Dell DTR Laptop Shootout - M1710 vs. E1705
by Jarred Walton on May 30, 2006 1:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Gaming Performance: Battlefield 2
Moving on to the games, first up, we have results from Battlefield 2. We're still using the 1.22 patch, but we hope to upgrade to the 1.30 version in the near future. Performance shouldn't be radically different, however. Testing was done on the Operation Clean Sweep map, with 16 players.
Already, the difference between the XPS M1710 and the other two laptops is clear. Battlefield 2 is generally more CPU limited than many other games, but it still requires a reasonably fast graphics card when running at high detail settings and high resolution. The X1400 does not provide a playable experience at any of the tested resolutions, and even reducing the details to low quality doesn't help much. Your best bet would be to run at 960x600 resolution with reduced detail settings, but a better recommendation would be to get a faster GPU if you actually want a laptop that can handle 3D games.
We have also provided benchmarks with sound enabled, shown in green. Only the XPS M1710 is really impacted by enabling sound, as the other configurations are entirely GPU limited. We won't comment much on the sound results on the remaining games, as they basically continue this pattern. Unless your CPU is the performance bottleneck, decoding the sound effects in games will rarely affect frame rates.
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Gary Key - Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - link
Jarred will be reviewing these in the near future.tthiel - Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - link
I've been issued plenty of Dell laptops at the various companies I have worked for and they were all cheap plasticky junk. I've lost track of how many died on me. I was just given a new Thinkpad T43P and it is much better. Very well made, rock solid. So many of the engineers where I work wanted those instead of Dells that they had to restructure the ordering process and images to take care of all the new Thinkpads.JarredWalton - Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - link
I've heard about problems with ThinkPads now that Lenovo has taken over. (I haven't used any personally, so I can't say for sure.) I have also used many of the older Inspiron models, and have been unimpressed. These are definitely in a different league, however -- the cheap plastic case (at least on top) has been replaced by aluminum, for example. The problem is that most businesses don't buy higher end Dell laptops; they go with the more value oriented offerings, and whenever prices cut you can be sure that quality is cut as well.We're hoping to expand our mobile coverage in the future, so this is merely the beginning. As time goes on, we'll have more products that we can directly compare new offerings with. For now, I'm generally impressed with what the E1705 offers. Impressed enough that I recommended one to a family member, after browsing around looking for a suitable equivalent. Getting a large laptop with a 17 inch (or larger) display, 1920x1200 resolution, dual core processor, etc. is pretty difficult right now. Getting one with 2 GB of RAM for $2300 is even more difficult. Not everyone wants a laptop this large, certainly, but for those that do the E1705 is quite good.
jenson - Monday, January 7, 2013 - link
when cheap laptops really got a good shake, with many models looking and behaving a lot more like their costly cousins than in the past.