Dell refreshes XPS 15, 17 with Sandy Bridge, GT500M series

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Dell has revamped its XPS 15 and 17 notebooks, adding the latest silicon from Intel and Nvidia. The smaller machine can be outfitted with one of three Sandy Bridge Core i7 processors up to 2.7GHz, as well as a 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT525M or 2GB GT540M.

The base offering is equipped with 4GB of DDR3 RAM which maxes out at 8GB, while storage peaks at 750GB for mechanical or 256GB for flash. For a premium, the 15.6-inch display can upgraded from 720p to 1080p, with or without facial recognition technology.

The larger system adds one Core i7 and two Core i5 chips to the mix and boosts the graphics to a 1GB GeForce GT550M or 3GB GT555M. It also comes with the Nvidia 3D Vision kit and a 3D-ready display, while max RAM and storage are increased to 16GB and 1.2TB.

Both the come with your choice of a DVD or Blu-ray drive, a six or nine-cell battery, as well as a 9-in-1 card reader, a 2MP webcam, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI 1.4, Bluetooth 3.0 as well as optional WWAN and Wireless Display modules alongside the usual connectivity.

The XPS 15 starts at $1,050 while the XPS 17 kicks off at $900 and both currently have an estimated ship date of March 15. Dell has simultaneously discontinued the XPS 14 based on Intel's first-gen Core processors, though a new model hasn't been introduced yet.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/42525-dell-refreshes-xps-15-17-with-sandy-bridge-gt500m-series.html

 

[KG363]

The 15" is more expensive? Or did I read it wrong?

Either way, I'm gonna be in the market soon.

 

[chaboi390]

aww, i liked the old design, this just doesn't look right.

 

[madboyv1]

I hate slot loaded, so a switch back to a tray loaded is a bonus for me. But I'll agree it does not look quite... right.

 

[fpsgamerJR62]

Looks like pretty good specs for the price. The article mentioned GT525M, GT540M, GT550M and GT555M graphics. I'm guessing mid-range graphics at most based on their names. Might be comparable to AMD's Mobility Radeon 5650 or the more recent 6670.

 

[Cazca]

they need to bring back the studio xps 16. looks way better then this xps.

 

[Greg S]

Yes!!!! There are finally laptops with new nvidia graphics!

 

[janshim]

I'm a professional photographer and I love my Dell Studio 17 from 2008. Love to make a switch to the XPS 17 but after all these years "9-in-1" card reader still ignores the Compact Flash card. Professional grade bodies use the CF format and I think there's only one manufacturer (Sony, perhaps) that support this in a laptops 'designed' with professional photographer in mind. No real biggie but it would be nice to have one less item to pack when traveling.

http://shimworld.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/seriously-dell-what-were-you-thinking/

 

[wizardB]

Great a computer with a pre broken motherboard,you really have to wonder about this chipset defective sata ports what else will go wrong with it and yet they still pawn it off on the public and they lap it up and the wonder when their computer dies in a year

 

[T77]

3GB GT555M??! well I think that's plain silly. GT555M has 96 or 144 cores according to NVIDIA's website. Theres no need for 3gigs of vram as it would do nothing to boost performance