Now hang on before everyone screams “Oh my god it’s a Dell!” take a look at this. When I went looking for a kick-ass desktop replacement for college and for LAN Parties I looked at all the brands and all the options, and it came down to ether a 9300 Dell Insperon or a Dell XPS Gen-2. Well I just happen to google me $1000 dollars off and free 2 day shipping and a free extra year warranty how could I not chose the XPS! $2600 total, which is ghetto cheap compared to High-end Alien Ware and 3 party brands, wow. The best part is this thing turns heads and puts most peoples home Pc’s to shame, more on that later. Lets start with some information,







Specs- as I bought

Processor: Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (2.13GHz, 2MB Cache, 533MHz FSB)

Chipset: Intel 915PM

Ram: 1 gig @533MHz DDR2 Dual Channel

HD: 80 gig 7200 RPM on SATA

Screen: 17 inch UXGA-HD-Ultra does 1920x1200 at 70 mhz native

Sound: SigmaTell C-major Audio–4 speakers and one sub- front controller and side ports

Video Card: nVidia 6800 Ultra

Wireless: Intel ultra A,B,G+ wireless Ethernet

Other: BlueTooth

Battery: 9-Cell Lithium Ion Battery

Optical drive: dvdR/cd mixed drive

OS: Windows XP PRO

Custom LED and looks-Standard

Ports: -6 USB 2.0

-SD card reader

-type 1 pcim card

-sound in/out

-1 DVI

-1 Svideo Multi-port in/out and analog/vga

-1 VGA

-1 10/100/1000 Intel wired port

-1 56k/v90 ultra dial up port

-1 power port *240 watt ac adapter

-1 ps2 port for mouse or keyboard

-1 Fire Wire port

Extras: Custom Snap on face plate system, XPS Bag, Screen clean system, Software from dell.

(If I missed anything IÂ’ll add it later.)


--First thing I Said when I got my laptop 3 weeks early was wow! Hey XPS owners even get their own dell tech support and techÂ’s, and even cooler is that they are American! I was so happy to hear that I called to find out and hey it was not India, it was American. The overall thing has me very happy with Dell and their XPS lineup. IÂ’ve been waiting to write this review for a while to test the hell out of it before posting about it.

--Battery life on this laptop is great, I get about 3-4 hours on max battery mode and about 2 on max porfromance mode! The energy utility is Dell Quick set and XPS-gamers interface. Both fast and easy to use. Power can be saved by downclocking and darkening the screen. At max all the settings are maxed out and on the juice savor mode the laptop backs down everything; processor, screen brightness, led brightness, and video card speed. Everything still runs great in windows and some games are still very playable in this mode.

Processor @ settings

Max: 2.13 gig

Med: 1.5 gig

Low: 800 mhz



Questions most asked, hope this will help a bit?

-“Temps you say?” This thing can get a bit hot, but thanks to Pent-M and auto sense fans it says cool, even in your lap; This laptop won’t burn you like an Alien Ware.

-“Is it loud?” No its very quiet and has a small hum at max settings.

-“Must be Heavy with all that power!?” Nope not at all weighs in at about 8 pounds.

“Power modes?” On/off/Stand-By/Hibernate changes with power settings

“Changing LED’s?" The LED’s on the laptop can be changed to any color and are all independent of each other ex: you could do red white and blue or green yellow and red or any other combos. Here’s the list of colors: Amber, Amethyst, Aquamarine, Citrine/orange, coral, white, Emerald green, Purple, Jade green, Pink, peridot, Rhiolite, ruby, red, blue, sapphire, Topez, Tanzanite. Whew!

“Custom back panel?” The plate is a clear snap on. In short you can print out your own skins and use them. Very pimp!

“Controls?” Uses a laptop keyboard and standard finger skid with scrolls. Also has sound controls on the front and laptop controls like functions and etc.

See link for pic's 56k be-warned!



Cosmetic- I love this thing, even the Alien Ware owners I know are like “damn!” when they see this thing. Overall I love the looks and feel of the laptop, everything is put in a very taste. Layout is solid and function is good. Everything feels expensive and solid but it retains it mobility. The LED’s and custom faceplate make this thing look so freaking evil sweet! 5 out of 5

Pros- Good feel and layout

-Strong quality and still light

-Makes people say OMFG thatÂ’s sweet!

cons- finding a better laptop!



