorded for most competing desktops that use the same QX6850 CPU. To put that into perspective, consider that our current top-performing desktops (for example, the Penryn QX9650-equipped War Machine M1 Elite) posted WorldBench scores edging into the low 130s. Though Dell doesn’t recommend or ship the 630 overclocked, you can bump up the CPU and memory speeds yourself if you know what you’re doing.

The 630’s SLI-rigged 8800 GT graphics support smooth performance by any graphically intensive PC game. For instance, the system averaged a frame rate of 162 frames per second while running Doom 3 at 1024 by 768 resolution with antialiasing turned on.

SLI configurations tend to provide their greatest benefit when powering games at higher resolutions–say, 1600 by 1200 and above. If high-resolution gaming is your thing, you might want to upgrade from the bundled 22-inch wide-screen LCD (supporting 1680 by 1050 resolution) to a larger, more-capable monitor like Dell’s 24-inch E248WFP ($100 extra), which can natively display 1920 by 1200 pixels on screen.

The XPS 630’s industrial design is reminiscent of–but scaled back from–that of Dell’s XPS 720 desktop. The 630’s ATX case bares brushed aluminum sides and top, with a choice of black or red plastic front and back panels that feature large grilles. The side panel easily unlatches to reveal a well-organized interior with neat cable management, 750W power supply, and a tool-less hard-drive tray. For a case of its size, it offers respectable expansion room, with one 5.25-inch drive bay available at the front (a DVD±RW drive occupies the other one). Meanwhile, several internal slots are open: two regular PCI, one PCI Express x8, and one PCI Express x1.

The motherboard for this system uses nVidia’s 650i SLI chip set. Unfortunately, this chip set limits each of the system’s two PCI Express x16 slots (used for the dual graphics cards) to 8X speed in SLI mode, raising the possibility of an old-school bandwidth bottleneck that is less common today than it used to be. Another issue: Dell’s own LightFX software, which controls the colors of the case exterior’s four LED lighting zones, has problems with this chip set; this conflict forces users to resort to nVidia’s ESA light effects software instead. An open standard created by nVidia, ESA (which stands for Enthusiast System Architecture) promotes two-way communication between PC components. The XPS 630 is among the first ready-made PCs to support it.

The XPS 630 ships with Dell’s standard wired optical mouse and multimedia keyboard combo. You also get a 15-month subscription to the PC-cillin’s Internet security suite. Chip-set concerns aside, the XPS 630 is a well-built, highly customizable midrange gaming system that delivers good performance for the price.

Article Source: http://www.pcworld.com

Dell XPS M1530

Dell made a serious effort in 2007 to listen to customer feedback criticizing Dell’s older, thick and heavy laptops. The result was the amazingly thin and light XPS M1330, one of the sexiest looking notebooks of 2007. The new Dell XPS M1530 is an impressive 15.4″ screen notebook designed similar to (just larger than) the very successful 13-inch XPS M1330.

Our pre-production XPS M1530 is equipped with the following specs:

* 15.4-inch WXGA (1280 x 800) CCFL glossy screen
* “Crimson” red paint (also available in “Tuxedo” black or “Alpine” white)
* 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo T7500 processor, Santa Rosa chipset (up to 2.4GHz available)
* 2GB DDR2-667 SDRAM (up to 4GB DDR2 SDRAM available)
* 160GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD (32GB SSD drive available)
* Slot-loading dual-layer DVD±RW drive
* NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GT with 256MB GDDR3
* WWAN option for Verizon
* Ethernet, 802.11a/g/n (Intel 4965), Bluetooth option
* Integrated 2.0 megapixel webcam
* HDMI, VGA, S-Video, Firewire/1394, three USB 2.0 ports, integrated media reader (MS, SD, xD), fingerprint reader
* Media Center remote located in ExpressCard slot
* Windows Vista Home Premium
* Dimensions (with 6-cell battery): 14.06″ x 10.34″ x 0.93″ – 1.38″
* Weight starts at 5.9 pounds with 6-cell battery (6.29 pounds with 9-cell)

Build and Design

The Dell XPS M1330 has received high praise for its design and feature set in a 13.3″ portable form factor, but the most popular selling laptops are in the 15.4″ screen size. Dell, being in the business of selling more laptops and making customers happy, figured it would be wise to offer something that’s larger and appeals to more people. And that’s exactly what the M1530 is — a larger version of the M1330.

