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Entered CNET Catalog: 02/13/2007
SKU: DYCWLS3
Manufacturer: Dell, Inc.
Product summary
The good: High-end components in a compact chassis; long battery life; comfortable keyboard.
The bad: Heavy and a bit bulky for a 12-inch laptop; disappointing gaming scores; high-end configurations options are expensive.
The bottom line: Upgraded to Windows Vista, the Dell XPS M1210 is a pricey but powerful system for those who want a smaller laptop with few compromises.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 02/21/2007
High-end components and performance are generally restricted to midsize and larger laptops, so it's always nice to see a smaller system aimed at power users. The $2,329 Dell XPS M1210 (configurations start at $1,299) makes the move to Windows Vista, combining power and portability in a package that lives on the outskirts of the ultraportable category. While it's not for hard-core gamers, those who need above-average performance in a compact system won't mind paying a premium for this unique road-worthy hybrid.
The 12.1-inch wide-screen display leads us to call the M1210 an ultraportable laptop, but its 4.9-pound weight (5.2 pounds with the AC adapter) is closer to a laptop in the thin-and-light category, such as the Sony VAIO C150. Measuring 11.7 inches wide by 8.7 inches deep by 1.2 inches high, it's slightly bulkier than your average ultraportable, but still well suited for a daily commute.
The XPS M1210 features a bright 12.1-inch display that's fine for surfing the Web and watching media files, although a slightly larger 13.3-inch screen as found on the Asus W7J is the smallest display we'd want to use on an everyday basis. The crisp 1,280x800 native resolution strikes a fine balance between legible text and icons and screen real estate. Sitting above the display is a 1.3-megapixel Webcam; the camera rotates 180 degrees, as if on a rotisserie spit, so you can grab images from both the front and rear of the laptop.
The full-size keyboard on the XPS M1210 makes typing comfortable for even extended periods. The touch pad and mouse buttons are small but functional, with both horizontal and vertical scroll zones. A set of illuminated buttons sit along the front edge, including volume and media transport controls. They're handy when watching DVDs or listening to music, but they're far too easy to accidentally hit when typing, especially if the laptop is actually sitting on your lap.
The M1210 includes a decent set of ports and connections for such a small system. You get four USB 2.0 ports, four-pin FireWire, VGA, and S-Video-out ports, two headphone jacks (a welcome extra) and a mic jack; there's also an ExpressCard slot and a media card reader. Networking options include modem, Ethernet, and 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and WWAN.
Typical for Dell systems, the XPS M1210 is highly configurable to suit a wide range of budgets and needs. Our review unit arrived fairly tricked out, including a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 CPU, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 120GB hard drive running at 5,400rpm, a Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 GPU, and M1210 we looked back in June 2006, this model costs about the same trades up to a Core 2 Duo CPU from a Core Dup and doubles the RAM.
To cut the $3,000 price by more than half, you could go with the default configuration, which trades down to a 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 CPU, 1GB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive, integrated graphics, and Windows Vista Home Premium. That's still a decent set of specs, if you're more interested in the M1210's size and features than in pure performance.
With the upgrades on our review unit, the Dell XPS M1210 is one of the fastest Windows Vista laptops we've seen so far, easily beating two laptops with 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 CPUs, the Asus W7J (a Windows XP system we upgraded to Vista) in CNET Labs' Multitasking test. It was also slightly faster than another T7200-based Dell, the Inspiron E1505. The M1210's gaming prowess, however, was disappointing, even with the graphics upgrade. In Quake IV, at 1,024x768 resolution, we only got 16.2 frames per second (fps), although not-yet-perfected Windows Vista drivers may be partly to blame. Turning off some high-end geometry and physics options, we were able to get more than 60fps at the same resolution out of FEAR, another popular first-person shooter.
One area where the M1210 excelled was in battery life. In our DVD battery drain test, we got 3 hours, 49 minutes out of the included nine-cell battery. That's excellent, especially for an ultraportable system, even though the nine-cell battery extends from the back of the system slightly. A smaller six-cell battery is also available. Vista laptops have a very flexible set of battery and power management options available via the operating system, but we haven't seen an overall improvement in battery life when compared to XP systems and in some cases, we've seen declines.
