Unique Dell XPS M1710 Review 122
Searching4Sasquatch writes "Hot Hardware has just posted a unique review of Dell's flagship XPS M1710 notebook. They stumbled across some very interesting information within the BIOS which seems to indicate Dell is working on a docking station with its own discrete graphics. 'The user is given the option of using either the integrated GeForce Go 7900 GTX GPU found within the system or the extremely interesting option of using the graphics card found within a docking station. Could Dell be planning on releasing an enthusiast dock that features a high-end GPU that could not otherwise be crammed into the confinements of the notebook chassis? Perhaps an upgrade to allow for standard or even Quad-SLI would be possible with such a dock.'"
Looks nice... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Looks nice... (Score:3, Funny)
No wireless. Less concussive force than HE. Lame.
Re:Looks nice... (Score:1)
Re:Looks nice... (Score:1)
"service unavailable" (Score:1)
Interesting (Score:1)
Re:Interesting (Score:2)
Re:Interesting (Score:1)
Re:Interesting (Score:2)
I don't know whether your fresh install was of a naked OS or a restore from Dell's original image. Most Dells ship with an image so full of junk that it makes them nearly unusable.
I have a Dell 3.2GHz P4 with 1GB RAM at work, with their special (and actually quite well-put-together) Windows XP image, and it flies. It's as much of a pleasure to use as a Windows box can be, if you ignore the gawdawful Dell keyboard with its tumescent space bar.
Re:Interesting (Score:2)
Re:Interesting (Score:3, Informative)
1) Integrated graphics chips that share memory bandwidth with the system. Many (possibly MOST, I haven't checked the sales figures) Dells were sold in the last 5 years that had no AGP slot, just 3 PCI slots. Buying any cheap ( $50) PCI Videocard usually solves this... If you aren't already using the slots and if the bios allows you to disable the integrated graphics. There are a few integrated options that
How is this new? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:How is this new? (Score:5, Interesting)
-Erwos
Re:How is this new? (Score:3, Informative)
Latitudes have always had docking connectors. well, except for certain models like the X1 that doesn't have room for vents much less a docking connection.
Dell moved away from true docking connections on Inspirons some time ago. and yeah, XPS is now some generic word for Inspiron or Dimension pretty much now. XPS used to be THE high pow
Re:How is this new? (Score:2)
Re:How is this new? (Score:2)
Re:How is this new? (Score:1)
Re:How is this new? (Score:1)
Re:How is this new? (Score:2)
Re:How is this new? (Score:1)
I am doing this right now! (Score:1, Insightful)
I use one for the program, one for the debugger, and the laptop screen for email.
I've ONLY had this setup for 4 years!
Re:I am doing this right now! (Score:2)
Re:How is this new? (Score:2)
I'd recommend adding these menu entries in the BIOS so people would buy the laptops in hope for such a docking station. When we've sold enough laptops building those docking stations would be feasible. Then we can sell THOSE at a high price.
In short, I wouldnt believe it until I saw the docking stations and the benchmarks.
Re:How is this new? (Score:2)
Re:How is this new? (Score:1)
Dell does this on their other machines as well (Score:5, Informative)
This is nothing new, please move along.
Re:Dell does this on their other machines as well (Score:1)
Re:Dell does this on their other machines as well (Score:2)
Re:Dell does this on their other machines as well (Score:1)
Re:Dell does this on their other machines as well (Score:2)
This isn't new... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:This isn't new... (Score:1)
not a bad idea... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:not a bad idea... (Score:2)
Anything to do with Alienware? (Score:4, Interesting)
I wonder if this project has anything to do with their recent purchase of Alienware.
http://religiousfreaks.com/ [religiousfreaks.com]Nothing New (Score:1)
Latency/bandiwdth (Score:1, Troll)
Re:Latency/bandiwdth (Score:1, Informative)
New high speed serial busses like PCI Express takes up very few pins. They could have reserved some of those for the video card alone.
Re:Latency/bandiwdth (Score:2)
Re:Latency/bandiwdth (Score:2)
The new HyperTransport 3.0 spec also allows for external HT links, not useful for Dell at the moment since they don't have AMD-based systems, but it might be interesting for someone making Turion based laptops. So far every Turion-based laptop I've seen has been rather low end.
