Dell Studio 17 - A Good Deal?

[jp_bl_68]

Currently considering the £629 Dell Studio 17:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40Ghz, 3MB, 1066MHz)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 - English
17.0" Widescreen WXGA+ CCFL (1440x900) TFT Display with TrueLife™
4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
2.0 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera - CCFL
320GB (5.400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
256MB ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3650
Fixed Internal DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive including Software
Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery
Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module
Intel WiFi Link 5100 (802.11 a/b/g/n 1X2) 1/2 MiniCard


I've just spoken to someone who told me that this isn't great value for money, what do you think?

I'm looking to get a new laptop, something reliable that'll last (current laptop's 5 years old), mostly for the internet, movies and some light gaming. Not really sure what to go for but I thought this one looked good, not too sure anymore.

 

[Monkeynut]

My Dell Studio 15 is a pain in the arse, just to let you know. I don't know whether the 17 has the same problems, but basically:

The media panel is still borked even though Dell replaced it once (which makes the sound and DVD drive useless for about 15 minutes until it decides to work)

Audio likes to crackle and stutter a lot, Del don't know what's going on but it's so damn annoying and didn't happen on my ancient Dell D600.

The battery life is crap. Don't even try and play a game on it because it just won't last any decent length of time.

After 1 hour of usage the wireless constantly drops out and you have to restart the PC to fix.

Overall my Studio 15 has been soooo dissapointing. I'm avoiding Dell altogether now.

 

[jp_bl_68]

Sorry to hear you've had so many problems. I've never had a Dell before but the ones I've seen always look a little bit cheap. I'm tempted to spend a little more on a HP but I've heard some of them have overheating problems (which my current Pavilion also suffers from).

The battery life doesn't bother me as it'll almost always be connected to the mains. I've got a media panel on my current laptop that has never been used so I'm not sure that'll be an issue either.

Could the wireless problems be with your router rather than your wifi card?

The audio problems you've had are worrying but I would imagine this is an isolated event, perhaps they sent you a dud.

Since getting your Studio 15 have you looked at other laptops to replace it?

 

[Monkeynut]

Sorry to hear you've had so many problems. I've never had a Dell before but the ones I've seen always look a little bit cheap. I'm tempted to spend a little more on a HP but I've heard some of them have overheating problems (which my current Pavilion also suffers from).

The battery life doesn't bother me as it'll almost always be connected to the mains. I've got a media panel on my current laptop that has never been used so I'm not sure that'll be an issue either.

Could the wireless problems be with your router rather than your wifi card?

The audio problems you've had are worrying but I would imagine this is an isolated event, perhaps they sent you a dud.

Since getting your Studio 15 have you looked at other laptops to replace it?

The wireless worked fine on my old Dell Laptop and the desktop PC. I don't think it's the router.

Perhaps the audio is just this machine's mobo. I'll give Dell another ring and see what they say.

I got this laptop as a gift and don't have the money to replace it, unless I sell it I guess.

 

[No-One]

Just want to reinforce a few things that have been mentioned here. I had a Studio 15 delivered yesterday. 24 hours later I've already requested a return for a refund.

1. Media touch buttons. Every time I turn it on the eject button reacts as if it's permanently being pressed. The optical drive (in my case a blu-ray) sits there trying to eject for about 10 mins even though there's nothing in it to eject. I've been searching through several message boards and read stories of dell replacing the media panel, hinge, keyboard, optical drive, motherboard and even entire systems all to no effect. I've not seen a single message by anyone to say "Mine doesn't suffer from this".

2. Speakers. No crackles but the quality is absolutely pathetic. It sounds like someone has taken the drivers out of a pair of earphones and put them in the laptop. Imagine being sat next to someone on a but with a really loud personal stereo on. That's what this laptop sounds like.

It's a shame Dell have gone this way. My old laptop is a 4 year old Inspiron 9200. Apart from a slightly weakened power connector it's still working perfectly.

 

[lopkinfop]

I have a studio 17 that i got a week ago,

there is no problems with the media buttons that i have noticed, they all work (except the dell media button as i deleated the software) the dvd drive eject button works fine
the battery life is between 3 and 4 hours with the 9 cell battery. no crackles with the speakers.

wireless is excelent, i get a much better signal than with my previous model.

the only thing that is bad is that the left crtl button doesn't work properly, i read some forums and it turns out its the touchpad driver causing this, you could update to the latest version or uninstal the driver (this is what i did) now it works fine

i went for the 1920x1200 screen. overall i am very happy with this laptop, it has restored my faith in dells

 

[Inazuma]

Hmm I was about to order a Studio 15. Reading the above posts is quite scary actually. I think I will still go through with it though and if there are problems then I can just keep returning it and getting a replacement or repair.

 

[jp_bl_68]

Hmm I was about to order a Studio 15. Reading the above posts is quite scary actually. I think I will still go through with it though and if there are problems then I can just keep returning it and getting a replacement or repair.

I was thinking the same thing. I assume that laptops bought from the outlet can be repaired under warranty but what happens if they're beyond repair? Wiii Dell still replace it?

 

[Monkeynut]

Hmm I was about to order a Studio 15. Reading the above posts is quite scary actually. I think I will still go through with it though and if there are problems then I can just keep returning it and getting a replacement or repair.

The media touch buttons seem to affect all of them, so if you send it back you'll get the same issue back.