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Dell's Gaming Monster
Carpoolio writes "TechTV has a good first look at the new Dell Inspiron XPS -- the company's first foray into portable gaming systems. The notebook -- a beast at 9 pounds -- puts the company squarely against the likes of Alienware. The price tag is steep, too, at $3,350. Are you buying?"
I remember back when that would've been a super lightweight notebook.
Aaah...it seems Dell is going after the coveted gamers-who-leave-the-basement demographic...
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
At nine pounds thats the cheapest machine I've seen in ages - or are we not all talking British?
For that much money, I think I'd rather own a car
Marty! This thing must take One-point-twenty-one-Giga-watts!
blarg.
I'm no mac lover, but I do know that the 17" Powerbook Mac starts at $2999, which is less than $3350 in most ideas of "less than" out in the world.
money.
Part of the joy in high-end PC's (and that is an oxymoron for me) is building them.
If I have that kind of money to blow, then its going to be a trip to FRY's hands down.
Blogging because I can...
..But I'm open to donations.
Personally, if I get a laptop I'd rather get one that isn't wasting cpu cycles on a >ghz cpu and crazy graphics card. I'm a gamer, sure, but thats not what laptops are for. LCDs suck for gaming, as does laptop keyboards, and requiring a real usb mouse.
Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
No. For entertainment, give me a cube PC and a projector. Just as portable, ten times the fun and cheaper.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
For that much money, I don't really see how you could pass up an 17-inch Apple PowerBook G4. One of these babies could be optained for about 3000 USD. :-)
is $3350 cheaper than the $1599, $1999, or $2999 powerbook? Or the $1099 iBook G4? Oh yeah, I forgot it comes with a pentium, so I guess it's cheaper than all of them.
When pricing laptops, the executive types always pick the smallest size. You wouldn't believe the amount of thought that went into extra power vs. 8 extra OUNCES. The younger game-playing employees always price out the laptops with the most power, knowing that an extra few pounds means _nothing_ when you're rolling it down the concourse. To me, it's all about desktop replacement.
Linux: Free if your time is worthless.
Check out the Dell 2001FP. With a 16ms response, it's more than adequate for gaming.
at that price point it had better come with a firewire vagina.
If I could make this sig kill you, I would.
if it hasn't already by the time this question is posed, but:
What kind of Real World battery life would you get?
And I agree gaming on a laptop blows goats, squishy keyboard feel, odd layouts and (at least up to this point) iffy graphics cards put them firmly in the MAME, not DOOM3, category.
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
Yeah, but add some memory to that since the powerbook only ships with 512. The Dell has a 60G 7200rpm hd compared to the powerbooks 80G 4200rpm as well. I'd say they're pretty comparable.
Except for SPEED BABY! Wooooooooooo!
WUXGA+ screen, which is 1920x1200 pixels.
What I want to know is, why is it you can buy a laptop with that flat panel installed, but you can't buy an LCD monitor for your desktop PC that can do that?
-JDF
that's awfully expensive... i was recently pricing a new computer for my brother and for a semi-decent gaming rig (2400+ athlon, nforce2 mobo), the price was around $800. this is 4 times that amount! all for the convenience of portability?
i feel bad looking back at the $2000 I spent on my gaming rig that now is worth $1000...
anyone know how fast can one build a mini-atx gaming rig and for what price? I presume the biggest limitation is heat: processor + vid card in a small space is not ideal. any small form factor cases with lots of fans?
I would buy if it was an A64. I am looking for something to run 64bit Gentoo... no good options right now, other than Voodoo, and they take like 2 months to ship.
High ghz P4s just aren't interesting anymore (I have a 2.6 P4 OCed to 3.2 and it is quite boring actually)
The unofficial
..and I'm very happy with it. P4 3.2GHz desktop proc, 1 GB PC 3200 RAM, 128 MB ATI 9600 Pro, 60 GB 7200RPM HDD, 16.1" XUGA TFT, XP Professional. I bought it because I like to GAME. Sure, powerbooks are great and are beasts in their own right, but very few current OL games are supported and that is the ONLY reason I didn't go Mac. Alienware is certainly expensive, but you get what you pay for. They really know how to engineer their systems for optimal cooling. Dell realizes Alienware's success (witness AW is on Forbes' list of the fastest growing businesses this year) and is entering the foray. Methinks that they'll do well initially, but the quality that gaming systems require may or may not be met through Dell's uber-assembly line format.