Re:Latency/bandiwdth (Score:2)
Close but not quite (Score:1)
The only flaw in this is that the "desktop replacement" itself has too much mass for it to be portable. If they could combine this type of dock with a smaller, more mobile system, it'd be the best of both worlds.
Most likely this is going to appeal to the hardcore power users in the notebook crowd.
Re:Close but not quite (Score:1)
Amen to that. I bought an HP8800 series with the 17" display last year as a 'desktop replacement' and it is a real bear to travel with. It is technically portable, but really a pain in the neck (quite literally) when travelling much further than to and from the car. The thing weighs in at around 12 pounds with the a/c adapter and other junk I carry with it. Next time I need a case, I'll definitely get
Jumping the gun (Score:1)
Ok, so they're doing little more than speculating about what Dell might be doing with its dock. Fine. Then they jump and start speculating about SLI or Quad-SLI? Considering that there are few mainboards that do either one of those functions, they're realllly reaching in even hoping for that kind of functionality. 4x AGP would be a good enough start for a new concept like this.
Re:Jumping the gun (Score:1)
DuoDock ahoy! (Score:2)
The Powerbook Duo was a helluva machine. Sub-notebook and a desktop. It was nice to be able to do page-layout with dual monitors at work, and take the Duo home to do copywriting and the like. Expensive, though.
As for this, I can see the benefit to a few people, but 1) people who need workstation-level graphics will also need more RAM and faster processors than are available in laptops, and 2) people who would like to game with their laptops like to game on their laptops away from their desk, which is why
Or could it be... (Score:1)
Maybe the option is something cheap instead of something that performs well. Why only ask a question on one side of the coin? Of course it would be nice if there was some great innovation, but considering how much goes into graphics cards from a company focused entirely on that concept, I really doubt Dell has the resources to come up with
Uh, Dual Monitors Anyone? (Score:1)
Re:Uh, Dual Monitors Anyone? (Score:1)
Could be a Latitude / Precision in the making (Score:2)
Re:Could be a Latitude / Precision in the making (Score:1)
Re:Could be a Latitude / Precision in the making (Score:1)
Display Hardware Objects (Score:3, Interesting)
Give me an optical digital display output instead of VGA.
I could put that display output into a breakout box to any number of different displays, including multihead where I have them, without and extra HW. The differences could be entirely in software. Outputting OpenGL for display would let even simple HW and relatively simple SW exploit practically any display environment. Including the long-anticipated immersive goggles, or better.
Dell's BIOS seems to go a single step in the right direction. When will we sprint down the path?
Re:Display Hardware Objects (Score:2)
Re:Display Hardware Objects (Score:2)
Re:Display Hardware Objects (Score:2)
Re:Display Hardware Objects (Score:2)
The computer doesn't send 4GB:s to the graphics card, it sends high-level instructions. Especially in the case of the OpenGL I mentioned, the bandwidth to the GPU can be very small. Digital optics have more than enough bandwidth, even for 4GB:s if that were actually necessary. There is no need of the GPU to have high bandwidth access to main memory.
In fact, all your complaints are a bigger problem with the GPU sitting across a cable from the
Re:Display Hardware Objects (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Display Hardware Objects (Score:2)
Re:Display Hardware Objects (Score:2)
Besides that, I have dual screens on my desk. At $300, I'm quite glad I also don't have to buy dual video cards (although, that is of course an option with SLI). And, to be quite honest, I simply don't see what advantage there would be to putting the rendering hardware in the display. Why do it? Similarly, there is very little advantage (none in most c
Re:Display Hardware Objects (Score:3, Interesting)
But displays do have enthusiasts, so there is a bigger nich
Re:Display Hardware Objects (Score:3, Insightful)
Why not? It adds nothing to the cost, in comparitive terms.
If you've got dual monitors, you're using a dual monitor card, which isn't necessary for the much more common single monitor, and therefore much more expensive in small production quantities
Except that dual head cards are now entirely standard (virtually all cards over $30 are dual head capable) and so we're not talking small production quantities we're talking huge
hardware doesn't work that way.. (Score:2)
Video cards need high bandwidth low latency connections. High bandwidth/low latency connections are difficult to extend to the back of your case, let alone up to the top of your desk. And you definitely cannot daily-chain them to multiple monitors.
