Dell XPS M1710

The good: Best-in-class gaming performance; top-shelf processor and graphics engine; attractive illuminated case; solid multimedia features; full assortment of ports and connections.

The bad: Very expensive; display not remarkably bright.

The bottom line: If you're a hard-core gamer looking to play the newest games at the highest settings, this is the best system that a lot of money can buy.

System: Dell XPS M1710 (Red color lid)

Processor: Intel Core Duo T2600 (2.16 GHz)

Memory: 2GB @ 667MHz - 2 DIMM Slots (2 x 1GB) (Max Ram 4GB)

Hard Drive: 100GB capacity at a speed of 7200 RPM

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GTX with 512MB DDR memory

Screen: WUXGA Truelife (1920 x 1200)

Optical Drive: 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW/+R) with Dual-Layer

OS: Microsoft MCE 2005

Wireless Card: Intel 3945 (802.11b/g)

Battery: 9-cell lithium ion recharegable battery

Ports / Slots: 5-in-1 Memory Card Reader, DVI-D, VGA video output, S-Video, IEEE 1394 (Firewire), 6 USB 2.0, Express Card slot, Modem, Ethernet/LAN, Microphone in, Headphone out

Integrated Subwoofer

Screen:

The XPS M1710 has a 17" widescreen WUXGA (1920 x 1200 resolution) LCD with the Dell TrueLife (glossy screen) treatment. The TrueLife is a standard feature on the M1710 and a good option for an entertainment machine as it really does provide greater contrast and bolder colors. The display on the XPS M1710 is 30% brighter than the M170 it is replacing. The XPS M1710 has 250 nits of brightness while the M170 was about 200 nits.

I found the screen to be excellent for all tasks, from surfing the web to gaming and watching movies. It is very sharp with excellent contrast and brightness. There is no noticeable ghosting during games or any image tearing/smearing. White looks like white, and black looks like black. However, there are some imperfections in the display. It is not evenly lit -- there is noticeable light leakage coming from the bottom of the display. When the display is showing a completely dark scene, there are bright spots in the middle and to the right. I am pleased to report that none of the light leakage is noticeable during general use, so I don't view it as an issue for most people.

Speakers:

It's rare to find a notebook that has decent speakers, but with the Dell M1710 being a premium level entertainment package, Dell went out of their way to provide for some decent built-in sound. The integrated sub-woofer provides for some decent bass that's always missing from the average notebook. It also provides for extra oomph with sound volume, at top volume the sound is definitely too loud.

It was actually a pleasure to listen to music via the speakers on this notebook. Same goes for movie audio.

Processor, Performance, Benchmarks and Gaming:

The reason to buy the XPS M1710 is for gaming performance. In that area, this notebook will deliver the most power of any notebook short of a high-end SLI dual graphics card setup.

Nvidia's new GeForce Go7900GTX is the most powerful graphics card. It replaced the Go7800GTX. Gaming is phenomenal; there's not a notebook on the market that is as fast as this one at the moment.