As we said in our First Look article, it’s as if Dell put the M1330 on steroids and the M1530 is the end result — the laptop size increased proportionally and it’s also more powerful in its new form. The design and look is mostly the same, the keyboard feels the same, the touch sensitive controls are replicated and for the most part the ports are the same (though you do get an extra USB 2.0 port on the M1530). That said, when we compare the M1530 and the M1330 side by side we can’t help but think the design of the M1530 is “overweight” in comparison.

There are some notable differences other than size between the M1530 and M1330 however. The M1530 can be configured with a more powerful Nvidia 8600M GT graphics card for boosted gaming performance over the XPS M1330 that only offers up to the Nvidia 8400M GS. The M1530 also offers up to a 2.80GHz Intel T7800 processor, whereas the XPS M1330 tops out at an Intel T7500 2.2GHz processor. Obviously if you’re all about the performance metrics and don’t carry a laptop around much, the XPS M1530 is a better fit for you.

Some people might wonder if they should go for the Dell Inspiron 1520 15.4″ notebook or the Dell XPS M1530 15.4″. After all, they’re both consumer notebooks from the same company that can be configured similarly, so what’s the point? For one, the XPS M1530 is way more eye catching in terms of design than the Inspiron 1520. The barrel hinge, dropdown screen and sloping look of the M1530 is just cool. Second, the XPS M1530 weighs just 5.9 lbs with a standard 6-cell battery and just 6 lbs and 4.6 ounces (6.29 lbs) with its 9-cell battery. The Inspiron 1520 weighs more than 7 lbs with the 6-cell battery. Other benefits of the XPS M1530 notebook include a sleeker slot loading optical drive, touch sensitive light-up buttons, dedicated XPS tech support, media remote control and thinner profile.

Screen

Another difference that should be mentioned is that currently the M1530 is offered with only a standard 15.4″ widescreen XGA (1280 x 800) display, while the XPS M1330 has the option for a thinner and more power efficient LED backlit display. Dell says the XPS M1530 should be available next year with different resolution screens … including LED backlight options.

Even though some will be a little put out by the lack of LED backlighting being offered on the M1530 initially, the standard CCFL display is still gorgeously bright and flawless. Plus you get a higher 2.0MP web cam with the standard thicker CCFL screen, whereas with a thinner LED screen only a VGA resolution cam can be fitted.

The screen on our pre-production unit looks flawless from straight on and the horizontal viewing angles are great. Upper vertical viewing angles are good, but colors did begin to invert at lower viewing angles when the screen is tilted back.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Media Controls

The keyboard on the XPS M1530 is fairly similar to the XPS M1330, with obvious reasons. The keyboard is firm with virtually no flex and the keys have excellent travel and cushion. The XPS M1530 is really quite a pleasure to type on. The only complaint I have for the keyboard is that if your fingernails are slightly long they might get caught under the keys, this shouldn’t be a problem for most males though.

The touchpad works well enough, though it’s seems a little on the small side given the size of the notebook. The mouse buttons have excellent travel and cushion, though I did feel like they made a bit too much of a “clicking” sound when pressed. The good news with the touchpad is that it’s responsive, has dedicated scroll areas and the textured feel is good.

For more deals on dell computers visit: www.computer-deals.com.au

A series of touch-sensitive media buttons with blue LED backlights are located above the keyboard similar to the buttons on the M1330. One nice feature about the media buttons is that the blue LEDs only stay lit for a fraction of a second after being pressed, so they won’t distract you by staying lit all the time.

Dell also includes a Media Center remote control that fits neatly into the ExpressCard slot on the side of the notebook. This is a great accessory for presentations or if you want to control a DVD from across the room.

