Dell XPS M1730 Launch Delayed; Specs Leaked

The Dell XPS M1730 gaming notebook has not been released yet, although, according to the leaked information and earlier reports, its launch was planned for September 21st.

The product specifications leaked from the Dell’s official website say the XPS M1730 will be configurable with the Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 at 2GHz, T7500 at 2.2GHz, T7700 at 2.4GHz, and the Core 2 Extreme X7800 at 2.6GHz. All of these CPUs have 4MB of L2 cache and a 800MHz front side bus. There is no Core 2 Extreme X7900 option, which was expected to appear in Dell’s new 17-inch widescreen gaming laptop. The notebook’s TrueLife glossy display with 1920-by-1200 pixel resolution is managed by the NVIDIA GeForce Go 8700M GT 256MB dedicated video card in single or dual (SLI) configuration. The specifications do not mention the GeForce 8800M graphics and the AGEIA PhysX 100M physics card, but these options might be available later, as same as the X7900 CPU choice.

The Dell XPS M1730 is based on Intel PM965 chipset supporting up to 4GB of DDR2 system memory. The laptop will come with 667MHz memory modules, although the notebook supports 800MHz. In addition, the M1730 has 512 MB or 1GB Intel Turbo Memory for better system responsiveness. There is no information on hard drive options. However, the previous reports say it will have solid state drive options, along with standard hard drive choices. The system will be configurable with a Combo optical drive, a DVD burner or a Blu-Ray drive.

UPDATE: According to the newly leaked product pages, the XPS M1730 will have the X7900 CPU option. The notebook supports up to two HDDs or SSDs and will start at $2,999.

The M1730 supports 802.11a/b/g/draft n wireless LAN, and has a built-in Bluetooth, broadband wireless (3G WWAN) support, and a Gigabit Ethernet, but it has not any modem.

Regarding ports and slots, there are an ExpressCard slot, a Smart Card slot, a FireWire port, DVI and S-Video outputs, and an infra-red receiver. This laptop has been reported to have six USB ports, but the leaked specs sheet lists only four (one back connector, one left side connector, and two right side connectors).

With a 9-cell battery, the Dell XPS M1730 weighs 10.6 pounds and is 2 inches thick. It has a “flashy industrial design with color customization options” and will come with Windows XP or Windows Vista operating system.

The notebook’s price is unknown, as well as the final release date. According to some forum posts, it will not be launched before September 26th.

[…] According to the previous reports, the notebook will be also configurable with an additional hard drive, solid state drives, a Blu-Ray drive, and various wireless options, as well as with other Core 2 Duos and Core 2 Extreme X7800 and X7900 processors. The NVIDIA GeForce 8800M option is also rumored. […]