**The Official Studio XPS 1645 Intel Core i7 "Owners Lounge" - Part 2

It's the same Avivo, but what you see in the CCC are just the video adjustment options. You can change stuff in there and not notice the difference, because it only applies when watching video. Play a video while adjusting the settings and you'll be able to see their effect.

But that's just a small part of it, the big thing is that it allows your GPU to decode video instead of your CPU. The i7 is more than powerful enough to decode video by itself, so you don't really need Avivo, but if your GPU is capable of decoding, why not let it. Avivo also contains a few video enhancement features, like improved video scaling and deinterlacing.

 

The i7 takes like three times longer to do it than Avivo does lol, just use Avivo...

 

When I'm browsing internet, with firefox, outlook, and pidgin (an IM program) open, I'm usually 48-53c on my CPU and about 1-2c less on my GPU, with low or no fan as well.

slimdusty/spike: What CPU/GPU combo do you have? Have you tried removing the dust filter yet? That seems to make a huge difference.

 

What about the BIOS updates. Are they helping? I think previously even the 130W adapter was not able to stop the throttling in some cases due to some BIOS restrictions. Does it work perfectly now?

 

That will be with the i7 not being able to draw sufficient wattage from the adapter. The i5's are much better for that and as far as I know have minor problems compared to the i7's and power supply as they require less power!

 

Received on Tuesday my 1645, but I was away at a college orientation, but had I been there I would have noticed the issue earlier. So I came back on Friday and I unboxed the 1645, and started it up, was liking the setup and installed Office, and was doing stuff, nothing really bad with it yet. I then went on Facebook and was typing something, when I felt something strange against my finger tip. I noticed that, the right hand side CTRL key was dislodged, and in no way could it be fixed, since the clip that holds the key onto its plastic spring was broken on one corner of the key, like a lot of force was put on it, or it was just a bad mold. So I had to call Dell, and when I tried to local number, for Warranty and Customer Care, I could not get an answer, and was re-routed or the call was dropped. So I learned today that I got to wait for Monday to call the Customer service office, since they are not open on weekends in Canada for technical support. So I got to wait til Monday call Dell, then wait for a Purolator box, then ship the box out to probably the depot in Newmarket, Ontario, and then they replace the whole keyboard, and then ship it back. All because of one key, and I do not want to get a third part vendor to ship the key, when the product is very delicate to install.

I was really having a great time with this laptop, and then I noticed the key. I have had Dell replace stuff for me on my Inspiron 2200 when the hard drive and motherboard, and DVD-RW had to be replaced. Customer service was better, but that was probably during the week and not during a week end. I have had a bit of a heart for Dell, but now I am starting to see the really bad issues with the company.

Oh it burns me up so much, since the computer is right now sitting next to me, and I do not want to use it, until it is fixed. This was supposed to last me at least 3 or 4 years, and it didn't even get to see the inside of a backpack yet.

Ken

 

Ask them for expedited shipping. Tell them you're eager to actually start using the computer.

Pretty sure things like this are automatically first-class shipped though, it shouldn't take that long...

 

1st of all Tech support for xps is open 24/7 in Canada 1-866-398-8977

2nd On a brand new system no way do they have the right to send it away for depot service you ask for a new machine or a refund.

 

I agree about not sending it to the depot, that'd take forever just to swap out the keyboard. But it will likely take about 3 weeks for a replacement as well. He might be better off if he just requested a tech come out and swap the keyboard, should only take a few days.

Kenster: Always call directly to the XPS support number. Their customer service is way above the average Dell technician, and the wait is usually much shorter.

 

I have an i7-720qm and HD 5730. My temps when doing "normal things" (listening to music, browsing) is typically around 50-53C. I was saying that his temps are a little higher than mine and that there shouldn't be too much concern other than a little dust.

 

not to be worried bro. . i always keep my laptop's lid closed wen i'm downloading stuff, once even upto 5 days in a stretch. . (normally 2-3 days ). . no probs wid my baby. . i jus go to college in morning and come at night only to see the progress of the download. . no probs watsoever. . temps hover around 53-55 C and cpu usage hardly crosses 8-10% (usually 2-3% of total or 10-15% of core 1) !! Cheers!!

 

I'm a little bit more worried about my usage.. Encoding Avatar from Blu-Ray the other day took 9 1/2 hours, using a lot of CPU the whole time, and sitting in the low 70* mark the whole time. This must be bad for my machine right?

 

Why would it be bad? CPUs are meant to be used. As long as you're not over 85 for a sustained period you should be fine. I wouldn't worry about closing the lid either, most of the heat is blown out the back.

