Dell Studio 17 laptop

[iv-tecman]

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?

 

[iv-tecman]

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..!!

 

[iv-tecman]

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.

 

[iv-tecman]

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.

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...

 

[iv-tecman]

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

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...

 

[iv-tecman]

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..

 

[iv-tecman]

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.

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

 

[iv-tecman]

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.

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..!!

 

[iv-tecman]

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..

 

[iv-tecman]

I went for the i5-540M as I know how bloody hard it is to upgrade laptops, so I always push my budget as far as I dare when i buy one...

I'm hoping it'll last me for a good few years, I intend to do light gaming, multi-media and internet and mobile computing with it. I'm now in the 'in production' phase, and still looking at 8th June to get my laptop..

We shall see, I'm really glad I opted for the 1080p screen though. A lot of complaints about the 900p screen on google search, issues with blacks looking poor, poor viewing angles etc... Ninja2000 advised about this, so anyone looking to get this machine, pay the extra for the better screen.

I also went for the backlit keyboard, and skipped the bluetooth options. £30 for bluetooth when I can use a £3 USB dongle seems a tad steep to me. I also didn't upgrade the wireless adaptor, as I know I can upgrade this later myself.

I also want to know if I can place another 500GB HDD into this... Past Dell's have allowed for two HDD, but I'll have to find this out once I get my machine.

 

[iv-tecman]

Mine's in the depo ready to be delivered on Tuesday. Very excited, upgrading from an old Acer Aspire 5100.

That’s cool…. Mine has now been shipped from China (no doubt assembled by the infamous Faxconn group) and is being shipped by welsh western, whoever they are…

Still holding my hopes for 8th June so fingers crossed…. Getting excited like you now. Was looking over my PS3 only the other day, and if this laptop can play media and blu ray using HDMI then my poor old PS3 will get next to no use at all soon. I’ve not played a PS3 game since October last year…. lol

 

[iv-tecman]

Mine was with Walsh Western too. It was in China on 26/05, got to the UK on the 28/05, and delivered today (01/06) which is very very good, as Monday was bank holiday.

They tried to deliver today, I'm going to the depot to pick it up at about 8pm, 65 mile round trip, but it should be worth it

did you pick your laptop up? Mine is being delivered tomorrow morning, from Hinckley, just down the road from me in fact..... Can't wait, really impressed they got it from China to Hinckley during a bank holiday and getting the laptop to me tomorrow.... That's nearly a week before they said they'd deliver.

Thats rather good actually.... Makes up for the troubles I had ordering the machine.

 

[iv-tecman]

Mine has just turned up, sadly I’m at work so only been able to open the box and look at it, and not use it yet…

First thing I noticed… This is a very big laptop. The screen is amazingly large, yet the laptop doesn’t suffer for it, it’s still small enough to carry around and I’m now pleased I got a large rucksack laptop carry bag. The trackpad is also very big, biggest trackpad I’ve seen on a laptop to date.

The build quality on first glance appears to be good, I’m looking at the top touch panel and it looks to have a slight bend upwards, its nothing too troubling and its maybe just me looking too hard for build faults. Overall, the laptop feels very solid, quite heavy which could be due to larger cell battery but due to weight doesn’t feel cheap. Screen lid movement is smooth and it doesn’t slam shut and the keyboard keys feel great, and even include a numeric keypad, on a laptop? How cool is that – can’t wait to actually fire it up and give it a good test run in.

I’m VERY disappointed with the USB arrangement. One USB /SATA port on one side of the laptop, and two USB sockets quite far apart on the other side, next to the blu ray drive is not impressing me. Meaning, double USB powered devices could be a problem as a doubled ended USB cable might not fit, I think my USB SATA HDD Caddie will suffer from this. A laptop like this needs four USB minimum.

And, VGA is so old and should be DVI or even removed completely. Understand Dell might need to provide projector support, but why not provide an adaptor for this? Another cheap option from Dell. So, lack of USB and VGA in place of DVI is disappointing to me. But not a deal breaker, I knew about the inclusion of VGA port, didn’t realise it had so few USB sockets.

Impressed with the provision of HDMI, card reader and speakers look rather nice on each corner, with silver surround casing. Has some type of chain motif all around the case and very glossy black lid. Very artistic, but perhaps not to the taste of all.

So, first impressions before turning it on are good. Feels well built, solid, slightly heavier then expected, excellent sized screen sadly USB and VGA options let first impressions down.

More to come once I power it on.

 

[iv-tecman]

Now powered it up, and truthfully I'm re-installing the O/S as its got a 14GB partition that I have lost and I'll re-install to my own spec first...

Then I'll give it a really good going over, but so far.. Its rather quick. Just wondering why dell decided to stick the COA in the inside of the battery..!!Spent 5 mins looking for that, thought I'd been stiffed and not got the COA...!! lol

Anyhow, re-installing the O/S right now. But so far, its a great laptop. Screen is fantastic, and its real quiet...

