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

This sounds ridiculous I'm seeing way better performance with it disabled and on A/C power. Like unplayable framerates vs 30 fps. Even the sound starts to glitch with PowerPlay turned on. How can I monitor the actual GPU clock speed, GPUZ?

 

Found the following which says the Catalyst 8.3 drivers help resolve the PowerPlay issue (weird since the current available version of Catalyst suite is 9.10 and the Radeon drivers are 8.661). I don't have my XPS 16 yet to verify this but is it possible to install ATI generic Catalyst drivers on the XPS 16 w/ HD 4670 from http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?

Available from ATI: Radeon™ display driver 8.661
Available from Dell for XPS 1645: Radeon™ display driver 8.634

ATI PowerPlay putting 2d clock during 3d:
http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=260&threadid=91209

 

Does anyone know what the XPS 1647 is? My laptop came with this manual addendum that says its for the XPS 1640/1645/1647, it's a shame if the 1645 is out of date already.

It also mentions that it supports the Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7. Perhaps the i3/i5 will replace the Core 2 Duos on the lower end configurations. Kinda interesting.

 

Just got mine delivered I must have lucked out incredibly. I ordered it on 11/2 and it was delivered on 11/11. Crazy, I love the keyboard and it feels much snappier then my xps 1530. The speakers however suck, they sound horrible. Anyone know of any drivers or sound mixing programs that can help?

 

What specs did you order it with?

 

dell= junk
I ordered mine on 10/15 with based config, it's still in production.

I feel like serisouly unfair. Dell is piece of crap !!!!

( A rep called me yesterday, he told me my system will delay to next month. F Dell

Customer Number: 100222636
Dell Purchase ID: 200222263366
Order Number: 22222258
Order Date: 10/15/2009
Order Status: In Production

 

What is the weight of this laptop?

Thanks

 

I wouldn't post that information - you should probably remove it.

 

Quantity Item Number Description
1 224-6716 Studio XPS 16 Notebook
1 317-2360 Intel CoreTM i7-820QM (1.73 - 3.06 GHz 8M/8 threads)
1 317-2365 6GB, DDR3, 1333MHz 2 Dimm
1 320-8332 16.0 inch Wide Screen 16:9 1080p Full HD RGBLED LCD, W/2.0 MP, XPS 1645
1 421-1010 Dell Webcam Central v1.4
1 421-0188 Facial Recognition
1 320-8350 ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4670 1GB
1 341-8989 500GB 7200RPM Free Fall SensorSeagate Hard Drive
1 320-8351 Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish
1 421-1365 Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate, 64 bit, English
1 421-1750 MOD,SW,W7U64,DVD,MUI,NO-E
1 421-0323 Windows Live Search,Multiple User Interface
1 420-6576 DELL WELCOME,Software Dimension/Inspiron
1 420-9100 Dell Dock Consumer
1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
1 421-0187 Dell Support Center Software 64 Bit 2.0
1 420-7938 Dell Connect 2.1
1 421-0092 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
1 330-5460 DELL RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP,XPS 1645
1 330-6222 Windows 7 Label
1 430-3605 Integrated 10/100 Network Card
1 410-1883 ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE
1 421-1582 Cyberlink Power DVD 8.3 Playback
1 313-8874 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive
1 421-1361 MOD,SW,RXO,EZCD,10.3,DE,FI
1 313-8545 High Definition Audio 2.0 with SRS Premium Sound
1 430-0737 Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11AGN Half Mini Card
1 410-2090 McAfee Sapphire MUI, 15-Month
1 312-0950 9-cell Battery
1 412-1397 No Productivity Software requested
1 950-3338 2 Year Limited Warranty
1 905-6418 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus At-Home Service, Extended Year(s)
1 905-5637 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus At-Home Service, Initial Year
1 905-3971 Banctec Next Business Day In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis , 1 Year Extended
1 906-5380 Banctec Next Business Day In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis , Initial Year
1 412-0360 Soft Contracts - Banctec
1 902-0941 Warranty Support,1 Year Extended
1 960-8710 Warranty Support,Initial Year
1 467-7771 Thanks for choosing Dell!
1 991-1179 LoJack Theft Recovery Service,XPS - 1 Year DHS
1 420-8655 LoJack Theft Recovery Softwarefor Laptops, 1 Year
1 988-7707 2GB DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 FOR SDO/DIM/INS/XPS
1 420-9518 DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 2GB
1 988-0099 To activate your online backupaccount, go to Start, Programs, DataSafe Online
1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks
1 430-0700 Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)

 

My EDD was 19/11 but i just checked purolator and I will be getting mine tomorrow!??!?!?!? Can't wait to get my hands on it, Specially with win7 preinstalled.Time is so slow when you need something lol..BUt I will be posting a review by the end of the weekend..A complete review

 

The reason they use 15.6 and 16 is that because it's true 16:9 widescreen display. Not just dell, Other laptops are changing their monitors to this aspect ratio.

