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33725
February 19th, 2004 20:00
XPS design
It appears Dell outsourced its design to third-world contry as well just like its tech support. While the rest of the world is making laptops thinner and more attractive, Dell is going the opposite direction.
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somms
623 Posts
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February 19th, 2004 20:00
caboosemoose
240 Posts
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February 19th, 2004 21:00
CSmith06
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956 Posts
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February 19th, 2004 23:00
Okay, the old "top-of-the-line" Dell laptop was the I8600, good for games, Centrino (P-M) processor for keeping it cool. Now there's a new "top-of-the-line". The IXPS. It's big. Great for games (at least spec. wise) with a Prescott P4 ("Should" have been a P5...educate yourselves if you don't know what I'm talking about) for performance...lots of heat. You cannot throw the best components for screaming performance into a small laptop and expect it to work. It wont. Period. They generate too much heat.
Here's another thing you may not know, the reason the IXPS is so stinking thick is because there's a friggin subwoofer and huge battery in there. I've seen them, I attest they're huge for a laptop.
RandyB
518 Posts
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February 19th, 2004 23:00
RandyB
518 Posts
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February 19th, 2004 23:00
Message Edited by RandyB on 02-19-2004 07:25 PM
caboosemoose
240 Posts
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February 20th, 2004 00:00
I have to disagree entirely. I have seen the subwoofer and it very much seems to me that the sub was made possible by the chassis design rather than the chassis design being required by the size and form of the sub.
CSmith06
2 Intern
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956 Posts
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February 20th, 2004 00:00
CSmith06
2 Intern
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956 Posts
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February 20th, 2004 01:00
EDIT: Also IMO, I think you're just ticked off because you don't have the top of the line computer anymore. Now you may very well be justified in being annoyed because you spent quite a bit of money on the top computer and it was quickly replaced by the I8600 which was then pushed into second (performance wise) by the IXPS. I could be wrong. Correct me if I am, please.
Message Edited by CSmith06 on 02-19-2004 09:17 PM
caboosemoose
240 Posts
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February 20th, 2004 04:00
I didn't pay for my 8500 and I wouldn't swap it for an XPS if you offered me one for free. I don't play any games apart from counterstrike, so the XPS holds no advantages for my own purposes. Offer me a Toshiba 5200 with the CASV screen a genuine quality chassis and great features like a decent sound card and remote control and that would be a different matter. I don't like the XPS because it reeks of penny pinching and brain dead marketing. Penny pinching because Dell cannabalised chassis parts from the 8600 which has a very low quality chassis rather than spending money on a decent chassis. And brain dead marketing because with a relatively slow graphics chipset like the 9700 mobility, the system bottleneck during 3D gaming will always reside with the graphics card not the CPU. In other words, given two systems, one with mobility 9700 and a 1.7GHz Pentium-M and the other with the top-end desktop P4 and the mobility 9700, there will be virtually no performance difference in demanding 3D games. In fact, even with the fastest desktop video cards that is often the case. We compared a standard, 800MHz FSB 3.0GHz P4 to the latest 3.4GHz P4 extreme edition running Far Cry with a Radeon 9800 XT and there was no difference in performance between the two CPUs. Not just very little difference, but none whatsoever - the 9800 was the bottleneck, not the CPU.
Therefore, I strongly believe putting a desktop CPU into a gaming notebook is purely marketing and customers would be far better served with a porper mobile chip that runs cooler and uses less power. An Inspiron 8600 with the Radeon 9700 mobility would be just as good for gaming and superior in most other respects (even if the 8600 has lots of flaws). The Pentium-M is an excellent chip, and I see no reason to use anything else in a notebook computer.
Message Edited by caboosemoose on 02-20-2004 12:28 AM
Sprogs
26 Posts
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February 20th, 2004 04:00
I think dell dudded out again with the XPS , and would be surprised if it sells well . Don't be surprised if it gets pulled after a while.
mammyrammer
48 Posts
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February 20th, 2004 06:00
Caboosemoose, you are dead right. Desktop processor in laptops are for fools who are blinded by Intels marketing strategy.
Also, please note: the Acer 2000 has a subwoofer and is slimmer than the 8600. Alienware already has a gaming machine with upgradable graphics card - again, much slimmer than the XPS. And despite it's massive battery, the XPS has an appalling battery life.
Let's face it. The XPS is a dog. If you want a power portable (but don;t care about looks) buy an 8600. If you just want power, BUY A DESKTOP.
debian75
64 Posts
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February 20th, 2004 08:00
RandyB
518 Posts
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February 20th, 2004 12:00
If you're looking for me to offer you mine - forget about it!
Besides; I have the first incarnation, which doesn't have the CASV, but merely the beautiful, clear, crisp, bright, brilliant UXGA screen...you wouldn't like it!
I thought you bought a 5200.
caboosemoose
240 Posts
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February 20th, 2004 15:00
Yes the P4 will be faster, but the difference is not even remotely dramatic enough to make up for all the disadvantages that come with stuffing a desktop P4 into a notebook.
TDunn
379 Posts
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February 20th, 2004 15:00
Is the size justified by improved fidelity in the subject frequencies?
I would hope that it would blow away any others for now.
RandyB....sorry about your Tosh display....that's really a shame