With the speed that hardware becomes outdated and unsuitable for gaming, coupled with the inability to upgrade anything terribly performance-enhancing on a laptop, why on earth would anyone spend the money on a machine like this?
For literally a little over half the cost you could custom-build a desktop gaming monster machine; 10k RPM drives in RAID-0 with an Athlon64, more RAM than you know what to do with, and a video card that outpowers that entire damned notebook.
Dell seems to be aiming at a really small target market with this machine: people who are serious gamers but also need to travel and also have so much money that they can piss it away on a laptop that's already underpowered by the day's gaming standards, and can't be given any meaningful upgrades in the future.
And to top it off, it weighs a ton, probably has the heat issues even low-performance laptops do, and it doesn't even look as nice as the Alienware competition.
Really... I just don't get it.
I remember reading a review for an IBM T41P the other day -- the reviewer's test machine retailed at something like $5500 CAD. Very few people can afford these monstrosities; most of us go for the $2500 "bare bones but still a Mercedes" IBM notebook instead.
Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
*sigh* i shouldn't feed the trolls...
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
i can't seem to find where poster got the 3,300 price tag. From dell.com:
New Inspiron XPS Starting at $2599 After $250 Mail-in Rebate
Pentium(R)4 w/HT Technology 3.4GHz,15.4 WUXGA
512MB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
60GB 7200 rpm Ultra ATA Hard Drive
4X CD/DVD burner(DVD+RW/+R) including Sonic RecordNow and MyDVD LE
$2,849
2600 bucks is actually fairly well inline, and a huge difference from 3,300 in the makes-the-eyeballs-bulge dep't.
If I could make this sig kill you, I would.
I've never "baugh" anything at all.
The person who told you that spelling doesn't matter was wrong.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
I recently purchased the following system:
Athlon64 3200+
1G RAM
200G Maxtor HD
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
DVD ROM, 1 Gigabit Ethernet
The total was $1,280 (including shipping)
So why would I want to pay almost 3x to get a 9 pound monster? The 2K+ premium for (semi)portability is simply too high...
"You mortals are so obtuse." -Q
Let's see, that's a non-mobile Pentium at 3.4GHz, and Dell says it's 9 pounds. So in real life we're looking at an 11 pound computer that you won't want on your lap, plus it'll have maybe 60-90 minutes of battery life?
Maybe one of the optional accessories will be a lead-acid car battery with adapter and carrying case!
#DeleteChrome
Why pay that much when you can get an Alienware with a good customization for $500 less. Plus Alienware tends to make all the right tweaks. I've seen the inside of a normal dell and it's a mess. Compare that to a "normal" Alienware or even Gateway and the answer is an obvious: "I'm not buying".
(Sponsored by cheeseSource for President 2012)
As for the price... Even if I'd won the lottery I'd still think it too steep.
"If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments." Earl Wilson
That's still less than I paid for my AT&T 6300 with a 8088 and 20MB HD in the early 80's.
The Truth About Slashdot
If you don't pay for disposable technology, what computer do you buy? They're all worthless after a while. Sure, you can keep replacing components, but after a while, you've replaced everything anyway. What's the difference?
I've had my laptop for over three years now, and plan on getting at least another year out of it. And it means that I can do stuff anywhere in my 3-story house I want to. I can bring it on the road to get programming in when my wife is driving. I can watch DVDs in hotel rooms. It's got a lot of uses, but the fact that I'm not tied to a specific location at home is the reason I have it.
(Now, I wouldn't buy this laptop... Inspirons have low build quality, and I don't want a 9 lb luggable. But that's no indictment against other laptops.)
I have an Alienware laptop and would gladly trade it in to get one from Dell. Alienware can take up to 2 months to deliver anything you order from them. They have no way of verifying what is in stock and what is not, this includes their phone sales people. They have a 15% restocking fee on all returns. You have to send the machine in to them to get repairs which can take up to 2 months as well.
My wife bought mine for me and we had to change the order two times to get something that was actually instock. It still took over a month to get here and when I did get it the backlight switch failed with in 2 weeks. Oh and it came preinstalled with a MS RPC virus...
Str8Dog
using System.Darkside; public
That said, I can't see spending over $3k for a portable gaming machine. That's what the WinXP desktop is for!