 

Hmmm ... interesting ... I wonder if your 820 got it to you fast ... no matter the reason though ... enjoy!

 

im sorry but someone needs to do a proper review on this laptop. lots of great information such as stress test and etc but what about the heat, battery life etc.

 

Use the IDT control panel in the windows control panel. I had the same problem and I had to adjust EVERYTHING..

 

Both 15.6" and 16.0" are with 16:9 resolution. Many companies use either 15.6" or 16.0" models.

 

Download the newest, regular radeon desktop drivers and use the mobility modder tool to get them to work on your laptop. The driver works flawlessly. Screw the dell driver, and the drivers on the ATI site for win7 are still in Beta.

 

Is it me, or do all the laptops being delivered this week have the DVD drive, NOT blu-ray?

Semi-off subject, I know. Just a hunch....

 

Although I dont think they were that crappy I still havent been happy with the pops and the vibratoin and noises the subwoofer causes with certain songs. Even though I have a 1640 we have the same exact audio hardware/software. I never thought to go into the sound control panel as I thought IDT controlled everything. Thank you so much!! this has improved some of the problems I was having. I turned off bass boost and turned the bit depth to the highest quality. There is a considerable difference. AFter two months...wow this makes the laptop that much better now as I thought I had to settle with mediocre sound.

Why wouldn't it be high quality by default? Why would anyone wanna run sound at a lower quality, I wasnt aware sound settings effected performance?

 

Just Ordered mine! EDD of 12/8

SOOO excited. I'm currently typing this on a ~7 year old laptop. Going to be such a difference.

 

Hello,

XPS 1647 is the next coming version of this model with no other major changes than the procs which will be like you said Core i5 and i3. No reason to worry, your brand new laptop is not out of date


Now within the peoples who have got the 1645 nobody would be able to do a proper review ?

1) Mesure the battery time while doing simple task as surfing the web and writting email or letter. (after a full chargin of two hours)

2) Mesure the battery time while watching a DVD (after a full battery charging of two hours)

3) Mesure the temperature on the palmrest while doing the test 1) and 2)
(nobody should care about the proc temp and other temp inside the case as long as the parts that you touch are cool and the system work fine)

4) Mesure the time to copy a large file (1Gb or more) with the SSD disk. (nobody order SSD ? or nobody is interrested in knowing SSD performance ?)

These things are interesting to know in a laptop. And give information about the OS and config you have while doing these test.

Thanks in advance

 

As for battery life I got 2 hours, 20 minutes with a stated 18 minutes left while doing light tasks such as surfing, installing software and Windows updates. The palmrest has never gotten hot (it gets warm) in the three days of having it. I have the i7 720 and 500gb 7200 hdd.

 

Sorry if I have not been on the forums for a few days after getting my laptop. I have been real busy with work and have some projects that need to get done. I wish I had the time to do a real review. I will post some things that I have about my laptop.

To the poster who asked about anyone having a drive other then the dvd burner, I have a blu-ray burner in my laptop.

For the battery life. I get around 2:30-3 hours of normal use. These laptops are not expected to get long battery life. If anyone is looking for a powerful laptop with long battery life, then you need to compromise on what your needs are. The only laptop right now that offers a long run time is the HP Envy 15 and that includes a battery that is almost twice that of the 9 cell.

For heat issues, I have been encoding a lot of video on this thing and running all 4 cores at 100% for hours on end. The laptop does get warm but not hot as others from the 1640 series are saying. The palm rest are warm. I see no heat issues at all. The temps I get at running full load for hours is around 72-75C at normal room temps around 72F. I will do some more load test using intels burn-in test program that uses lin pack data. And I will see what kind of temps that outputs. I do have to say that the bottom does get kind of warm. So if you are doing anything at full load for a good amount of time, I would put the laptop on a table and not on the lap.

