Dell XPS M1730

In keeping with its gaming status, the laptop is heavily loaded. It comes with an Intel Core 2 Extreme 9000 CPU clocked at 2.8 GHz (overclockable to 3.4 GHz), 4 GB of DDR2-667 RAM, a pair of Nvidia 8800M GTX cards in SLI, a 17-inch full-HD LED panel, and a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy HD audio chipset.

These are very powerful specifications, as was made clear in the scores. Under its synthetic benchmarks, the laptop was able to get 7653 on PCMark, and 12313 in 3DMark06. These crazy-land scores place it among the most powerful gaming laptops currently available.

While the performance benchmarks were certainly explosive, the real tests lie in the games itself. Since the 8800 series chipsets are DX10-compatible, we were able to check out the latest iteration in the Crysis series (Crysis Warhead). This DX10-compatible game offers the same level of display and finesse of its predecessor. The only difference is that it’s a lot more optimized than the first edition, and even at lower settings offers a very good gaming experience.

For our first test we ran the inbuilt benchmarks of the game. These are pretty detailed and really test the power of a machine. The average FPS we got was in the region of 23-25 with a lot of graphical glitching. To avoid this problem we logged into the game directly, switched to the enthusiast profile, and ran the game at the laptop’s native resolution. The result was a mere 11 FPS, which rendered the game unplayable. Despite lowering the resolution, there was not much change in the result. This was a bit disappointing as we were hoping the laptop would be able to keep up.

Our next test was a simpler lowering of the graphical settings to mainstream. The FPS jumped up here. At full HD resolution, it was able to maintain a steady 23 FPS. Lowering the resolution to a more standard 1680 x 1050 gave an average frame rate of 34, which allowed us to play the game without any problem.

The next game we checked out was a classic, Bioshock. This AAA title has some of the best game play and graphics in recent years, and the 1730 was up to the task of doing justice to it. At a resolution of 1680 x 1050 with 2x AA and AF, we were able to hold around 41 FPS. The game refused to run at the native resolution of the screen.

Our next test was last year’s best seller by far: COD4. This game posed a lot of problems. The laptop would hang at startup or cause Windows to lock up. Despite multiple efforts, we were unable to get it to progress beyond the opening screen.

Our last test was Blizzard’s latest Xpac, Wrath of the Lich King. This game has now introduced multiple new graphical options, which can be extremely demanding on the system, especially with shadows set to full. However, the 1730 was able to easily hold a steady FPS of 49 with all options turned up to full and shadows set to a level of 3 out of a maximum of 5. On bumping up the shadows, we saw a drastic drop in FPS to around 37, which was still playable. The rest of the graphical options were maxed out.

The Dell XPS M1730 costs Rs 1.71 lakh. Though expensive, we find it very competitive even at this price. It scores over other laptops in this range, as it's the only one that's SLI-Ready and offers playable frame rates at very high resolutions (HD/Full HD). If you're in the market for a graphical powerhouse that offers exceptional performance, look no further.