Read more of this review at: http://www.notebookreview.com

Dell XPS M1330 Review

The Dell XPS M1330 is designed for those that want power on the go. If you’re also fashion conscious and like to standout in a crowd, the looks of the XPS M1330 will help you in that area too. Sleek design coupled with a portable form factor and powerful components come together to make for a compelling notebook.

Build and Design

Our pre-production XPS M1330 as equipped:

* 13.3-inch WXGA screen with LED backlight
* “Crimson” red paint (also available in “Tuxedo” black or “Pearl” white)
* 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 processor, Santa Rosa chipset (up to 2.4GHz available)
* 2GB DDR2-667 SDRAM (up to 4GB DDR2 SDRAM available)
* 160GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD (32GB SSD drive available)
* Slot-loading dual-layer DVD±RW drive
* 128MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS
* WWAN option for Verizon
* Ethernet, 802.11a/g/n (Intel 4965), Bluetooth option
* Integrated VGA webcam
* HDMI, VGA, 1394, two USB 2.0 ports, integrated media reader (MS, SD, xD), fingerprint reader
* Media Center remote located in ExpressCard slot
* Windows Vista Home Premium
* Dimensions 12.5″ x 9.4″ x 0.87″ – 1.33″
* Weight starts at 4 pounds with 6-cell battery

The design of the XPS M1330 really sets it apart. The design is, in a word, striking. The sloping look and stunning lid, available in three different colors, are immediately attention grabbing. The slope is akin to a fast car tear drop look. And while the Dell XPS M1330 isn’t designed to go fast in the physical sense, it looks like it could if you just put wheels on it.

Once opened the M1330 provides more eye candy in terms of design. The buttons along the top edge are touch sensitive and light up with a soft glow when pressed. They look very stylish. The LED buttons are a bright blue and also eye-catching in their appearance. The silver colored keyboard and brushed aluminum casing on the inside give a slightly industrial look that would tell you there’s some muscle to this machine.

The hinge on the M1330 is quite unique, it’s very rounded in its look and rotates to bring the screen about even with the keyboard for a slightly lower overall profile. The LED backlit screen is super thin, which keeps weight down and again contributes to the looks. An integrated web camera sits at the top of the screen, it’s well hidden but noticeable.

Overall we have to say that the M1330 is one of the best looking notebooks on the market today.

Screen

When configuring the XPS M1330 you have two options for the screen — a backlit 13.3″ LED display that’s thin and light or regular cathode backlit display that’s slightly thicker and not as bright and evenly lit as the LED backlit display. We were lucky enough to have the LED backlit display, and while it costs $150 more than the standard display, it’s a worthwhile upgrade. The picture and brightness you get is just amazing! It offers 330 nits of brightness and is simply gorgeous to look at. It’s glossy in nature so you’ll get some reflection, but the rich and bold colors that come with having this type of screen finish is worth it.

The only downside to the LED backlit display is the fact that you can only get a VGA webcam. If you get the regular WXGA display you can configure a 2MP web camera. We think VGA resolution is enough for things such as video chat applications, but if you really feel the need for a higher resolution web camera and want to save a bit of money too, then go with the regular WXGA screen option.

Speakers

The speakers for the M1330 are located at the top of the keyboard area. There’s not much to write home about the speakers, they get loud enough that’s for sure, but the sound is slightly tinny as is the case with nearly all laptop speakers. The volume audio controls are touch sensitive buttons along the top right side of the keyboard. It’s a little hard to use these buttons if you have big fingers, and there’s no on screen feedback to tell you you’ve actually pressed the button. Overall the volume control buttons are tough to use, though they look nice, an old fashioned volume dial control is easier to use.

If you prefer to use headphones to the built-in, you’re set. There are two headphone ports to capture audio from, both are located on the front of the notebook. If you’re trying to attach external speakers this isn’t as handy, but since this is an on the go notebook it’s probably not an issue.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard on the XPS M1330 is fairly similar to the older XPS M1210, though it does feel more spread out with larger keys so overall the keyboard is better. One thing that’s definitely better with M1330 is that the keyboard is more firm. On the M1210 there was some sink on the right side of the keyboard, but with the M1330 it’s firm and solid all over. The XPS M1330 is really quite a pleasure to type on. The only complaint I have for the keyboard is that if your fingernails are slightly long they might get caught under the keys, this shouldn’t be a problem for most males though.

