***Official Studio XPS 1645 Intel Core i7 Discussion Thread!***

Hello All...

I have been lurking on this thread for well over a month now and was waiting to place my order until it looked as if Dell had it's act together. Now that it looks like some of the orders have progressed...do you think it's now safe to place my order? Also...any thoughts on my specs would be much appreciated...


Studio XPS 16 Notebook
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Intel ® Core ™ i7 820QM 1.73GHz (3.06GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
Full HD Widescreen 16.0 inch RGBLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP
ATI Mobility RADEON® HD 4670 – 1GB
128GB Solid State Drive
Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish with Leather
Integrated 10/100 Network Card
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9, Multiple Languages
Slot Load Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi MB
Intel® 5300 WLAN Wireless-N (3x3) Mini Card
No Microsoft Office
McAfee SecurityCenter, 36-Months
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
2 yr In-home Service after remote diagnosis + Complete Care
1Yr LoJack for Laptops Theft Protection
Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year
Napster Link
Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)
Dell BH200 Bluetooth 2.0 EDR Stereo Headset

 

Well it sounds like my order is inevitably going to be canceled. The REAL question is what do i push for in freebies?

6GB of RAM?
820QM?
SSD?

I think I should be able to get ONE of these since my order has been cancelled literally 3 times ALREADY not counting the current one that is doomed. I'm not one to push for compensation usually but all the stress I've been through trying to just get my order placed, and now its going to get canceled again... I spent almost 12 hours on the phone with Dell trying to get my order straightened out over the course of two weeks....

 

Mine was canceled today with new EDD of Dec. 12.
I emailed my rep and told him it's 6GB of Ram or it gets sent back.

 

Estimated ship date on Dell.com is now 11/26. I also just checked through the AAFES website (for any military out there) and they're listing the ESD as 11/20 with no options delaying said date. It's been how many months now? Has anyone received theirs yet?

 

Sounds like your complaining too... But you got one heck of a deal, and have every reason to feel as you do.

One sweet computer. I bet that's not cheap. Personally if I were you I would wait. Nobody has got as much as a tracking number yet. And there are about 40 some days that they have taken orders. That's a lot of back orders to do. At least wait until somebody gets a tracking number. So far everybody has just been strung along with whatever excuse they can think of. Another way to think of it is if I just placed the order today, it would arrive earlier than when I placed my order 36 days ago.

 

I'd push for SSD first, if they still want to give you stuff, then it depends on your usage. If you use photoshop, get the memory, if you play RTS (like Supreme Commander or GTA IV) or do calculations (MATLAB) or video encoding/rendering, get the CPU.

 

As expected, the order status hotline no longer provides any estimated shipping information as of this morning (while the website still lists my EDD as Monday). Looks like I'll have to give Dell a call to find out how far into December my order is going to get pushed so I can threaten cancellation. Weeee...

 

Me too. Website is showing the same EDD of 11/12, but the hotline says I'm still in the build stage and that's all they can tell me. No more ESD of today. Bummer.

I've always built my own computers before this. I sure picked a doozie for a name brand system.

 

I've been looking at the Studio 15 and the Studio XPS16 for quite some time. I was leaning towards the Studio 15 w/ i7, but my EPP site (military) doesn't carry it yet. However, I can get the config below for a pretty decent price. I'll mainly use it for web browsing, basic music and photos, maybe a little gaming (flight sim), and plan on keeping it for quite a while (I'm still on my 6.5 yr old Inspiron 600m). With zero tax and free shipping, what do you think, especially considering the Studio 15 w/ same config isn't much less.

ItemDescription Quantity Unit Price Ext Price
Bluetooth 5-Button Travel Mouse - Matte Black 1 $29.99 $29.99
Studio XPS 16;Studio XPS 16 Notebook 1 $1,230.50 $1,230.50
Processor: Intel ® Core ™ i7 720QM 1.6GHz (2.8 GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
Memory: 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
Monitor: HD+ Widescreen 15.6 inch WLED LCD (1680x945) W/2.0 MP
Video Card: ATI Mobility RADEON® HD 4670 – 1GB
Hard Drive: 250GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
System Color: Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish
Operating System: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Network Card: Integrated 10/100 Network Card
Adobe Reader: Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9, Multiple Languages
CD ROM/DVD ROM: 8X Slot Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Sound: High Definition Audio 2.0 with SRS Premium Sound
Wireless: Intel® 5300 WLAN Wireless-N (3x3) Mini Card
Bundle: No Microsoft Office
Anti-Virus Software: McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months
Battery: 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Service: 1 Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis - Important Information
Bluetooth Options: Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total: $1,260.49

Preliminary Ship date of 11/21, but I wouldn't bank on it.

