Dell :: 12 Hour First Impressions Of XPS 1730

I have ownwed a 1730 [purchased from Leee73 here] for 12 hours now, I spent a few hours downloading all the necessary drivers from Dell and installing them as it had a fresh install of Home Premium. I loaded 3D Mark 2006 and ran it with slightly underwheling results [12000 marks] But I do know that Vista and some drivers dont do well in that benchmark. I loaded Crysis, R6 Vegas2, GRAW2 and UT3 and I must say that this machine totally rocks. Every game is maxed out in screen resolution and still pulls playable framerates. The image quality is mind blowing. The Logitech LCD is fun in a bunch of ways. Ya this is a desktop replacement, but definatly ultra portable compared to lugging a tower to a lan party or on a camping trip. The I/O ports are all laid out well. THe one thing thays missing is a fingerprint scanner. Imagine going to the toilet at a lanparty, you could simply lock your computer with the swipr of a finger so jealous competitors cant go mess with your regidstry. The webcam is a must along with the microphones [although I have no use for them at the moment] The speakers sound crisp and clear and I hear sounds in games that I previously have never heard on my Quad core 3870 Xfired 1066ram raid powered desktop. I also own a 1710 and anyone who compares these machines simply has no idea what there talking about. I really like my 7900GTX powered 1710, but its no 1730 when it comes to flat out image quality and overall performance.

The 1730 could use some beefed up ram as thats the only thing holding back the Windows experience index to a 5.0. I got a great deal on my 1730, I would buy one new from Dell if a smokin deal came along like when I bought my 1710, but I am too cheap to pay full retail. If you were thing on buying a 1730 but had read others complain, dont listen to them, Its an awesome gaming rig, and even though guys with single 8800s in their laptops can brag of simular 3D Amrk scores, you can rest assured that they would have bought a SLI if they could have. And they secretly deep down inside will forever remain envious.