Dell Inspiron XPS Gen 2 Laptop

[Steve]

The chosen combination of Pentium M 770 and GeForce 6800 Go Ultra 256MB make for, without doubt, the fastest gaming laptop ever to grace HEXUS Labs, and I keep repeating this, ad nauseum, but it's just so damn quiet. The screen's pretty sharp, the keyboard's above average, and the chassis looks pretty cool. With the £2099 asking price and gamers in mind, I'd urge Dell to pre-configure a model with a 7,200RPM hard drive for faster loading and, perhaps, look into a better base warranty. Other than that, though, I'm struggling to find bad points about it without resorting to nitpicking.

http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews...lld19JRD0xMjg3

[Matt1eD]

I never thought I'd say this about a Dell notebook. But I WANT ONE.

Any chance of the test machine lol

On a serious note: what happens to them?

[directhex]

i still don't really "get" gaming laptops - they're very heavy, battery life isn't great, and if you use one on your lap you'll probably burn something.

nope, ultraportables for me

[DR]

I am an ultra portable fan - I finally managed to pursuade them to leave this X31 with me - I would replace my desktop with the notebook in this article - but not carry it around

[Swafe]

Another fan of ultra portables here, theres no point to a laptop if its just not portable, and its far too hot or heavy to have on your lap.

I damn agree its a lovely piece of tech but I'd still got for a portable one, I guess it depends whats your in the market for, I'd never personally buy a laptop for gaming, I guess if your a gamer, this is still one to look out for, my mates actually thinking of buying one, even though I recommended him a PC as it would be a lot cheaper, after looking around, only Dell and Alienware really offer such high spec laptops. Seing as he claims he will be gaming on the move, I guess this is a pretty good choice for him.

[Matt1eD]

YUp, I agree, I prefer ultra portable ubt DTRs are good for taking places, not using on the way there.

As Swafe says it costs less for a PC, you can upgrade more easily and cheaply and one can play around inside a PC

[Tarinder]

I never thought I'd say this about a Dell notebook. But I WANT ONE.

Any chance of the test machine lol

On a serious note: what happens to them?

The test machines all go back to their respective owners. Dell will be picking the Inspiron XPS Gen 2 up next week.

I'm also a fan of thin-and-light notebooks, but this Dell is pretty awesome at power-related tasks, and gaming at 1920x1200 is just so lush.

[directhex]

i've got a pretty thin & light dell, would get the thinner & lighter dell x1 if i were buying

[acaurora]

I just wanted to add a comment that Dell DOES offer a 7200 RPM 80 GB and 100 GB upgrade option. Personally I dont know the price for the upgrade off the top of my head, but I would definately go for it. As for who makes those HDDs, I'm betting Seagate, as they have been recently promoting the Momentus 7200.1's being released around now... Being the hardware person that I am, I wish you guys had cracked it open so I could have seen the innards ;P

[Steve]

I just wanted to add a comment that Dell DOES offer a 7200 RPM 80 GB and 100 GB upgrade option.

I think Tarinder would rather see it available pre-configured, rather then having to choose it as an upgrade.

[Xaneden]

I've got a lot of love for my 8600, which still performs admirably considering its age. At the time I bought it, it was top of the range, and Dell really tend to give the best with their laptops.

Anyone considering this beast... GET IT!!

(btw, their warranty support is fantastic tbh. I bought the Next Business Day 3 year warranty, and I've had them out 3 times since, motherboard changeover etc too. Really nice support guys (Irish people not the Indian ones you sometimes get) and their engineers are friendly enough too.

Thumbs up for Dell and their latest machine

[Keegan]

While it may be impressive it is not the fastest gaming laptop. Clevo makes the fastest one that i have seen. It is very big and heavy but i dont mind lugging it around with me everywhere I go. I pretty much use it as a portable desktop but I do take it with me where ever I go.

http://www.clevo.com.tw/products/D900T.asp

D900T Specification
CPU
．Intel® Pentium 4 Processor 520/530/540/550/560/570 with HT Technology

(2.80~3.80GHz, 90nm, FSB800, 1MB L2 cache, LGA775)

Core Logic ．Intel® 915P + ICH6
Display ．17.1" WXGA (1440x900) TFT

．17.1" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) TFT

Memory ．Two 64-bit wide DDRII data channels

．Four 200-pin SODIMM sockets, supporting DDRII 400/533

．Expandable Memory up to 4GB, 2814MB available, based on 256/512/1024MB SODIMM Module

