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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.
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
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.
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
..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.
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
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)
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
Hey, there are plenty of great games for the Mac! Breakout, superbreakout.... photoshop.
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.
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.
It better not be ultra-wide, either
Because it doesn't play Half-Life?
...
Gaming Laptop
Gaming on a Mac
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
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.
Hey, there are plenty of great games for the Mac! Breakout, superbreakout.... photoshop.
Yeah, the end guy is hard.
Ed Wedig
Graphic design services
docbrown.net
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
*Subwoofer integrated into battery*
Great for playing acid rock.
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
If you really wanted to get serious, you should take tips from this guy; I'll take this one any day :)
Are you buying?
Never. Will not touch an x86 ever again.
And certainly not from Dell.