My first XPS2 was a bust. Locking up constantly in all games after a minute or so. I called Dell trying to get a replacement for over 18 hours on the phone with hangups, hold for 45minutes then hungup on transfers etc.
That being said I can semi look past that as I know they have grown bigger than their britches and are working on the issues. My previous experince with AW was terrible and I cant forgive them. Reason is they PREACH the customer service and exploit it on their website and adds, but they do not live up their marketing hype. They only thing i can say about my AW7700 experience is I bitched enough they didnt charge me a restocking fee.
The laptop-
XPS2
Build- Dell has simply out designed any other laptop out their. The heatpipes for cooling and M chip and Ultra card are simplay a unbeatable combination. It is a very solid feeling laptop and built very well. It is a work of art IMO with the LCD casing aluminum and LED lights that glow a bright XPS when on. The two tone is very nice looking and their is NO picture does this laptop any justice. Itis beutiful in person. I liek the LED's makes it look very cool as a modded notebook would look. The DellQuickset software is excellent in controlling almost every aspect of the notebook. You can control led color, brightness, power settings everything.
XPS2 seem very light in weight compared to the monsterous 7700.
Screen-A lot of people complain about light leaks and some "sparkle" thing. Well this is my second XPS2 and I did not have sparkle on neither. Maybe it is just me or I got lucky. My first screen had slight leak at the bottom. This new laptop has virtually no leaks or sparkle or any flaw i can see. In my opinion it is perfect. Anyone debating getting a XPS2 because all they read about the LCD, just order it and see for yourself before trying to judge off other peoples comments.
My AW7700 has 2 stuck pixels. I have read many 7700 owners get stuck or dead pixel screens, more so than Dell owners.
Gaming- Okay finally had some time to play today. I took it out fo the backpack (took it to work lastnight). Booted it up started playing COD (best game on the planet). Played for right at an hour then it went in to standby!!! I was like WTF!
DID NOT EVEN NOTICE IT WAS RUNNING ON BATTERY! HAHAH This damn thing was playing smooth as silk in 1900x1200 with all details maxed on battery for about an hour and 15 minutes ONLINE MULTIPLAYER!!! I did not even notice! I noticed even smoother action when I plugged it up and ewent back to my server! I'm simply amazed at how fast this thing is and the battery life! This included installing creative labs pcmcia audigy drivers, rebooting, installing uodated drivers and rebooting again. Thats three reboots total i did and surfed the net for about 15 minutes, then played cod online for about and hour and 15 minutes. I also tried BIA. Set it to 1900x1200 and maxed it out and it runs smooth as silk with NO lags or hesitation. After playing COD, BIA for little over 2 hours today the machine was barley warm, not even close to being hot.
My AW7700 would have been dead after just two reboots! Plus their is NOWAY the AW7700 will run games on battery. I tired playing COD on battery and it was unplayable because the machine throttle down. On top of that after 2 reboots and trying to tweak and play games on battery it would be dead after about 30-45 minutes. Plus trying toplay a agme on the 7700 after about 20-30 minutes it is HOT I mean hot to where you can't put your wrist on the left palm rest (where the video card is).
I would suggest installing 76.44 drivers from laptopvideo2go.com andnot use the Dell drivers. They just seem to run games smoother. I did format and reload as I do all my machines. Very simple witht he supplied Drivers disk from Dell. Only thing I did not install was Dell's video driver.
The feeling I get formt he machine is great. The quality/build is bar none the best I think. I have has a Sony, AW, HP and compaq laptop and this ranks above them I feel. Dell as done a great job with designing a custom modded looking laptop that should appeal to gamers, tweakers and modders.
Conclusion/recap-The quality compared to the 7700, well their is no comparison. The quality over the AW770 Clevo clone is mucg better. As everyone knows heat is the #1 killer of PC parts and the heat that the 7700 throws off I can't see it lasting more then a year or two before thermal cycling gets it. the XPS2 barley gets warm. I think my XPS2 screen is better than the AW screen, simply for resolution, colors and brightness. Just have to learn to tweak the XPS2 a little. The battery life and weight burry the 7700. Yeah AW might eventually get a Ultra card or somehting a tad fatser, but the other factors that are weight in I fell it simply will still not be on par with the XPS2. Dell's inginuity is simply awesome in this machine. The engineers have done a tremendous job.
Simply the XPS2 bitch slaps the AW7700 in every aspect.
The pictures DO NO JUSTICE TO THE SCREEN OR LAPTOP IN ANYWAY. the lighting sucked in the room and I was in a hurry to take the pictures. The screen is not leaking harldy at all, barley noticeable on the bottom. The problem is I used a 10-22mm very wide angle lens and exposure was bad because lighting etc.