Display- Very beautiful and very crisp, high high high res! OMG will sell desktop CRT for one of these its that good. Also this laptop will run a DVI display as an extension or a secondary. Games are crisp and clean, no lines or blurÂ’s or hick-ups.

Great for everything and PhotoShop on this thing makes Mac users kick themselves.

1920x1200 is freaking sweet!

Pros- Everything

Cons- big laptop not heavy just area wise wide and long



--Application Performance and benches--

This laptop sports a strong pent-M and lots of fast ram and I was not disappointed at

all! It beat out my home tower flat out in every way!



Specs of Desktop:

Proc: AMD Athlon XP 2800 barton OCÂ’d to a 3000 xp water cooled

Ram: 1 Gig of OCÂ’d custom cooled 3200 ram

Mobo and chipset: Biostar 400mea pro- Nforce 2

Video: 9800 pro 128mb HsÂ’d mem and water-cooled OcÂ’d

160 gig main hd at 7200 on ide 133

3 optical drives

danger den cooled water system

Audigy 2 sound card with 6.1



The tower is great but in all testsÂ’ IÂ’ve done the XPS wins.



Desktop

*Time to render in Blender- 1 min small cube with layers

*Windows load time about 1 min

*3d mark –05 about 3400-3800

*cpu mark -lose

*Mp3 conversion same song- 2 mins

*DVD encode times – 2 hrs or so

*WOW- run at 1600x1200 at high details- 10-30 fps

*Half Life 2- @ 1600x1200 at high- 9-29 fps

*Doom 3 @ 1600X1200 at good 16-30 fps



Dell XPS

*Time to render in Blender- 20 secs small cube with layers

*Windows load time about 37-42 secs

*3d mark 05 about or just short of 6000

*cpu mark- win

*Mp3 conversion same song- 1 min 10 sec

*DVD encode times- just short of 2 hours

*WOW- @ 1920X1200 maxed out settings- 20-50 fps!

*Half Life 2- @ 1920x1200 maxed out settings- 19-30 fps

*Doom 3- @ 1600x1200 at good 35-50 fps goes way higher!



I was sort of sad when I found out that my college laptop was way better then my desktop, in way I feel like IÂ’m cheating on my rig by using lappy. I named my laptop Kos-Mos when I got it, old Big blue got put out in the yard.

As you can see from the specs times and FPSÂ’s that the XPS is freaking sweet!

Pros- Numbers speak for themselves

Cons- my desktop is lonely



Speakers: People say holy cow is that music coming from your laptop when its bumping at school. Clear crisp and load. The sub does its job when the bass is on and the four little speakers have a large range and high volume. The sound controller is not to bad either. It can handle many signals and play multiple sources and receive all at once. Not an Audigy 2 but hey itÂ’s a laptop.



Everyday use and such-

Well I take this laptop with me too school and to all the local LANs and thus far it has been solid, reliable, and just good to me. I use it everyday and in most case all day long and so far so good. IÂ’m very satisfied with it and I think I will probably buy another Dell XPS later in my life. Out Standing! 5 out of 5



-Shipping was good everything came ahead of time and was well packaged and the instructions were good.

-Software: Dell software was all crap but the XPS utilities and some Dell apps for the laptop were good thatÂ’s about it.

-XPS bag: Great bag, roomy, lots of compartments, and tons of padding. A+



Overall I would recommend this Laptop to everyone you know who is into laptops and gaming or just owning a better laptop then most HP or ToshibaÂ’s out there. I go as far to say that most Alien Wares are put to shame with this beast!

Game ON! The XPS Gen-2 by Dell Rocks your WORLD!


10/10


See link for pic's 56k be-warned!

**Pictures taken at time of arrival of XPS, since have changed faceplate and LED colors to KOS-MOS and blue.

I had a chance to use the desktop XPS and it is actually a well built machine. I looked at the XPS lappy but didnt like how huge it was. Nice review.

The screen is full HD 16:10?! My 20" is onlt 1680x1050...

God i hate you. I work there, and i dont even have one. /cry
Time to save my money up.

The dell XPS laptops are the best gamming laptop out, usually for less money and more battery life. Look at the reviews. It kicks everyone elses ass, including alienware.

mm, reviews like this make me wish i had more money....

sounds likes a beast though, congrats on being able to own one

Quote: Originally Posted by Zer0s God i hate you. I work there, and i dont even have one. /cry Time to save my money up.

