Dell's Groovy Graphics

The world's biggest PC maker has a new laptop with vivid graphics, but it could use a brighter screen, more storage, and a lower price

by Arik Hesseldahl

Editor's Rating:

The Good: Excellent graphics performance

The Bad: Priced as high as other systems with superior features; keyboard is a little soft

The Bottom Line: Great machine overall, on the pricey side

Reader Reviews

Dell has got its game on. Having squeezed as much profit as possible by turning out plain-Jane computers at prices that give its rivals fits, the computer maker is now turning attention to high-end machines with the recent acquisition of gaming PC boutique Alienware, as well as with its own XPS gaming PC brand.

Having tried the XPS desktop system, I wanted to see how Dell (DELL) would do with a notebook (see BusinessWeek.com, 2/17/06, "Dell's High-End Home Run"). I also wanted to see how it compares with the other computers in our series on high-end notebooks (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/22/06, "Fujitsu's LifeBook, Heavy With Promise"). (The short answer is that it stacks up well.)

Dell's $2,400 XPS M1710 is another one of those “desktop replacement” notebooks. It's versatile enough to take the place of a space-hogging desktop PC but also large and bulky enough that you won't want to lug it from place to place any more than necessary.

FASTER IS BETTER.

For the most part this laptop is not terribly different from Dell's standard 17-inch notebook series, but it does boast a few key differences, including some touches that make it a sharp machine for the gaming set. The first is the Intel (INTC) processor, which is a Core Duo T2400 rated at 1.83 Ghz. That makes it fast enough for most computing tasks you'll need it to handle, although faster processors are available up to 2.16 GHz as a build-to-order option.

Handling the graphics is the excellent NVIDIA (NVDA) GeForce Go 7900 GTX graphics chip. This is a higher-end model than the one Sony (SNE) used in its $3,500 Vaio Premium AR. I tested the machine with Activision's (ATVI) Doom3 and the graphics were excellent. In fact they appeared more impressive than on the $2,400 Fujitsu Lifebook N6410, which has an ATI (ATYT) Mobile Radeon X1400.

Another thing Dell does right is place the media control buttons—such as play and volume—in a convenient place: right under the latch that connects the lid to the body. Other computer makers have an annoying tendency to hide these in hard-to-reach places.

TURN ON THE LIGHTS.

Like others in the category, the XPS M1710 uses the same smooth screen that tends to resist the glare of ambient light. But like those other screens, this one carries a side-effect I don't care for: a lack of brightness. Even after boosting brightness to its highest setting on both the game and the computer, I still wanted to go brighter. In a system like this, where battery life is expected to be less of a concern because it's always going to be plugged in, why not make the screen as bright as possible?

Another peeve: I found the keyboard a little gummy. I tend to like keys that push back just right, and perhaps am among the few who really care about how a keyboard feels. This one felt a little soft. It's also missing the numerical keypad on the right that often appears on other desktop replacement systems.

One other area where Dell falls short is in storage capacity. My test machine came with a 100-gigabyte hard drive, which is the base offering in this product family, and the higher option is 120 gigabytes. This is where Dell could stand to push the envelope a little more. The Lifebook N6410 contains two 160-gigabyte drives connected to act like one, giving a combined capacity of 320 gigabytes. Sony did better too, with 200 gigabytes of combined capacity. Dell's choice here seems especially low, since the machine runs Microsoft's (MSFT) Media Center PC version of Windows XP, which can record TV shows, play movies, and handle other media that can take up a lot of space.

PROGRESS.

Overall, Dell has drawn a serious line in the sand for rivals in the PC gaming business. There are indeed some nice flourishes, but also evidence of some lack of attention to detail. Having shown the rest of the industry how to cut prices, it could still stand to learn from its competitors how to really build a top-flight machine. But it's clear that Dell is coming along.

Hesseldahl is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com.