Dell had better "leak" info about the 17" M1330 quick...

210 points posted to Monitors and Displays, New Product Ideas, Sales Strategies by lorax1284 09/08/07

Both the Precision M6300 and XPS M1730 lack both the technological advancements and industrial design of the M1330.

Neither are suitable options for me, the enthusiast power user, willing to pay for a 'no compromises' desktop replacement notebook.

The lack of LED backlit screen on the two new models, the port placement / no port replicator on the M1730 and the 'retro styling' of the Precision M6300 underwhelm.

If either HP or Toshiba get their act together and produce a 17" Santa Rosa notebook that's got the right combination of features, looks, and power, my fourth notebook purchase will be the first that's not a Dell.

But if I heard that a 17" M1330-style machine was in the pipe... I just might have to hold off on making my buying decision just yet.

While I'm at it, here is the ultimate feature set:
* Thin LED backlit screen a-la M1330
* Powerful CPUs in Santa Rosa-based CPU, with an eye to the new 45 nm chips coming out in 2008
* Full keyboard WITH numeric keypad a-la I1720
* optionally backlit keyboard (not my big thing, personally)
* powerful GPU options with Dual-Link support for resolutions > 1920 x 1200
* Non-Slot-Loading optical disk drive (I personally think slot-loading is one more mechanical failure possibility)
* HDMI or DVI + VGA outputs
* FireWire port (for connecting those Digital Video cameras)
* LOTS of USB ports: at least 6, 8 would not be excessive
* eSATA port(s)
* Gigabit wired ethernet
* modem option (if not built-in)
* MOST PORTS ON BACK OF MACHINE. ESPECIALLY VIDEO, NETWORK, POWER, eSATA, USB.
* ExpressCard Slot
* SD / MMC / xD slot
* Side ports for USB / card reader / ExpressCard
* Wireless A + B + G + N (upgradable to final N standard when ratified)
* Bluetooth
* Sure, go ahead and offer an SSD hard drive, I guess you could offer them on any notebook now.
* Decent sound system (multi-channel audio outputs via dongle if needed, to get analog surround sound out of the thing!)
* Choice of Win XP / Vista / No Os / Ubuntu / Linux
* DOCKING STATION, hopefully for the standard D/Dock
* if it can be thin like the M1330, great, but I'm more about capability, power, and style, and I accept that a 'desktop replacement' won't necessarily be thin and light

I don't think there's anything listed there that's impossible to cram into a single 17" machine, I don't think there's anything in this list that enthusiast / power users would NOT want: besides, there are other inspiron / latitude / XPS / precision / vostro notebooks available to meet other needs.

I'd pay $500 more for this machine than a comparably equipped M1730, for the style, port-placement and advanced LCD alone.