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

Canceled my original order and I'm hoping the core i5 will increase battery life. I would like to be able to watch a blu-Ray without needing lifeline.

Overall, it seems like the battery life is similar to the core 2 duo yes?

 

core i5 will be a dual-core and not a quad-core chip. good luck.

 

Can someone please tell me what do TZ00 and TZ01 stand for?

Also, i currently own a dell inspiron 1501 and at light usage the cores get to 48C max isn't 56C and 57C hot for light usage?

Thank you

 

Sorry to everyone waiting for a full review; I've been busy with school work as we've just been assigned for our final projects due in 3 weeks. I also received a client last week for a personal project so I haven't had much time to play around with this new laptop.

I only have L4D and WoW to test performance heat unfortunately, as I'm not a heavy gamer. Both of them perform at mid-high to high levels and the computer gets somewhat warm, although not uncomfortable levels. For both tests, I turned off powerplay (seems to increase FPS stutter as mentioned earlier) and I have power plan set to high performance. Sadly, WoW is more processor and RAM based so having a radeon 4670 probably didn't do much for it.

Right out of the box, I did a clean reformat and updated all my drivers to the latest available from Dell. I have a fairly standard studio xps with the i7 720, 4gb of ram, the radeon 4670 and a regular seagate 500gb HDD. Sorry for those expecting an in-depth review with the individuals who received the SSD hard drives, additional ram, or the 820/920 i7's -- I wasn't one of those =).

Watched a few DVD's on this machine this weekend and same as my gaming, it ended up getting a little warm (you hear the fan a bit more -- this applies to intense area's of gaming too) but nothing too distracting. Overall, it's much more quiet and less hot than my Toshiba x205 s9800 which is about 2-4 years old now.

I'll update more when I get a chance, and hopefully give a full review of sorts next weekend.

Would also like some people's opinions: Based on the 9 cell battery having a higher 'feet' causing the laptop to be sloped down (I'm assuming this is to allow airflow) would you recommend that the battery is disconnected when plugged in? There's always the argument of whether that's beneficial or not, but I'm more concerned if this would cause overheating issues as the laptop is no longer slanted and raised up from the back.

 

What did you use to calibrate the screen?

 

Please..

 

This was shown using 8 threads with Prime95. Browse through the pages and you'll find it.

 

Any owners that has applied/is thinking about applying thermal paste/grease on this machine?

 

i want to know if the "always-on" fan get annoying?

and when cpu is under stress, does the fan noise become louder?

does the fan turns off durning idle?

 

Yes. I'm definitely considering putting some Shin-Etsu X23-7783D on.

 

Fan questions:

I don't what BS this is about "always-on" fan. My fan is not audible (i.e. off) after a few minutes past boot up. It "spins" up to a medium-loudness with IE and multiple tabs with Flash, but then quiets down to the inaudible (i.e. off) state. When running CPU-intensive stuff (benchmarks) it spins up to a high-loudness state. Then it runs to a medium-loudness after CPU-intensive has been stopped, but I was also running IE with a few tabs (no Flash this time). It will last on this medium-loudness for quite some time, but then will go inaudible (i.e. off) again.

Here are some "raw" SuperPI numbers to play with. i7-720QM, plugged in (so maximum and minimum processor states are 100% in Power Options), and closed unnecessary programs. CPU-Z showed CPU bounching from 2.0GHz to 2.6GHz between and during tests: TurboBoost at work since SuperPI is mostly, if not completely, a single-core test IIRC.

Howevev, it never hit the magic 2.8GHz because I imagine at least one other core was seemingly working on Windows/background stuff. At the same time, CPU usage never went over 20% and Task Manger showed just some usage (40%ish) on the first core and the other seven just fluctuated, so even SuperPi would not 100% stress just the first core: normal? I don't know.

Temperatures bounched around 55C, that was the maximum. However, CoreTemp + CPU-Z + SuperPi 1.5 Mod cause SuperPI to crash: most likely a bug in Core Temp (it identified the CPU as a LGA1156 socket, LOL) because turning CoreTemp off let the test run fully. Stopped at 2M because 1) Who cares about anything higher? 2) I don't have time to wait.