Though Dell has moved to a 90-day standard warranty on its less expensive models, the company covers the XPS M1210 with an industry-average one-year warranty, which provides free parts and labor with onsite service. You can get help through Dell's 24 hours a day, seven days a week, toll-free telephone line for as long as you own the laptop. Dell offers a special tech-support number exclusively for XPS owners, staffed by reps who can provide help with the latest games and technologies. The company also has a support Web site with downloads, FAQs, and hardware-specific user forums.
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Find out more about how we test Windows laptops. Dell XPS M1210 Windows Vista Ultimate Edition: 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7200; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB nVidia GeForce Go 7400; 120GB Hitachi 5,400rpm SATA/150
Dell XPS M1710 Windows XP Media Center 2005 SP2; 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7600; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 512MB nVidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX; 100GB Hitachi 7,200rpm SATA/150
Toshiba Satellite U205-S5057 Windows Vista Home Premium Edition; 1.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5500; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 528MHz; 224MB Mobile Intel 945GM Express; 160GB Hitachi 5,400rpm SATA/150
Asus W7J Windows XP Professional SP2; 1.66 Intel Core 2 Duo T5500; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 528MHz; 512MB Nvidia GeForce Go 7400; 100GB Fujitsu 5,400rpm SATA/150
Dell Inspiron E1505 Windows Vista Home Premium; 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7200; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon x1400; 100GB Hitachi 7,200rpm SATA/150
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 User Rating: 
8/10
Some design flaws but one of the best.
Pros: Well built, it feels very solid after months of daily use. The quality of the preformance hasn't faultered at all. Some features go beyond what an average user might expect.
Cons: The worst thing is HDMI came out in the proceeding model which most likely made everyone that bought this model PISSED. The audio and media back lite (blue) buttons can be hard to push.
Question, when will the day come where f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 f6 ect,. KEYS no longer be needed? I don't think I've pressed any of those keys yet except for their auxiliary purposes!
Dear future laptop makers: the phone jack has no purpose anymore.. add something internal that is useful like a tv tuner,.. or a bluetooth adapter that you dont have to pay extra for! 2- DVI is a substandard at this point. The other day I went on plenty of websites.. NO DESKTOPS HAVE HDMI! You have to upgrade it yourself. this is insane. People have to be fired about this. My xbox360 connects to my tv with one freaking cord and I like that. That makes me want to have an orgasm. Please please,.. someone make a cheap affordable desktop with HDMI so the world can hook them up to their tvs.. because thats the next best thing toward singularity it tech
User Rating: 8/10
Last Of The Well Built XPS Compact Notebooks
Pros: After a memory upgrade to 3.2 Gig...this little notebook is a rocketship!
Cons: A little heavy...a little thick.
User Rating: 
9/10
Great Portable laptop
Pros: Very powerful laptop for play and work.
Cons: Does create a lot of heat.
User Rating: 
3/10
bad computer
Pros: good speed.. looks good..
Cons: crashes lot.. defective hardware failure
User Rating: 9/10
Superb Machine
Pros: Everything!
Cons: could have been slightly thinner
User Rating: 
2/10
The Sam Bowie of laptops
Pros: Small, good keyboard
Cons: Unreliable, slow, awful battery
I bought mine refurbished from Dell.com. At first it was fine, but soon the DVD drive became very unreliable. I have to try multiple times to get DVD's to play, with the player often skipping and "working" hard. The screen smudges easily and is subject to awful glare. The computer itself is pretty slow, especially when processing graphics. That is odd considering that this was supposed to be a multimedia-oriented laptop. The battery also lost about half of its life within 6 months of purchase. I really could not be more displeased with this computer. And this is actually only the second-worst Dell that my family has had. Needless to say, I will never buy a Dell again and will encourage others to stay away so they don't have to go through my experience.
I got one with Windows XP. I got it refurbished from Dell, but the 1210 had just been released and aesthetically, the computer was perfect. I loved it for about a month. Then the battery life began to plummet. And a bunch of the paint scratched off the case within a few weeks of light use. Then the battery icon on the taskbar stopped working so that it's impossible for me to see how much battery life I have left. And now, the DVD drive works about 10% of the time. But worst of all- I have to pay for Dell's customer service people to even pick up the phone to help me!
