I am using Nvidia Geforce 8600M GT on my Dell XPS 1530 since Jan 2008 without any problems. I am quite satisfied with the performance of Nvidia 8600M GT. I heard some Nvidia cards had a bad GPU which is a quality control issue and does not necessarily mean all Nvidia cards are crap. Instead of going with just one company Dell should allow end users to choose which graphics card they want. I am always for healthy competition.
There was big fuzz about some defected Nvidia cards (8M and 9M series) back in 2008. My Nvidia Geforce 8400M GS lasted for only two months before it burned. I got new one under warranty, so far so good I have Acer Aspire btw.
In Linux world, nvidia is the only hope, ATI has big catching up to do, Intel is a joke so for now, I retired my top end dual GPU 4850 for a cheap nvidia 8400GS which runs like a dream on Ubuntu.
