£1200 - Dell Studio XPS 16 - with ssd?

[TheRoadWarrior]

I've got crysis and guitar hero world tour lined up for games, GH is bizzarly hard on the PC for a game thats just showing a scrolling fret board, the recomended CPU is a 2.8ghz c2d! I put it down to being a lazy port of the xbox 360 game i guess.

I've read up on undervolting (Never had a laptop before) and will give it a try once i've checked the machine over and seen how it runs stock.

With your last dell order what info did you have in your history info on the walsh&western site? I'm a little worried theres not more info than there is, see last post for my history info.

 

[ninja2000]

Yeah I tried GH before and it lagged on a xps m1530 with 8600gt!

With walsh western there isnt much info. You will get leaving china, then another entry when it is received in Hinkly then you should receive a phone call arranging a delivery slot. It usually takes about 4-5 work days.

Make sure you stress the system with furmark and orthos without undervolting and check your temps. Then Undervolt and check the difference. It knocked 10c off my temps. Give me a shout if you need a hand.

 

[TheRoadWarrior]

Is it sad to have memorised both my Dell customer and order number because i've been checking the status so much??

Dammit W&W, wheres my phonecall! Its been 4 days since the dell site changed to delivery and the W&W site says it takes 4 days for delivery.

 

[leoncc]

Quick question, does this XPS come with a proper Windows 7 disc? Or is it just another restoration disc?

Obviously I will be formatting and would like to do my own fresh install. Can I just use the serial number with another copy of Windows 7 premium?

 

[iaind]

Quick question, does this XPS come with a proper Windows 7 disc? Or is it just another restoration disc?

Obviously I will be formatting and would like to do my own fresh install. Can I just use the serial number with another copy of Windows 7 premium?

If its anything like other Dells, you get a recovery partition which you can do a factory restore from, crapware and all. You also get an OS disc which is Dell branded but is a standard OEM windows disk. I don't see why it should be any different for 7. Like this : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WINDOWS-VISTA...ting_Software_Software_SR?hash=item2556fc18a7

In other news, mine went to "production" phase yesterday - how long has this been taking with the 16 for other people?

 

[TheRoadWarrior]

I'll leave the standard install on for now, but when i get an SSD I'll want to do a full clean install so am hoping I do get a proper disc, just to make things easier!

The shipping note doesnt mention a physical Windows7 disc, if its anything like my girlfriends studio 15 it will have the recovery partition and a prompt will pop up inviting you to burn a CD from the partition should the HD fail.

Iain i think mine was only in the production phase for a day before it went to delivery, but dont get too excited- even if mine turns up monday (The predicted date from Dell) it will still have been 5 working days + a weekend since it left Dell.

 

[ninja2000]

My studio xps 16 came with an OS dvd as well as a restore partition. I would imagine yours will be the same.

The first thing I did was remove the recovery partition and did a fresh install of W7 made a massive difference

Edit, I was really lucky with mine. It spent 4 days pre production, 1 day production left china on Friday and I received it the following Tuesday! all in all it took just over a week after I ordered it. before that I ordered a studio 1555 and that took 2 weeks from order to delivery

 

[TheRoadWarrior]

Ahh good news- is there a lot of bloatware on the machine? If its really that bad I might consider doing a fresh install when it turns up. How big is the recovery partition?

If mine turns up on monday (Which i doubt as i've still had no phonecall) it will have taken a day shy of 2 weeks from ordering.

 

[leoncc]

I would definately recommend doing you're own fresh install on any laptop and just install the drivers manually through device manager.

Thats what I do anyway.

 

[iaind]

Presume there's another disc with the drivers and apps on it as well as the OS disk?

 

[leoncc]

Yeah there will be some sort of restoration disc with everything on it.

 

[TheRoadWarrior]

Ahh just had the odd-robot automated-call, scheduled delivery for monday am. Woo-woo!

 

[hazeyjames]

Hi RoadWarrior. You should think yourself lucky.
I ordered a Studio XPS 16 on 30th September. The 1st EDD was 14th October, which soon got pushed back to 5th Nov.
Last Friday, 23rd Oct, the Dell order page changed the status to phase 5, delivery. Every since then the Walsh Western tracking site has just said

23/10/09 23:30 CHINA DEPARTED MANU.FACILITY
23/10/09 15:30 PENDING.

It's doing my head in! I'm becoming addicted to checking the tracking site and increasingly frustrated that it's not changing.

I've spoken to Walsh Western who just tell me that the consignment hasn't been signed off by Dell yet.

This is the last time I ever order from Dell online.

 

[malcolm]

I'm also considering buying a Studio XPS 16, the Core i7 looks tempting, quite good value compared to the prices charged for the C2Q laptop cpus.