 

[iv-tecman]

Well, started to encounter the first of my problems with this laptop…

I’ve re-installed the O/S using the Dell recovery backup options. Dell are too cheap to provide a DVD with the O/S on it, so you need to make a copy yourself. I only needed the drivers and utils etc as I’ve already got an O/S CD. I have a copy of Windows 7 Home 64bit.

Anyhow, to be sure I make backups of everything. I used the backup copy of the Windows 7 DVD supplied by Dell on the system, and deleted the O/S pre-installed and started again. You don’t need the COA with the Dell O/S DVD as its pre authenticated.

I’m up and running again, not a problem, apart from..

Dell backups do not backup the blu ray playback software.
Dell backups to Media creates a driver CD, sure. Shame some drivers are missing, I’ve managed to get it mostly up and running, with exception to Windows 7 Device Manager showing unknown device. I think it’s a Creative Labs Integrated Webcam Driver that is missing. I’ve no longer got a webcam.

So, this isn’t very clever Dell. First, you’re too cheap to provide restore media, and you need to create it yourself using DVD. Ok but then when its created, its missing the media playback software and DVD Burning software, no video drivers and no webcam drivers.

Not only that, I go to their website, enter my tag number and guess what… No webcam drivers. I’ve searched everywhere for them, so guess I’ll need to call tech support? To find drivers.. Wish me luck on that..

Laptop is quick though. I’m not liking the top touch panel with the blu ray controls and volume controls. It feels bouncy and its bending, I can see it bending upwards, and if I push it down, it bends down… Now that’s poor..!! Oh and the eject button works, sometimes it doesn’t. and the USB /SATA port is really hard to push USB devices into it, it does work but you need to push harder then expected….

I’m not so sure this laptop is as good as it should be….. Early days. Lets see if I can get all the devices working before I pass anymore judgement..

Screen is excellent though, haven’t tried media playback yet but Half Life 2 ran great on it.. lol

 

[iv-tecman]

Thank you so much Andy, that worked a treat. O/S is now fully configured and all devices now working correctly again...

In fact using my new laptop to post this. Its working a treat now, still not 100% sure about the touchbar at the top, but other then this seems to be going much better...

Backlit keyboard in the evening and late at night, such as now is superb...

As for heat, mine is ok. Plays Half Life 2 fulll whack, and doesn't seem to trouble it too much. Fan kicks in for a few seconds then thats it, and its not overly noisy...

Still not impressed with the eject button but well impressed with the screen... Its fantastic for a laptop, and the built in speakers are the best laptop speakers i've heard...!!

Would I recommend this laptop? Maybe but it's not without fault....

I'll give it some more testing.... MP3 playback with the built in speakers is superb, battery life is good as well.

 

[iv-tecman]

No problem

Not tried any games yet, I'm hoping it will run Just Cause 2 and GTA IV to some extent.

I would reccomend this laptop. While it does have it's flaws, the pro's outweigh the cons by a long way!

Oh for sure, its a good laptop no doubt.... The screen and speakers are the best i've ever seen on a laptop. Makes my old and now dead Dell D600 look like a fisher price toy..

Still has a few faults. I'm downloading Dirt 2 via Steam right now, see how that fairs.... Runs VLC quite nicely, yet to try the HDMI out, but I will... Hoping for big things from the HDMI on my 42" plasma.. lol

 

[iv-tecman]

just tried the HDMI out, and it worked perfectly fine. 1080p mode using 1920 x 1080 at 60hz and played a DVD using XBMC without any problems...

It even turned off the inbuilt speakers and used home cinema speakers.... That was a snap..!! Very easy, and great results..

Hmmmm so far its getting better, I want to know my money has been well spent... lol

oh gf hates my new laptop.... Just been caught, so I'd best get to bed. To be fair, we've got an early start tomorrow, so better put this away and get some sleep..

Its a new toy, boys and toys.. lol

 

[iv-tecman]

Quite possibly, I'm on the i5, which does perform very well!

I've decided this laptop is good enough to replace my desktop, so the desktop is going

mine just played Batman Arkham average 35fps max detail x2 AA at 1920 x 1080, and to me that's bloody amazing..

3Dmark2006 ran quite smooth, but i had to knock that down to 720 to make it sustain a decent FPS. But still thats bloody impressive for a laptop..

Its not as fast as my desktop though, but its darn well giving it a good run for its money....

Overall, had the laptop over the weekend and its not missed a beat since I got the O/S all up and running again.

I too would recommend one, my fan isn't all that bad. It only kicks in when I load a program up, or play a very intensive game...

the HDMI support on a 1080 Panasonic Plasma is fantastic, it works without hardly any hassle at all..

My only gripe now, is the size of this beast.. lol so glad I got that rucksack carry bag, I can see my laptop being used a lot, posting this message using said laptop.. lol