That being said I can semi look past that as I know they have grown bigger than their britches and are working on the issues. My previous experince with AW was terrible and I cant forgive them. Reason is they PREACH the customer service and exploit it on their website and adds, but they do not live up their marketing hype. They only thing i can say about my AW7700 experience is I bitched enough they didnt charge me a restocking fee.
The laptop-
XPS2
Build- Dell has simply out designed any other laptop out their. The heatpipes for cooling and M chip and Ultra card are simplay a unbeatable combination. It is a very solid feeling laptop and built very well. It is a work of art IMO with the LCD casing aluminum and LED lights that glow a bright XPS when on. The two tone is very nice looking and their is NO picture does this laptop any justice. Itis beutiful in person. I liek the LED's makes it look very cool as a modded notebook would look. The DellQuickset software is excellent in controlling almost every aspect of the notebook. You can control led color, brightness, power settings everything.
XPS2 seem very light in weight compared to the monsterous 7700.
Screen-A lot of people complain about light leaks and some "sparkle" thing. Well this is my second XPS2 and I did not have sparkle on neither. Maybe it is just me or I got lucky. My first screen had slight leak at the bottom. This new laptop has virtually no leaks or sparkle or any flaw i can see. In my opinion it is perfect. Anyone debating getting a XPS2 because all they read about the LCD, just order it and see for yourself before trying to judge off other peoples comments.
My AW7700 has 2 stuck pixels. I have read many 7700 owners get stuck or dead pixel screens, more so than Dell owners.
Gaming- Okay finally had some time to play today. I took it out fo the backpack (took it to work lastnight). Booted it up started playing COD (best game on the planet). Played for right at an hour then it went in to standby!!! I was like WTF!
DID NOT EVEN NOTICE IT WAS RUNNING ON BATTERY! HAHAH This damn thing was playing smooth as silk in 1900x1200 with all details maxed on battery for about an hour and 15 minutes ONLINE MULTIPLAYER!!! I did not even notice! I noticed even smoother action when I plugged it up and ewent back to my server! I'm simply amazed at how fast this thing is and the battery life! This included installing creative labs pcmcia audigy drivers, rebooting, installing uodated drivers and rebooting again. Thats three reboots total i did and surfed the net for about 15 minutes, then played cod online for about and hour and 15 minutes. I also tried BIA. Set it to 1900x1200 and maxed it out and it runs smooth as silk with NO lags or hesitation. After playing COD, BIA for little over 2 hours today the machine was barley warm, not even close to being hot.
My AW7700 would have been dead after just two reboots! Plus their is NOWAY the AW7700 will run games on battery. I tired playing COD on battery and it was unplayable because the machine throttle down. On top of that after 2 reboots and trying to tweak and play games on battery it would be dead after about 30-45 minutes. Plus trying toplay a agme on the 7700 after about 20-30 minutes it is HOT I mean hot to where you can't put your wrist on the left palm rest (where the video card is).
I would suggest installing 76.44 drivers from laptopvideo2go.com andnot use the Dell drivers. They just seem to run games smoother. I did format and reload as I do all my machines. Very simple witht he supplied Drivers disk from Dell. Only thing I did not install was Dell's video driver.
The feeling I get formt he machine is great. The quality/build is bar none the best I think. I have has a Sony, AW, HP and compaq laptop and this ranks above them I feel. Dell as done a great job with designing a custom modded looking laptop that should appeal to gamers, tweakers and modders.
Conclusion/recap-The quality compared to the 7700, well their is no comparison. The quality over the AW770 Clevo clone is mucg better. As everyone knows heat is the #1 killer of PC parts and the heat that the 7700 throws off I can't see it lasting more then a year or two before thermal cycling gets it. the XPS2 barley gets warm. I think my XPS2 screen is better than the AW screen, simply for resolution, colors and brightness. Just have to learn to tweak the XPS2 a little. The battery life and weight burry the 7700. Yeah AW might eventually get a Ultra card or somehting a tad fatser, but the other factors that are weight in I fell it simply will still not be on par with the XPS2. Dell's inginuity is simply awesome in this machine. The engineers have done a tremendous job.
Simply the XPS2 bitch slaps the AW7700 in every aspect.
The pictures DO NO JUSTICE TO THE SCREEN OR LAPTOP IN ANYWAY. the lighting sucked in the room and I was in a hurry to take the pictures. The screen is not leaking harldy at all, barley noticeable on the bottom. The problem is I used a 10-22mm very wide angle lens and exposure was bad because lighting etc.
