**The Official Studio XPS 1647 Intel Core i5/i7 "Owners' Lounge"**

The HP Envy with the HD5830 will perform a little bit better than the XPS 16 in games. You can read through this thread if you want more info:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=458550

If you're willing to spend a little bit more, the ASUS G73 is looking incredible. I am really debating sending my XPS 16 back and going with the G73. i7 processor, HD5870, 1080P, 2 x 500 GB hard drive, 8 GB DDR3 RAM. This thing outperforms the XPS 16 by leaps and bounds. Here is a link at Newegg to see it for yourself, but it's not in stock right now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220704&Tpk=asus g73

 

Strephanger.... to answer your question about TurboBoost, on the Dell resource CD that comes with your system the driver you'll need to enable TurboBoost will be included. If not, you could easily find it with your service tag on the Dell service site.

It is NOT enabled by default for whatever reason (at least at the time of my purchase which was about three weeks ago).

Another thing guys, I highly recommend everyone in here go wherever you need to go to find one and get a screen protector for your 1647. I found a really good one on ebay for $20 including shipping. They're basically just like the screen film you put on your iphone screen.

I don't feel guilty anymore if I accidentally touch the screen or see a dust buildup lol !!

Also, one thing is for SURE, if you want bluetooth and have even 10% technical skills, don't buy the 370 from dell, just get it on eBay for $15 and install it yourself (and avoid the delay risk... cough... josh.. cough lol).

WLED ROCKS so hard! Cheers guys!

 

I play on ac charger. Since the a03 bios I have actually gained a little fps increase in crysis

 

dang it does look nice..(the asus) however the Envy is experiecing the same throttle issues the 1645 is (based on notebookcheck and their own community forums).

I was hoping to find something under 1500 that could play WoW, Aion, MW2, Cyrsis, and a couple RTS games at medium to high graphics level smoothly. That is all I wish. If the 1647 can meet those needs then Ill buy it ...if not ill pass. Id like to stay with dell since they have really good customer service and i have bought from them before.

 

The 1647 will definitely meet your needs then. Don't get me started on Dell's customer service though....

 

Just letting you guys know my order status is now "Delivery Preparation", and on the 800 number that you do 3,2,1,1/4,2,1,1 says it's being prepped to be shipped.

Can't wait!

 

Lucky you...just called and still stuck in the build stage here. Maybe better luck tomorrow.

 

Congrats to you Josh, I know you have been waiting a really long time Hopefully tomorrow it will ship, and you were worried about the boxing stage Looks like ya skipped it lol.

 

I know it has been a long epic journey through the land of middle Dell, now once I receive my laptop I must throw all traces of customer service emails into Mt. Doom.


I will keep checking back until you guys get yours too!

 

Whats wrong with dells customer service?

 

They are misinformed, will lie to you to get you off the phone, quote from a script that is designed to resolve rudimentary issues but can't handle more complex ones, most level 1 rps are indifferent to actually resolving whatever it is you're calling for, they take no initiative, they stall when you ask for a manager...need I go on?

And regarding the why of the TurboBoost not being enabled by default, damned if I know. As of last week or so, however, I have linked to the required driver on the first page.

 

Be smart, replace your broken desktop with a new one. It's a lot cheaper and even more powerful. Also, if I'm not mistaken, the studio xps desktops have a ATI HD5770 or higher. And if not, you can always buy another graphics card and put it in yourself.

Too bad they don't sell the 435MT any more, I would recommend it

 

Just had another 2 calls this morning and its only 9.34 from Dells indian sales team , i know i moaned before but they are reallyl getting annoying anyone else have this problem with them pestering you, its really making me consider buying another brand

 

Still in the f**** build stage here ... been like that since last thursday..

 

But I really need a laptop..I only used my desktop for surfing internet and such. I need a laptop for college and gaming.

 

Well ya, The sales team has no idea what they are talking about. But I also own a studio 14z and that thing has had multiple issues. But every time I call them up there like sure we will send you the part tomorrow and sure enough Later that night I get a call from the local tech asking what time he should come by to fix it. I personally love the service

 

I am writing this on my recently delivered 1647!!
I am loving this machine.. excellent build quality, comfortable, fast.
And yes, the adapter gets quite hot, and I am just surfing the web.

I will be running some tests in a day or two...

 

Do you have the new HM55 chipset? Or is it still the PM55 one?
(I am asking because of theoretical possibility to access the energy saving arrandale IGP in the future.)

 

Does your system throttle now with the new BIOS update? How well does it play current games?

 

Beyond sales, Tech Support knows how to fix very basic things and nothing else. When I called about the throttling on my 1645 (already knowing what was wrong) they had me run a thousand diagnostic tests, offered to replace nearly every part in my laptop, told me it was a software issue, wanted me to transfer to a paid support line, etc.

There is no throttle-fixing BIOS update for this laptop at this time.

 

Same config and order date, same status, though I think they moved mine into "production" like 2 weeks ago. Guess it's time to start being the squeaky wheel.

 

@SapienZ: Unfortunately its still the PM55.

@craigery81: There is still no BIOS update for the 1647 that corrects the throttling...

 

Argh!!! Still build here, also since last Thursday... @%CK me!!! How long will this sit in the Build stage now? Like the three weeks this order sat in pre-production?

COME ON Dell... get your crap together!!!

 

Build stage actually takes a while. When I ordered my laptop, I had no production delays of any kind so I was in pre-production for about a day. Build stage took about a week and a half, and boxing took another 3 or so days. This is the part where you have to compose yourself with patience. They have all your parts now, and they're putting them together. You're now on-par with every other person who has ordered a laptop from Dell.