One thing to mention is that with the 9-cell battery in you get an overall greater slope to the keyboard, we actually like this for ergonomics, it feels more comfortable for typing.

The touchpad works well enough, though it’s on the small side. The Apple MacBook is a 13.3″ screen notebook and the touchpad is probably twice the size of what you get on the M1330. The mouse buttons are fine, though Andrew would prefer they had a little more travel to them. The good news with the touchpad is that it’s responsive, has dedicated scroll areas and the textured feel is good.

Performance and Benchmarks

The M1330 is a remarkably capable performer in its price range thanks to the Intel Santa Rosa processor platform and the Nvidia GeForce Go 8400M GS video card with 128MB of dedicated graphics memory. While there are better performing gaming systems on the market in the $1,500 to $2,000 price range with 256MB of dedicated memory, the M1330 provides more than enough power for casual gaming … even with some of the newest games.

That said, we experienced some problems getting 3DMark05 and 3DMark06 to run smoothly on the pre-production M1330 straight out of the box thanks to some Vista driver issues. After spending a few hours running Windows Update and hunting for drivers online Jerry was able to get both 3DMark05 and 3DMark06 to run consistently and managed to improve some of the benchmark numbers from our first look review.

Hopefully any driver issues will be sorted out when Dell ships actual production units of the M1330 to customers. However, the driver issue we experienced shouldn’t deter anyone from this genuinely impressive system.

Heat and Noise

The system fan and heatsinks in the M1330 do a great job managing heat when the system is under load … as we discovered when we ran multiple benchmarks back to back. The CPU temperature peaked at only 58 degrees Celsius during multiple 3DMark05 and 3DMark06 tests. The fan moved a significant amount of hot air but the noise was reasonably low and wasn’t noticeable over background noise unless the room was perfectly quiet.

One thing to mention is that we kept the 9-cell extended life battery attached to the M1330 during these benchmarks. The extended life battery lifts the system off the desk and allows air to move under the notebook case … helping to cool the system. When we performed the same benchmarks with the standard 4-cell battery (with the case resting flush against the desk) the CPU temperatures peaked at 64 degrees Celsius.

The attractive brushed aluminum surface of the palm rests did heat up during benchmarking, but the temperatures remained at comfortable levels. The left palm rest was slightly warmer than the right. If you are particularly sensitive to temperatures you might find the warmth uncomfortable, but most users will be unlikely to complain about this.

The hard drive in our pre-production unit was virtually silent and made no audible squeals or scratching noises. The overall lack of noise coming from the fan and hard drive on the M1330 should be a welcome surprise for people with sensitive hearing … particularly for those who owned the M1210. In fact, the only noticeable amount of unwelcome noise coming from the M1330 is from the slot-loading drive when it loads or ejects a disk.

Input and Output Ports

The port selection of the M1330 is remarkably good for a notebook of this size. Here’s a quick rundown of what you get:

* Two USB 2.0 ports (one on the left and one on the right)
* IEEE 1394 / FireWire port
* VGA monitor out port
* HDMI port
* Dual headphone / line-out ports
* Microphone in port
* ExpressCard slot
* Ethernet LAN port
* SD/MMC/MS/MS Pro/xD card slot reader
* Biometric security/finger print reader

The top of the M1330 (left) with a sexy red paintjob trimmed in aluminum. The M1210 is on the right. (view large image)

The bottom of the M1330 with memory expansion access, vents, and battery. (view large image)

Compared to the M1210 (right) the front of the M1330 (left) has dual headphone ports, microphone port, and multi-card reader. (view large image)

Compared to the M1210 (right) the M1330 (left) the right side has an ExpressCard slot (Media Center remote), wireless on/off, slot-loading optical drive, USB port, and security lock slot. (view large image)

Again, compared to the M1210 (right) the left side of the M1330 has a power jack, VGA port, USB port, HDMI port, and Firewire port. (view large image)

There’s nothing to see on the back of the M1330 (left) except the fan vent. (view large image)

OS and Software

Dell was gracious enough to install a minimal amount of bloatware on the pre-production M1330 we received. While most experienced users will likely spend the first 30 to 60 minutes uninstalling some bloatware from the system, the many less technically minded owners will find the included applications quite useful.

