new XPS 17 "L702X" + 1080p 3D TFT = no Optimus?

That is bizzare I always saw the UK as one of the most advanced countries how could these companies be doing this with such a large market at stake..companies like Vodafone seem very inivative and with a population of 60 million people I cant understand why there wouldnt be more of a push for market share, we only have 20 million in Australia and are not even a G8 country yet we dont get this situation. I agree a G73 is a gamers laptop and not a very versatile system.

The UK got the Olympics the worlds focus will be in them yet you cant even buy a current system with emergent technology I really cant believe it and this in a G8 country, extraordinary particularly when you consider the money that must be lost with this being such a big market.

Must be very frustrating =(

How did that work by the way Spudzz? I am I right in thinking you bought 1 product from Dell and with it they gave you %25 off your next purchase? And that you then managed to persuade them to refund you back the money for a perfectly good working machine and use the voucher you got with it to buy exactly the same model again? If so, blimey, well done!

@David, The system I ordered arrived on the same day that I receive the said voucher from Dell via there E Mail alerts.

I then rang Dell to ask them if they would credit my credit card with the difference of the voucher and I would keep the system I received,but no, they ask me to return the first system and reorder,so I did. 25% after all.

25% off is a too good to refuse, I agree.  I suppose it would have been nice for Dell to meet you half way or something, so save the costs they encur with collecting and all the internal paperwork.  And additional lead lead on you having to re-order and delivery time.  But with a system in this price range it does make a difference.  

I wish I could have up the processer on my build, but I just can't justify an extra £160 for what is a good cpu already.  With a voucher code and some sly work with the Dell sale rep I managed 20% off from list so I can't complain.  I really hope the screen type suits me after all the time I've spent the past coupel of weeks researching and dealing with the xps 15 dud I had !

I am sure you will be very happy with your system,but do let us know if the system is Optimus /Wi Fi enabled.

Just to let you know mine arrived this morning !  not bad lead time actually considering I only ordered last Monday.  First thing I did was have a look if it support Optimus !  And I can confirm, I at least have the options in the Nvidia control panel to switch between the Intel HD Graphics, and the nvidia card.  Device manage reports both items.

Intial thoughts on the screen are good - I didn't know what to expect really as some say it was quite bad. Veiwing angles are pretty good.  its nice and bright.  I'm used to using matte screens at my workplace tho - nothing will beat the quality of the 1080p screen on the recent xps 15 I had - I'm sure I'll warm to this one tho !  straight away I notice it doesn't glare 9hurt) my eyes as much

Cosmetic wise, not a scratch on it which is good.  feels solid.  

I'm at work today haven't got the time to have a good test of it, thats for tonight!.  how can I tell if it will support Widi ? (or enabled) battery life also looks good, had it sat idling at 90% charge with 6hrs remaining (9cell batt) Anything else anyone would like to know ?

cheers

Hi Siroldvolks , they come through fast over there..yeah that is optimus I would be more surprised if it wasnt there..the screens grow on you they arent quite as rich as glossy true life but i prefer the matte and they are very good monitors they are very sharp and bright and excellent angle viewing actually I am using a 24" matte through HDMI cable most of the time the nvidia handles it well except for games where it performs well but does get hot, I rarely game anyway. To see if you have WiDi go to the start menu and click all programs then go down to folder that says intel corporation the wireless digital should be in there, it is a feature on sandy bridge processors that allows you to wirelessly connect to a tv with a WiDi receiver to play videos etc I dont know if it will have enough bandwidth to cope with much more than youtube videos etc cables are always faster in these situations.. it doesnt really interest me much..how are your feelings about the system?? They look great at night time those monitors look awesome at nigh time with backlit keyboard, they are very fast to..thanks for answering that it has been a big point with the british brethren for quite some time it is great to hear that it has come through for them

Just one other thing you probably already onto it really recommend a thermal cooling pad mine lives on this these new laptops are running hotter than older versions and a thermal cooling pad is very good idea

Hey - yes I was quite suprised actually !  Est delivery was originally the 23rd, it's spend most of items like winging its way around the world.

