Vostro 3700 Owner's Lounge

One other thing I've spent a lot of time tweaking - the Nvidia Control Panel's Adjust Desktop Color settings.

My display is insanely blue tinted like many laptops displays I read about. I've used the by color controls to balance things properly. I started out using the Windows 7 Color Calibration tool, but the Nvidia Control gives more flexibility I think.

I would now call the display above average, although the viewing angles are still pretty bad. The only thing that still really annoys me is the vertical viewing angle. As I open the lid and adjust the screen angle, there's just no point where everything is balanced. The top inch or two of the screen is always darker than the bottom of the screen. If I look closely at text on the bottom of the screen, and then scroll that text so it's at the top, I can see the difference. It's even easier to see with a photo - the darker parts of the photo get darker as the picture is scrolled to the top. The whites get warmer and less blue at the top of the screen as well.

I would probably pay $300 extra to get a IPS screen in this laptop!

 

hello vostro 3700 owners, i'd like to have some information about it...

1. portability: how is the portability, 6 lbs for a 17" laptop seems pretty amazing. Especially for airplane trips and for home-office and home-library trips

2. NVidia Optimus: is it available in the core i5 model?

3. Heat: does if get very hot?

4. Durability: does it feel sturdy?

5. Warranty: does the 3 year plan include international warranty? (for this i'll will ask dell directly but if anyone knows...)

thanks in advance

 

#1 - it's as good as you can get for a 17" laptop right now. It's still 17", there's no getting around it. It's big sitting in your lap, it just is and there's no way around it

#2 - yes, mine switches from Nvidia to the Intel graphics when I unplug, as I specified in the power plan. This was a surprise to me, didn't know it was functional in this model.

#3 - not really. If it's plugged in and on your lap and it's 80 degrees, it's going to get kind of warm around the vent, just like any other laptop with i5 and a dedicated graphics chip.

#4 - yes it's pretty sturdy. Miles ahead of the Studio 15 and 17 from what I've seen.

#5 - not sure, sorry

 

and now that I started this thread, I probably won't be spending too much time here in the future - I'm sending the Vostro 3700 back.

Why? It's the screen quality that got me. I find myself constantly trying to find the perfect angle for the screen so that the bottom doesn't look washed out and the top doesn't look too dark, but I can never find it - because it doesn't exist. Also, even if I position my head exactly in the center of the laptop, either the right edge or left edge looks a bit washed out. It's probably ok for most people, but it's something I notice a lot - my desktop monitor is an IPS panel for this reason.

I have to spend 4 years with this laptop, and this screen will drive me crazy. I really did expect more from a laptop that Dell touts as Business Class (lower end Business Class, but Business Class nonetheless).

So tonight I ordered a Studio XPS 16. I would have preferred the cheaper Studio 15, but I know from touching it in a store that the Studio 15 lid will not stand up to 4 years of my daily travel, plane travel, etc. From what I can tell the Studio XPS 16 is more of a business class build quality and ruggedness.

Of course I lose screen size (but gain resolution) and my last hurrah with Bing Cashback discount, but again, I have to spend 4 years looking at this screen and the Vostro just couldn't cut it. I do hope I gain some speaker quality . Even if the glossy XPS screen is a problem due to reflections, I can put something like the RadTech ClearCal anti-glare film on it. But I couldn't do anything to make the Vostro screen look good enough for my eyes.

On that note, I hope everyone else is enjoying theirs and that it meets your needs. In almost all other respects it's a great laptop - light for 17", fast, backlit keyboard, stays pretty cool. The display quality (for me) and the speakers (that's pretty universally agreed) fall short.

 

Ok, shoot--you had to make this decision--I think I will stay with mine. I think its value proposition meets its price.

Just a couple of questions--
(1) How to turn on the keyboard backlit keys? Is there a button (hard or soft) or does it come on automatically?

(2) Also I noticed the Bluetooth light switches off on its own--I am trying to pair my BT Microsoft Mouse with the notebook, it is picking it up and install the software, but quickly discards it (in Devices and Printers). Is this is a bug? or a design?

Thanks
S

 

Fn+<right arrow> turns on the keyboard--toggle to get desired brighteness and switch on/off.

 

My bluetooth light always stayed on until I turned it off in the BIOS. While I restore the factory image for return to Dell I'll see if it acts strangely, but I have no bluetooth devices to test with...

 

My Vostro 3700 refuses to recognise the Intel HD chip or drivers - could you please give a screenshot of your device manager so I can see how it should look? Do you know what drivers you used for the Intel HD graphics and nvidia to get that working?

 

Hi tickdeon,

Mine is already packed up back in the box (maybe someone else can show a screenshot??), but I used the drivers on Dell's website. Go to Dell's support web page, choose the Vostro 3700 (or enter your service tag) and you will be able to get the 32bit or 64 bit drivers for everything. When I did a fresh install, Windows 7 recognized the Intel video and installed drviers for it. However I then had to install the Dell Nvidia drivers for the 330M to be recognized.

 

How do I afix an image to the post? I have screenshot