 

Yes, so what about the i7 ones, are they still giving problems even after so many BIOS updates? Actually I'm not sure right now whether I will go for the i7 or the i5 one so want to know the current status for all kinds of configurations.

 

The vast majority of people complaining about throttling have have 2 or 3 of the following 3 things: the quad core i7, the ATI 4670, and the RGBLED monitor.

The new 1645 i7 machines with the 5730 and WLED monitors don't seem to have nearly as many problems. I game on mine for hours, and never have throttling or anything like that.

 

Dell also began to supply the 1645 with the 130w adapter.

 

Ah okay, that puts me at ease, I wasn't sure what qualified as *safe* sustained levels.

 

OK hello all,
Am getting rather fed up with my Studio XPS here. I have had it. There is not one single issue with this laptop that gets on my nerve more than the graphic problem since day 1.

Once in a couple of days of it running 24/7, the screen will suddenly go fuzzy like a broken tv but with colors. Here is a photo of it crashing on me.



It will differ. Sometimes they are lines sometimes its just fuzzy color dots.

Most of the time, once this happen, the pc will crash and the restart itself. But there are a few times where it was able to recover itself and a message saying will pop-up saying "Graphic driver has failed and successfully recovered"

These are the errors I get after the crash. I recorded 2 of the errors after the crashes.

Crash 1




Crash 2




And then I tried a stress test to see if its the throttling issue. Within minutes of running prime95 and a mmorpg, the temp shot up to 87. But weirdly enough, it went back down to 70+- after a few minutes while prime95 is still on full load. When idling, the laptop temp is hovering around 60+-



I don't think its a throttling issue as it crashes even when I'm just browsing the net and listening to music. There are even a few times where it crashed itself when I left it turned on during the night.

To note, I have A10 BIOS and a 130w adapter with a CM Infinite Coolerpad.

I have another 2 friends who have the same 1645 model. They too have graphic problems. Although they do not have the same symptoms as I do, which are the fuzzy lines and colored dots, theirs will just blackout and crash due to some graphic problem too.

Please help me out. It has been 3 months of this torture. My parents did not pay for some trashy machine that crashes so often. Sometimes it even happens 2-3 times in a day.

Thanks very much

 

Hi,
I have had my 1645 for almost 9 months now - without incident - so I will ask what usually leads to these errors being caused. Is there a specific website maybe? Have you tried uninstalling the graphics drivers/software and reinstalling, or maybe a clean install of windows 7? The links for the clean install are somewhere in this forum (sorry I don't remember what page - maybe around 100).

If none of that works, why not just call dell and ask for a replacement - if none of the fixes work - it is probably an issue with hardware (although I'd be surprised if it was) and I am sure they will try to repair it/replace it if it is defective.

Hope that helps!
Also - specs of what 1645 you have, i.e. RGBLED or WLED etc would help.

 

It's usually the vid card causing that. Not the display itself.

 

I'm pretty sure it isnt the programs I'm using because it happens randomly, even when I'm asleep during the night. My specs are the typical ones with a WLED screen. To call up dell is really hard. They are so hard to reach and then to convince them for a replacement is even harder. So to save all the hassle I wanna see if i can fix the problem.

I am very reluctant to do a fresh format because since 2 of my friends are also having the same problem, it wouldnt be because of the OS I guess.

 

Guys, a little bit out of topic here. Does anyone know whether using a "Disable Battery Charging" option in Battery Meter has the same effect as taking out the battery physically?

I always use ac power all the time and as being said everywhere on how to prolong battery life, my battery is always charged to around 40% every 1-2 months and then store it safe, and repeat... Kinda get bored now...

 

I'm thinking about getting an usb/esata stick and I'm a bit confused about the eSATA port. Could I plug this Verbatim eSATA/USB Combo SSD 32GB review - Storage reviews - TrustedReviews stick into the eSATA port and it will simply work? Or do I need an external eSATA HDD with a power adapter plugged into the wall for the port to work?

 

It's not the same. The biggest factor in killing batteries is heat. If the battery is still attached to the laptop, it will still get warm/hot when the laptop is on, especially when under heavy load.

Personally I don't do any special battery maintenance except running on battery whenever I feel like it.

 

This is for sure a GPU hardware failure, possibly due to overheating. If it was a driver failure, Windows Vista and 7 are very good at recovering from those, and a straight-up driver crash usually just blanks out the screen without exhibiting the kind of things your seeing. I've seen similar issues on a desktop where I replaced the GPU cooler but forgot to cement the RAM heatsinks on, and I've seen this on my XPS M1330 right before it bit the big one. I would have Dell replace the mainboard on your machine. As for your friends, they could potentially just have a buggy driver. I would have them rollback to the last WHQL'd driver and see what happens.

