Precision m90 after a few days!.
From order placement to time of delivery was one week exactly. I bought thru the small business division since I had a 25% off coupon. Initially I wasn't sure if it would work on the m90, but low and behold it did. For $2381 I got 2.0, wuxga, 100gig 7200rpm hd, quadro fx2500m 512mb, nec dual layer burner and 512mb ram. I also received a free Dell fp1907 19 inch flat panel(yes it is the same one there has been controversy about due to them using different panels..I got the high end samsung one
). It was free due to a promo running in small business.
I have since added 2 gigs ram and a 3945 Intel wireless card.
Screen:
I like it a lot. It is the matte variety, but it still has some gloss to it. See pics comparing it to the fp1907. There is no ghosting during gaming and light leakage is minimal and is confined to the very bottom of the screen. It is barely noticeable.
M90
F91907
Build:
It is solid without any creaks and moans. Opening and closing the screen causes no flex or weirdness in the panel. The magnesium alloy casing feels and looks top notch. I love the silver, black and graphite color scheme! It also feels pretty lightweight for a laptop of its size. Keyboard and touchpad perform as expected.
Performance:
It is very impressive as expected. 3d mark 05: 8396 and 3d mark 06: 4673
These were run right our of the box with no overclocking and stock dell drivers(based on 84.29 I think).
Gaming benchmarks were run using fraps:
Here are a few benchmarks with fear sp demo:
1600 x 1200 everything on max, performance, cpu, graphics with 2x anistropic. I ran these during the firefights as much as possible.
Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
7066 120000 23 131 58.883
Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
7282 120000 36 116 60.683
I ran these all stock with dell drivers.
This review of the 1710 they avged 59fps with same setup on fear.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/show....php?p=1344250.
--------------------------------------------------------------
bf2 benchmarks using fraps:
1920 x 1200 all on high w/ 4x aa
3x 120 sec min/ max/ avg benchmarks on 64 person server with 50 or so people playing:
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
6771, 120000, 41, 68, 56.425
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
7970, 120000, 41, 91, 66.417
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
6933, 120000, 41, 78, 57.775
Single Player mode:
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
8275, 120000, 48, 95, 68.958
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
7699, 120000, 19, 98, 64.158
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
6842, 120000, 32, 72, 57.017
It doesn’t get too hot even when under load. Another great thing about this laptop is that it is quiet..I mean very quiet. I will notice the hard drive seeking(100 gig 7200rpm hitatchi), but overall very impressive noise wise.
My unit shipped with the nec dual layer dvd burner and I will report back on performance, but I don’t see any reason to worry. I tested one dvd and it played fine..need to do some more testing.
The core duo is great for multitasking as advertised, but I need to rip some music and see how it does.
Wireless:
I bought mine without a wireless card and dropped a brand new intel 3945 pro wireless mini pci express card in. It has been nothing but a nightmare since I installed it. I tried all the drivers out there including the new ones. I let windows control it and then the intel interface and I made sure the power management settings were set to not power down. Nothing worked. It would connect for a while and then disconnect after a minute or so. I dropped the security from wpa2 back to wep and it improved slightly, but was still not normal. I even tried a new router as some were having luck after a router switch, but none of it has helped me.
There is a lot of info on the issues people are having with this card in core duo laptops so I am not the only one, but it sucks nonetheless. I have ordered a lenovo branded abg mini pci express card based on atheros chipset(5006 I think) so I will give it a shot.
D/Port Advanced Port Replicator
It works great and allows quick and easy connection to my fp1907. You will need to use the 130w power adapter that comes with your laptop instead of the 90w the replicator comes with. The more expensive d/ dock with pci slot comes with a 130w adaptor ao it may be a better deal depending on price.
Overall this laptop is very impressive, and if you want something that performs on par with the 1710, but can be pulled out in a business meeting then this is the one!! I will add more on battery life and sound in the coming days and hopefully have something worked out on the wireless issues.