Video Controller ．nVIDIA® GeForceTM Go 6800

High performance graphic chip

．256MB DDRIII Video RAM on board

．256bit graphic engine

．PCI-Express x16

．Fully DirectX® 9.0 support

．Modular Design
．ATi X800 High performance graphic chip

．256MB DDRIII Video RAM on board

．256bit graphic engine

．PCI-Express x16

．Fully DirectX® 9.0 support

．Modular Design

Storage ．One changeable Primary 2.5" HDD 9.5mm(H)

．(Option) One changeable Secondary 2.5" HDD 9.5mm(H)

．Serial ATA HDD support

．One changeable Primary Bay for 12.7mm(H) CD-ROM / DVD-ROM / Combo / DVD-Dual Drive

．(Option) One changeable Secondary Bay for 12.7mm(H) CD-ROM / DVD-ROM / Combo / DVD-Dual Drive

．(Option) One external USB 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive

．Supporting Master mode IDE ATA-100/133 (Ultra DMA)

Keyboard ．Full size keyboard, with Numeric Pad, Multi-Language support

．Built-in Touchpad with scrolling function

Sound System ．Intel® Azalia Compliant Interface

．3D stereo enhanced sound system

．Virtual 8-channel audio output

．Sound-Blaster PROTM compatible

．S/PDIF Digital output (5.1 CH)

．SRS (Sound Retrieval System® ) / WOW 3D sound technology

．1x Built-in Microphone

．4x Built-in Speakers

．1x Built-in Sub woofer

．1x Built-in Audio DJ Console for music CD (MP3 format compatible)

I/O Ports ．4x USB 2.0 ports

．2x Mini IEEE1394a ports

．1x S-Video jack for TV output & HDTV output

．1x Serial port

．1x Parallel port (LPT1), supporting ECP/EPP

．1x Infrared Transfer port

．1x DVI port

．1x PS/2 port

．1x Headphone jack

．1x Microphone jack

．1x S/PDIF output jack

．1x Line-in jack for Audio input

．1x RJ-45 port for LAN

．1x RJ-11 port for Modem

．1x DC-In jack

．1x CATV input jack (optional function with TV-Tuner module)

．1x S-Video jack for Video input (optional function with TV-Tuner module)

Card Reader ．Embedded 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/SD/MMC/CF/SM/MicroDrive)
PCMCIA ．1x Type II PCMCIA socket
Communication ．Infrared Transfer : 115.2Kbps SIR/4Mbps FIR, IrDA 1.1 compliant

．10/100/1000BASE-T Fast Ethernet onboard

．Integrated V.90/56K Azalia Modem (V.92 compliant)

．(Option) 802.11b/g MiniPCI Wireless LAN Module

．(Option) BluetoothTM Class II V1.2 Module, MiniPCI interface, combo with WiFi Module

．(Factory option) 300K-pixel Video Camera module

Power ．Full Range 180W AC adapter - AC input 100~240V, 47~63Hz, DC output 20V, 9A

．Changeable 12-cell Smart Li-Ion battery pack, 6600mAh

Security ．Kensington® Lock
Dimension ．397(W) x 298(D) x 49.5(H)mm, 15.6"(W) x 11.7"(D) x 1.9"(H)

．5.8Kg with 12 cells Lithium-ion battery

Options ．One changeable Second 2.5" HDD 9.5mm(H)

．One changeable Second Combo / DVD-Dual Drive 12.7mm(H)

．One external USB 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive

．TV-Tunver, MiniPCI interface

．802.11b/g MiniPCI Wireless LAN Module

．BluetoothTM Class II V1.2 Module, MiniPCI interface, combo with 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Module

．One external USB 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive

．(Factory option) 300K-pixel Video Camera module

[directhex]

i'm not sure i would call a pentium-4 based laptop faster than a dothan-based one, under any circumstances.

[Xaneden]

Nor is it really in the same league as the XPS Gen 2. They cater for different purposes really... If you want some form of sustainable battery life + good performance, the XPS Gen 2 is the one to go for.

[Jonny M]

/hugs TravelMate 3202

I'm in the "thin and light" camp when it comes to notebooks also.

[SURLY328]

I just Ordered the DELL XPS GEN 2 laptop!!!!!!!!!!! about 3400dollars, ( I had to talk them down Literally) and I also upgraded for 300 dollars to a Inspiron XPS-Gen2, Pentium M 780 (2.26GHz/533MHz FSB) from the 760 2.13 I CANT WAIT!!!!

ANd I got the 7200 rpm 60 GB and 2GB,DDR2,533MHz 2 Dimm,for Inspiron XPS-Gen2 I AM SALIVATING.

TELL ME WHAT U ALL THINK