Some strange anomolies though, the i7 machines only seem to come with the Dell Wireless 1397 Mini Card (802.11 b/g), so no Wireless N. Would be a shame to buy a new laptop and not be able to make use of the extra speed of my wireless N router. Then there's the 9 cell battery issue, anyone know how much bigger/heavier it is?

That 128GByte SSD is tempting, could always buy a 500GByte normal drive for data, since the machine has two drive bays.

Decisions, decisions........

 

[TheRoadWarrior]

Hi RoadWarrior. You should think yourself lucky.
I ordered a Studio XPS 16 on 30th September. The 1st EDD was 14th October, which soon got pushed back to 5th Nov.
Last Friday, 23rd Oct, the Dell order page changed the status to phase 5, delivery. Every since then the Walsh Western tracking site has just said

23/10/09 23:30 CHINA DEPARTED MANU.FACILITY
23/10/09 15:30 PENDING.

It's doing my head in! I'm becoming addicted to checking the tracking site and increasingly frustrated that it's not changing.

I've spoken to Walsh Western who just tell me that the consignment hasn't been signed off by Dell yet.

This is the last time I ever order from Dell online.

That sounds like a nightmare! Have you got an account manager at Dell or did you order online? From what i've been able to work out departed manu facility basically means the laptop has left china and is being shipped to walsh&western in the UK. For me this took 5 days, some people are saying for them it only took 2. I would expect if you dont get an automated call today then it really should be monday based on my experience. If you get a call today then you can probably expect delivery on tuesday, other wise mid next week.

I wonder what held your build up for an extra 3 weeks over my build time? Did you have any unusual options selected?


Malcolm; I didnt realise this laptop had 2 drive bays, can anyone else confirm this?? If you do a web search on studio xps review, one shows the 9 cell (I cant remember which site it is), it basically sticks out the bottom of the laptop raising it a half inch when placed on a flat surface. Like this;

 

[ninja2000]

The sxps 16 only has 1 HD bay and 1 slot load dvd bay.

If you want 2 HD your only choice is to remove the optical drive and buy a drive bay converter.

Also I dont understand what you are asking about the nine cell? I have the six cell with mine and it sits flush, the nine cell does raise the back of the laptop

 

[hazeyjames]

That sounds like a nightmare! Have you got an account manager at Dell or did you order online? From what i've been able to work out departed manu facility basically means the laptop has left china and is being shipped to walsh&western in the UK. For me this took 5 days, some people are saying for them it only took 2. I would expect if you dont get an automated call today then it really should be monday based on my experience. If you get a call today then you can probably expect delivery on tuesday, other wise mid next week.

I wonder what held your build up for an extra 3 weeks over my build time? Did you have any unusual options selected?

Unfortunately I don’t have an account manager, I just ordered it online. The laptop is just a standard build, with no options changed. Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz, 1080p RGBLED screen, 4GB DDR3, 500GB 7200RPM HDD.

I’m going to give it a couple more hours and then call Walsh Western again. This time I’ll try and get a clear answer as to why it has been held up like this.

 

[TheRoadWarrior]

The sxps 16 only has 1 HD bay and 1 slot load dvd bay.

If you want 2 HD your only choice is to remove the optical drive and buy a drive bay converter.

Also I dont understand what you are asking about the nine cell? I have the six cell with mine and it sits flush, the nine cell does raise the back of the laptop

I think what malcolm is saying by calling it an 'issue' is that the i7 equipped sXPS 16s are only offered with the 9cell, not the smaller 6cell battery meaning you are left with a bigger, heavier laptop.

 

[ninja2000]

Ahh sorry, now I understand. And yes that is true because the i7's consume more power.
the c2d sxps 16 barely gets 2 hours out of the 6 cell so I would image the i7 would get about 1.5h on 6 cell and 2.5 on 9 cell.

Edit - another advantage of the 9cell is it lifts the laptop up at the back giving it better airflow and keeping it slightly cooler

 

[malcolm]

I think what malcolm is saying by calling it an 'issue' is that the i7 equipped sXPS 16s are only offered with the 9cell, not the smaller 6cell battery meaning you are left with a bigger, heavier laptop.

My mistake, it is the Studio 17 that has two drive bays. Been looking at both.

Thanks for the pic Roadwarrior, very helpful. For my purposes this will be a 'desktop replacement' which will be transported plenty, but never far from a power outlet, so the 9 cell battery is not really an advantage, just extra weight. Maybe the extra cooling will be usefull on a desk.

I upgraded my netbook from a 3 cell to a 6 cell and the extra weight was quite significant, but I geuss on a 16" laptop it will not be such a large percentage increase.

Still miffed about the wi-fi though.