Sadly it doesn't appear to have to have that software there, so maybe its something I need to install.  I do recall that even my recent xps 15 didn't have it installed.  i would hope that I can make use of widi in the future, although i don't know anywhere in the uk yet that sells the 1080p receiver for the tv ! it will still sufice for the moment to use HDMI to connect to my tv.

I like the overall size of the machine, however it is a desktop replacement where the 15" was just a bit too small.  The backlit keyboard seems a slightly different design to the one on the xps 15 - that one had all the letters iluminated (not printed), however on this one the letters are printed with only the backlit leds.  I did prefer the letters iluminated on the 15, but need to try in the dark as it's bright in this office.

it has 2 x seagate 500gb hard drives, although I was hoping for WD blacks !  not a biggy, I plan to install an SSD drive anyhow and use one of the drives as a backup device.  i'll give it a good run with some stress test and benchmarks later to see how things fair with temperatures - probably will do a repaste on the GPU and CPU anyhow as I generally do that with all my machines. Plus I just love taking things apart haha

Look I heard conflicting information but I read somewhere researching this that WiDi was only on the 2720 or better CPU and was part of the reason i spent extra on this CPU as well as the performance..it is an extremely fast CPU it rates 7.5 out of 7.9 on the windows test it is right up there on benchmarks with all high ends CPUs..some one earlier on this thread did mention that WiDi was available on the 2630 so I am not sure you may be able to activate it or get a download from Intel..

I have got samsung HDDs on mine which are quite good the 7200 rpm seems to really help but they are probably like yours and are 'weasel bytes' done in base 10 not base 16 so my 640 gig drives are actually about 590 gig..this is common practice on HDD manufacturers and nothing to do with Dell..a SSD drive is a good option I am considering doing it at the moment but I have been very pleased with system performance and reliability..I have worked in IT for number of years and built and repaired many machines but i will not open this laptop up though I am like you I am curious but one thing I learnt in IT was what not to touch!! lol

I have thought about doing a repaste of the GPU but i am aware that the Nvidia gt555m is a power glutton and hot GPU I would have preferred an ATI actually they run a little cooler and the image quality is the same..Optimus is great as you discover the machine you will notice that it is very smooth and very easy to configure I have pretty much forgotten about it now..in windows the graphics are running of the 2720 and is very energy efficient, I cant tell when it swaps to the Nvidia other than performance in demanding environments it is a great system Optimus particularly now that laptop GPUs are getting faster and hotter.

They are a large machine but I wanted that.. if i want true mobility I will go and but a cheap i3 15" but i am very happy with this..the last machine I did a lot on was my sons ASUS N61 which is a fine machine but I much prefer this but dont let my son hear this!! haha

I've never used a cooling pad before, although previous machines have never really deemed necessary - im coming from an old xps M1530 which has server me well, alhough with the notorious hot running 8600gt nvidia card, I've never really had a problem with it.  I'll see how this one fairs with heat and mayeb look into it

Yeah I read the same about the 2630qm not supporting widi, then the support list was updated to include it, so I don't know...I suppose if I ever wanted to make use of it and needed the 2720qm I can always swap the cpu out - I'll probably make more money back as dell wanted £160 for the upgrade ! no thanks.  Well back home and having a good play with the machine new.  the screen is really going on me, so I'm definately a winner so far.  Ignore my noob backlit keyboard remark, yes the letters light up nicely - the bright lights of my work invironment made them look otherwise !

