Hard Clash Between Colossus: DELL XPS M1710 vs Santech M2910

[Bubu®]

Hi everybody !!
What Notebook Should I Buy ?

In these days I've received many estimates from high-end laptops providers, but the notebooks that I'm interesting in are only the following ones:

- DELL XPS M1710
- SANTECH M2910 ( CLEVO M570U )

..and it's very hard to make a choice...

Probably you don't know the Santech brand, but about its ODM barebone it's a CLEVO M570U -> http://www.clevo.com.tw/products/M570U.asp

Unfortunately, there are no thermal design analysis that compare these two laptops..

I'd have to use the DELL XPS M1710 with a T7600G processor or a Santech M2910 with a T7600 (that's why only DELL Inc. provides a Merom T7600G CPU...) .. for the rest of configuration I will use a GeForce 7950GTX (that I will problably overclock ...

But the advantage of the Santech products are:

1) the possibility of very cheap future upgrades with new CPUs, graphics card etc.. by using components provided by Santech without to lose anything about warranty/guarantee...
2) possibility to make a RAID 0 or 1 (thanks to two internal hard disk drives)
3) available in Italy (DELL Italy doesn't sell the XPS M1710 laptop...why ??? )

Also, the Santech customer support is excellent, just 48 days max. to solve any hardware problem.. It's very very near or equal to the DELL support performance.. (hearing from all italian Santech customers in many forums..)

So, could you please help me (and a lot of people) to choose into these laptops.. We can buy one laptop for about 2900 €uro (3.760 USD)..

**********************************
These are the specs for about 3.760 $:

SANTECH M2910

# Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 2,33GHz (4 MB L2 cache, 667Mhz FSB)
# Display 17" WUXGA 1.920x1.200 Glare Type (220 nits)
# Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950GTX 512Mb GDDR3
# RAM 2 Gb DDR II 667MHz (2x1Gb) (Dual Channel) (Up to 4 Gb)
# HDD 1x100=100 Gb 7200 RPM S.ATA (the new Hitachi 7K100)
# (Possible RAID 0/1 Sata with 2 HDD 7200 RPM = Transfer Rate 629*2 = 1258 Mbits/sec. max)
# Burner: DVD Double Layer 8X (DVD+/-RW+R9) (it is an external slim if you choose RAID )
# Wireless (802.11a/b/g 54 Mbps)
# Bluetooth 2.0 Module
# 4 x USB 2.0
# WebCam 1.3 MP e Bluetooth 2.0 Integrati
# Battery: 8 cells (lithium)
# Chassis: Alluminium and ABS
# Networking: Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g 54 Mbps), Bluetooth 2.0 Module, LAN 10/100/1000
# Porte: 4 x USB 2.0, Realtek HD 7.1 audio, 1 x external VGA (with adapter), 1 x Audio in, 1 x Microphone, 1 x S/PDIF digital, 1 x RJ-11 modem 56 Kbps V.90/V.92, 1 x RJ-45 LAN, 1 x TV-out connector S-Video, 1 x TV-in (only with internal TV Tuner), 1 x Card Reader 7in1 (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MMC/RSMMC/SD/Mini SD), 1 x FireWire IEEE 1394 (Controller Texas Instruments), 1 x DVI-I, 1 x Serial Port, 1 x Express Card (Controller Texas Instruments), 1 x WebCam Integrata 1.3 MP, 1 x TV Tuner Analogico/Digitale (Optional)
# Dimensions: 397x294x44 cm
# Weight: da 3,58 Kg without battery (4 Kg with battery)
# Warranty: 2 Year door-to-door (48 days maximum waiting)

for other specs:-> http://www.santech.it/notebook/M2910.htm


DELL XPS M1710

# Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T7600G 2,33GHz (4 MB L2 cache, 667Mhz FSB)
# Display: 17’’ WUXGA (1920x1200) UltraSharp with TrueLife (260 nits)
# Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce 7950GTX (512 MB GDDR3)
# RAM 2 Gb DDR II 667MHz (2x1Gb) (Dual Channel) (Up to 4 Gb)
# Hard Disk: 100GB (7200RPM SATA)
# Masterizzatore DVD Double Layer 8X (DVD+/-RW+R9)
# Networking: Dell Wireless 1500 Draft 802.11n Dual-Band Wireless Mini-Card, for Core 2 Processors, Bluetooth, Modem 56k
# Ports: IEEE 1394 a 4-pin, 6-USB 2.0 (Universal Serial Bus), RJ11 Modem, 1 DVI, 1 VGA, 1 S-Video, Component Video e S/PDIF, 5-in-1 memory card reader, hack for microphone and headsets, RJ45 Ethernet
# input: Keyboard QWERTY (English version)
# Battery: 9 cells (lithium)
# Chassis: Aluminium with reinforces in magnesium alloy
# Dimensions: 39,4x28,8x4,22 cm
# Weight: 4 Kg with 9 cells battery
# Warranty: 1-Year (standard) with possible extension...

for other specs: -> http://www.dell.com/content/products...=19&l=en&s=dhs

There is also a discussion on the most important italian PC hardware website..
http://www.hwupgrade.it/forum/showthread.php?t=1397577
please visit it and if you a little bit understand the italian language you can post in english.. we'll be very happy and honor to hear about your opinion/help to find a possible true winner in these two high-end/enthusiast 17 inches laptops...

