Dell XPS 17 (L702X) Review

The Dell XPS 17 L702X is a desktop replacement style laptop that is powered by an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and Nvidia dedicated graphics.  The XPS 17 L702X can be configured and purchased on Dell.com starting at $899 for the entry level configuration.  You are able to configure the XPS 17 to your hearts delight, doing so causes the price to quickly ramp up with all of the options and upgrades that are available with this model.  As such, the XPS 17 can be configured as a mid-class desktop replacement style laptop or a fully tricked out gaming machine.  The XPS 17 cannot be configured as powerfully as Dell’s more powerful and expensive Alienware m17x, but it can still run modern games on mid to high settings if you configure it with Nvidia GT 555m graphics and a Core i7 processor.  This review involves a more modest configuration, or “budget” setup of the XPS 17 if you will.  Below are the specs of the XPS 17 under review:

• Model: Dell XPS 17 (L702X)
• Processor: 2nd generation Intel Core i5-2410M processor 2.30 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
• Memory: 6GB,DDR3,2 DIMM
• Screen: 17.3 in HD+ WLED TL (1600×900) with 2.0MP HD webcam
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M 1GB graphics with Optimus
• Storage: 640GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
• OS: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
• Optical Drive: 8X Tray Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
• Speakers: JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3
• Wireless: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000
• Battery: 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
• Webcam: 2.0MP HD with single digital mic
• Ports: Mini DisplayPort (1), 2 total USB 3.0, 2 total USB 2.0 (1 / 1 eSATA/powershare combo), Ethernet LAN (RJ45), HDMI 1.4, Audio jacks:headphone(2 total) with SPID/F support (1), 1 Mic-in
• Weight: 7.41lbs
• Dimensions: 16.3″ x 11.3” x 1.3” – 1.5” (Width x Depth x Height)
• Price as configured: $699 (on sale)

The Intel Core i5-2410m processor can be overclocked to 2.90GHz when necessary using the TurboBoost feature. The graphics can be switched between Intel HD3000 and Nvidia GeForce GT550M depending on what applications you are running, obviously anything gaming related will lean on the Nvidia card to get things done. When you switch to web surfing and Office productivity apps the Intel graphics will suffice and help to save battery life.

Dell XPS 17 (L702X) Video Overview

I put together a short video to just review the components, design and ports you get with the XPS 17, click the play button below to watch:

Dell XPS 17 Packaging

The XPS 17 arrived in an all black shipping box, which is one design step up from a typical brown Dell box.

Inside you find a black box with the power cord and adapter inside, the XPS 17 itself braced between Styrofoam inserts and wrapped in a black cloth, and then documentation and disks inside cardboard sleeve. Overall the presentation is nice, though not on par with the HP Envy 17 I recently did an unboxing of.

Once you remove all of the packaging you’re left with the XPS 17 with a bunch of protective stickers on, the power cord wrapped up and secured with twisty ties, and a sleeve of disks.

Design and Build

I’ve heard it said that the XPS 17 looks somewhat frumpy with its design, I can’t say I disagree. It just doesn’t look as sleek and cool as the competing HP Envy 17. It’s a big laptop and it doesn’t try to hide it, the curves are exaggerated and it makes it look like a bumper car or VW Beetle.  Not that I’d prefer sharp cornered edges, but the curves at the top of the screen are almost reminiscent of the fruit colored Apple iBook.

The colors used on the XPS 17 don’t exactly excite.  The lid is made of aluminum and silver in color.  Inside the keyboard area has a brushed metal look and then a black trim around the edges.  The case is made of a mix of aluminum and plastic, the aluminum portion doesn’t have the same sheen as the aluminum on the HP Envy or MacBook Pro so the overall design effect is not as impressive. The aluminum does at least add to the overall build quality, the laptop feels solid and there’s little flex in the chassis.

The XPS L702X got an updated keyboard in the form of a chiclet style design.  This means that each key is an island and stands by itself and you see the keyboard tray plastic in between each key.  The plastic tray is glossy and shiny and tends to show dirt and dust, this can get annoying.