 

Just got my 1645 today, and it's a really nice machine! So far, my first impressions are quite good.

There is one problem... it only came with 4GB (1x SODIMM) RAM!!!! I already called XPS support, and their response was apologizing and promising a technician to come out tomorrow morning to install the other half of my memory. Seems as though the jerks who build my system forgot to install both sticks. A huge surprise, and slight disappointment no doubt, but I am not missing out on anything - I haven't even installed Win7 Pro 64-bit, so the missing 4GB isn't a huge problem. An annoyance, but not a problem. Let's see if I can get free stuff out of them!

Admittedly, the build quality is not as great as I hoped (I'm used to laptops built like concrete walls), but in this generation of notebooks I think it's quite good. The screen is amazing, very bright and crisp.

In terms of speed, the computer is practically ablaze, thanks to the SSD...though it is TINY (capacity i mean).

Thus far, the notebook is almost everything I hoped for. Let's hope after tomorrow morning, there won't be any more problems!

On a side note, my partner seems to be more interested in the WLED screen than she is in me at this point. I may have to hide my notebook!

 

I searched for this in the threads but couldn't find an answer. When I ordered my 1645 I was unable to put a blu ray player because they were out of stock. Anyways, where can I order one to replace my DVD player?

 

I dont have the blueray drive, but I'm sure someone else can tell you the part number than just "Ebay......."

 

If shes mesmerized by the WLED DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT let her see the RGB led screen lol.

 

oh lord that's a good point. i guess it's a good thing it's not available any more?

the woman's already gone ahead and installed Photoshop CS3 while i was in the shower. is it a bad thing she may have already spent more time with my notebook than i have?

 

That's what I was hoping

 

Has anyone else been having issues with the internal Bluetooth card? I reformatted about a month ago, and since then my card will NOT stay on! It'll turn on long enough to catch a signal from my mouse, but after about a minute it cuts out.

Reinstalled the drivers, found old drivers, gotten the latest drivers, had DELL support take control of my system (that was a real "Charlie Foxtrot", btw) and every other thing in between.... any other ideas??

 

HI all,
I almost selected the Studio XPS 16. My configration which i'm going for is given below:

Intel® Core™ i7-740QM
15.6" Edge to Edge Full High Definition(1080p)
4GB (2GBx2) 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
500GB SATA 7200RPM Hard Drive
1GB DDR3 ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5730
Integrated CREATIVE Sound Blaster® X-Fi MB
9-cell (85WHr) Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Dell 1520 Wireless-N card
Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth
Dell™ Backlit Keyboard with Touchpad
Slot Load 8X DVD+/-RW Drive w ith DVD+R

So If any of the owners in here has the simillar config, Could you please tell me How much this 9 cell MAchine weights? and HOw much time it gives geniune back up time?

IS there any issues with the machine?
Please Reply on this.

 

Are you sure your mouse is connected/active? My bluetooth will turn off automatically when it's not active for some minutes. I need to turn the antenna off then on to get it working again, to wake it up I guess. Maybe that's your problem, because I know having a BT device calling to the standby BT laptop will not wake it up, as my experience has shown me.

 

That system with the 9 cell battery weighs 3.2kg. The battery is actually pretty heavy, you'll notice a difference if you take it off the back!

 

Speaking of batteries, how long is your battery life during normal use? I'm getting 2:35 average when browsing and listening to music. I found that the Dell Extended Battery Life isn't very effective on longevity.
P.S. I used BatteryBar to figure this out. It gives details such as the draw of power at any time, and more detailed battery deadings.

 

I range between 3+ hours (really more like 3 hours and a little bit) to 2 hours, all dependent on my usage.

On the contrary, the Dell Extended Battery Life gives me about an extra 30 minutes than if I was on plain battery mode. Granted, I keep my machine in "Balanced" power plan all the time, so maybe the jump to "Power Saver" is giving me the extra juice.

On another note, my 130W adapter that came with my XPS was a little wonky: there were times when it would not charge/power my unit, and sometimes accidentally kicking or nudging it would cause it to stop for a few seconds, before the little blue ring lights up again. Being in an office, I leave my battery pulled out - and this spells trouble if the AC adapter doesn't work. I called into to XPS support yesterday around 3pm, requested a replacement adapter to be shipped to me (while i use a 90W Latitude adapter which is completely compatible, sans the missing 40W though). The support agent said it might take 2-3 business days, so to expect it to arrive on Monday morning. He lied. It arrived 1 hour ago about 10 minutes before I left home for work. That's fast service!! Proud to be a happy XPS'r!