And why would you use optical? Wire is all you need for short distances. The bandwidth of twisted pair is very large, the capacity of a coax is enormous. Optical would just add cost.
Re:hardware doesn't work that way.. (Score:2)
Optical is high bandwidth, low latency, and low power. That's one reason it's long been considered for interchip buses, and even for buses across a chip. Interconnecting whole boxes actually reaches the economic scales where optical is better, as demonstrated by consumer/pro electronics that use it.
optical is stupid on consumer electronics... (Score:2)
There's nothing lower latency about optical compared to a digital coax. Both are too slow. The speed of propagation in a fiber or wire is only so fast. It would make computer busses a lot more complex to have to soak up 1.5m of lat
Re:optical is stupid on consumer electronics... (Score:2)
Optical has been overkill for audio electronics, but just barely. Its widespread deployment was forward lookin
what? (Score:2)
Electron velocity is not determined by voltage. Electrons have a fixed charge, higher voltage only changes the number of them, not the speed of them. I don't think you even understand you are talking about.
I stole this sheet from the internet, showing the propagation speeds in various wires and fiber:
Medium Propagation Speed
------ -----------------
Thick Coax
Thin Coax
Twisted Pair
Fiber
light travels at the speed of light in a vacuum (Score:2)
But the speed of signal propagation in a wire is less than the speed of light because no electron makes the entire journey. The electrons run into atoms, and are absorbed by those atoms momentarily, before ejecting another electron to continue the propagation. The distance the electrons go before hitting an atom is called the "mean free path" of electrons in the material. Higher mean free path increases the conductivity of the material and I
Re:Display Hardware Objects (Score:2)
sorry to burst your bubble, but.... (Score:2)
Doubles as a frying pan for eggs! (Score:2)
It would be nice if reviewers rated heat which is becoming a big issue. Especially after the macbook pro problem and anything running on a duo.
I bought my compaq based on price and heat issues. I want a "laptop" and not a "notebook". Yes, my laptop never gets hot and I can comfortably place it on my lap. A cool CPU is also a longer lasting unit. My gf's Vio on the underhand, needs a special USB powered cooling unit pad below it to prevent if from overheating.
Re:Doubles as a frying pan for eggs! (Score:1)
According to the wiki entry Intel's duo core has an outstanding "performance per watt" ratio [wikipedia.org].
The only reason I plan on buying an HP instead of a Dell is for (AMD turion) 64-bit support which the duo core apparently does not have (expected in core 2). The wiki entry also mentions a duo core high memory latency due to the lack of on-die memory controller (further
Re:Doubles as a frying pan for eggs! (Score:2, Informative)
Not a totally new concept to Dell docks. (Score:2)
So technically, anyone with a C series laptop should be able to get up to around an nVidia 6200 for their "docked" video solution.
(Now I have to go try this...)
Re:Not a totally new concept to Dell docks. (Score:1)
My current Acer laptop's eZDock is PCIe based (and even has an expresscard slot) so there's no i
Gaming laptops are over-priced (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Gaming laptops are over-priced (Score:3, Informative)
Your Children care.
Re:Gaming laptops are over-priced (Score:1)
Think of the children!
Re:Gaming laptops are over-priced (Score:2, Informative)
I also like to utilize my S-Video(or normal video) output and plug right into a big screen TV and play my games, if my friends don't have an extra monitor any modern TV will do!
Re:Gaming laptops are over-priced (Score:1)
Either that or go with 1/5 the price, cut the hdd back a bit, and pirate the XP and that's like $250-$300 savings which is oddly enough, the price of a decent video card.
Also if one is so inclined they could make a
Re:Gaming laptops are over-priced (Score:1)
Re:Gaming laptops are over-priced (Score:1)
Re:Gaming laptops are over-priced (Score:2)
Re:Gaming laptops are over-priced (Score:1)
Say you have a job that requires travel, via plane even. Say you are going on a trip and need to take your computer. Say you have a choice between: 1. SFF cube system, bag with mouse/keyboard, small speaker set, monitor (I guess you could repack it in its box and check it in with the rest of this mountain of luggage)... or 2. 17" widescreen notebook in a carryin
Re:Gaming laptops are over-priced (Score:2)
give me a break (Score:1)
How much will the external graphics dock cost? (Score:1)
Also I bet it runs hot and resting the heel of the left hand on a broiling plate whilst accessing ASDW isn't my idea of gaming heaven.