From order placement to time of delivery was one week exactly. I bought thru the small business division since I had a 25% off coupon. Initially I wasn't sure if it would work on the m90, but low and behold it did. For $2381 I got 2.0, wuxga, 100gig 7200rpm hd, quadro fx2500m 512mb, nec dual layer burner and 512mb ram. I also received a free Dell fp1907 19 inch flat panel(yes it is the same one there has been controversy about due to them using different panels..I got the high end samsung one
). It was free due to a promo running in small business.I have since added 2 gigs ram and a 3945 Intel wireless card.
Screen:
I like it a lot. It is the matte variety, but it still has some gloss to it. See pics comparing it to the fp1907. There is no ghosting during gaming and light leakage is minimal and is confined to the very bottom of the screen. It is barely noticeable.
M90
F91907
Build:
It is solid without any creaks and moans. Opening and closing the screen causes no flex or weirdness in the panel. The magnesium alloy casing feels and looks top notch. I love the silver, black and graphite color scheme! It also feels pretty lightweight for a laptop of its size. Keyboard and touchpad perform as expected.
Performance:
It is very impressive as expected. 3d mark 05: 8396 and 3d mark 06: 4673
These were run right our of the box with no overclocking and stock dell drivers(based on 84.29 I think).
Gaming benchmarks were run using fraps:
Here are a few benchmarks with fear sp demo:
1600 x 1200 everything on max, performance, cpu, graphics with 2x anistropic. I ran these during the firefights as much as possible.
Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
7066 120000 23 131 58.883
Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
7282 120000 36 116 60.683
I ran these all stock with dell drivers.
This review of the 1710 they avged 59fps with same setup on fear.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/show....php?p=1344250.
--------------------------------------------------------------
bf2 benchmarks using fraps:
1920 x 1200 all on high w/ 4x aa
3x 120 sec min/ max/ avg benchmarks on 64 person server with 50 or so people playing:
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
6771, 120000, 41, 68, 56.425
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
7970, 120000, 41, 91, 66.417
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
6933, 120000, 41, 78, 57.775
Single Player mode:
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
8275, 120000, 48, 95, 68.958
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
7699, 120000, 19, 98, 64.158
Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
6842, 120000, 32, 72, 57.017
It doesn’t get too hot even when under load. Another great thing about this laptop is that it is quiet..I mean very quiet. I will notice the hard drive seeking(100 gig 7200rpm hitatchi), but overall very impressive noise wise.
My unit shipped with the nec dual layer dvd burner and I will report back on performance, but I don’t see any reason to worry. I tested one dvd and it played fine..need to do some more testing.
The core duo is great for multitasking as advertised, but I need to rip some music and see how it does.
Wireless:
I bought mine without a wireless card and dropped a brand new intel 3945 pro wireless mini pci express card in. It has been nothing but a nightmare since I installed it. I tried all the drivers out there including the new ones. I let windows control it and then the intel interface and I made sure the power management settings were set to not power down. Nothing worked. It would connect for a while and then disconnect after a minute or so. I dropped the security from wpa2 back to wep and it improved slightly, but was still not normal. I even tried a new router as some were having luck after a router switch, but none of it has helped me.
There is a lot of info on the issues people are having with this card in core duo laptops so I am not the only one, but it sucks nonetheless. I have ordered a lenovo branded abg mini pci express card based on atheros chipset(5006 I think) so I will give it a shot.
D/Port Advanced Port Replicator
It works great and allows quick and easy connection to my fp1907. You will need to use the 130w power adapter that comes with your laptop instead of the 90w the replicator comes with. The more expensive d/ dock with pci slot comes with a 130w adaptor ao it may be a better deal depending on price.
Overall this laptop is very impressive, and if you want something that performs on par with the 1710, but can be pulled out in a business meeting then this is the one!! I will add more on battery life and sound in the coming days and hopefully have something worked out on the wireless issues.
Great lappy 
that sucks