I really could not be more dissappointed. This was $1000 completely down the toilet. I absolutely will never own another Dell- if it's given to me for free, I'd rather not take it because of the hours of frustration that it would bring.
PS - I've had a new Dell desktop before that barely ever worked.
User Rating: 3/10
Beware the Turbo Cache
Pros: Light Weight, Nice Design
Cons: Sluggish, not designed to handle Ultimate
User Rating: 8/10
There are a couple things you should know.
Pros: Super portable
Cons: listed below
I watched the cnet review video before i bought this thing obviously, and i quote the guy in the video "built with really high-end components". I must say, i'm really not impressed at all with the built in camera, even with proper lighting the picture is still very grainy. The FPS and mic are adequate though.
Second thing that i didn't like was the graphics card. I read somewhere that the nVIDIA go7400 card has 128mb of dedicated graphics memory, in the M1210 they managed to knock it down to 64MB. I would like to know why. Its hardly the card i thought i was buying. But it is super caching which is nice.
A few times now the computer has crashed on me. I don't know, maybe its just vista. It kinda pissed me off though, i had to re-load all the updates and software i installed in the last week. I also got blue screen the other day and i was just recording a video.
The good things?
-The screen is bright and sharp (when on Drain Your Battery settings)
-Packs a good punch for its size
-runs quite a few good games (even halo 2 PC if you lower the visuals)
-the battery lasts a good 6.5 hours (on "balanced" power settings, 9 cell bat.)
-quiet
-sturdy shell
-quick burner (took about 4 minutes to rip and burn a CD)
-and i don't know what the guy is talking about with the media buttons on the front, your palms don't come near them.
In all, i think its an excellent unit considering its a 12". It amazes me what they could fit into it. There are a few bugs but only minor.
User Rating: 9/10
portable desktop i love it
Pros: size and power
Cons: battery life
User Rating: 
10/10
I couldn't ask for more .
Pros: size, price, speed, features, looks, support,
Cons: poor-quality silver paint job on case
nice keyboard, handy size for travel or bedroom lap top use, it's ideal. don't like the shiny screen but that's my fault: I could have specified non-glare.
It's just slightly heavier & larger than a reference book, and that's how I use it a lot: carry it from room to room, prop it in my lap while sitting in bed reading, just a nice fast bright wireless endless source of research and entertainment. Same when I'm on a plane or waiting at the airport.
I can't believe I lugged around a 15-inch notebook computer for years!! How archaic.
I love it, and the XPS tech support is superb: native-english speakers and everything!
User Rating: 9/10
The dell xps m1210
Pros: I got mem usage down to 29% when I cut vistas extra apps with 2 g's of ram
Cons: vista takes alot of power to start hard drive runs for 5 mins strait literally. Also a little thick and heavy
User Rating: 9/10
AWESOME PERFORMANCE
Pros: Super compact mean lill machine
Cons: Heats up real fast
Screen sixe though a lill small but one gets used to it . excellent processor and super battery life (I got the LI Ion 9 ) Do get the 3 yr warranty on it
I have had Dell before and I do not say this v often and v easy but Dell has outdone itself This is a MasterPiece
User Rating: 3/10
Nice PC / Poor Order Fullfilment
Pros: Size, Price, Technology
Cons: Support, Shipping
I've bought a lot of Dell systems in the past and been pleased with them. Unfortunately it seems like they have production problems with notebooks. I asked about any shippable stock configuration and there was nothing available. What about the XPS m1330 systems... their expected ship date is in late August.
User Rating: 9/10
The best system I have tried
Pros: Portable, sleek, powerful, everything you need
Cons: Slight keyboard flex, but extremely minor
User Rating: 10/10
I love this laptop
Pros: Ultra Portable, awesome performance, great price,
Cons: runs hot...
User Rating: 9/10
AWE-INSPIRING Ultra-Portable
Pros: Cheap, Light and INCREDIBILY FAST
Cons: Slight keyboard flex
I got the M1210 with Core 2 Duo T7200 2GHz, 2GB DDR2-667 RAM and 120GB HDD with nVidia GF Go 7400 GPU and 2 batteries (6&9 cells) and XP Pro (free upgrade to Vista) for AUD$2853 in January. But, if you were to configure one with the same specs now, with Vista Home Prem. instead of XP, in Australia, you could get it for only AUD$2050 ($1.28AUD=$1USD). Dirt cheap. Just look at the Sony VAIO SZ: similar specs with only 1GB RAM starts at AUD$3699. Hmmmm... I wonder which one I will get?