The RGB screen is awesome. The colors are great and I have it calibrated with my monitor calibrator. The viewing angle on the RGB screen is also very impressive. I can see the screen from all angles. It is 100X better then my 13inch macbook. The brightness as well is incredible. I have it all the way down and it is still very bright.

For anyone who wants to use the latest ATI drivers.You can download the drivers from ATI and use mobility modder to modify them and install them onto the laptop. I have done this with the latest drivers and everything is working fine. I have not had time to play any games. I am not a big gamer, but I will try and get some data when I can.

If anyone has any questions, let me know. I will try and answer them as fast as I can.

All in all, I am very satisfied with this laptop. It truly is a work of art. This is my first Dell laptop, so the experience of owning this puts a smile on my face. As for the ordering process, that is another story. But it is definitely worth the wait!

- Garrett

 

Thanks for the additional info garrett. So glad everything sounds okay. I'll just wait for Dell uk to put up a decent offer (instead of the 60 free song downloads from napster they are currently offering) and i will order asap!

P.S From what i have seen, there is a great offer for the C2D 3.06 ghz version if anyone is interested

 

Ya even my fiance was complaining about the sound, and she usually doesnt care. Anyway, windows just sets the default format low to retain compatability. But the hardware on the 164x supports much better quality (as you can tell).

 

Can anyone give me the temps with 720QM? At full load (orthos, IBT, furmark..)

This CPU is supported by Rightmark or CrystalCPUID?

Because 45 watts of tdp it is to much....

 

all you people demanding reviews from owner should CHILL OUT.

People only just started getting them on MONDAY of THIS WEEK, so they probably have more important things like work, or kids, or school that they are dealing with instead of writing up a review.

Jeeze Havn't even had a weekend yet.

Also, Dany|R, the temps been posted several times in this thread already. and using the wattage/tdp of a cpu is an unreliable method of comparing a laptop's heat generation. 45watts for what this proc is doing is amazing.

 

mine is about 70C on the hottest core (from CoreTemp) when running Everest Ultimate benchmarks. But I am going to remount the heatsinks with Antec silver formula... whatever its called, I have it in the closet and do all my cooler mounts with it. When I remounted my old vaio (C2D) on power save the fan never came on, I dont expect that in this situation but I believe I can improve cooling

I would like to reiterate what Zlog said, go read the entire thread if you are arriving late... there is no reason to keep repeating answers.

I played my favorite game at school (college) yesterday, yes thats right Wolfenstein enemy territory. Its older but I had it maxed out and it ran against the frame limiter of 90. The laptop got a little warm but no where near hot.

 

Whats ur room temp?? Do u think it will cause heat problem in india due to its tropical climate???

 

I ordered my system back on 9/23 then canceled and reordered on 10/01 to add the 256 GB SSD drive and it should hopefully be here soon. I can do some tests regarding SSD performance at that time:

1 224-6716 Studio XPS 16 Notebook
1 317-2361 Intel CoreTM i7-720QM (1.6 - 2.8 GHz 6M/8 threads)
1 317-2364 4GB, DDR3, 1333MHz 2 Dimm
1 320-8332 16.0 inch Wide Screen 16:9 1080p Full HD RGBLED LCD, W/2.0 MP, XPS 1645
1 320-8350 ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4670 1GB
1 341-8982 256GB Dell High Performance Solid State Hard Drive, 2.5MM
1 320-8351 Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish
1 430-3605 Integrated 10/100 Network Card
1 313-8729 4X Slot Load Blu-ray Disc (BD) Burner (Writes to DVD/CD/BD
1 420-8161 Roxio Creator 10 Premiere Blu-Ray, Factory Installed
1 421-1583 Cyberlink Power DVD 8.3 Blu-Ray Disk Playback
1 313-8546 Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi MB
1 430-0737 Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11AGN Half Mini Card
1 312-0950 9-cell Battery
1 950-3338 2 Year Limited Warranty
1 430-0700 Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)

Final cost: 1733.05 w/ tax and shipping included, and before you ask, this was for a deal that I found on 9/23 that disappeared the next day which also included a stackable discount in addition to the deal.

I reconfigured the same setup as of today without the stackable discount as it is no longer valid and it shows up for $2,554.96 (that's with 6GB RAM though as I can't find an i7 that lets you start at 4GB) so I'm more than willing to be patient to get this fine piece of equipment at the price I got it.

