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.
Dell XPS M1730 notebook with Nvdia 8800M GTX
(Credit: Dell)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 cards in the same notebook.
"In other words, games like Crysis, BioShock, Far Cry 2 and Age of Conan will scream," Dell said.
There will be two options. One will be done with an "installation package" and the other will be a "do-it-yourself kit."
"Considering the number of screws holding this beast together, most people will probably want the installation," Dell said.
There is one gotcha though. "MediaDirect 3.3 is not compatible with the driver for the (new) Nvida card," Dell said. MediaDirect is a Dell technology that enables a user to watch DVD movies, slideshows, or listen to music without having to boot the complete XP operating system. MediaDirect is installed in a special partition on the hard disk drive. When the computer is off, pressing the MediaDirect button will boot the MediaDirect partition instead of XP.
Dell said that the MediaDirect "incompatibility means that the MediaDirect software needs to be upgraded. Unfortunately, the upgrade will require a reformat and reinstallation. Beyond that, it will also require you to repartition the hard disk to make room for the new version of MediaDirect, which is a bit larger. Data loss has been a major concern for the engineers working on a solution. At this point, it would appear that there's really no way around wiping the drive to make the upgrade work with every feature."
Two different prices for the Gateway P-6831FX.
Update [2/11/08]: We've heard from Best Buy, and the company tells us this laptop will be available for $1,199 starting Sunday, February 17. That represents an excellent value, and mitigates our disappointment over the original jump from the MSRP of $1,350 to the current $1,699.
Late last year, Gateway told us about its plans to bring a low-cost, high-quality gaming laptop to Best Buy stores as a retail-only exclusive. The system has arrived, and we were initially impressed with its price and performance, but now there seems to be some funny stuff going on with its pricing. Here's the deal:
The recently released Gateway P-6831FX has Nvidia's new 8800 GTS graphics card, a generous 3GB of RAM, and HDMI and eSATA ports. Our only initial concern looking at the specs was the system's somewhat stodgy Intel Core 2 Duo T5450 CPU. But all in all we thought we were looking at pretty damn good deal at $1,350. Apparently, so did a lot of other people, because the system's so hot Best Buy decided to raise the price on it.
While writing our review, we saw that Best Buy had changed the price on its Web site from $1,350 to $1,699. Confused, we did a little Web searching and found the P-6831FX still listed on Gateway's Web site with a suggested retail price of $1,350. We also found several message board threads complaining about the same issue.
We called Gateway and they laid the blame directly at Best Buy's feet, saying the P-6831FX was "selling like gangbusters," prompting the retail giant to raise the price by $350. We asked Best Buy about the price discrepancy late Wednesday, and the retail giant said they would get back to us. While Gateway offers a series of similar laptops online, called the P-171 series, the P-6831 is available only though Best Buy.
We'll update this post as new information comes in, but the upshot for right now is a laptop that we were very excited about is suddenly looking a lot less appealing. Look for our full review of the Gateway P-6831 later this week.
The Area-51 m15x's cool backlit keyboard.
A couple of weeks ago, we brought you some exclusive pics of Alienware's two new laptops, the high-end Area-51 m15x and Area-51 m17x, which impressed us with their updated designs, cutting-edge components, and imaginative lighting systems (seriously--lots of lights on these things).
While these two laptops probably won't be shipping until mid-January, we just got our hands on a preproduction unit, which, while not exactly final shipping hardware, has both the lighting control system and an Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTX video card--the first laptop we've gotten our hands on with one of those.
We're in a green mood today.
Using the lighting control panel, you can assign different colors to the backlit keyboard, keyboard tray indicators, touch pad outline, skull logo, and sides of the display panel. The touch pad itself is just a touch-sensitive section of the wrist rest and made of the same material as the rest of the keyboard tray--and with the internal lights off, you see only the keyboard and a power button--no touch pad, no status lights. With the lights turned on, the touch pad is outlined by a colored light--a very cool effect, but one that might take a little getting used to, as we kept running our fingers off the side of the touch pad accidentally, because of the lack of any tactile feedback.
We're currently loading up some games to put the m15x through its paces, and we'll let you know how the new Nvidia 8800 handles the current crop of system-crushing games, including Crysis and Unreal Tournament III.
Hot on the heels of the exclusive sneak peek photos we brought you last week, boutique computer maker Alienware finally let the press and public see its new creations in person Monday at a preview event. We call it that rather than a launch event, as the new Area-51 m15x and Area-51 m17x likely won't be available until the beginning of 2008.
The Skullcap and Ripley designs
We did, however, get to see these new systems in action, and as expected, both the 15- and 17-inch models will offer some hardcore hardware, including Core 2 Duo Extreme processors and the latest Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTX graphics. Part of the reason Alienware unveiled the new systems today was to coincide with Nvidia's 8800M launch (that's their latest and greatest graphics chip for laptops).
But those parts will be available in many laptops--what Alienware is really selling is not the steak, but the sizzle. The company has taken lumps for not redesigning its systems enough between generations, but parts of these two new laptops represent a major (for Alienware) design overhaul.
A custom app controls the keyboard color.
Two chassis designs are available: Skullcap has the familiar ridges we've seen on systems such as the m9750, but the new Ripley design keeps just the iconic alien head, against a glossy (and very reflective), flat lid. A backlit keyboard can be programmed to run any variety of colors, similar to the vent and fan lights in Dell's XPS laptops, but the light-up keyboard makes a huge difference, as does the totally flat touch pad, demarcated only by its backlit border.
No pricing or shipping dates yet, but expect to see these available sometime in January.
- prev
- 1
- next