If you want Cin, you can put it on the first post, but it's pretty informal. And for comparison purposes, my Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3.47GHz runs the 1M at 15.085s.

~Ibrahim~

 

Hi Everyone.

I am not a current owner of the SXPS 1645. But I have ordered one with the below mentioned config and will be receiving it in the coming week.

1. I7-720QM Processor
2. 500GB 7200RPM HDD
3. 4GB Dual-channel 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
4. 16.0 " RGBLED Display
5. ATI Mobility RADEON(R) HD 4670 - 1GB
6. 9-cell Battery
7. Windows 7 Home Premium
8. Dell 1520 Wireless-N card
9. Integrated CREATIVE Sound Blaster(R) X-Fi MB Audio Software Solution
10. Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth

I have the following questions and I request the existing owners to help me find answers to them:

1. What are the steps that I should take imediately after taking the laptop out of the Shipment Box. i.e.
   • Should I plug in the system to get it charged? ( I have read somewhere that charging the batteries overnight for the first time increases the battery life.)
   • How to upgrade the existing drivers. How to tweak the system for optimum performance.
   • Any other helpfull / precautionary / suggestive tips or tricks.
2. Does the SXPS 1645 have subwoofers as the original SXPS 1640 had?
   
3. Ergonomically speaking, does the raised base under the screen (i.e. due to the 9 cell battery) creates any kind of discomfort (read that as carpal tunnel syndrome) while using the laptop.

This is the first time I am buying anything from DELL and I would really appreciate if anyone can spare some time in answering the above questions ( I know its a lot of questions... please bare with me.. ).

Thanks.
A Notebook Newbie. Quite Literally !!

 

@ Ibrahim: Wow, 17s on 1M, nice! Maybe you could try wPrime (multicore alternative to SuperPI)?
@ SXPS16: i can't help you on all the questions, since I'm in the same position as you (newbie at dell & notebooks), but good questions I'll also have use for!
And for questions 2 and 3: Yes, there is a subwoofer (design wise nothing much has changed). The raised base actually is pretty convenient. See it as a raised keyboard you have on a regular desktop. I personally hate it when a keyboard is flat, I always put the thingies (legs?) up. It improving the airflow underneath is an extra ofcourse.

 

Although I think the XPS 1645 is a nice computer, my system is periodically freezing/crashing. The freezes (crashes) leave the system in the last display with no response from the computer. They require hard shutdowns as the power button is the only button that responds. The freezing is not reproducible and happens at different points (e.g. upon the first activity after start up, in internet explorer, upon shutting down a program like WOW, etc.) The freezes happened even after I restored the computer to manufacturer specs. I ran the internal hardware diagnostics with no issues found. The end result with Dell is that they are sending a technician and will likely require an exchange. Dell support has been good. Anyone else having a similar problem? I placed my hardware/software specs below.

1 224-6716 Studio XPS 16 Notebook
1 317-2360 Intel CoreTM i7-820QM (1.73 - 3.06 GHz 8M/8 threads)
1 317-2366 8GB, DDR3, 1333MHz 2 Dimm
1 320-8338 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
1 320-8353 Merlot Red High Gloss Finish with Leather XPS 1645
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
1 313-8729 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
1 410-2087 McAfee Sapphire MUI, 36-Month
1 312-0950 9-cell Battery
1 412-1397 No Productivity Software requested
1 988-7717 5GB DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 FOR SDO/DIM/INS/XPS
1 420-9519 DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 5GB
1 988-0099 To activate your online backupaccount
1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks
1 430-0700 Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)

Thanks

 

i guess i don't expect awesome. i am going from an m1730 with 8800's so there is going to be a big difference.... just hope a bit of borderlands and cod mw2 wont be too much. not excited about this downgrade and i am really hoping to be surprised and like it? we will see

 

Well I don't have this notebook yet, but a friend of mine does. I played CoD:MW2 on his (P8600 + 4670) and it runs smoothly with almost everything turned on and at full HD res. Just FYI

 

BTW, that's the 1640, not the 1645. Not that it makes that much of a difference, but still.

