Dell Studio 17 laptop

Looking for a laptop, must have -

HD Screen
Blu Ray
HDMI
4GB
500GB
Decent spec CPU etc etc....

Spec on a Dell (I can get quite a good discount on dell kit - 15% including online vouchers etc making this up to 25% off)

So, a £1000 laptop could come in at under £850, rather spend a little less but so far spec'd up this -

Base Intel® Core™ i5-540M (2.53Ghz, 4 Thread, turbo boost up to 3.06 GHz, 3MB cache)
Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit- English
Memory 4096MB 1067MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
Video Card 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5650 Graphics Card
Hard Drive 500GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
Optical Devices Blu-Ray ROM Drive (read/write CD/DVD & read Blu-Ray Disc)
Wireless Networking Dell Wireless 1397 Mini Card (802.11 b/g)
Standard Warranty 1 year Collect & Return Hardware Support included with your PC
Services and Support 1 year of coverage included with your PC
Primary Battery Primary 9-cell 85 WHr Lithium Ion battery
Dell System Media Kit Studio 1749 Resource DVD (Diagnostic & Drivers)
Camera 2.0 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera
Colour Choice Black chainlink
Accidental Damage Support No Accidental Damage Support
LCD 17.3" Full High Definition (1920x1080) LED with TL
Operating System Recovery Options OS Media MUI Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT) Resource DVD

Upgraded the battery, good size screen and I think the Dell Studio 17 comes with HDMI out as standard.....

Any good, know some don't like Dell on here but due to discounts I'd rather look at them then any others, but worried that spec if bad for the price.... I'll maybe do some light gaming, but its mostly for me to watch movies, music, internet, stream content to my TV or any other TV via HDMI etc...

does this look to be any good?

Yeah. That looks good! I had a Dell Studio 1749 but when I ordered you couldnt get the 1080p screen. the 900p screen is terrible.
Other than the poor 900p screen it was a nice laptop, decent speakers, no throttling and backlit keyboard.

Ok, that’s sounds encouraging. I changed the screen from 900 to 1080p purely as I was sticking a blu ray drive into this…. I’m also hoping to play a few games on the go, nothing too over the top…

Games like Sam n Max episodes, maybe Rome Total war but my main use this for is media on the go and internet, so the screen was most important….

I might just plunge for this then, hopefully with the discounts I’m entitled to I could get a nice HD media laptop for sub £800 which is just about the max I can afford… lol

Provide it can play MKV 8GB files without jerking and be a basic desktop replacement on the go, then I’ll be happy… Should be better then my aging Dell D600 – which is now 7 years old bless her. Sadly, died a few weeks ago… *sniff* how I do miss mobile computing..!! Funny how you say to yourself I’d not miss it, and when it finally died, you do..!!

I guess you will be using a discount code, but also check out quidco as you can get another 5-10% off.

Been looking at the Studio 17 for ages, was almost ready to order when they removed the option for the 1920x1080 screens.

5 months later and they are available again, going to have to take another look at these again.

Blimey....

Dell don't make it easy to order these laptops... I tried to order with my Visa Card, didn't work, then I tried a MasterCard and that didn't work.... I then tried the buy now pay later by paying only £49.99 as I thought card provider isn't happy with such a large payment going through, that failed..

So, an hours call to Dell and finally I find out they need to check the discount codes..

But, if it goes through their sales dept tomorrow, in around 10 days I should have my Dell D600 replacement..

Spec is

Dell Studio 17
Base
Intel® Core™ i5-540M (2.53Ghz, 4 Thread, turbo boost up to 3.06 GHz, 3MB cache
Microsoft Operating System
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit- English
Memory
4096MB 1067MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
Keyboard
Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Backlit Keyboard
Video Card
1GB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5650 Graphics Card
Hard Drive
500GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
Optical Devices
Blu-Ray ROM Drive (read/write CD/DVD & read Blu-Ray Disc)
Wireless Networking
Dell Wireless 1397 Mini Card (802.11 b/g)
Cables
1 Meter Power Cord (3 Wire) - UK
Shipping Documents
English Documentation
Gedis Bundle Reference
N0574905
Standard Warranty
1 year Collect & Return Hardware Support included with your PC
Services and Support
1 year of coverage included with your PC
PalmRest
Silver chainlink palm rest – with Black Chainlink cover only
Order Information
Studio 1749 Order - UK
Primary Battery
Primary 9-cell 80 WHr Lithium Ion battery
Carrying Cases
Targus - XL Campus backpack
Dell Dock
Dell Dock port replicator
Dell System Media Kit
Studio 1749 Resource DVD (Diagnostic & Drivers)
Camera
2.0 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera
Colour Choice
Black chainlink
Accidental Damage Support
No Accidental Damage Support
Online Backup
No DataSafe Online Backup 2GB (Direct)
Telephone Contact
NO - Dell may NOT telephone me in relation to my order and related products and services
Labels
Wireless Label CI5
LCD
17.3" Full High Definition (1920x1080) LED with TL
DataSafe (Services Owned)
Datasafe Local 2.0 Basic
Microsoft Application Software
Microsoft® Works 9.0 / English - (Does not include Microsoft® Word)
Protect your new PC
McAfee® SecurityCenter 15 Month Subscription
Power Supply
90W AC Adaptor
Operating System Recovery Options
OS Media MUI Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT) Resource DVD