Sinepaw.org: Grape Winos
If you want raw power as well as luggability, big hulking laptops like this aren't your only choice. The current generation of ultra small form factor pcs from Shuttle et al can fit this much power into a tiny case that comes with a cool carry bag. Add in a really nice 17" 12x10 lightweight lcd monitor and you're set with a lot more dosh left in your pocket - you can even splash on a dell 2001fp 16x12 lcd for $750 and still be way under budget. You pay a large premium to pack it all into a "portable" space and then it's difficult to upgrade.
I think this is the most amazing fact from the product line up.
*Subwoofer integrated into battery*
I forgot to mention, the Sager was around $600US less than the Alienware.
I just bought one of these:
:)
Sager np5680
And for under $2000, you get almost exactly the same machine. Its a highly respected brand, also, they just don't have the marketing fluff of Dell or the other big guys.
The only difference I see, is the video card (9600 vs. 9700), and no DVI out on the Sager. For $1K, you can keep your DVI
Add in Win XP as an os, to add $250, and you are still $1k cheaper. Or go free, with Linux, your choice.
"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." - Thomas Jefferson
IMO, buying a laptop is the height of stupidity.
Yeah, my desktop w/ 19" monitor works great when I'm on the plane. Sure, I get a few funny looks from the flight crew, but I can't understand why anybody would bother with a laptop when desktops are so much cheaper.
It's also really cool using a desktop while in the john.
ZFS: because love is never having to say fsck
That one at least went vroom vrooom
I like laptops for gaming. At LAN parties I would be set up, ready to go, and eating snacks while my friends were still carrying their computers in from the car. The thing I really learned to appreciate was the same resolution screen in a smaller physical space. Everything was in my center of vision and I never needed to look around on the screen. Playing games on my desktop, I get irritated that I have to look around on the screen because action is happening in my periphial vision. I've been looking around and debating if should go for small and light or desktop replacement. I quickly found that the best desktop replacements out there seemed to be gaming computers because they had the top kit. Alienware looks good for a desktop replacement not only because it's beefy but because it looks cool. I don't think Dell is going to put out computers in Cyborg Green or Saucer Silver. Money is an issue and I don't think the mobility will convince me to buy a laptop that costs that much unless I would need the power and mobility for work also. of course, now that Dell is putting one out, I probably have a better chance of getting work to buy me a Dell laptop than an Alienware one.
[* The Rule of Hard: Any task that is or precieved to be too dificult will be avoided.]
But portable systems like these laptops are much better and with XP, the network is plug and play (usually) (Also, wireless networking is great). All you have to lug around is a backpack and setup is as simple as taking it out, plugging in the mouse and turning it on.
Performance wise, my only issue is that some games do not render quite right on my Area51m and an occasional few don't work at all. They work fine on my desktop so I would have to say that there is a difference between the PCI and the laptop version of a card. Fortuantely, they were odd games that I did not need to have portable.
I have 3 desktops and a laptop. One desktop I built, one I pulled out of the trash (its actually a fairly decent machine) and the laptop I bought refurbed for 400 dollars. Its a 366 pentium 2 that I'm typing this on ... outside, sitting next to the pond on 802.11b.
When I need power I'll sit at my desk with the athlon but sometimes its nice to sit outside and work.
It better not be ultra-wide, either
Then let's go to the Apple store and do a comparison. The new dell has a 15.4 inch display, so it's going up against a 15 inch Powerbook.
Dell: 9 motherfucking pounds. Mac: 5.6 pounds. That's an enormous difference, many people would simply be unable to carry the Dell with them wherever they go. Anyone who says otherwise is just trying to pretend to be macho. Why don't you drag around a destop with you if you don't care about weight?
Dell: ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 128 MB Mac: ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 64 MB. The Dell has a better card, but only incrementally better-it's still a Mobility, and it's only 9700 vs 9600, with more ram. Any game you can play on the Dell will work on the Mac too, and almost as well.
Dell: 60GB 7200 drive Mac: 80GB 4200 rpm.
The dell has a much faster drive, but the Mac's is bigger. And a 60 gig 7200rpm usb 2.0 drive can be had for $80 on pricewatch. The Mac has two 480 Mbps USB 2.0 ports, the article doesn't say what the dell has.
Dell: 1GB DDR400 ram Mac: 1GB DDR333 ram
Slight performance advantage to the Dell.