Of course, Microsoft Vista is a bit of a mixed bag for users as of this writing. There will continue to be minor headaches with drivers, updates, and application patches until Vista becomes a more seasoned and widespread OS. That said, anyone already familiar with Vista should have no trouble with the M1330 and less experienced users should only need a few weeks to feel perfectly comfortable with the interface.

Camera

As previously mentioned, the M1330 comes with either a VGA web camera (with the LED backlight display) or a two-megapixel web camera with the standard display. Even with the lower resolution VGA camera in our test unit we can safely say the M1330 is a capable performer for teleconference or online gaming. Brightness, color and contrast are all near perfect, and the face tracking feature lets you keep your face front and center during video conferences. If you can manage to keep your face “somewhere” near the front of the computer the camera’s face tracking feature will frame your mug nicely.

Battery

The 9-cell battery is the way to go if you’re doing any traveling, which you likely will be if you decide to purchase this notebook. With the screen set to 3/8 brightness, wireless on, and idling without doing any work the XPS M1330 squeezed out 4 hours and 45 minutes of battery life. If you’re watching a DVD on this notebook you’ll get somewhere just over 3 hours of battery life with the 9-cell. If you go for the smaller 4-cell battery the run life will be more than cut in half, but you’ll have a lighter overall notebook. It’s always a tough decision when deciding between a lighter weight battery that costs less and gives you less life or a larger battery that weighs more and costs more. You’ll just have to decide which battery better fits your needs. If money is no object, get both batteries and use whichever one suits you best for the occasion!

Conclusion

With a design that is second to none in its price range and excellent performance the Dell XPS M1330 is sure to be one of the most popular notebooks of 2007. As of this writing the M1330 First Look Review is already the most popular article in our forums based on views and replies.

While issues like warm palm rests, awkward media buttons, a noisy slot-loading drive, and somewhat heavy weight with the 9-cell battery will make some demanding buyers look elsewhere, most consumers looking for a 13.3-inch notebook will be hard pressed to find a better notebook in the same price range.

Pros:

* Attractive design
* Solid build quality
* Excellent performance
* LED backlit display is amazing
* Good built-in camera … even the VGA unit
* Nice keyboard
* Attractive design (Yes, we said it twice.)

Cons:

* 4.5 pounds with 9-cell battery
* Gets a little too warm particularly on palm rests
* Touch sensative media buttons don’t work very well
* Slot-loading drive is a little loud

Article source: www.notebookreview.com

For more information on Dell Computers visit: www.computer-deals.com.au

Dell XPS M1730

Boasting a new PhysX card and plenty of other perks for gamers, Dell’s latest rig is fast, fun, and ready for the next generation of eye candy.

Dell goes full-throttle with its latest XPS notebook, the M1730, which packs an Intel Core 2 Extreme X7900 processor, dual Nvidia graphics processors in an SLI configuration, and Ageia’s PhysX controller, which theoretically makes games look more realistic than before. Although the whole experience is still a work in progress, at $3,824, the XPS M1730 is ready for whatever you can throw at it, and then some.

Our tested configuration features Smoke accents on the lid, but you can opt for Red, Blue, or White inserts instead. The cross-hatched gray top is more demure than some designs we’ve seen from Dell, though the lit lid accents still scream gaming rig, which isn’t ideal for all users. Speakers in the front bezel sport red backlights, and the lid’s Dell logo and the mousepad’s XPS logo are lit as well. The backlit accents can light up in different colors or can be turned off altogether with the Dell QuickSet utility.

Under the lid, you’ll be pleased to find that Dell has upgraded the M1710’s keyboard; a full number pad now sits in its rightful place alongside the primary keys. The XPS touchpad has been moved to the left so that it remains centered on the space bar. The silver keys are spaced well, have a responsive, pleasant feel, and are backlit with a clean white light that you can easily toggle off with a Function-key press.