Battery life with the 9-cell battery is also superb. I've made it last 7hrs and 30mins when typing word documents (though with wireless off and lowest screen brightness). Playing a game, eg HL2 (which i get 40fps average on native resolution and high settings, but no AA or AF), I can yield up to 2hrs and 30mins on 9-cell (which is HUGE), and for usual usage; battery life (of 9-cell) ranges from 4 hrs MIN to 5.5 hrs, depending on screen brightness.
The M1210's screen is gorgeous, with high contrasts and dazzling brightness. The Logitech webcam is also quite good, though a little grainy at times (especially low-light conditions).
Keyboard is full-sized but a bit of flex in near the arrow keys. I've been told newer models don't have that problem. The M1210 is also really light, with the 6-cell battery, its only 2.0kg and 2.2kg with the 9-cell.
The M1210 is also built around a VERY strong and sturdy magnesium alloy chassis. I've dropped it from at least 1m off the ground onto the street (i.e. bitumen) on both front edge corners (with only thin layer of protection in the form of my laptop bag). It scratched the plastic corners, but did nothing to the chassis and both the HDD and DVD-drive still runs fine. Now thats durable. Try that on an Acer. It'd probably shatter before it hit the ground. LOL
Also, Vista recognises, for some reason, the 64MB dedicated GPU actually having a total of 320MB of video RAM, i.e. 256MB of shared RAM. Talk about a bonus! For those interested, the 7400 scores a 3.4 for gaming graphics and 3.6 in desktop performance for Aero in Vista's Windows Experience Index test. General usage in Vista with the 2GB of RAM is also really great. There is very little HDD pagefile access, and RAM usage hovers around 50% (and just so you know, I LOVE multi-tasking; I usually have at least 12-15 things in the taskbar) and RAM usage RARELY goes over 60%, except when using Photoshop etc.
Overall, the M1210 is just AWESOME. Small, lightweight, lightning-fast and really cheap if configured well. I would recommend it to anyone looking in the ultra-portable market. It's the best out there, by a mile.
P.S. The touchpad buttons are REALLY comfy to tap/click with and the media buttons' glow is very cool, and they're REALLY convenient.
User Rating: 9/10
Great, hardworking computer with cool features
Pros: small + portable, powerful, good battery life, cool camera, wireless, keyboard, 4 usb outlets
Cons: not as snazzy as some, tiny speakers, no DVI portal
The wireless is fast and powerful, and simply by pushing a buton on the side, the computer will notify you of all nearby wireless signals and their strength. There is also the option to shut off all connectivity, saving battery life.
The laptop is a little rough when loading up a lot of programs after going on hibernate, but I'm guessing that that's more to do with Vista than Dell.
The processor can handle more tasks, and faster than my 3.0Ghz desktop. I'm a digital photographer, and this little computer can handle all indexing and filtering tasks I throw at it.
From reading online articles, I guess that this laptop is a little heavier than competitors, but it sure kicks out a lot of power. The 6cell battery runs a little short, but the 9cell lasts for about 4 active hours.
The webcam is pretty darn good, capturing good stills (for a webcam) and good video (somewhat blurry on fast motion, though).
I originally thought that the size of the screen would make my eyes go buggy, so I pickd up a 19" widescreen samsung lcd monitor. The monitor is amazing, but I really dont need it as badly as I had anticipated -- the laptop screen has great resolution, good lightning, strong detail, and I can use it for hours at a time with little problem.
The appearence is not quite as snazzy as some of its competitors, but looks pretty cool (flat black cover, webcam, little blue media controls).
I'm a pianist, and am very sensitive when it comes to keyboards. The 1210's keyboard is not exactly ergonomic, but its still great! I've typed full 1500 word articles with no problem. Also, unlike on some laptops, my thumbs dont accidentally hit the mousepad (or the media controls).
And the speakers are a little tinny, but come on -- its a 12" laptop. And there are two headphone jacks.
Overall, this latop can handle everything I throw at it, and is very portable to boot. Pretty expensive, but worth the money!
User Rating: 9/10
freakin' terrific - perfect for the on the go apartment dweller!