Dell: DVD+RW drive Mac: Apple SuperDrive, same capabilities.
Dell: DVI output, a first in windows notebooks. Mac: DVI output, standard in powerbooks for some time.
Both have integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and gigabit ethernet, and IEEE1394.
Dell: Subwoofer integrated into battery. Mac: Uses standard batteries interchangeable with any normal battery. Which one is a win here? How many people need a subwoofer while they're on the road, which usually means being in public places where you have to use headphones anyway? Anyone that cares about audio will use external speakers while at home anyway. And the Mac uses standard batteries, not some weird model-specific thing you won't find in most stores.
Dell: Interchangeable covers for a custom look. Mac: Brushed metal Titanium style only. That's right people-now if you want to spend more money just for looks and style, Dell is the way to go. How did that happen? Assuming the interchangeable covers don't suck, we haven't seen pictures yet.
Dell: Read about it in an article. When will you actually be able to get your hands on one? This is Dell's next-generation notebook.
Mac: Been out for a while, using current-generation technology. The matchup will look a little different if we compare them the day Apple releases the specs to the next new powerbook model.
Dell: $3350
Mac: $2999
The Mac is substantially cheaper than the Dell.
In conclusion: with Dell you pay hundreds more for incremental performance improvements (slight video card upgrade, DDR400, faster but smaller drive)
The Dell weighs nearly twice as much, but has interchangeable covers.
And remember, this is a newly announced Dell vs a Mac that's been on the market for some time.
Best bang for your buck: The Powerbook.
Best bang for people who like paying too much just because they read about it on Slashdot and it has interchangeable covers: The Dell.
Apple Store and specs. Dell and specs.
But the parent post does have one good point-As a mac lover, when I read what he said I fell over laughing and bumped into the side of the desk, so it *does* sting.
"IMO, buying a laptop is the height of stupidity"
I am not a big fan of laptops but they do have their place.
In the field, measurements, data collection and so forth, where sometimes power outlets and mobility and small size can be an advantage. Example, between large industrial machines, where there is no room for a desktop system and hardware, or outdoors taking measurements and tests, where there is no power.
Also, using a serial port to configure a new Cisco device is a lot easier with a laptop in a computer room then using anything else.
In apartments and dorms: Space is limited, and my wife has thankfully let me have my computer desk with my desktop, and also she has let me put my Mandrake machine under one of the end tables with a monitor on top with a mouse and keyboard. Space is pretty limited here, and having a laptop to do what we want would be nice, I would really enjoy not having the mandrake machine under the end-table or having 1/3 of my living room being taken up with my computer desk.
But, I don't have money, I do have however is two tower computers that run..........
Anyhew,
Like I said, laptops have their (expensive) place.
The keys all stick together and the keyboards are cramped. Not to mention its harder to see dark objects and the screen blurs more then a desktop LCD or CRT.
If you have this kind of money it might be better to build a monster gaming station at home and a moderate gaming laptop that is cheaper and has longer battery life for the occasional game on the airplane away from home.
http://saveie6.com/
There is no such thing as a resolution that is "too small".. only window managers that don't rasterize text/widgets properly for the current DPI.
Yeah... I'm a gamer and I laugh when i see people with alienware laptops. Knowing that alienware's best laptops are just rebadged sagers for a higher cost.
Hmmm... Pie...
Besides for that much, I'd go for something with better ruggedness, like a thinkpad, or a powerbook.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
I've had several laptops and many many computers (in addition to the many more inflicted on me at work).
My computers slowly grow obsolete and get thrown out while still in a working state, but it's hard to forsee current systems becoming useless any time soon. I've been through dozens of monitors, keyboards (especially) and mice though.
The display on my 2 year old Compaq laptop has gone bad once already, the lettering on the keys is now unreadable from use. Both my laptop and desktop systems are quite useable from the perspective of "horsepower", but the laptop will much sooner become useless without one form of expensive repair or another.
In the mean time there is a store near me that will practically GIVE me an old style 17-inch monitor and NEW keyboards and mice are priced in the teens.
So, what's wrong with this picture?
What's wrong is that laptop keyboards should have developed an industry standard form factor and connection standard long ago. Likewise, the small card that is the video card for my laptop should be easily replaced, and easily connected to the monitor, which should also be easily replaced. At that point I'd have no problem justifying $3000 or more for a machine that I could be confident would last (with some easy end-user repairs and upgrades) for many years to come. Further integration of IO devices as is the case with notepad computers is insanity. Of course, if you have an unlimited money supply (spending your companies money for instance) insanity is par for the course.
