Dell XPS M1710 (Dell Inspiron XPS M1710)

Member Name: BubbleBoy1

Product:	Dell Inspiron XPS M1710
Date:	15/05/09 (56 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Powerful, 1080P screen, plenty of RAM

Disadvantages: Heavy, smallish HDD, overheating problems

I bought my dell XPS M1710 over 2 years ago now, when i changed from a desktop pc to a laptop. At the time this was an exceptionally powerful computer even compared to a high end desktop, i got the top specs available with a dual core 2.33Gb processor, 4gig RAM, and NIVIDIA GeForce Go 7950GTX gfx card. Windows Vista and a 3 year at home warranty.

Anybody can check out the specs of these machines so i will not dwell on them too much, ,i just wanted to give my opinions as a user after some time, not when i have just bought it.

The speed of the machine is very reasonable for a laptop, and has the ability to play many high end graphics games such as X3 terran conflict with relative ease. It should be mentioned that when running some games at high gfx levels the system is likely to overheat even when on a desk (do not play with on your lap as the air cannot circulate and you will get VERY hot). I did have to buy a small 2 fan cooling unit to sit the laptop on, and this put an end to crashes due to overheating for a very small cost.

The hard drive is not the largest and can become full easily (150 Gb) especially since Dell partition off 10 Gb of this for backup leaving about 136Gb available inc the operating system.

I find there are enough USB ports (6) for most people but a hub could be used if needed. The shortcut keys for the media player are extremely useful for both windows media player and winamp, and is one of my favourite features. I would love to find a plugin that allowed them to be used with VLC media player but have not found one yet.

The screen is fantastic, with full 1080P resolition, makes films beautiful to watch, however the desktop in this resolution is a bit small for my eyes.

some bad points i have noticed. The keyboard seems a little flimsy and my spacebar has been half hanging off for a long time. The lights that are scattered around the speakers and air vents are fun for about 2 days then i turned them off and never use them again. I found that the screen hinges get loose after 6 months or so, leaving an inch of play in them, still perfectly ok to use but a bit frustrating at times. There was a problem with the built in BlueTooth device, which after trying several drivers i could not get to work correctly, numerous posts in forums about this issue.

The battery life is not that good, and the battery gets worse over time, but given that you can turn down the settings you gan get longer for light use. This system is not really meant for economical power use given the high specs, so i am not complaining, i still get nearly 2 hours will full power settings on the battery which is quite good.

The wireless works very well with a next gen card, and the tv out can be very useful. It would have been nice to have had a built in HDMI port though.

Overall i would highly reccommend this system. Though given the advances over the last few years it is not still able to compete as well, it more than holds its own.

Summary: excellent machine, highly reccommended!

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