Pros: the size, brightness of screen, power power power baby!
Cons: errrr? perhaps it is a little heavy but i don't care.
User Rating: 9/10
This is a very versatile little unit. It definately has a lot of power for a such a small sized.
Pros: Amazing portability. Very VERY lightweight for it's contents. Stunning power in compact form. Battery life is AMAZING with 9-cell.
Cons: Won't play best games on market very smoothly. Vista is very flashy, but it will slow things down quite a bit.
Get a 7200rpm Hard Drive... for money reasons, i stuck with a 5400rpm and am unhappy with the incredibly slow copying of files and installations.
The Geforce 7400 only has 64mb of memory onboard... it draws the rest up to 256 from the computer's memory.
The internal webcam will take 4 mega-pixel images! And unlike what CNET's Dan Akerman (the video review) says about the buttons on the front, they aren't very easy to push in... you will NEVER accidently push these. They can be challenging to push in even when you are trying to. Also Great positioning of the touchpad, my hands never accidently touch it.
All of that said, this machine is very portable and is well capable of running my 24" dell ultrasharp at 1920x1200. But few new games will run smoothly at this resolution unless you turn detail down a bit. NFS Carbon runs smoothly probably around 30 fps on at 1280x800 on medium settings.
The battery life is amazing. When I turn it to the High performance power plan in Vista(IE: Processor full speed, highest brightness, all wireless turned on, etc) i get about 4 hours of continuous usage. On Power Saver, I have gotten close to 6 hours. My recomendation however is to leave it on high performance because vista's flashy animations become choppy and programs react slowly otherwise. It makes for a slightly unpleasant experience.
Not a big fan of Technical support from Dell. Hard to understand foreign accents. However, i couldn't be happier with their Hardware Support. Within 3 days of recieving my m1210, my optical drive died. I called dell up for a replacement and recieved it a day later. I installed it and had my old drive sent back 30 minutes after the new one arrived at my house.
User Rating: 8/10
Better with Vista!
Pros: Well rounded machine
Cons: Battery sticks out in back - ugly!
option to upgrade to Vista. It was slower with
XP. I avoided the upgrade because all of the scare
stories but when I read in PC World that it was
one of the best laptops with Vista I took the
plunge. It works much better with Vista and the
upgrade wasn't that difficult. The speakers even sound better. I plan to keep it
for some time.
User Rating: 10/10
Best Laptop Ever....
Pros: Powerful, Full Size Keyboard, Many more
Cons: None so far!
This laptop has been a welcome replacement to my old Dell Inspiron 8500. I'm even starting to enjoy Vista.
User Rating: 8/10
Overall I am happy with the purchase...
Pros: It has it all and very user friendly
Cons: Not light and a little bulky with the battery design
User Rating: 10/10
Best ultraportable laptop on the market.
Pros: Small, very powerful and fast, custom made in the USA.
Cons: Make sure you order any Vista computer with at least 2 Gigs of Ram.
User Rating: 9/10
Excellent Choice of Ultra-portable laptop
Pros: All the right features: camera, bluetooth, wifi, cd-rom built in, memory card slot... etc
Cons: The hard drive space is like 40GB (standard). Suggest upgrade to the 80GB
User Rating: 9/10
I AM IN LOVE WITH IT
Pros: Small, powerful, cute, great features, awesome everything...
Cons: ... except Windows Vista.
User Rating: 9/10
Its an AWESOME LAPTOP!!
Pros: The laptop is very good. I upgraded from the 700m and got this one. I really like it, I have yet to have a problem with (knock on wood) it and I work my computers hard. Better quality/build
Cons: It still a little to heavy...
User Rating: 9/10
Great portability
Pros: Small size, crisp display
Cons: Fringerprint smudges on outer case are highly visible
I'm learning my way around Vista. I have the
Ultimate version.
It was easy to set up my wireless and I've loaded several programs so far without any compatiblity issues.
Time will tell the true test, but everything is great so far.
User Rating: 
7/10
The Only Small Gaming Laptop, if only it had the looks as well as the brain power
Pros: The only real choice for a compact gaming notebook, beautifull glossy screen, light, fast graphics
Cons: Boring looks, thick for a small notebook, mediocre speakers
User Rating: 10/10
I am a real owner of this machine and I just love it!! What a wonderful computer!!