 

Yeah, so what? I don't game, I'm not looking for the most powerful laptop in the world. Just a well balanced, nice looking machine. The current 1645 doesn't do that.

 

While waiting for my core i7 1645 (EDD 2 weeks away), I ordered a 1640 for my brother.
I want help from an XPS 16 expert. Did dell ever make an xps 16 that's full HD (1080p) and NOT RGB LED? I have a refurb unit on it's way....it says rgb led on the e-mail(that's what I ordered), but when I open the order status page, all it says is:

R6TTW Module,Liquid Crystal Display 16,Full High Definition,Low Cost,1640

I want to play COD:MW2 on it while waiting for my i7 to be here.

 

OK, CoreTemp is dead. Real Temp is what anybody with an i7 should be using: oodles of more info AND it has a built-in program for adjusting Turbo Boost (basically on/off).



Thanks. Preliminary run of the 32M with wPrime (which had 100% load on all eight cores: good call!) is 16 seconds, but I didn't plug it in and I also didn't shut down unecessary programs.

~Ibrahim~

 

There is a WLED that is full 1080 its 15.6".

 

I'm not sure I understand? In terms of looks, I'd imagine all the studio xps 13 and 16's look alike. I'm sure you're not referring to that though -- so you must be talking about the balance. Well I'm fairly happy with my purchase -- I didn't get the configuration with the highest and best components and I'm still quite satisfied. The battery lasts fairly decent for the size and power, the computer plays games at a fairly decent level (you mentioned you didn't game) and it runs all my applications flawlessly.

I guess I'm curious as to why you believe the i5 is much superior?

 

I literally had this exact same issue when I first received my 1645. The screen would just lock and it would require a hard reboot. This wasnt even during major activity, just during the first night initial setup of the machine. I.E. Setting up and installing apps etc. I checked the event log and had event id's with the time stamp of the lockups. Each was an ATI error, one saying something like "the display has stopped responding." I switched to different drivers and have not had the issue again. Obviously, it may be something else, but its been over a week since I changed the drivers and I haven't locked up. Anyone else have this issue?

 

I don't think it will be superior, just more balanced. I don't need or want the fastest processor but I would like an efficient one in the body of the 1645. Something that will provide a solid 3-4 hours of battery life. I like the options and style of the XPS 16. If Apple had a blu-ray and a SSD priced realistically, I'd covert in a second.

 

Thanks for the information regarding the freeze up. Did you download the driver from the Dell website or the ATI site.

 

Holy rusted bucket Batman, that's awesome!!

 

I am actually using the mobility modder and ATI's newest desktop driver currently. http://www.driverheaven.net/modtool.php

That said, i did have success as well with the Beta windows 7 ATI driver available on their website. It might very well be an issue with the Dell ati driver package that comes preinstalled.

 

Repost since i haven't been answered yet.

Thank you for your help

 

@jtvgeo

i want to know if the "always-on" fan get annoying?

No.

and when cpu is under stress, does the fan noise become louder?

As for any laptop under load, the fan gets louder but not distracting

does the fan turns off durning idle?

I would not say off but quiet

 

It seems the i7 720qm is about as fast as an overclocked Q6600, looking at the SuperPI and wPrime scores.

 

Does anyone have received an XPS 1645 with a Standard WLED display 720p ?

I would like to know what is the resolution ?

Thanks

 

The lowest resolution is the 900p display (its actually something funky like 1680x945).

 

Well there are two different display resolution advertided from Dell, the 1080p and the 720p and I would like to know the truth resolution that somebody who OWN the 720p display can really see.

Any assumption of what it could be or should be or may have been once in the past does not really help since the display resolution should have changed recently with this 1645 version.

 

There's no 720p on SXPS 16. If you go to dell website you'll see it says 1600 * 900 and 1920 * 1080.

 

I think the 720P was only available on the Studio 15 ... not the Studio XPS 16.

