Dell XPS 17 (L702x) Thread

[madmattd]

How can you tell when the discreet is running? Is there a notification icon change?

There is an icon you can set to show in the system tray that tells what programs are using the NVidia (or it will say no GPU activity if said NVidia GPU is not being used). I don't recall the exact location, but I think it is under the context menu that pops up when you right-click on the desktop. Somewhere under the NVidia sub-menus. I don't have my system available right now, else I'd check for you.

[Jon vMagic]

How can you tell when the discreet is running? Is there a notification icon change?

right click on desktop > nvidia control panel > desktop dropdown menu > Display GPU activity icon in notification area

[Retired-Fire-Captain]

Wow. After endless research I am going with the XPS17 (L702x) and after reading and reading countless pages of this awesome forum I am even more excited to order in the morning!

So there are two questions I have before I pull the trigger:

(1) There seems to be some concern here and there about the wireless. I've now read complaints about the N-1000 and the N-6230. I don't care about BlueTooth at all, but getting the best wifi I can get is important to me. Of the 4 choices Dell is offering me:
(a) N-1000
(b) N- 6150
(c) N-1030
(d) N-6230
which one is best / which one should I get?

Question 2: I never use my laptop in the full dark. Is there any other reason to spend $40 for the BL keyboard. It seems like it is cool, but for someone who isn't ever in a lights-out environment is it functionally useless or is there a good argument for getting it?

Thanks for any feedback and thanks for all the amazing discussion here!

The backlit keyboard also enables you to see the keyboard when there is a lot of light behind the computer.

[huoyjii]

Dear All,

Firstly I would like to say what a great thread and site this is, soo much information and pleasant people about.

I recently received my XPS L702x, I have looked through more pages of this thread than I care to mention (its a LOOOONG one, with loads of useful information)

Can anyone help me with a few very newbie things?

firstly; from what i understand this laptop has 2 graphics right? one on board and one 555m. how does this work? is there anything i need to do with my settings to get the best performance from my laptop? I render quite a lot and have now set sketchup and v-ray to use the dedicated graphics, not on-board graphics, - seems to have helped.. is this the correct thing to do?

secondly; Is there a step by step guide how to delete all the bloat ware? Im not sure exactly what to look for, its my first dell laptop and the start up is fairly slow to be honest, im guessing this is mainly due to the bloat-ware?

if there's any tutorials or websites or guides anyone can point me to, I would be very grateful to learn how to get the best from my machine

I dont have the disks from dell and am living in China at the minute so cannot do a fresh install without Dells bloat-ware.. The laptop was bought form the UK though - might i add.

My machine spec is the following:

graphics - 3GB GT 555
Screen - HD+ WLED True-Life (1600x900)
ram - 8GB (2x4GB) cruial 1333mhz
processor - i7-2630QM 2.00GHZ
Hard Drive - 500GB 7200RPM
OS - Windows 7 home Premium 64 bit

Id like to follow the many advisor's on this site regarding the SSD hard drive upgrade in the future, just feel for now, lets get the basic things done first.

Lee

I found this Dell XPS 17 Wiki that is pretty helpful. It has some very good information but it hasn't been update for a while (at least, that's what it seems). And this Wiki is not being mentioned recently in this thread. May be we can try to revive it since this XPS 17 series is so popular and I am sure many can benefits from it.

Also, in the Wiki and in this thread somewhere, there are information on Windows 7 Clean Install by Scott that is very helpful as a guide/baseline to get things going...

When you are looking at the Wiki Main Page for this XPS 17, it may looks like there aren't a lot of information. So, look for "Information by subject", click on it and you will find many useful information!!!!!

[huoyjii]

I will be evaluating this SSD within the next 1-2 days. With the latest firmware upgrade, it should be stable and very fast. I will be testing it in a L702x, E6320, E6520, and M6600. All systems are Intel HM67 based so it will be on one of the SATA-III ports.

Scott

Scott, first of all, thanks for the really useful Windows 7 Clean Install guide!! Thank you!!

I am interested in this SSD too and would definitely appreciate if you could share your findings after your testing. I am thinking of replacing my Crucial C300 64GB with this (if this is good) and re-purpose the Crucial somewhere else. I also wonder if that's a good move since XPS 17 has a second HDD for a larger data drive... May be I should just get the larger (120GB) for the other machine (w/ only space for one drive) and put the Crucial C300 64GB in the XPS 17 since 64GB is more than enough for OS only...

Will I really see anymore "speed" increase going from a smaller Crucial C300 64Gb to this GT 120GB??

[AluminumFalcon3]

I'm checking this for a friend so disregard my sig. Is anyone else having issues with Battlefield 3 freezing up on their computer? I checked GPU-z, max temp was at 80 so that's not an issue. His computer is

XPS 17
i7 2360QM
8 GB RAM
NVIDIA 550M Geforce

[cozcollins]

I'm checking this for a friend so disregard my sig. Is anyone else having issues with Battlefield 3 freezing up on their computer? I checked GPU-z, max temp was at 80 so that's not an issue. His computer is

XPS 17
i7 2360QM
8 GB RAM
NVIDIA 550M Geforce

same thing happened to me, update drivers from nvida.

New in Version 285.62
This is the recommended driver for Battlefield 3. It contains several performance and compatibility

NVIDIA DRIVERS 285.62 WHQL

[Bubloo]

Scott, Can you share your experience with the Corsair SSD, with the latest firmware?

Is it stable? Any BSOD's?

[technoboy]

Hi, am looking at the xps 17 and several other notebooks. Was wondering how people on this forum like theirs? I've heard it has like the best keyboard and sound on the market. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

[deerchaser]

Hi, am looking at the xps 17 and several other notebooks. Was wondering how people on this forum like theirs? I've heard it has like the best keyboard and sound on the market. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

I dont think you will find a better deal. Some people say the 17 isnt very portable, not sure I understand. It's a notebook, how can it not be portable? I purchased mine as a desktop replacement, fits great in my case when I need to take it with me. I have the 1080p AG screen and 9 cell battery, happy with it. Look for coupons on line.