Mini review for the Vostro 1710

[CeeNote]

Mini review for the Vostro1710

Specs:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8300 (2.4GHz, 3MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
17.0 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WXGA+ LCD Display w/TrueLife™
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GS (128 bit)
Windows XP® Pro
250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R write capability, with Roxio Creator
Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card
Integrated 1.3 mega pixel Web Camera and Digital Microphone
58 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
1 Year Basic Limited Warranty plus 1 Year Mail-in Service

$1,195 CAD ($1,260 CAD including tax)

Part 1: Ordering and Shipping process.

I ordered this laptop on May 30th with an ETA of June 23rd however I received it June 17th.

Part 2: Design and Build quality

The design is very sleek and light for a 17in laptop. As you can see from my pictures, it’s about as thick as my old 15in Inspiron 6400 but feels a lot thinner due to the larger screen size. The same goes for its weight. It’s only marginally heavier than the Inspiron 6400. Overall I am very pleased with the design; I really enjoy the slim and professional look. It also “feels” very good. I don’t know the material that was used but it feels much better than plastic.

For the most part, this laptop has a very sturdy frame and is well-built although it’s not as robust as the previous Vostro’s. I was especially impressed by how strong the frame around the screen is. One downside that I noticed was the flex under the keyboard. It needs some getting used to. The second thing I noticed was that the little plastic thing behind the keyboard where the media buttons are located feels a little loose (I circled this area in one of my pictures below). It wouldn’t have hurt Dell to add a couple more screws here. Overall the build quality is good, above average but not spectacular.

Part 3: The Screen

I decided to get the standard WXGA+ model with a 1440x900 resolution. I got an AU Optronics model. The screen is pretty good. It’s pretty sharp for this resolution, not grainy and very bright and evenly lit except the top quarter inch or so where it gets somewhat darker.

Part 4: The Keyboard

The keyboard feels similar to my old Inspiron 6400 keyboard with the exception that this one has some noticeable flex when you type. I especially like the number pad which can come in handy when doing a lot of number-crunching.

Part 5: Battery life

I haven’t run any “official” tests however after the battery was fully charged, I discharged it using the high performance setting, with the screen on full brightness and wireless turned on while installing all the programs and games that I need. With these settings I got about 110min with the standard 6 cell battery which I think is pretty good. After that there was about 5% battery life remaining.

Part 6: Noise and Heat

This laptop is very quiet. Even when the fan is running it’s still not distracting. As for heat, the right-hand side of the palm rest only gets mildly warm while the left-hand side of the palm rest gets noticeably warm although I still wouldn’t call it hot.

Part 7: The Video Card

I decided to dedicate a section of this review to the video card to clarify that the video card that is being used in this laptop is the 8600M GS with GDDR3 memory, not the 8600M GT regardless of what any configuration page, spec page or your e-mail confirmation says. (see GPUz screenshot) Judging by the benchmarks which I have attached to this review, the 8600M GS with GDDR3 memory does however perform very similarly to the 8600M GT with GDDR2 memory. Maybe Dell's shipping the GT version in some countries and the GS version in others, I don't really know.

Part 8: Performance

The performance of this laptop is very good especially considering the low price. My main goal was to configure a well-balanced system with no bottlenecks which I think I did a good job at. Take a look for yourself:

SuperPi (2mil): 49.641 seconds (see screenshot)
Wprime(32mil): 36.202 seconds (see screenshot)
3DMark 05: 6659 points at default settings (see screenshot)
3DMark 06: 3675 points at default settings (see screenshot)
PCMark 05: 5603 points at default settings (see screenshot)

I’ve also include an hdtune screenshot.

Part 9: Pro’s and Con’s

Pro’s

-good build quality
-very good value (at least for Canada)
-6 USB ports
-Sleek and light design
-good battery life
-great return policy
-no junk software

Con’s

-not as sturdy as previous gen Vostro’s
-some keyboard flex
-no e-sata or hdmi ports
-the slot-loading dvd drive is louder than a regular one

I hope this mini review shed some light especially on the video card issue! Now I’m gonna try out a few games and if I can get fraps working, I’ll add some in-game benchmarks later. Overall I want to say that I'm very happy with my purchase and highly recommend this product as long as you can live with the (relatively minor) disadvantages.

UPDATE: After carefully thinking about it, I decided to take advantage of Dell's 30-day-return policy to buy a laptop with a higher resolution screen. It wasnt an easy decision to make because I really liked this laptop and the great deal that i got.

[CeeNote]

some more screenshots...

[dtwn]

When I saw the "Mini review for the Vostro 1710", I was wondering if it would be a I HATE DELL fest regarding the cards.

Good job with the review, looks clear and unbiased.

Do the sharp edges bother you? Some forum goers were mentioning that they preferred the rounded edges of the old models.

[CeeNote]

Good job with the review, looks clear and unbiased.

Thanks

Do the sharp edges bother you? Some forum goers were mentioning that they preferred the rounded edges of the old models.

I actually preferred how the round edges felt however I do like the looks of the sharp edges, they make the laptop seem somehow more "sophisticated". I think this is just a matter of getting used to.

[pixelot]

That's pretty sweet! I'm a fan of the older, super-tough models, but these look cool too.

I like the new video card option.

Yeah, I like the rounded edges on my 1400, but I agree that sharper edges look better; more like the HP 8510.

[CeeNote]

I like the new video card.

Yea I've never even heard of an 8600gs with gddr3 memory before. It gives a major performance boost over the gddr2 version.

[pixelot]

Compared to my pitiful *ahem* 8400M GS.

[joseprio]

Thanks a lot for your review It's the first one in the net As far as I know!

I might buy this laptop, but with the 1920x1200 screen option. Is there any 1710 owner with that screen that can comment about it's quality (and if possible, manufacturer)?

[Jakpro]

I am wondering about the clock speeds on this card. They are quite a bit higher than my 8600m GT w/ DDR2 in my Vostro 1500.

They seem to be more in line with the 8600m GT w/DDR3. I know that you photo shows it to be the 8600m GS, but it is running at higher speed than other S cards that have been noted here previously, plus it is using the DDR3 memory.

Mine:


Yours:

[tianxia]

600/1200/700 are nvidia's reference clocks for 8600m gs