I can soon say that in the italian thread the main problem seems to be to analyze the best thermal design... For example I had no found any detailed thermal design analysis about the DELL XPS M1710...
For the Santech M2910 is impossible to find this bench because it's not yet much famous outside European Union or Italy...
Maybe, by googling "CLEVO M570U" should be more simple to have results about thermal design on that laptop... I hope..

For now, THANKS very much for any help !!

>Byez<

[Gophn]

Definitely I would recommend the Clevo M570U, its better for the money.

You can read the Clevo Guide to find more resellers.

One of our new NBR members (ungkaren) is from Italy, just got the Clevo M570U from Flawlesscomputers.com for really nice price compared to many other resellers.

You can also ask technical questions about the notebook in the Sager/Clevo forum, there is already a wealth of info in there.

[Bubu®]

Definitely I would recommend the Clevo M570U, its better for the money.

You can read the Clevo Guide to find more resellers.

One of our new NBR members (ungkaren) is from Italy, just got the Clevo M570U from Flawlesscomputers.com for really nice price compared to many other resellers.

You can also ask technical questions about the notebook in the Sager/Clevo forum, there is already a wealth of info in there.

wooow !! Thanks Gophn !!
Your Clevo Guide is simply excellent !!
...Maybe for resellers you can add santech.it for italian market ...

Anyway, I'd need much more info about Clevo M570U..

For example it has not the double heatpipe like the XPS M1710 and the general thermal design and components I don't know if it is better or worse than DELL XPS...

..probably tomorrow I will contact Clevo hoping they will reply to me...

Anyway I have contacted ungkaren via PM and I'm waiting for his reply..

Thanks very much for replying and congratulation again for that guide !!
I'm lucky to have discovered this website...

Bye/Ciao !!

[Gophn]

here are some good pictures of the Clevo M570U's CPU and GPU heatsinks.

The Clevo M570U (as well as other Clevo gaming notebooks) have a special fan feature. If you press Fn + F2, you would toggle the fan speeds from Auto to Max Speed. Which is AWESOME!!! The other 17" notebooks have to hack their fans, while the Clevo's were made for performance and cooling.

You should not worry not about the Clevo overheating as long as you make sure that its always on a hard surface, and to use the Fn + F2 command whenever you are going to play games to ensure that cooling would not be an issue.

[ungkaren]

Hello Guys!

Thx to you Gophn, for addressing to me some Bubu's inquires.
I have been answering to him by pvt.

I will do it also here.

I am really glad to see another Italian in this Forum.
As Gohpn says the Clevo M570U is the bang for the buck over to be an excellent High End System.

So my advice is definetly for Clevo because i own it and i LOVE it.

About Resellers i know Santech in Italy as DPC but they have really HIGH prices.Due to the fact that they are the only two Clevo Resellers in Italy.
Not much competition so high Price.

I would recommend to you Flawlesscomputers as well as i wrote you by pvt PM.
For many reasons.
They deliver to Italy.
Do have Technical support in Italy provided by local Assistance centers wich deal directly with Flawless
Theyr Customer Care is the best i have been in touch with. Brian, the Owner make things goes well
Price is really competitive
I am not the only one (Italian) that purchased @ Flawless and has been just impressed!

I have reason to say all that because i am really Glad about the system i own and the care i 'v got by my Favourite reseller.

Keep in touch.

Giuseppe

[Bubu®]

here are some good pictures of the Clevo M570U's CPU and GPU heatsinks.

The Clevo M570U (as well as other Clevo gaming notebooks) have a special fan feature. If you press Fn + F2, you would toggle the fan speeds from Auto to Max Speed. Which is AWESOME!!! The other 17" notebooks have to hack their fans, while the Clevo's were made for performance and cooling.

You should not worry not about the Clevo overheating as long as you make sure that its always on a hard surface, and to use the Fn + F2 command whenever you are going to play games to ensure that cooling would not be an issue.

Hello guys !!
Thanks very much Gophn and ungkaren !!

About the images.. Gophn was talking about some good pictures available here for Clevo M570U's CPU and GPU heatsinks.. but I'm not much expert to find them by myself.. ..could u please link those images ??
..and possibly (if available) the same images about the DELL XPS M1710 ??

Anyway I've contacted Clevo for more informations, I hope they will be so kind to reply...

Thanks again and see u soon here !!

>Byez<

[Bubu®]

Hello guys !!
For now I've found this discussion
http://www.guruofgaming.com/modules....er=asc&start=0
about GPU's heatsink modding on a Clevo M570U and news about that DELL makes underclocking on the Geforce 7950GTX to obtain more freshness..

Does DELL make the same underclock on the 7900gs/gtx ?

Anyway, is that true ?? I thought the XPS M1710 has the best thermal design and the best possible thermal material onboard... I'm confused about this news/voices...

What do u think about that ?

Bye everybody !!

[Phillip]

I'd say the santech/clevo. The reasons you gave alone are more than enough to choose it over the dell.

[BENDER]

Another vote goes to clevo...avoid the DELL like plague

[Phillip]

avoid the DELL like plague

exactly....