14 DAY TRIAL // Dell is reportedly planning a graphics update to its XPS notebook series. The news comes right after the company disclosed that some of its XPS notebook and desktop offerings will not be available anymore.
According to the company, the first series of products to get the graphics update will be the 17-inch XPS M1730 gaming notebooks. Dell also claims that the upgrade will replace the dual 8700M GT graphics with the more powerful dual 8800M GTX GPUs, which should bring a significant performance boost in playing the latest gaming titles.
Dell has two scenarios regarding the graphics update. While XPS users who enjoy tinkering with their notebooks could ask for a do-it-yourself kit, the rest of the users should require an installation package.
"An upgrade solution is in the works, and will hopefully be released later this month. From what I've seen, there will be two options, one with an installation package, and one do-it-yourself kit for those die-hard techies", writes John Blain, Dell's Consumer and Gaming Liaison on the company blog.
However, upgrading the graphics using a do-it-yourself kit is expected to be a painful task, as the notebook is held together by a large number of screws.
"Considering the number of screws holding this beast together, most people will probably want the installation, but the do-it-yourself kit will be appealing to people like me that like playing with computer innards. The price of these upgrades is yet to be determined", he continued.
However, users who upgrade their graphics to the dual 8800M GTX GPUs will have to do without Dell's MediaDirect 3.3 technology. MediaDirect is a proprietary technology that allows customers to watch DVD movies, slideshows, or listen to music even before booting up the operating system. The specific code is located on an additional partition and can be accessed by simply pressing the MediaDirect button.
"Media Direct incompatibility means that the MediaDirect software needs to be upgraded. Unfortunately, the upgrade will require a reformat and reinstallation. Beyond that, it will also require you to repartition the hard disk to make room for the new version of MediaDirect, which is a bit larger", said Dell.