One design touch that does really help the XPS 17 is the backlit keyboard:

Not only does the keyboard backlighting offer a nice design touch, it also contributes to usability making the keyboard much easier to see in the dark. Notice that you also get a number pad on the keyboard due to its spacious size.

XPS 17 Performance

I mentioned before that the specific configuration of the XPS 17 under review is not earth shattering in terms of specs.  The configuration I have is more of a desktop replacement style mid range laptop than than a gaming rig.   The Nvidia 550m card I have is rated as a fast middle class graphics card.  A lot of people ask about getting the Nvidia 555m Vs. 550m, the GT 555m is a $150 upgrade for the XPS 17 and comes with 3GB of dedicated RAM.  The 555m card will give you in the range of 10 – 15% better performance and scores for 3D related benchmarks.  The 3GB of RAM is kind of wasted as a graphics card of this class can’t really utilize that amount of RAM.  Whether this graphics card improvement is worth $150 to you is really based on individual needs, to me it seems like a steep sum to pay for not a whole lot of gain.

I think the bigger question comes with the processor and whether the upgrade to an Intel Core i7 over the i5, a $190 upgrade, is worth the price.  If you really need performance and want to do some gaming, I’d say it definitely is.  However, if you just want to use the XPS 17 as a desktop replacement for productivity, some entertainment and have little need for 3D performance then a Core i5 processor will do just fine.

I ran some benchmarks and found that the more capably configured Envy 17 whipped the XPS 17 we have, but that system cost $500 more.

While the benchmarks aren’t impressive on this XPS 17 configuration, remember the price was a budget level $699 and not at all high end. The XPS 17 offers a lot of upgrade options and it also has dual drive bays so you can easily put in an SSD after market.

In terms of perceived performance in every day use, the XPS 17 was snappy and there was generally no lag.  Watching HD movies provides very smooth playback and didn’t cause the system to break a sweat.  The bootup and program opening could certainly be helped if an SSD were used.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard on the XPS 17 is full sized and very spacious, it offers a built-in number pad which will appeal to accountant and other number cruncher types.  The older L701X XPS 17 had a regular keyboard while the XPS 17 L702X has a chiclet style keyboard design.  These days it’s hard to find a laptop that doesn’t have a chiclet style design, so for the most part by day this will just look like any other keyboard.  However, by night the keyboard backlighting will kick in and the effect is impressive, transforming an also ran looking keyboard into a sleek and cool looking keyboard.  I can’t emphasize how handy it is to have keyboard backlighting, it makes it easy to find those hard to see keys such as Page Up and Page Down, even if you’re a touch typist it’s hard to master finding every key without looking down.

The keyboard feel on the XPS 17 is nice.  There is no sag to the keyboard, it’s very firm feeling.  The travel of the keys is somewhat short, that’s good for fast typists with a light touch but not so good if you really like hammering at keys and feel them go in like myself.  The tactile feedback of each key is decent, though not as good as the ThinkPad X220 keyboard I use as an everyday laptop.  On the whole the XPS 17 keyboard gets a solid passing grade of a B.

The touchpad is provided by Synaptics.  I had to disable the pinch to zoom feature that was automatically enabled, it seemed to be overly enthusiastic and would now and again zoom in the screen even when I was only using one finger.  Meanwhile the two finger scroll wouldn’t work no matter what I did.  For the most part the touchpad worked ok for normal usage, i.e. moving the cursor, but advanced features were hit or miss.

The mouse buttons on the other hand were great.  They are a good size, have the perfect amount of travel and in general are just easy to use and feel great.

I’m a big fan of the touchpad and mouse buttons so far. The mouse pad is very responsive, much more so than the touchpad on the HP Envy 17. In addition, the mouse buttons are nice and easy to push, with great travel and feedback.

