New Additions to the Dell XPS Family: High Performance & Gamer Ready.

With their XPS notebooks Dell has tried to satisfy just about everyone and the three notebooks in the range may indeed do just that. The Dell XPS M1330 is the smallest Dell Notebook. At only 13.3 inches and starting at just 2.2 kgs this notebook is not difficult to cart around. The Dell XPS M1330 also features a flexible LCD screen (which you can upgrade), an HDMI output for both audio and video, 2 USB ports and a slot loading DVD drive as standard. The touchpad is a little on the small side but the Dell XPS M1330 does feature a full size keypad. The graphics card, an NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS, decodes HD video but it is less satisfactory when it comes to gaming.

The Dell XPS M1730 is a notebook for the serious gamer. Not only does this notebook contain SLI graphics cards, allowing parallel graphics processing, it also contains an AGEIA PhysX card, the first notebook to do so. This seriously ramps up the amount of physics available during gameplay. Despite the innovations, this Dell laptop does not include an HDMI port. The screen is high definition and the speakers are good if a little light on the bass. Perhaps the biggest downside to this notebook is the size. It weighs 5 kgs, which goes up to a whopping 6.5 kg with the power brick. The weight is not superfluous, the laptop also includes dual 160 GB hard drives and a DVD re-writer. So if you are looking for a decent desktop replacement with excellent gaming performance the Dell XPS M1730 will definitely do the trick. While not exactly a cheap laptop, its performance and flexibility make it worth it.

The Dell XPS M1530 is the middle child of the Dell notebook range. It is a notebook designed to be all things to all users. It performs well when used for gaming, only trumped by the Dell XPS M1730 in graphics performance. Where this machine comes into its own is in its multiple output capacity. Not only is there an HDMI output there is also a S-video output for projectors and a VGA-out if you want to use an external monitor. Like the Dell XPS M1730 the sound leaves a little to be desired. An external keyboard is also recommended if you are a serious gamer. The keypad is full sized but the layout is not standard, which may cause some problems.

All the Dell Notebooks feature Core 2 Duo processors, which are snappy with Windows Vista, and generally perform well in testing. They can be upgraded to almost three GHz processing speed in some cases. Unlike other PC notebooks the Dell XPS notebooks are reasonably quiet and they don’t get too hot.

When it comes to notebook computers the battery life can be an issue. The performance of the laptop battery in the Dell XPS range is generally good although the XPS M1730 is the worst performer by far lasting just over an hour. The XPS M1330 should have enough battery to watch a DVD and more than enough for word processing and the occasional wireless surfing. The XPS M1530 lasted about an hour and a half of our DVD test. Laptop batteries can be upgraded.

While not necessarily cheap laptops, like all notebooks in the Dell range, how much you want to spend relies largely on what features you want to have. You can upgrade your notebook to your specifications including adding a blu-ray drive. All notebooks come with DVD/CD capacity and Dell’s own MediaDirect software, which allows you to view multimedia content without loading Windows Vista. Certainly when it comes to small laptops the Dell XPS M1330 notebook punches above its weight but there is something in the Dell XPS range to satisfy everyone.