I'd rather have a top-notch games box plus a small and light laptop. Probabl
lets try some rewriting.. (Score:2, Informative)
"Hot Hardware has just posted a unique review of Dell's flagship XPS M1710 notebook. They stumbled across some very interesting information within the BIOS which seems to indicate Dell is working on a docking station with its own discrete graphics. 'The user is given the option of using either the integrated GeForce Go 7900 GTX GPU found within the system or the extremely interesting option of using the graphics card found within a docking station. Could Dell be planning on releasing an enthusiast
Re:lets try some rewriting.. (Score:1)
Sign me up (Score:1)
what is going on with graphics cards... (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, and maybe then I can get a docking station for my docking station that has QuadQuad-SLI, and then maybe I can get in a robotic exo-skeleton and become the first Headmaster, and we can finally take the fight directly to Unicron. Is the gaming industry out of its mind? Seriously. I mean, I am not going to buy four graphics cards to put into my computer to play games. Ever. Period. End of story. I'm sorry game developers, but you're just gonna have to make do with the measly bazillion pixels my current stand-alone graphics card can dish out.
--
Instead of imagining a beowulf cluster of PS3's, just wait three years and check out the PS4.
Re:what is going on with graphics cards... (Score:2)
Pretty sweet, even if not original (Score:1)
Re:Pretty sweet, even if not original (Score:2)
As for people talking about multi GPU setups with laptops, have you all lost your fucking minds? Once you take the portabil
Hot swappable hard drives? (Score:3, Interesting)
Keyboard... swaps out for the monitor plugged in to the docking station.
Mousepad... swaps out for the monitor plugged in to the docking station.
Graphics system... swaps out for the monitor plugged in to the docking system.
About the only remaining parts that don't swap out are the hard drive, CPU and memory. In exchange for that, you tend to get a clunky docking station that takes up way too much desk space rather than discretely sitting under your desk like a dedicated tower. Given laptop memory and CPUs tend to be underpowered compared to desktop equivalents, replacing them for a typical laptop would run, what, $150 at the outside?
At what point does it become a much better idea to make your laptop hard drive hot swappable and then have a dedicated tower with all of the better priced components the desktop allows with an open bay in the front to move your data and OS setup over? By the time you have a docking station with a high end graphics card in it, the additional components are pretty trivial.
Latitude D410/610 have this already (Score:3, Interesting)
But to be short, the D410 and D610 BIOSes I work with have an option to default to the docking station video as well. IIRC, Dell produces docking stations (not just the advanced port replicators we use in the field) which have PCI and AGP slots. It seems only reasonable that they also intend to produce models with PCIe slots (none currently show on the website.)
So, this may not be anything new or stunning.
As an aside, I am disappointed that the newer Latitudes do not have docking ports. The USB port replicators are crap, and the drivers constantly crash on at least two models I have in customer sites (not my purchase, mind you.) I believe that the ability to dock could be viewed by home users as a replacement of the desktop. Of course, that would mean that people would not buy a desktop AND a laptop, so lower bottome line, eh?
Not with the current generation of laptops. (Score:1)
The M1710 may have a dock connector on it but I doubt it is anything of a quantum leap beyond what they have on their Latitude models. It would make more sense for them to roll
Re:Not with the current generation of laptops. (Score:2)
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkPad_Advanced_Do ck [thinkwiki.org]
discussion of how well it works at:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=22358 [thinkpads.com]
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=25584 [thinkpads.com]
Re:Not with the current generation of laptops. (Score:1)
* Lenovo is not touting support for graphic cards, there are not compatibility lists, etc.
* The slot is a x16 riser on a x1 path, which, really, is not horrible, but certainly not the beat idea.
* I wasnt able to find any power draw specifications for the slot(I didnt dig that much, this should be covered with the compatibility lists, etc).
* From what was said about the fans it sounds like it's not going to make anyone happy. If I have l
"...a unique review " ? (Score:1)
BTW, the docking station fotr my 6 year old armada can accomodate a PCI card, and it doesn't even need a special BIOS section.