 

Base I7 config (4GB ram, 1 year warranty) accessed through customizing a C2D one and clicking the I7 more power link on the processor selection page:
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&l=en&oc=DYDOFB2&cs=19&kc=9&X=9&Y=6

 

@peppe1: That link puts the cost with everything else the same as the one above except 4GB of RAM at $2,563.49 which is actually more than the 6GB configuration. Ouch.

 

Dell's website is seriously a bait and switch scam.

 

is the difference between the regular WLED screen and the RGB WLED that noticable? I opted for the regular due to the large price difference, figuring that it would still be a really nice screen.
Anyone get it without the RGB version who can let us know how it looks?

 

Thats amazing, do you thing that it would be possible to negotiate with dell to get it so cheap? For example if I said that I saw this offer and was counting on that? I'm planing to get 3 of those...
Or it's not even worth trying?
How did you manage to get it so cheap, you said you reordered later...?

 

I initially ordered on 10/09 with i7/4Gb/250HD/RGB screen + bluetooth all for 1450. I waited 2 weeks and called dell again to find out that the rep is telling me i need to cancel due to a defective wifi card. At that point i knew i had the correct card number which is something 0737. So i played dumb and irritated He said we can compensate you with a bigger HHD of 320 ( additional $25 for free)I agreed, so as he was creating order he ran into error and then told me the only option the system is giving is the i7 + 6GB and 500HDD " i will have to ask my manager whats going on" I was like . He came back and gave the following:

I7 720
6GB
500 HD
Windows 7 Ultimate
RGBLED Screen 1080
Bluetooth
black leather
Creative Xi -Fi
Wifi
DVD/RW no bluray
9 Cell
2 year warranty
ATI 4670
All for $1605. and that is addtional 155 that the original order since i choose win 7 ultimate as an additional upgrade. So basicly RAM/HDD was free.

Now my EDD is 12/10. Hopefully i get it on time.

 

UK user info - ordered a 720 with 3 years warranty & RGBLED through the EPP to get 10% discount by phone and moaned about the price and got an extra 3% off - still came in at £1380 but at least I managed to get a bit off, so worth a try instead of using the internet order.

Edit: Ed is 25th Nov

 

Nope, thankfully your hunch is wrong.

Mine was shipped today, WOOHOO!!! I'll post up my config shortly.

 

WOOT! Mine was shipped today. When I receive it Monday, I'll put it through its paces for everyone on here. Just please list me *exactly* which programs and tests to run (with download links, please).

Here's what my rep sent:

Here's my config:

Code:

Quantity Item Number Description 
 
1 224-6716 Studio XPS 16 Notebook 
1 317-2360 Intel CoreTM i7-820QM (1.73 - 3.06 GHz 8M/8 threads) 
1 317-2365 6GB, DDR3, 1333MHz 2 Dimm 
1 320-8335 Premium FHD WLED Display, Obsidian Black, 2.0 MP Webcam 
1 421-1010 Dell Webcam Central v1.4 
1 421-0188 Facial Recognition 
1 320-8350 ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4670 1GB 
1 341-8982 256GB Dell High Performance Solid State Hard Drive, 2.5MM 
1 320-8352 Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish with Leather XPS 1645 
1 421-1737 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English 
1 421-0323 Windows Live Search,Multiple User Interface 
1 420-6576 DELL WELCOME,Software Dimension/Inspiron 
1 420-9100 Dell Dock Consumer 
1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp 
1 421-0187 Dell Support Center Software 64 Bit 2.0 
1 420-7938 Dell Connect 2.1 
1 421-0092 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG 
1 421-1748 MOD,SW,W7HP64,DVD,MUI,NO-E 
1 330-5460 DELL RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP,XPS 1645 
1 330-6222 Windows 7 Label 
1 430-3605 Integrated 10/100 Network Card 
1 410-1883 ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE 
1 313-8729 4X Slot Load Blu-ray Disc (BD) Burner (Writes to DVD/CD/BD 
1 420-8161 Roxio Creator 10 Premiere Blu-Ray, Factory Installed 
1 421-1583 Cyberlink Power DVD 8.3 Blu-Ray Disk Playback 
1 313-8546 Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi MB 
1 430-0737 Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11AGN Half Mini Card 
1 410-2090 McAfee Sapphire MUI, 15-Month 
1 312-0950 9-cell Battery 
1 420-8051 Microsoft Works 9.0, English For Inspiron 
1 950-3338 2 Year Limited Warranty 
1 900-3981 CompleteCare Accidental DamageProtection, Inspiron, 2 Year 
1 905-6418 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus At-Home Service, Extended Year(s) 
1 905-5637 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus At-Home Service, Initial Year 
1 905-3971 Banctec Next Business Day In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis , 1 Year Extended 
1 906-5380 Banctec Next Business Day In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis , Initial Year 
1 412-0360 Soft Contracts - Banctec 
1 412-0358 Soft Contracts - Consumer Complete Care 
1 902-0941 Warranty Support,1 Year Extended 
1 960-8710 Warranty Support,Initial Year 
1 467-7771 Thanks for choosing Dell! 
1 991-1179 LoJack Theft Recovery Service,XPS - 1 Year DHS 
1 420-8655 LoJack Theft Recovery Softwarefor Laptops, 1 Year 
1 988-7707 2GB DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 FOR SDO/DIM/INS/XPS 
1 420-9518 DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 2GB 
1 988-0099 To activate your online backupaccount, go to Start, Programs, DataSafe Online 
1 430-0700 Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR 

