Dell DTR Laptop Shootout - M1710 vs. E1705
by Jarred Walton on May 30, 2006 1:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Internal Construction
Dismantling your laptop is something that may void your warranty (especially if you break something), and we don't recommend it unless you have a specific need to do so. However, we find it interesting to see how these computers are put together, so we couldn't resist the urge to "pop the hood". One thing that becomes immediately clear is that these systems are not designed to be serviced by your typical home user. Cramming this much performance into a small case requires a lot of effort, so taking apart and assembling a laptop is generally far more difficult than working with your typical desktop computer. Difficult does not mean impossible, but you will need smaller screwdrivers and you will be working in a more restricted space. |
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The first step in taking apart either of these laptops is to remove the plastic panel at the top of the keyboard area. This can be pried off using a flathead screwdriver, though you'll want to be careful that you don't scratch the finish. (Dell recommends using a plastic tool to pry this off, but we didn't have one available.) Remove a couple of screws at the top of the keyboard and you can lift it out of the way. Before you actually remove the keyboard completely, you will have to disconnect the ribbon cable. Flip up the plastic clamp and the ribbon cable can easily be removed.
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Before you get any further into the internals, you need to remove the LCD. The first thing to do is disconnect the integrated WiFi antenna, which is found on the bottom beneath a small hatch. Color-coded wires (one black and one white) are attached to the mini-PCI WiFi card, and after prying these loose (carefully), return to the top of the system, disconnect the main display cable, and remove the four screws that hold the display panel in place.
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The final step before removing the remainder of the cover is to take out the 12 screws on the bottom of the case and six more screws on the top. There are also three cables connecting the cover to the motherboard that you will need to disconnect. Once all of the screws are removed, the plastic cover and trackpad can be removed. Plastic latches help hold the panel in place, so you will need to carefully pry the panel loose, after which you will have access to the CPU and graphics module.
In theory, it is possible to upgrade to graphics module with something faster, but you will need a Dell specific upgrade, and those are not generally available for retail purchase. You might be able to get an upgraded graphics card through Dell Spare Parts, though normally they only send out parts to replace faulty hardware. Perhaps if you have a friend with a better graphics chip that calls in for a replacement GPU....
One area that you can upgrade is the processor, which requires the removal of the heatsink, heat pipes, and fan in the top left of the system. There's not much point in performing this upgrade yourself right now, and we're also not sure how many new processors will be created that can run in these laptops. If it's possible to run Core Duo 2 (Merom) chips in these laptops in the future, that would definitely be interesting, but we have not received any official confirmation from Dell on the matter. You will definitely be able to use Core Solo/Duo chips from the Yonah family, and potentially Merom chips after a BIOS update. Whether such a BIOS update will be released or not is still a matter of speculation.
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sillyfox - Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - link
The laptop is rather a good laptop except for short battery lifeI would love to order one battery replacement from: DELL Inspiron E1705 Battery http://www.hunt360.net/inspiron-e1705.htm">http://www.hunt360.net/inspiron-e1705.htm
Mday - Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - link
I received my 1705 today. HORRIBLE backlight bleeding from the bottom and left side. Effectively the lower left corner is messed up. There is about a half inch border tapering to both corners on the bottom with the left corner having a similar effect moving up from the bottom.And backlight bleeding is not at all acceptable even if other models exhibit it. Minor bleeding is tolerable, but the one I received looks really bad.
jonbjerke - Monday, June 5, 2006 - link
I wish this article came out a month ago - I ordered my video card with the x1400. So far I haven't had any video issues - but the most advanced game I play is Civ4. Can you use the regular ATI Catalyst drivers, or do you need to wait for the Dell issued versions?Is there a FAQ somewhere on the upgrade options for video card/CPU?
Nfarce - Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - link
A month ago I bought a 1705 with coupon codes from Dealcatcher.com and paid about $1350 to the door. Here are the specs:- 1.83
- x1400
- 1GB 533
- 80GB 7200
- WUGXA
I wish I had waited for this article, because I realize the mistake of not upgrading to a GeForce Go chipset. Memory upgrade to 2GB 667 or a larger 7200 drive and then eBay the spare parts? No problem. However, I thought down the road I could just NewEgg a GeForce upgrade. Apparently, that's not so easy. This laptop is used primarily as a mobile DVD watching/office app/video-pic editing machine. The few games I have loaded are of older engines like Return To Castle Wolfenstein, so I'm not having issues with the x1400 performance whatsoever.