 

There are some studio XPS 16 models that come up in the dell outlet at 13xx by 7xx, so it was an option.

The current starting resolution is 1600x900.

 

What is the highest resolution it will allow for an external monitor...?

Thanks

 

No one has probably answered you, because this isn't a "help me with my Dell 1501" thread as you can clearly see from the title. There is a search function which you were obviously to lazy to use.

However, to not be totally rude, I did a quick search for you and came up with:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=314772&highlight=TZ00+TZ01

Everyone is more than willing to help someone if they are genuinely stuck. Hope this answers your question.

 

thanks for the info.

 

I get my lappie today, folks. If someone would be so kind, please list out the tests you'd like me to run on it (with links to download, if at all possible, please), as well as how you'd like me to run them, and I'll be happy to do such.

 

For those looking for a technical review of the battery life and heat, here http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Alienware-M15x-Gaming-Notebook.22280.0.html is a review of the Alienware M15x with i7, the battery in the XPS should be a little better (roughly 30-40 minutes at idle and 15-20minutes at load) due to the graphic card consumption. Also the XPS should be a little cooler.

 

all i care about is real-world and gaming FPS.

Benchmarks are really only useful to me in overclocking situations because of all the variables you make as you change clock speeds.

I'd like to know what this system gets in:

WoW @ what settings/resolution
Left 4 Dead 2 Demo (or full version) @ what settings/resolution
Once all your windows updates and uninstalls are done, how long does a regular cold start take? (regular cold start meaning there arn't any updates being installed, or program installations finishing)

Also when you do post please include your basic specs, i.e CPU, RAM, HDD, and GPU.

Benchmarks dont do much for me unless we're overclocking. We're all going to get roughly the same benchmarks, but how it performs in games and actual applications that people run to be productive/entertained is what matters.

although i gotta say, those wPrime numbers are pretty amazing.

 

Guys I'm very close to confirming my purchase of this wonderful machine. However, I'm hesitant about going for the 820QM 1,73 Ghz processor over the 1,6 Ghz..does it make a huge different? The 820QM has 8MB cache over the other's 6MB but is it really so much faster?

It would cost me 300-400EUR extra for the 820QM

 

Theres been a lot of questions like this, and I think the consensus has been its not worth it if you are using your computer for gaming, entertainment, etc.

It is DEFINATLY worth the extra money if you are doing things for work like auto-cad, rendering, and so on where faster CPU = you being more productive at work.

If you're not doing something for work that will literally milk the CPU for all of it's worth, then save the money and use it towards a SSD, RBG Screen, or more RAM IMO

 

Agreed ... you would probably get more bang for your buck going for an SSD versus a processor upgrade.

 

Are you sure? I read a review of the Samsung 256 SSD (Dell uses that, correct?), and it did not report any significant speed gains. Has that changed?

Thanks.

 

No. However, you can do what I've done, which is get the regular HDD from dell, swap it out into an external enclosure, then get a small high-performance HDD and put it in the laptop and install windows.

 

The Samsung SSD is a great drive and will definitely give you a boost over any current notebook HDD. It might not be as fast as the Intel or Indilinx but Dell sells it for a lot cheaper than either of the two and going from a Samsung to either of those won't yield much noticeable difference (especially when compared to going from a HDD to a Samsung).

 

http://www.wprime.net/?q=fview&id=5035

Final score for i7-720QM on Vista 64-bit: 15.882 seconds on 32M. If you turn off EIST and C1E, it drops barely to 15.832s.

Turbo Boost, however, doesn't help terribly when all four cores are taxed: Turbo On = 15.882; Turbo Off = 16.053s.

Now with running wPrime in dual-core mode:

Turbo On: 33.404s (~2.1-2.4GHz)
Turbo Off: 45.03s (~1.6GHz)

Hefty performance increase on dual-core with Turbo ON.

Now what about single-core?

Turbo On: 54.26s (2.5-2.6GHz)
Turbo Off: 89.27s (1.6GHz)

Another HUGE performance increase. Intel: score 1.

~Ibrahim~