Here's everything I had to deal with (what a ride and TONS of phone time):

Code:

order_date	EDD  	        order_status
11/03/09	11/16/09	Shipped
10/16/09	11/09/09        Changed
10/16/09	11/12/09        Changed
10/15/09	Canceled

 

The biggest difference is the RGBLED has an ultra-wide color gamut. If you don't understand what that means then you don't need it. If you're a photographer or graphic artist who works with applications that support color calibration like PhotoShop, you will appreciate a display with a very large color space.

However, 99.9% of applications don't have any form of color management, and when they are rendered on this display the colors are pretty ridiculous. Thats because virtually everything you see is designed for monitors with a small color gamut, and when you directly map the colors to this display, they appear incorrect. They will appear very oversaturated out of the box and you'll have to tame the display settings to avoid burning your retinas.

It's a very nice display but I think its too early to be pushing this sort of display on consumers, maybe there will be better application and OS support later on. Maybe one day we'll watch movies designed for ultra-wide gamut displays, that would be cool.

 

So do the folk raving about this screen have emperors new clothes syndrome? I ordered with the RGBLED because of the opinions I've read on it, I will be photoshopping and videoediting so the display size is necessary (dont care about movies, thats why I have a TV), but its main use will be my moronic obsession with mmorpgs - do you think this screen an excessive add-on?

 

I don't know, the main thing you're getting with this display is its wide color range. It's also very bright, and maybe more power effecient, I'm not sure. But mainly the range of colors it can produce is much higher than a typical display. This is both a blessing and a curse. Out of the box, I was absolutely blinded by this thing and seeing dots everywhere after looking at it. You'll probably spend some time taming it, there's a whole thread here on calibrating it. But people perceive colors in different ways and its hard to say if someone will like it or not. Some people associate saturated colors with a "very rich picture".

If you think the extended color range is worth the +$250 or whatever it is, then get it, just know that's basically what you're paying for over the WLED.

 

When I ordered my XPS 16 from dell.ca there was NO option to add any bluetooth... is the bluetooth something I can order and install myself at a later time? or would I be better to just get a bluetooth USB dongle if I'm in need of bluetooth?

 

I added the bluetooth myself. Very easy to install and install the driver. Now I'm using my bluetooth mouse. =D

The bluetooth module is called Bluetooth Module 370. I hope that's correct, but you can get it on ebay. Just make sure it's for dell.

 

so is there any official reviews yet?

 

getting one soon with the i7 820QM processor, Merlot Red and ATI HD 4670. hope it is a decent game machine...

 

Decent? Yes, very much so.
Awesome? No, not at all.

 

Does anyone heard a refresh off xps 16 on q1 2010?
I'm asking because on 7-10 jun will be the ces and new intel products will be announced
thanks

 

Dell said some crap about Bluetooth not being supported in Win 7. Just search around and DIY separately, it's a cheap and simple upgrade.

It's already refreshed and won't be again because there won't be any higher end processors than the ones out now - until Q3 2010 (Calpella refresh). The ones coming out in Q1 2010 are dual core i5/i7s as opposed to the current quad core i7s.

 

I thought this thread would get flooted with user reviews, but I guess that's not the case?

 

Busy as heck.....won't find time to do anything this weekend.

The next person that asks about temperatures.....I've seen at least two posts with temperatures. Just because it's not easily accessible does not give you the right to ask five more times.

If I have the time to peruse the thread for temperatures, you sure as heck do.



~Ibrahim~