I still can't believe the potential power of this machine near on matches my old 2 year old desktop which is still mid range spec.  The technology of laptop s has just come such a long way, and I can really seeing this new machine doing everything i want in one (relatively) small chassis I can move around.  the benefit of 2 hard drives is really a plus for me.  I checked out the dimm slots and sadly only have 2 active slots, which confirms the whole non-3d 2 dimm slot thing (3d version with 4 slots) - not a realy problem to me tho.  I've got 8GB opf crucial ram to pop in, as the current dimms are mismatched different makes (6gb total, 1 x 4GB, 1x 2GB).  I too have worked in IT for a long while, the hands on hardware side always appeals so really enjoy pulling stuff apart and putting back together again - as long as it still works :)

Yes laptops have come a long way in the last couple of years yours would be faster than your desktop, I was shocked to see that the 2720 was faster in benchmarks than i7 870 and i7 920 these being desktop CPUs..

These xps17s really grow on you they are spectacular at night time you really start to appreciate them actually originally I was going to get a desktop but after a lot of research I decided that this was the way to go..I am not a traditional Dell customer I came to getting this system after painstaking research and that they came through with sandy bridge early to their credit I also dont trust many online sales with laptops..I am glad that I have gone this way I am very pleased with this system I wonder sometimes if desktops may become extinct though I suppose there will always be big power users or gamers..it is dangerous trying to make predictions in IT haha I personally believed that we would never need more than 640 k of ram LMAO =D

I dont really see why a system would need more than 8 gig of ram I may be wrong here but at present i just cant think of how software would be using more than 8 gig no doubt there are some out there who know the answer but I think it is more for impressive specs than real world computing though 4 dimms would be better..I have noticed on these forums a lot of boys talking about their toys lol not to many girls here haha

I am no longer working in IT I am working for uni at present but when I did i hated hardware I was more involved with software..its good that you are enjoying the new toy you have probably gone through that massive stage of research and concern about hardware config etc I remember the feeling i have seen it here before it is intense process..you will explore your system now then get used to it but i dont think you will get sick of it for a while they really grow on you and they have come along way in the last couple of years, they look great at night eh??

Totally agree , getting more impressed as ai go along.  This thing is gonna fly with an SSD drive in !  Just running some tests with furmark and prime 95.  CPU maxxing out at 85c and gpu about 78c - I'm comfortable with that!  should shave a few c with a repaste.  the only reason I like to know is the xps 15 i had peaked at about 95c + !!  way too warm for my liking, but that unit didn't seem right.  Even the cpu fan sounds less loud, and definately less eratic on this beast which I'm really happy with.  Boy this thing is kicking out some heat, but doesn't look liek it's breaking a sweat.  

just a heads up also, there maybe a new bios coming out....mines got A11 installed, which I noticed the most recent is A10.  so keep a look out, I wonder what the fixes are in A11...hmmm

Well only areas I can see for large amounts of ram is virtual machines, which I'll never make use of.  Hey, 4gb is fine for me !  Yeah I remember the days when i was first into computers, thinkng wow 16MB , so much ram !  lol  I came from a background of always building my own PC's and a total AMD fan.  Changing technology too much made me go to route of rwady built system, and well for convienience having had experience of Dell in my workplace I followed suit.  And generally had a good time with them...Getting dark here now, and the keyboard is really coming into it's own .  1 happy bunny :)

Can only comment on question  1)If your keyboard is as you said it is, just ring Dell C/S and inform them of your problem,your keyboard should not be this way.and ask for it to be sorted out,after all you did pay a lot of money for this unit.

Really great to read everyone's take on the new Dell XPS. I'm pretty happy with mine so far, but there are few annoying things I'm wondering about.

1) The keyboard bulges up on the right edge. Looks like a manufacturering/design defect, as if there's not quite enough space for it to be seated properly. Anyone else experiencing this? Any idea why Dell didn't fix this between L701x and the L702x ? Should I worry, or just suck it up?

2) The BIOS screen is pretty limited. My current Inspiron E1705 has many more options. In particular, there's no option to have the BIOS/DOS screen at native/unstretched resolution. Nor is there an option to allow reboots to bypass the BIOS password (if Windows wants to reboot, I have to wait and enter my BIOS password). And other misc. BIOS options....

As for memory, I expect computers will always need greater and greater RAM and hard drive space. That's just the nature of technology+social+marketing evolution...

-jake898