Pros: It's fast, well built, very portable and affordable. Great keyboard and features and rich.
Cons: maybe runs a little hot but quiet fan , no sound
I'm not good at reviews, so I'll be short and sweet.
Good support from Dell!!
Plays DVD's fast and the screen is awesome!!
Don't be afraid to go with this baby!!!
xoxo love it!
User Rating: 9/10
Greatest Dell I've Owned
Pros: Long battery life, light weight, extensive features for such a small laptop, tough
Cons: speakers only o.k.,graphics could have been better
User Rating: 10/10
Simply outstanding!
Pros: Small and powerfull. A perfect combination.
Cons: A bit bulkier than your average ultra-portable, but it's still very light.
Take it from someone who did a lot of research before finally deciding where to spend his hard-earned money.
Bottomline, this laptop suits most users; from your everyday student, like me, or a bussiness-person in need of an ultra-portable laptop whith an amazing screen for those in-flight movies.
Simply outstanding!
User Rating: 9/10
Small, fast, and powerful - I have a setup for a 3.2 Visa Experience
Pros: Portability with a full sized keyboard. Excellent multimedia options. Does not run to hot too hot for its size.
Cons: At the moment (3/26/07) , stable vista drivers are still not available for the Nvidia Go 7400 graphics card causing my chosen screen resolution to reset each time I close the lid,
User Rating: 8/10
A REAL REVIEW BY ACTUAL USER AND OWNER
Pros: Very good design and overall
Cons: The graphics
I had a great deal on it so i bought, i have T7600 2.33, 4gb Ram, burner, 160 GB, wifi loaded, nvidia 7400 all this for 1600!! so i had to buy it.
Ok before buying it I checked all the laptops on the market and I mean all of them from Sony, Asus, Toshiba, Dell, Acer, etc.
I wanted some style with performance for a budget around 1000-1200 USd.
Nothing was cool but the Hp which was pretty nice looking and had good performance but it didnt have the Sony build in quality and design.
Asus was nice but heavy, expensive, bulk looking.
The rest was nice like Toshiba who has great performance and quality but terrible design too sober or buisness type.
1200 wasnt that much so i was going to go with a core duo Sony.
Until I made this insane deal with thius guy to whom i bought to who needed money and sold me his cpu loaded for 1600 that was a month old brand new with all godies insane!! but it worked and I got it.
I was looking at some Umpcs like the Ux series by Sony but the screen killed me and the performance with Vista where below average.
Then i saw the amazing Dell m2010 and 1710.
But both where too heavy, cost a fortune and kid looking or gamer looking for 1710 in my opinon i wanted something elegant.
So i took this one, but I was scared because I had a dell inspiron 8600 which was a good cpu but the quality of the machine was ok and the design terrible.
So Dell was not my favorite until I saw this one.
This m1210 is loaded with Xp and then I put on Vista utlimate.
The quality of the materials on this one is very good, dell has greatly improved, the design is nice the screen is perfect and the size is just enought to do anything.
The only bad thing is the graphic card the Nvidia 7400 256 Mo which is just a supercharged 64 Mo dedicated.
So recent games work but in regular definition and thats it. If you want something insane by a video game system like a PS3, X 360, WII thats what i think but some other might go for a 1710.
The rest is perfect, like the other have said the back of the screen is black and gets ditry easily but thats a detail realy.
It gets hot after 5-8 hours use so its normal and its not burning hot but just regular hot you could still put it on your lap. The batterie is a 9 cell and works for 4h without a pain thats perfect.
And vista works perfect with it. Vista is a great OS going back to Xp wasnt thinkable after it lol.
What i did is that i bought a 20 inch screen, a bluetooth keybor and mouse and use it as my main Pc and its perfect, like an M2010 but i can put a bigger screen and carry the cpu whenever.
The m1210 is light you can carry it anywhere no problem on thet.
So for the price i bought i just cant complain but too bad for the Nvidia, its was almost Spectacular. Other than that its the best in my opinion in todays market, if you get for 1600 its insane too.
User Rating: 
5/10
eXPENSIVE & lack of HD-DVD and Blu-ray
Pros: R.A.M. & Vista ultimate & webcam & display & battery life & design
Cons: cost & mutimedia keys
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