Input and Output Ports

The port selection on the XPS 17 is impressive, you get all the latest port technologies:

On the left side you get a USB 2.0 port at the back and media card reader at the front

On the right side you get the optical drive, either DVD Burner or Blu-Ray

Zooming in on the ports at the back you can see two headphone jacks, one microphone and an eSATA / USB combo port

On the back right side you get two USB 3.0 ports and the power jack

On the back left side you get a mini DisplayPort, HDMI and Ethernet RJ45 port

I usually don’t like having a lot of ports on the back of a laptop, but with a desktop replacement style laptop it makes sense because most people will be keeping this on a desk with accessories permanently plugged in and don’t need to be reached or pulled out frequently.

XPS 17 Screen

The XPS 17 can be configured with either the standard 1600 x 900 screen or for $100 more a higher resolution 1920 x 1080 display.  For those that want to get higher frame rates and better performance when gaming the lower resolution screen will actually be the better choice.  If you’re interested in high resolution 1080p HD movie watching in all its glory then the 1920 x 1080 upgrade will be worth it.  The other advantage to the 1080p display is you can fit more on the screen, thus making you more productive with less scrolling.  If you have poor eye sight then the text size might be too small, so be careful with your decision on the resolution.

The colors on the XPS 17 screen really pop, it provides for a great movie viewing experience.   The colors are enhanced by use of a glossy screen.  The glossy finish helps to enhance colors, but the downside is that it causes screen reflections that can lead to eye strain.

Viewing angles on the XPS 17 horizontally are very good, meaning if you’re off to the side colors hold true.  Vertical viewing angles are not as great, this is typical of TN panel technology screens like the XPS 17 has.

You’ll notice in the pictures above that when the screen is tilted back colors tend to invert and lose clarity.  Of course, if you view the screen straight on there are no issues.

Screen brightness is perfectly adequate, at the top level the screen is very bright, I had to keep it a couple of notches down from the brightest level for comfortable viewing.

Heat & Noise

The XPS 17 is a large and powerful laptop and such machines have a reputation for being hot and noisy.  This is not the case with L702X, the fan at the back does a good job of carrying heat away from anywhere your hands may fall, the keyboard and palm rest stays cool to the touch.  When you start to play games and peg the processor and graphics card the fan will get noisy, it’s the only choice you have to keep the machine cool.  Under more normal usage such as web surfing and using MS Office the heat stays to a minimum and the fan will not sound like a dust buster, in fact it’s barely audible in a room with ambient noise.

Speakers

The speakers on the XPS L702X certainly stand out relative to your typical laptop.  The fact you get a subwoofer means you’re in a rarefied field of laptops that include such a feature, you actually get some bass!  The speakers are JBL branded and definitely get loud enough to fill a room.  These are some of the best laptop speakers I’ve heard in a long time, but with that said for the best possible audio experience you’ll still want to plug in a high quality pair of headphones.  The XPS 17 offers to headphone ports if you have somebody next to you that wants to listen in on a movie as well.

Conclusion

The XPS 17 doesn’t look as appealing design wise as the competing HP Envy 17, but it starts at a lower price and has certain features that may appeal to some like a built-in subwoofer and choice of 1600 x 900 or 1920 x 1080 screen.   There are a slew of upgrade options on the XPS L702X, you can get up to a Core i7 Quad Core processor, 3D capable screen, touch screen, Nvidia GT 555m graphics and an SSD.  It’s easy to make after market upgrades on the XPS 17 as it has two hard drive bays that are easily accessible via a bottom panel.  The 2 memory slots are also accessible under this same panel for easy RAM upgrade.

My main complaint with the XPS 17 is that it starts at a reasonable price but the upgrades are all very expensive.  After making a few choice upgrades the laptop can quickly reach the $1,500 price point and at that point I’d be looking at either the HP Envy 17 or Alienware m17x as more attractive laptops at that price.  Still, there’s a lot to like about the XPS L702X, it’s got a high quality build and Dell gives good support to the XPS brand so you can buy with confidence if you determine this laptop has all the right features for your needs.

Pros

• Starts at a reasonable price of around $800
• Nice build quality, solid feeling case
• Backlit keyboard
• Excellent JBL speakers, subwoofer

Cons

• Cost of upgrades is expensive
• Nvidia Graphics card is not powerful enough for running latest games in high detail
• Design is nothing special

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