 

Mine has a delivery date of 12/3. My credit card has been charged as of yesterday. It still says pre production on the main screen but work in progress whatever that means when i click on the order status. My origional delivery date was 11/5. With the rebates i paid 1,134 so with that deal I'm just sucking it up like everyone else here. I did get them to drop another 50 bucks when I called to complain so 1,084 for the system wasn't bad. I did get the full 1080P resolution and bluetooth module as well and leather. I'm in Iraq at the moment and this system is for my wife who's in her 3rd week of this symester with finals in a couple weeks. I guess it's gonna be her Christmas present.

 

I just got off the phone with Dell. I spoke with three different representatives, all of whom spoke excellent English, which was a pleasant surprise. I was transferred from Order Status to Sales to Modification.

The Order Status representative gave me the same information as the website currently does, including the estimated delivery date of Monday, but he also stated that a part is listed as back ordered. When I asked which part, he was unable to give me that information, but he remained steadfast that the delivery date would be met. He then transferred me to a sales representative after I brought up my concerns about the old Intel 5300 item number.

The sales representative could not provide any information either, was unaware of any back ordered parts and promptly transferred me to a modification team after I brought up the item number issue.

The modification representative stated that my order would be cancelled sometime today automatically by the system and reissued with high priority, which according to him means it'll be built within a week and shipped shortly thereafter. He also gave me the impression that machines have started shipping. He was fully aware of the Intel 5300 item number issue and stated that there are no back ordered parts. He did state that a new order would appear with a much later EDD, but that being on high priority meant the real delivery date would be significantly sooner.

-----

In short, nothing was accomplished... unfortunately I'm a hopeful person and so I'll see what happens over the next week or so. We'll see if I'll regret not raising hell about this and shooting for 6 GB of RAM or something else.

Incidentally, he said that the machine would still be shipping with Windows Vista.

 

I am configuring a XPS 16 i7 system and have a question. It appears the i7 configuration uses a 10/100 network card, but the older models have a 10/100/1000 network card.

The SKU for the i7 configuration network card is Network Card----Integrated 10/100 Network Card INTNIC [430-3605]

The SKU for the Core™ 2 Duo P8700 configuration ------Integrated NETWORK ADAPTERS (NICS) Integrated Gigabit (10/100/1000) Network Card INTNIC [430-2600]

Can anyone confirm this? I don't know why Dell would go to a non-gigabit card.

 

AFAIK this is an error in the description. The card is a 10/100/1000 network card.

 

I would call Dell and ask them.

 

No need...it's a Gigabit card. The 1640 did the same thing.

~Ibrahim~

 

This system is plagued by wrong descriptions.

-Wifi Card
-RGB Screen
-Network Card

What else i wonder...

 

New model, migrating old data (why??), and thus confusion. The suckage that is Dell.

~Ibrahim~

 

Ikjadoon, give me faith, tell me that your order has been shipped lol

 

I just made an order. Estimated delivery December 7th. The sales person said the info on the network card is wrong and that it does have a gigabit network card. He said the chassis is the same as the older build and they haven't changed the network card. He said he is submitting the error information to marketing so they can fix it on the site.

 

I paid $1888.83 b4 tax.. ($2021.05 out the door) for the i7 820qm, RGBled screen, 4gb 1333mhz ram, 500gb hd.. I also got the dell travel BT mouse. I got the price through an EPP educational plan.. Do you guys think I overpayed? Order was placed 10/25....


EDIT: EDD 11/16 can't f'n wait!!!

 

background:
initial order: 9/28 > EDD 10/30 > updated 11/6 > cancelled and updated 12/2

I just saw my order status today and it says shipped. The EDD is updated to 11/10 back from 12/2. Called and confirmed and it has shipped today. It never went through the boxing stage. Was in production phase yesterday and I wasn't expecting the order to ship today.

There is no tracking number as yet. Has anyone else got their tracking number? Hopefully I won't be disappointed this time

 

This is Odd...I just ordered 10 minutes ago and my EDD is 12/1...which is FAR better than I thought it would be. My order currently shows as "In Production", but I guess that is normal.

Also...they threw in Next Day Shipping and the Upgrade to Windows 7 Pro for free...