 

I wanted to know if anyone was experiencing this:
Sound quality is great and pretty loud, until I tested a song with considerable bass, thats when the speakers started to buzz a little bit. Are your speakers doing this?

 

I am seriously loving this laptop, but does anyone have any solutions for the smudge fest going on with this thing? I feel like I can't even touch it.

 

Just wait a while and you won't even care. I wiped down my Asus netbook with a microfiber for the first month, and now the thing just stays covered with fingerprints.

 

Another update.

My EDD has been updated to 2/23/2010. bumped up a day lol


Dell account status page still says delivery preparation, as does the 800 number which you dial 3,2,1,1/4,2,1,1 says preparing for shipping.

The other dell hotline says "shipped on the 18th" even though it is only the 16th? LOL

but the 23rd EDD would be aligned with the 5 day shipping I have.

Can't wait.

 

It does get very nasty. I saw a kid make a home made palm rest. Looked interesting. This was one of the reasons I returned mine. Beautiful lap top, but disgusted with finger prints. Very unprofessional looking when I would be with clients.

Video of home made skin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2Ud_BjOoMA

 

Ok, so after some minutes playing COD MW2, here I have the log if anyone wants to see, I uploaded it to Megaupload, if anyone has any problems just tell me..

Besides that, I am amazed at how this cpu is almost evey time running at 2.5 ghz, I didnt expect that.

Log file

 

What settings did you play with? Max? Resolution?

Also, how smooth did it run?

edit: your multi would jump as high as 18 then fall as low as 9. ????

 

I had mine delivered yesterday morning.
Didn't get much time to play with it yet, but it does throttle as well. :/

 

As great as your new laptop is, it could be running even faster if it wasn't throttling. The minimum multiplier for a Core i5-430M when it is fully loaded is 17 and when it is lightly loaded, turbo boost should be kicking in and keeping it mostly at 19 when either 1 or 2 cores are in the active state.

Try running 2 thread of Prime95 and then try 4 threads of Prime95 and see what multiplier ThrottleStop reports. Since the GPU isn't being worked during this test you should get at least 17 when fully loaded and some of these CPUs will give you some turbo boost on top of that as well. Each CPU is unique so it will be interesting to see what you get. With two threads loaded I would expect to see the full 19.0.

The multiplier dropping down to 11 or 12 in your log file is not right. A properly designed bios combined with a more appropriate 130 watt power adapter wouldn't be doing this.

 

As much as I like this laptop, if A04 won't give satisfactory results, it goes straight back to Dell !

 

Yeah, I was very disappointed when I saw the multiplier dropping down to 11-12, but I was psychologically prepared for that, lol.
So, I ran Prime95 with 2 and 4 threads, it seems that without the gpu load its not throttling.. as usual.

ThrottleStop log file

 

any ideas on when the A04 comes out? I know the A07 is already out and it didnt really fix the issue for the 1645s.

 

Supposedly after the Chinese New Year. I would guess sometime next week.

 

is the alienware m15x experiencing these issues we are?

i say this because i could get a m15x i7 4GRAM for $1734 1G Nvidia GTX 260M via dell rep

with same rep i can get the i5 studio xps 1647 for $1400

a $334 difference between the two. Studio xps is 1080p, m15x is only 900p

any comments guys? suggestions?

 

What percentage restocking fee is Dell charging these days for laptop returns?

 

Unless the product is defective or the return is a direct result of a Dell error, Dell may charge a restocking fee of up to 15% of the purchase price paid, plus any applicable sales tax.

 

fmac: The combined CPU + GPU load is too much for the 90 watt adapter at times. If I had one of these I'd buy a 130 watt adapter from EBay and run ThrottleStop until Dell gets their sh*t together. It takes them months to even admit to a problem let alone try and fix it and even then, their fixes may not be a full solution. Just small improvements month by month until everyone either shuts up or drops dead from waiting for so long.

craigery81: Yes the M15x also throttles. With them you have to run a combination of ThrottleStop and RivaTuner because both the CPU and GPU throttle at the same time.

 

I think Throttling = defective but I'm not sure Dell does...

 

I had the same issue, But mine is very noticeable, whenever I play any music that involves the subwoofer, the speaker rattles on the right side of my touch pad, I called a technician to come and he replaced my palm rest, didn't solve the problem. Then I called dell again, now they are replacing my laptop with a new one with the same setting....

 

No, no.

Throttling = Feature

Intel CPUs run much cooler in Dell computers when they are being throttled to death, especially at full load. They also conserve energy.

 

Does anyone know whether the 1647's are available in New Zealand yet? I have been waiting for ages and as far as I can tell they are still not available on our side of the world.

 

I just realized that I downloaded my video driver from Dell's website for the 4670 which was something like 8.5. ATI's website has 9.9 but I was wondering if anyone is running anything different. On my older laptop I used the mobility modder from Driver Heaven but I don't really want to go that route if it is necessary. Is 9.9 pretty current?

 

Sure, 9.9 is pretty current...that was released 9/9/2009, where as the current version was released 1/27/2010. I have no clue why you don't just download and mobility mod the latest drivers, but whatever strikes your fancy. 9.9 should work fine.

 

I think we should update the first post for the infos said so far for a fresh install:
- Install dell driver to enable turboboost
- Install dell quickset software for keyboards shortcuts
- Install Throttle stop software to check on the throttling problem when playing a game with max settings
- Use mobility modder (or not) for latest ATI drivers
- Use Prime95 to see what the max multiplier is (as nearly no power will be used on the graphics card)

 

folks, any one seeing any change in the status ? -- mine still says build. its been in build since last thursday.

 

by mobility mod you mean to install the desktop driver manually? from the device manager?

@unclewebb: Ok, I think Ill do that