Little & LARGE - Dell's contrasting gamer-ready XPS portables

[Bob Crabtree]

Following on from its April launch of the XPS 1710, Dell is adding two further gaming portables that could hardly be more different from one another - one weighing in at 1.8kg/£1,000, the other 8kg/£2,000.

The featherweight is a tiny and rather desirable 12in (1280x800) notebook, the XPS M1210, equipped with an NVIDIA GeoForce Go 7400 graphics processor.

It's super-heavyweight counterpart is a luggable, mains-powered machine, the XPS M2010, with a 20.1in hi-def (1680x1050) panel that's driven by a 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1800 GPU with accompanying sound from eight screen-mounted speakers and a sub-woofer that vents on the PC's underside.

Check out our take on these two contrasting Dells in this HEXUS.headline and come back to share your thoughts and questions.

[nichomach]

Personally, I love the idea of the M2010, and while it may be very good for gamers, I can also think of some company directors who would SERIOUSLY like one. Wonder if XP Pro will be an option; it'd be a good idea.

[nichomach]

Is the build quality that ropey? I don't have a problem with the position of the optical drive - the guys I'd have it in mind for aren't going to be plugging in a telly anyway.

[Bob Crabtree]

What I would add is that - I think - that neither David or I or anyone else from HEXUS who went hands on with the beast last week actually knows whether this was a bashed around production prototype or something rather close to the real thing.

It's possible that the finished item will look and feel better if what we saw was some kind of protype.

But that wouldn't necessarily win me over, perhaps not even if the HD picture quality was massively better than we saw.

And I know that if the choice was between the Dell and a 20in iMac - which I think it probably is given that Intel Macs can now also run Windows XP - I'd go for the iMac like a shot.

That's not because it's cheaper, though it is; and not because I'm an Apple fan-boy, cos I'm not. And I say this despite the fact that the raw specs of the Dell would seem rather better overall than the Dell.

It's just that the iMac is a lovely bit of kit, and the Dell isn't - and probably won't be, even production versions.

While I'm being a bitch, I'll add that what I didn't comment upon in the article - in part because I had no pics to prove it - is that the M2010, when shut, looked to me rather too much like a giant table-top griller.

Bob

[Bob Crabtree]

Still no further info from Dell but I've updated the article with some images that one of our people took of the XPS M2010 when we were with the company (thanks Tarinder!) - including a shot of the PC's Device Manager screen.

Probably the things of most significance in the XPS M2010's Device Manager screen are details of the CPU a Core Duo (so you see 2x T2600 - 2.16GHz) and DVD burner (a Teac DVW28SLZ) - but you can check out the rest easily by clicking on the pic for a bigger version (ditto all pics in the article).

Front and side shots show the keyboard fully engaged with the system box and between them let you judge the size of the IR handset and see the style of the mouse.

The side shot (seen above at low res) also shows the two memory-card reader slots - amid which is the CardBus slot, I think, with, possibly a four-pin FireWire port nearby, too. You also get a good idea of how the DVD burner looks when closed and where its controls are situated.

I've add other comments over in the articel about the pics, so if you are interested in the XPS M2010, you'll probably find them worth checking out.

Bob

[nichomach]

The lack of a TV tuner doesn't bother me, although with a chassis that big I'd hope that it would be an option. It's obviously not just mains powered, since there's batteries listed in device manager. The Core Duo T2600's a good basis. I still like the looks of the beastie. BTW, it looks as though there's a web cam integrated into the top of the M2010's screen, or am I wrong?

[Bob Crabtree]

The lack of a TV tuner doesn't bother me, although with a chassis that big I'd hope that it would be an option. It's obviously not just mains powered, since there's batteries listed in device manager. The Core Duo T2600's a good basis. I still like the looks of the beastie. BTW, it looks as though there's a web cam integrated into the top of the M2010's screen, or am I wrong?

Clearly, there's no lack of affordable external tuners to choose from, including digital or digital/analogue - if you buy a tuner somewhere other than from Dell.

As for the battery - yes, you must be right, so I've tweaked the piece and given credit where credit is due (ie to you).

Agree about the Core Duo.

Looks - are always a personal thing.

Web cam - yes, there is but not, you'll note, in the Dell-supplied pics. Again, the piece has been appropriately updated.

Thanks for your helpful comments!


Bob

[nichomach]

Cheers, Bob!

[Bob Crabtree]

Cheers, Bob!

Thanks go to you, not me!

[nichomach]

Hey, Bob, it's up on Dell's UK site and there's an XP Pro option!

[Bob Crabtree]

Hey, Bob, it's up on Dell's UK site and there's an XP Pro option!

Thanks - I'll update the piece shortly.

Oh, and the XPS M1210 is up there now, too - linky.


What the infor on XPS M2010 shows, though, is that the price that Dell quoted is way out of line with reality!

As best as I can make out, the machine we were shown would cost £2,803.87, including VAT and delivery - not the £2,000 figure we were all told.

And, if I use the customiser options on the buying area to cut down the CPU from 2.16GHz to 2GHz and choose a single 80GB HDD instead of the two 100GB units set up in Raid 1, I can still only get the all up price down to £2,216.37!

Oh, and the £899 quoted for the M1210 doesn't buy you quite the spec that we were led to believe either!

Grrr!

[Bob Crabtree]

I've had a bit of comms with Brian Pitstick, Dell's XPS Product Manager, and today he sent me a response that I've added to the article and include here for your info.

Bob
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Update - June 5 -20:00

Brian Pitstick, XPS Product Manager, has responded to this article and associated forum thread, saying,

"Sorry to hear that you did not like the build quality of the M2010. We have put a lot into this to make it as robust and reliable as possible. This is why we have our own in-house testing and design engineering teams and are designing systems from the ground up.

"Dell puts a lot of investment into driving a very high standard of quality across all products and this is no exception. We will not ship it if it's not ready for customers.

"See the following link for more information on Dell's quality and reliability design parameters (http://www.dell.com/roadready). Also, we have a dedicated usability and industrial-design organisation that does extensive testing with our customers during the development process. The overall form-factor choice was a product of direct customer feedback we received."