The m1710s build quality is crap, its on par with the 9200, 9300, m170, and the 9400 from going from an ASUS Z71V to a DELL 9300 to an XPS M1710 i can tell you while Dell has the better graphics card their systems are so poorly designed now its incredible. The ASUS i had the Z71V was such a tight system it was actually portable. You see these two paper thin peices for the Dell the Palm rest is thin and the base peice is very thin with some structure support here and there but not much...this really isnt a portable laptop. My old ASUS i still have i was going to sell it, it has a 6600GT which actually was as fast as the 9300's 6800. I find myself bringing that thing on trips and using the m1710 as a regular computer.
Just my 2 cents... one little hole is definetly to be expected.. and also its obvious to most but just mentioning it the XPS M1710 is the same build as their 9400 no difference except a better graphics card, different color, pretty lights and maybe tighter hinges so the LCD doesnt pivot as much is the only thing i really noticed.
Dell builds up the important stuff like system specs and goes as cheap as they can where they think it wont matter sweeping all those problems under the carpet but i bet their average system life has decreased a huge amount. I held my old Inspiron 1000 the other day, i sold it to a friend that laptop is such a tighter build then my dell now, that old 1000 was as tight my ASUS. What happened Dell is Compaq now with a bigger focus on 3d power. Dell really has gone down the tubes with building a good laptop, and before you say they buld a great one go out and test the other guys they have come a long way, the latest HP i looked at looked better then my dell...not strong enough 3d power thats the Dell Edge they have.