 

They tend to do that when it comes to delivery schedules. Both my replacements arrived 5 days early... which is great I guess.

 

hah and in some cases, for those poor souls, they might arrive 5 days late. strange how things like that work out eh?

I should point out and clarify that when i do manage to get about 3 hrs of battery, it is when my laptop's lid is closed and i'm connected via VGA to a projector in a meeting room with just my wireless mouse plugged in. i'm sure that taking out the LCD as a power-draining factor has a huge effect on battery life

 

It seems like music "kills" the battery compared to most other basic tasks like web browsing and word processing. This is probably due to the extra CPU usage from SoundBlaster. Just using the extra few CPU % means your i7 won't be able to SpeedStep its way all the way down into Megahertz territory. If you really want to compare, Windows 7 has a tool to measure wattage (only while on battery).

 

don't forget that the extra hard disk activity will help drain the battery a bit faster as well

 

Hi Guys,

So I'm finally about to buy the XPS 16. Now I was told that it should not throttle using the i5. But if I couple the i7-720 with 1080 "WLED", is there any possibility of throttling?

Is the 130W power supply shipped with the laptop? If it's not, is there any noticeable difference when using the 130W power supply. As far as I remember, I think even after using 130W power supply the throttling issues continued due to some BIOS restriction but there was a certain program by Uncle Sam (I think) which made the 130W supple use possible. Is this the same case even now?

Moreover, I currently just came to the US and am thinking of buying it directly form the retail stores. Where do you think will I get a better price? I have seen that there are instant discounts for some on the online dell store. Will I get a similar price from retail stores too? Plus, I might not have much time in my hands and if I need to do an online purchase then I need to have the adequate margin of days. Are there being any shipment delays these days?

Thanks in advance.

 

imurgame, did you order new or refurbished? New laptops are shipped with the 130w by default as of now.

 

imurgame,

I have that same combo, i7-720qm and the 1080p WLED, and i do not have throttling (yet). most of hte time, i play games while connected to an external monitor, but i just recently tried gaming (Metro 2033) while using the LED panel, and i didn't throttle even after about an hour of gaming. gameplay was a little bit jittery in general (though i *was* playing with DX11 enabled, which was kind of stupid on my part) but i didn't think it was slow enough that i was suffering from throttling...

 

Now which ones are new and which ones are refurbished?

Aah, now that's nice. So your also on 130W i suppose. Moreover, I suppose dell might have changed the BIOS to support the new shipped 130W adapter.

So how about the shipping dates? Currently I'm getting a Preliminary Ship Date of 9/23/2010. Now if I order in 1-2 days it'll be something like 25th. I will be shipping it in Las Vegas and will be leaving US on 2nd. Is it a safe bet? I haven't got the chance to look into retail stores right as of now and might not get a change for some few days. Are the discounts/'Final Dell prices' given online on the dell site also applicable in retail stores? Online, without customization, we donot get a i5-1080p combo. Can it be available in retail stores?

Mannn... I am getting desperate now to visit a store... But no time...

PS: Call me Vikram.

 

imurgame, sorry I failed to read your post fully. If you're going to order it new, then you do not need to worry. If you get one from the outlet, make sure you check for the adapter or just contact Dell afterward to get your 130w adapter.

 

Guys, please do tell me about the shipping problem. I dont have much time if I need to get it shipped.

 

Every situation is different, but I ordered my XPS 1645 on 8/26 with an estimated delivery date of 9/14, and it shipped on 8/30 and was delivered on 9/1. That is even after I paid for the discounted 7-10 day shipping.

 

Nice. Such an early delivery is always taken arms-open . I wanna know whether there is any possibility of delay of more than 3-4 days. Because I can't take such a big risk. Early delivery will always be appreciated.

 

There's always a risk. I ordered mine on July 20, with an EDD of 2 Aug, but it didn't arrive until 3 Aug, 14 days total. Some people get lucky, others don't. It just depends on what Dell has in stock at that moment, and if they have to wait on any particular part to come in.

I got mine from the EPP site with a Intel 5300 wireless card, after they stopped selling it on the regular Dell site. Maybe they ran out and didn't update the EPP site, so instead of upgrading me to a 6250 (which they ended up doing on my replacement anyway), they just waited a week to get another 5300 in