224-6716 1 Studio XPS 16 Notebook
317-2360 1 Intel CoreTM i7-820QM (1.73 - 3.06 GHz 8M/8 threads)
317-2366 1 8GB, DDR3, 1333MHz 2 Dimm
320-8335 1 Premium FHD WLED Display, Obsidian Black, 2.0 MP Webcam
421-1010 1 Dell Webcam Central v1.4
421-0188 1 Facial Recognition
320-8350 1 ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4670 1GB
341-9800 1 128GB Solid State Drive
320-8352 1 Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish with Leather XPS 1645
421-1366 1 Genuine Windows 7 Professional, 64bit, English
421-1749 1 MOD,SW,W7P64,DVD,MUI,NO-E
421-0323 1 Windows Live Search,Multiple User Interface
420-6576 1 DELL WELCOME,Software Dimension/Inspiron
420-9100 1 Dell Dock Consumer
420-6436 1 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
421-0187 1 Dell Support Center Software 64 Bit 2.0
420-7938 1 Dell Connect 2.1
421-0092 1 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
330-5460 1 DELL RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP,XPS 1645
330-6222 1 Windows 7 Label
430-3605 1 Integrated 10/100 Network Card
410-1883 1 ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE
313-7056 1 BluRay Combo Drive
421-1361 1 MOD,SW,RXO,EZCD,10.3,DE,FI
421-1583 1 Cyberlink Power DVD 8.2 Blu-Ray Disk Playback
313-8546 1 Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi MB
430-0737 1 Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11AGN Half Mini Card
410-2087 1 McAfee Sapphire MUI, 36-Month
312-0950 1 9-cell Battery
412-1397 1 No Productivity Software requested
950-3338 1 2 Year Limited Warranty
900-3981 1 CompleteCare Accidental DamageProtection, Inspiron, 2 Year
905-6418 1 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus At-Home Service, Extended Year(s)
905-5637 1 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus At-Home Service, Initial Year
905-3971 1 Banctec Next Business Day In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis , 1 Year Extended
906-5380 1 Banctec Next Business Day In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis , Initial Year
412-0360 1 Soft Contracts - Banctec
412-0358 1 Soft Contracts - Consumer Complete Care
902-0941 1 Warranty Support,1 Year Extended
960-8710 1 Warranty Support,Initial Year
467-7771 1 Thanks for choosing Dell!
991-1179 1 LoJack Theft Recovery Service,XPS - 1 Year DHS
420-8655 1 LoJack Theft Recovery Softwarefor Laptops, 1 Year
988-7707 1 2GB DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 FOR SDO/DIM/INS/XPS
420-9518 1 DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 2GB
988-0099 1 To activate your online backupaccount, go to Start, Programs, DataSafe Online
330-0171 1 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks
430-0700 1 Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)
421-1347 1 Dell Software,Napster-link

 

Wait wait wait ! Are you telling us that your order status is "Shipped" ??!
Omg omg omg that a freaking good news !

 

Yeeaaaahhhh!!! First one shipped. Tracking # should be there in a few hours.

No, mine hasn't shipped AFAIK....even though I ordered mine 3 days before you did...LOL. It's OK, congrats!

~Ibrahim~

 

Thanks!. I'll let you guys know when I get a tracking number. Mine is a 3-5 day shipping so maybe they shipped earlier and you'll get yours at the same time

 

I kinda wanna see a screenshot of it saying shipped.

Annnnd I'm still in production despite the previous ESD of today. 800 number stopped giving me an EDD this morning and is continuing to be a jerk.

 

Attached I have waited long so I know how it feels. Hopefully this helps

 

My order has shipped guys! I should have it by Monday! I have next day shipping. I am kind of hoping it will come tomorrow. As fedex does deliver on Saturdays.

- Garrett

 

Has anyone else noticed that you can't order the Studio XPS 16 with the i7 on Dell Home or Dell EPP anymore? Can someone else verify? I was looking to make a price comparison to an HP, and the i7 laptops seem to have vanished.

 

I can confirm the same thing you are experiencing. Wanted to see if they changed the config and their prices and it is not even listed on the EPP site.

- Garrett

 

I wish everyone luck, by tonight I should see a tracking #'s from somebody here right???

I just got an email... "there was an issue with your system configuration that forced a re-build configuration. You should receive notification soon from this group to get it replaced"

Hmm I asked that weeks ago, and just yesterday they said that there was no problem, you mean it took 36 days to find out that there was a configuration issue? And day 35 no issues, day 36 issues.

 

Congrats to the people whose laptops have shipped. my order still has the old SKU of wifi card...

 

Try this link

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/note...d.aspx?refid=laptop-studio-xps-16&s=dhs&cs=19

I just ordered today from Dell Home. I told them I wanted to deal with them instead of EPP. I gave them my EPP number and they searched all of the offers. They said they could match all of the EPP prices. Hope I got a good deal.

 

I just got my tracking number from fedex. I will post a screen shot shortly.

- Garrett

 

NICE!!! ENJOY IT...

 

Here are some screen shots.