That said, the WUGXA display has issues with reflection (not mentioned in the review). It's like black glass. At night though, especially while on an airplane, watching a movie on such a wuparse resolution is the bomb, especially when others are eyeballing it.
I'm disappointed that the video upgrade is not as easy as expected, but hey, I can always eBay this thing. Besides, as the article mentioned for others, my real gaming systems are desktops. But for portable gaming for those like me who are stuck in hotels on biz trips, these ain't too shabby.
There is no true replacement for desktop power, and IMO, it will be a long time coming before (if) it ever happens. You can only pack so much power in a small package. Portability has it's limitations, as it always has
araczynski - Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - link
nice, but even if i was filthy rich i'd still have no use for it in terms of gaming, the only segment i see drooling on this is the one of college students, who typically don't have the luxury of large rooms where they can setup a real desktop solution (7.1 speakers, perhaps a projector, etc). They are also usually eager to get into debt.hardwareguy - Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - link
I don't really understand why you turned off the sound in some game benchmarks. No one in the real world is going to turn off the sound to get better frame rates. I could understand in a sound card test maybe, but not when you're just looking at a video card or laptop.RedStar - Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - link
On the Nvidia site:http://www.nvidia.com/page/go_7800gtx.html">http://www.nvidia.com/page/go_7800gtx.html
you will see that the ramdac is rated the same -- 400MHz NOT 260.
To me that is a serious underclock the same as apple did and got noted for.
Get the latest mobileforce drivers and you can get 366Mhz core optimum.
But with anandtech not even mentioning this and saying there are only 12 pixelpipes..when the reference data would seem to suggest otherwise, i need a definitive answer. I and a whole bunch of others have been trying to get the real deal on this laptop since january :)
What others:
well follow this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=3...">http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=3...
(prolly the best place to get info on the i9400/e1705)
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As to the person that said gamers who want DTR's is miniscule.... please! :)
Gamers very much do want to switch to laptops --and the latest lappies are starting to make that possible. Why sell gaming DTR versions (with a nice price premium) if there is no market for them? :))
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YES DELL has gotten a bad rap for support lately. That's why you buy several years of customer care warranty. You don't have to worry if something goes wrong. Paying for the kind of warranty that used to be free is but a sign of the current times for most companies.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - link
This laptop has the GeForce Go 7800... *NOT* the GTX version. Big difference right there. The Go 7800 GTX packs more pipelines (24/8 pixel/vertex). Also, reporting RAMDAC speed is totally useless: everyone has 400 MHz RAMDACs these days. RAMDACs are used for converting your digital signal into an analog signal for your monitor. What you really want to know is the core clock speeds and RAM clock speeds.Dell could have used faster RAM and increased the core clock, but it would have been at the cost of battery life, heat, power requirements, and possibly stability. Whereas NVIDIA's reference chart indicates that the 7800 Go can have 1100 MHz RAM, the E1705 sets the RAM at 658 MHz. The core? NVIDIA reports 400 MHz and 16 pixel pipelines/6 vertex. Dell runs at 250 MHz, which makes it very slow. You can always try overclocking, of course, voltmodding, etc. If you get the core up to 400 MHz, it would be much better for gaming and possibly would make the 7900 GS less necessary. The GPU RAM speed is still going to be a limiting factor.
RedStar - Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - link
i know it is the not the gtx version. Which is why i said the go 7800 and not the go 7800gtx :)from the only stats i could find at the time, i assumed that the go 7800 would be very much like the 7800 GT.
as you can see from the link...the go 7800 is rated at a core of 400 NOT 260!
:)
JarredWalton - Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - link
NVIDIA's rating of 400 MHz does not mean manufacturers have to run it that fast. The thermal spec of a 400 MHz G70 is going to be substantially higher than that of a 250 MHz version. If the laptop capable of handling such a graphics card? Almost certainly, but you would need to upgrade the power brick to the 130 W model if you want to be safe -- the current design already comes close to 90 W peak power draw, and increasing GPU clock speeds by 60% will almost certainly push it over the 90 W mark.