I'll stick with my desktops and use the laptop in emergencies until the peripherals issue is addressed. (For any company that wants to implement this, please contact me for information about where to send the royalty checks.)
I guess the confusion expressed by the idiots here on /. is a good example of the reason these screens aren't marketted.
Whenever coworkers look at my screen, their initial reaction is always "everything's so small! Why don't you make your screen bigger?"
If display makers are going to have trouble explaining that it's the things on the screen that are smaller, not the screen... I can't imagine how they'd try to sell a 15" 1920x1200 display to those jackasses.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
I remember when they released the latest and greatest 8000-series of the Inspiron, and it was plagued with problems, such as power/battery issues, video card issues (GeForce2Go required a different/higher voltage than the ATi cards.) I personally had to deal with all of this junk, along with Dell claiming it wasn't their fault. Searching their forums, I could find at least 25 others having the same exact issues as me, with the same exact hardware (first release of the Inspiron 8xxx series, 8000.)
So in the future, I'm wary to buy any series/model from them that's "brand new", especially if it's a laptop. Seems like they iron out the kinks and them release a newer revision (8100, 8200, etc.) that works pretty darn well.
Not All Who Wander Are Lost
Emachines? Respectible? Good lord! You must be kidding. Put down the crack pipe!
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
If you're going to quote them, quote the whole sentence.
"Wide-Aspect 15.4" UltraSharpTM WUXGA LCD, the largest available notebook display size and highest possible resolution offered by Dell"
[emphasis mine]
It's the largest display you can get on a Dell notebook, not the largest display you can get on any notebook.
Carpe Cerevisi - Seize the Beer
7,200 RPM is fast for a laptop hard drive. Keep in mind, most laptops are still shipping with 4200 RPM drives with 5400 as an option. 7200 RPM drives have only recently been available on laptops.
The cost is... Absurd. Even for a top-end gaming laptop.
Let's see. For $2,500, I can get an Athlon64 laptop which:
1) Dominates gaming performance (games, you know, the point of the Dell laptop's existance)
2) Will run for more than 45 minutes on battery, becaues of Cool'n'Quiet technology. Mine runs for about 3 hours on battery. Honestly, a high end Pentium IV in a laptop? While we live in infinite battery land, why not add a 21" CRT monitor?
3) Isn't a Dell laptop.
Or, if I still like Dell (they aren't bad for the price sometimes), and am not one of the 95% of the world's clueless that still believes the CPU clockspeed = performance, I can buy a Dell Inspiron 8600 with a 1.7GHz Pentium M (which is very close or equal in performance to a 3GHz Pentium IV in most tasks), with an ATI Radeon 9600 Mobile and 1GB of memory, for about $2,600.
I have to say, this new Dell laptop is clearly targetted towards complete idiots with too much money on their hands. It isn't even a "just for rich folks which can afford the finest things in life" unit, because those "rich folks" can get a hell of a lot more laptop for the price, and not have the cheap stigma that is attached to every Dell laptop (except the admittedly very good Dell Precision series (which is made by the same ODM that builds some of IBM's laptops).
Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. --E. W. Dijkstra
Can you fry an egg on it before the battery runs out?
For price/perfomrmance ratio Sager(Clevo reseller) http://www.sagernotebook.com/pages/professional_sy stems.html
considerably better. It was discussed at length at talknotebooks.com
If you really wanted to get serious, you should take tips from this guy; I'll take this one any day :)
It's funny that Dell gets all this publicity over their new gaming laptop, they are just to expensive for what they offer. Look at prostar laptops, www.pro-star.com, they offer a much better price with a lot more features. I don't understand why someone would pay so much more for a dell, who I would wager can not out performa prostar or alienware laptop.
**It runs through my veins like radioactive rubber pants! Do not deny my veins!**
I'd love it if an OEM produced a standard form-factor laptop that could swap all (or most) of the components, even if it was bulkier/heavier. More people are using laptops as desktop replacements (or 2nd computer) and would like this (I've counted 10+ at our office who would buy something like this if it were available and somewhat reasonably priced).
Are you buying?
Never. Will not touch an x86 ever again.
And certainly not from Dell.