Surrounding the keyboard is the same patterned gray that adorns the lid. The large Power button is easy to see; there’s also a button for Dell’s Media Direct function, which gives instant media access without booting Windows. A two-megapixel webcam sits above the screen.

The highlight under the lid is the 1920 x 1200-pixel WUXGA display, which features the same glossy, glare-reducing coating as on older XPS models. It’s just as nice as before; we had little issue with glare; details were crisp; and colors popped. DVDs and games looked fantastic, and the image was equally usable for Web pages and documents. The wide viewing angles were useful, as well.

The rig is rather chunky at 16 x 11.9 x 2 inches and 11 pounds, with another 3 pounds for the power brick, which is the size of a paperback. The M1730’s set of ports hasn’t expanded much from last year’s XPS offering: four USB ports, DVI and S-video out, FireWire, and a five-in-one card reader. Dual headphone ports and a mic port complement the front bezel media controls. After listening to Toshiba’s impressive sound system, the sound from the XPS’ two-watt speakers and five-watt subwoofer seemed weak. We would have liked to have seen an HDMI port as well.

Quite impressive is the notebook’s storage space; our sample came with two 200GB 7,200-rpm SATA hard drives in a RAID 0 configuration. The heart of this system, however, is the CPU and SLI graphics card combo. The 2.8-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo X7900 is overclockable to 3.4 GHz, and the dual 256MB GeForce GO 8700M GT graphics processors provide plenty of muscle. Dell also offers its Rapid Driver Update program, which has all the latest fully tested drivers and lets you download drivers that Dell hasn’t yet tested. We think gamers will take very kindly to this program, but even more, we hope Nvidia gets its DirectX 10 drivers optimized for Vista in the near future.

Our gaming scores were very good: 152 frames per second on F.E.A.R. at autodetect settings. That’s just slightly behind Alienware’s 161 fps on its Area-51 m9750–the fastest notebook to date. Every game we played was nothing less than a pleasure. The 26,983 3DMark03 score shows a lot of promise, however, as does the 8,064 on 3DMark06. The m9750 we tested notched better scores of 34,585 and 8,706 on those tests. But the 6,940 score on PCMark05 is better than the m9750’s 5,552 and one of the best we’ve seen.

What makes the XPS M1730 stand out, however, is its PhysX card–something Alienware has yet to add to a notebook. It’s supposed to take such elements as weight, velocity, and force into account. In other words, in a game, a wall won’t just be knocked down; rather, the wall will collapse according to how the character hit it, how much the character supposedly weighs, and how much force was applied. These effects also apply to items falling into water and making an appropriate-sized splash, or the ability for a soldier to shoot his weapon down stairs instead of just straight ahead. So far, the only games that can take advantage of this processor are Ghost Recon 2, Inferno, CellFactor: Revolution, Unreal Tournament 3, and Warmonger. The effects are noticeable. We tested with Ghost Recon and definitely noticed that there’s more realism in destructible environments and cloth; debris lingers rather than disappearing, and natural environments look more lush, since foliage is rendered with more detail and movement.

In addition to all the power inside the machine, the small gaming LCD on the keyboard deck is also a strong gaming component; depending on the game you’re playing, it can show a character’s health and life, how many bullets you have left, or whatever else pertains to a given game. This screen works with any game that supports a G15 gaming keyboard. When you’re not gaming, this screen can show RSS feeds, the time, and a countdown timer, with a button to the right to quickly change modes. A battery readout option would be nice for nongaming use, however, and we wish the screen were on the bezel of the display, not the keyboard deck, to make it easier to read.

Other than the lack of HDMI output, we have two other complaints. We think at this price a Blu-ray drive should be included. Second, only one year of support comes standard, but extended warranties are available.

Overall, the M1730 is an impressive piece of hardware that will only get better as more DX 10-compatible titles hit the market. And while nearly $4,000 is a lot to spend on a gaming machine, it’s currently the only one on the market with the PhysX card, and it still costs less than the top-notch systems from its fiercest gaming competitors.

Article sources: www.laptopmag.com