Dell XPS M170

• The Dell XPS M170 is a laptop PC that U.S.-based multinational technology corporation Dell Inc. debuted in 2005. It was designed as a high-performance PC, as it belongs to Dell's brand of gaming-oriented computers called "Xtreme Performance System," or XPS. Thus, it has a 17-inch widescreen with a high-definition display quality of 1,920-by-1,080 pixels, an Nvidia GeForce 7800GTX discrete video/graphics card, Windows XP Media Center operating system, and CD/DVD player and recorder -- top-of-the-line components for the time.
  
  

Socket 479

• The Dell XPS M170's motherboard has Socket 479 as its CPU socket, named so because it has 479 pin holes to accommodate the pins of the processor. Released in 2001, it uses the Pin Grid Array form factor, which means that the pin contacts are neatly arranged on the square-shaped substrate in a grid-like layout. The PGA variant that Socket 479 uses is Flip Chip PGA. This means that the socket flips the CPU upside down to expose the back of its die -- the hottest part of the unit -- which allows the introduction of a heatsink for cooling purposes.
  
  

Intel Pentium M

• The Dell XPS M170 is usually equipped with an Intel Pentium Mobile -- or Intel Pentium M -- chip. The "Mobile" or "M" designates the component for application on laptop PCs, and it represented the mobile processor variant of Intel Corp.'s then-flagship Pentium 4 brand. Moreover, Socket 479 is compatible with the Pentium M's 700 series. Thus, the laptop typically has processors, such as the Intel Pentium M 770 and the Intel Pentium 780. The latter has a core speed of 2.26GHz, which makes it the fastest processor that can be fitted on the XPS M170.
  
  

Intel Celeron M

• Due to its design and classification as a high-performance PC, the Dell XPS M170 does not usually come with an Intel Celeron chip. However, the CPU socket that the laptop has on its motherboard is compatible with the 300 series of the Intel Celeron M brand, which bear the model numbers 310 to 390, in increments of 10. The fastest CPU that can be installed on the XPS M170 via Socket 479 is the Intel Celeron M 390, which has a core speed of 1.7 GHz.