My brother in law used to work at Gateway (to Hell), and they had an employee discount purchase program. Nothing of the sort there??? WTF, over?

i've ordered one! very excited!!!!

Just wanna say...to everyone that bought one, or is wanting to buy one. We got notified this morning that the 7800Ultra will now be shipping stock in the XPS Gen2...

Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!! I've only had mine 2 weeks! I thought it would be ages before the 7000 go series came out!

i bought a 9300. the xps gen 2 was my other choice but it was $1000 more (had a $750 off coupon).

only difference I see so far is that you got the HD screen (I didn't opt for it), a faster CPU, bluetooth (which I don't even use anyways), a snazzy case, and a PS2 port (mine doesn't have one for some odd reason.)

Though I did cut costs like not getting xp pro since I had a copy I could use at home and I bought a gig of ram from somewhere else since it was half the cost for kingston ram instead of whatever company dell uses.

performance wise, i'm wondering how the 9300 and the xps match up. is it really worth $1000 more for a better looking case?

Quote: Originally Posted by Enko only difference I see so far is that you got the HD screen (I didn't opt for it), a faster CPU, bluetooth (which I don't even use anyways), a snazzy case, and a PS2 port (mine doesn't have one for some odd reason.)

The HD screen is absolutely mind-blowing...by far the best screen I've ever seen. Awesome for gaming, even better for DVDs and Photoshop is great due to all the extra space.

Quote: Originally Posted by Enko Though I did cut costs like not getting xp pro since I had a copy I could use at home and I bought a gig of ram from somewhere else since it was half the cost for kingston ram instead of whatever company dell uses.

Yeah I got some more RAM off crucial.com, it's ridiculous what Dell charge.

Quote: Originally Posted by Enko performance wise, i'm wondering how the 9300 and the xps match up. is it really worth $1000 more for a better looking case?

The XPS blows the 9300 away. Benchmarks are in my sig. A highly specced 9300 will get about 8500-9000 in 3dmark 03, the XPS gets 11310 with the latest Dell drivers. But 9300s are still great machines.

i bought it mainly for class (and so i can play games when i go home . ..) so didn't think i needed the HD screen. someone in my ANT 2 class bought a 9300 after he saw mine and he got it. after i saw it, kind of wished i spent the extra $100 for it . ..

when comparing the specs though, if we had the same speed cpu wonder how the 9300 would hold up against that? don't think the 9300s offer that speed cpu from dell though if i went out and bought a faster pentium m and threw it in, wonder how it would compare?

i'm still surprised that no ps2 port on the 9300. when i got it, i just assumed that dell though everyone used usb keyboards now or something so didn't think much of it, but then i see yours had one . ..

Reviews like this are the reason I am broke and in debt up to my eyeballs

Quote: Originally Posted by Zer0s Just wanna say...to everyone that bought one, or is wanting to buy one. We got notified this morning that the 7800Ultra will now be shipping stock in the XPS Gen2...

I've heard A good Rumor that Dell will offer the upgrade to us with the 6800 board. This will cost of course and im really not so sure how they would do it. If like Alien Ware, they ship you the part and you install it, or you ship the laptop to them and they do it and send it back. I know they are compatable infact the 7800 system should consume less energy from what I've heard. Pure Speculation but I really don't care that much 68-78 are not the huge of a difference, or at least not worth say a $300-500 upgrade.

I have instability problems with my XPS, programmes will randomly crash, and the only way to kill them is to end process (end task doesn't work). This happens fairly regularly but not all the time, but it is still really irritating. It crashed half way through installing Star Wars Republic Commando which gave me a half installed game that I had to manually delete cos the it wasnt recognised by the Windows uninstaller....

Could it be due to the Dell-modified WinXP OS that is on the machine, or just a botched installation of windows XP by them?

More than likely its a botched installed by you. Dell doesnt just "botch" installs....

Its an image thats throughly tested before its loaded onto a machine.

Go get the new drivers, they came out a few days ago. Funny thing is I've never had a crashing problem before, well outside of microsoft problems not much at all.

Zer0s would know more than anybody about these kinds of things>
Hes a slave there after all

I installed the new Dell GPU drivers and new soundchip drivers and Battlefield 2 runs much better now, no more horrible stuttering and frame rate loss. Not sure about system stability, but I've had no problems and have had the new drivers installed almost 2 days now.

They've also given me a nice 3dmark boost, up 800 points in 3dmark 03 and 200 in 3dmark 05.