- Garrett

 

Now hopefully people have theirs shipped, I've requested another quote. What do you think? Everything is pretty much stock except I got the black w/ leather and 3 yr warranty w/ NBD service. Dell Canada (EPP) is pretty tight and don't give any extras (or maybe it was just the reps that I talked to):

Black w/ leather
i7 720QM
15.6" 900p WLED
4GB DDR3
500GB 7200RPM
HD 4670 1GB
DVD+-RW
9 cell battery
Win 7 Premium
3 yr NBD warranty w/ 1 yr LoJack
Dell 1397 802.11g

$1485 (before tax)

 

same specs than you for me but i chose the RGBLED and complete care 3 years and got it for 1697$ before taxes.

 

OMG OMG OMG, thanks for the info! Mine is still 11/24 but i'll cross my fingers. The day is finally coming!

Can't wait to hear your impressions when you get it!

 

I would reccomend the complete care as this is a new config.. who knows what will happen. IF you have the extra cash i reccoment the BD player for 150$ also if you follow this think below you can order the RGBLED online (the only way i have ever seen the rgbled on the dell canada site)

http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=nsx16cf_dm_chxpdm1&c=ca&l=en&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1

I really hate that if you go into build a system through different links the configs / prices are different.

 

My order was cancelled last night. I tried calling but they disconnected me. I was going to call back later today and still might.

My order was remade though a few minutes ago. Windows 7 is listed

my original ship date was novemeber 12

the EDD on the new order is december 7

At least they put win 7 on..

 

My Original EDD was October 30th. I then was delayed until November 4th and was given free next day shipping. My order was delayed again to November 10th. I was given a 75$ coupon. Finally My order was canceled. Dell Called me and the rep gave me a $100 coupon (I actually received the coupon TODAY in an email) and I placed my order again (it has a different wifi card model) Now my EDD is December 1st. My order still has next day shipping. They assured me that the order would be "expedited" in manufacturing so that i would receive it long before that date and that the date could be changed to sooner. During this long waiting period I have had the time to check into other laptops. There is one that comes VERY close to this Dell XPS 1645. The laptop I found is a toshiba and has backlit keys. The graphics card is not as good but its still fair enough to place most games. Take a look. http://laptops.toshiba.com/laptops/satellite/A500.

 

Same as the other guy who posted on the last page...I received a tracking number this morning as well.

Scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning by Fedex...We'll see if it's happens.

 

Sweet. Take pics and let us know how it is! My estimated delivery date is Dec. 7th

That deal, they just remove LoJack (1 Yr) for $5 less. Not really worth it IMO. I couldn't justify the extra cost for BD or 1080p so I didn't upgrade, $400 is a serious amount of cash! And I'm pretty careful and have had several laptops before, so I didn't bother upgrading the warranty (think they wanted $150 more).

 

Lucky guys, if my first two orders had never been cancelled due to DPA issues I'd be receiving mine this weekend (according to the original EDD at least).

Now my current order is still in production but has the "bad" wifi card.

The good news is out of a sea of terrible service, the rep I spoke to about a week ago in the order status department has been keeping me updated. today when i mentioned the wifi card to him he sounded shocked and hadn't heard about it! He's doing some research for me and has already sent me a few e-mails today since our conversation this morning updating me on what he's doing.

If all dell reps would just do what they say they're going to do like this guy is Dell would be #1.

 

I found that the RGBLED screen is not available whit any "leather" cover but it is available for the black high gloss finnish.

 

I am hoping my package will be delivered tomorrow by fedex. As I have had a few others from fedex in the last month or so get delivered on a Saturday. But not pushing my luck. I am just happy that mine actually shipped after a month and a half. So it should be here on Monday at the latest. I will try and get pictures and my impressions asap. I work nights, if the laptop arrives first thing in the morning on Monday, expect pictures to follow soon after that.

- Garrett

 

How'd you get someone like that? Everyone I've talked to was clueless.

 

Pure luck, like i said he didn't know about the issue, but he's *trying* which blows the rest of the people i've talked to out of the water.

He's even an India rep, i can tell by his name (no doubt about it).

Great guy though so far.

 

Thanks winks2872! I just got off the phone with my Sales rep... my order has been remade, but he is not willing to give me any extras as of yet because he believes that I can still get it by my original EDD of 11/13 since he expedited it. I somehow doubt that, especially since the EDD on the new order is 12/7. He said that he would know more on Monday... so looks like I'm waiting until Monday to find out more. *sigh*

Congrats to those of who who have finally shipped! I can hardly wait to hear what you think of it.

On an unrelated note... my wife's laptop just died today (Sony Vaio - Power supply no longer wants to power the laptop from the power feed, so no way of recharging the battery once it runs out)... so we're off to BestBuy to shop for a laptop... kinda ty. I would have liked to order a new one from Dell depending on how my SXPS 16 runs, but there's no way we can wait longer than a couple days for her (needs it for school).