I also added an additional 500GB external small form HDD to back up the internal HDD and a wireless Logitech mouse and headset as I'm getting a good discount..
In total with £144 off the laptop, 10% from quideo and my 15% privilege discount it came in at -

£900 including VAT and delivery...

£100 more then I wanted to spend, but I got extras and that important extra battery life, 1080p screen and blu ray.. And a backlit keyboard and 500GB HDD. I wanted the Video card to be mobile 5800 but they couldn't offer this on this model.. Shame..

Should last me a while... If it lasts as long as my older D600 (8 years) then I'll be well happy.

Guys, I have a Dell Studio 15. The overheating issues with these laptops is quite horrific. Check the Dell Forums for the problems people have.

The air vent on the Laptop is placed right underneath the laptop, once covered the laptop will power off. If you manage to keep this vent free then the laptop will scold your knees.

It's so very badly designed. Performs well though.

Andybtsn said:

Guys, I have a Dell Studio 15. The overheating issues with these laptops is quite horrific. Check the Dell Forums for the problems people have.

The air vent on the Laptop is placed right underneath the laptop, once covered the laptop will power off. If you manage to keep this vent free then the laptop will scold your knees.

It's so very badly designed. Performs well though.

Click to expand...

Hmmm. I think the word laptop should me replaced with Mobile Computer in some cases.... The higher end 'mobile computers' are known to run a little hot if you block the air vent... And most Dell's have the air vents underneath..

In fact the D600 had its airvent next to the HDD and that caused lots of HDD failures... I don't normally use my laptop *ahem* mobile computer on a carpet, or a bed or a lap where dust and fluff is more likely to be sucked up and into the vent, so hopefully I won't burn my knees..

however if the unit overheats when plonked on a desk and shut downs then I'll be sending mine back for a refund..

Thanks for the heads up...

just to let you know, I had a studio 15 before the 17, the 15 did overheat and throttle a lot but the new 17 was fine. The WASD keys got warm under load (prime plus furmark) but all the temps (internal and external) remained fine.

I have also owned a sxps 16 and that ran way way hotter than the new studio 1749. The studio 1747 is plagued with overheating though due to the i7 cpu

ninja2000 said:

just to let you know, I had a studio 15 before the 17, the 15 did overheat and throttle a lot but the new 17 was fine. The WASD keys got warm under load (prime plus furmark) but all the temps (internal and external) remained fine.

I have also owned a sxps 16 and that ran way way hotter than the new studio 1749. The studio 1747 is plagued with overheating though due to the i7 cpu

Click to expand...

Seems you're well in the know about laptops.... It is the studio 1749 I've ordered, yet to get email confirmation from dell its on order (not impressed with their order processing at all) but hopefully it'll be with me in the 10 days quoted to me on the phone..

Is the ATI HD5650 actaully any good with latest games then? I've read its a DX11 chipset, and if this can play Dirt 2 at a decent fps then that'll be an even bigger bonus for me.... lol more intrested in its media playback more then anything else...

the only two concerns I have about this laptop now I've been reading, reading too much actually as I'm now starting to get confused...

1 - The noise level from the Fan is meant to be rather higher then normal. Apparently its a bit up and down and can be quite annoying. No mention of the Studio 1749 overheating, 1747 was meant to be a bit of a toaster though..

2 - The 1080p screen is meant to be poor at certain viewing angles however improved over the 900 screen. I'm also concerned about performance of the ATI 5650 whilst using native 1920 x 1080 res. Will the card handle this, at least the GPU is using its own 1GB of memory and not a UMA shared video memory with the system memory so it should have decent performance..

Other then this, price per performance seems this laptop is best bang for buck so I'll stick with it, just concerned about the fan noise... I was hoping to use it not only as a mobile desktop media system as well as some gaming, was hoping to use it as a kinda mobile HTPC with the built in HDMI, if the fan is that loud, could be a tad annoying...

Need to chase Dell in a bit, they said I'd get order confirmation this morning, still nothing..

My 1557 when I load up WoW for example kicks the fan on and it is very loud, unless you're playing games it shouldn't be too loud though.

Dell were a nightmare to order from too, four times they put the despatch date back, was so close to cancelling then it came.

Andybtsn said:

My 1557 when I load up WoW for example kicks the fan on and it is very loud, unless you're playing games it shouldn't be too loud though.

Dell were a nightmare to order from too, four times they put the despatch date back, was so close to cancelling then it came.

Click to expand...

Hmmmm doesn't fill me with the upmost of confidence, anyhow finally managed to get this system ordered, and I'm expected to be getting the machine on the 8th of June.. We shall see...

Recently found out chap i work with has pretty much the same laptop, has a older core 2 duo version, says its a really nice laptop, hasn't had much trouble with overheating..

to be honest, if my Dell D600 hadn't had died I'd have not bothered. Even to the day it died the D600 did playback quite a lot of media. Cracking laptops those D600's back in the day. I shall dig a hole and bury it in the garden, for any laptop to last 7? or 8 years or however long I had it shows Dell can build a decent machine that lasts.... Lets see if I do actually get this Studio 17, if it is a hair dryer, or a toaster and it lasts as long as my last one... Hmmmm

Andybtsn said:

My 1557 when I load up WoW for example kicks the fan on and it is very loud, unless you're playing games it shouldn't be too loud though.

Dell were a nightmare to order from too, four times they put the despatch date back, was so close to cancelling then it came.

Click to expand...

My 1558 seems to have been fine so far. It did have freezing issues which I feared could be down to overheating, however I ended up wiping it (like I did my previous DELL laptop) and it hasn't frozen since the format and then reinstall of Windows.

LinktoInsanity said:

My 1558 seems to have been fine so far. It did have freezing issues which I feared could be down to overheating, however I ended up wiping it (like I did my previous DELL laptop) and it hasn't frozen since the format and then reinstall of Windows.

Click to expand...

TBH - that is the first thing any tech savvy person should do with a pre built system... The pre built O/S images provided are full of bloat and un-wanted garbage..!! I always format the HDD and stick a plain vanilla OS back on using only required drivers and leave the rest off....

If I could build my own laptop hardware as well - I would.!! lol Anyhow its now in the order being processed stage, still says same date to be delivered, so here's hoping..!!

I'm not the only one that's had problems ordering then!

I went with the buy now pay later for my Studio 17, the credit check went through fine, but could not get it to process the order. After calling Dell 4 nights in a row, I finally have my order placed and the delivery date is 4th June.

I went for the i5-430m model with the Intel WiFi and backlit keyboard options. I'm very much looking forward to it arriving!

Edit: Just checked the order status, It says it's being shipped! Should be here in the next 4 days

iv-tecman said:

Seems you're well in the know about laptops.... It is the studio 1749 I've ordered, yet to get email confirmation from dell its on order (not impressed with their order processing at all) but hopefully it'll be with me in the 10 days quoted to me on the phone..

Is the ATI HD5650 actaully any good with latest games then? I've read its a DX11 chipset, and if this can play Dirt 2 at a decent fps then that'll be an even bigger bonus for me.... lol more intrested in its media playback more then anything else...

Click to expand...

Sorry for the delay, only just noticed your post. And you wouldnt believe the number of laptops I have owned

In answer to your questions, if you get the AOU 1080p panel you will be happy. I have only heard good things about it, unfortunately with Dell they often use a few makes and its pot luck which you get. And I cant stress enough how bad the 900p is, poor viewing angles, washed out colours and blacks are grey.

Now the 5650 is a good card but it is still only mid range. You will be able to play older games at 1080p but forget about playing Dirt2, bfbc2, crysis and the like at decent fps and high settings.

You can easily lower them to 720p though and they will then be playable. I also ended up playing COD 5 at 720p to get really smooth frames.

It will be decent for media playback for sure, the speakers are great and you get reasonable battery life (unlike the i7 version)

Thanks ninja2000, I have opted for the 1080p screen, and if the laptop runs out of steam playing newer games, I'll just take your advice and knock the res down to 720p...

I'm sure it'll serve my needs plenty. And coming from owning a now dead... *sob* Dell D600 this'll be a marked improvement.. Dell order status has me down for delivery on 8th June.. Cool can't wait.

Oh, good to see you've sold your kobalt laptop. I was looking at it, but I just couldn't afford £1200 for it, as fantastic a spec as it was..!! I robbed myself for the extra £100 for this one, at £900 including the extra's...

Thanks for all your help. If it wasn't for you I'd have gone for the 900p, so glad I asked on here now. thanks again..

No problem mate, just glad I could help. Now you have the painful Dell wait

Just out of curiosity, looking at getting the same laptop myself and I'm wondering if the i5 @2.26Ghz would make much of a difference, specifically an £80 difference over the i3 @ 2.13Ghz?