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

since my order has been "in production" since day one (feb 11)

do you think i will automatically get the 130W adapter as well? or will i have to contact them?

i guess there is technically no way to actually know, unless someone on the inside knows.

is there any suggestions as to what i shuold do? shuold i wait until i receive mine to see what i actually get with it? or should i contact them ahead of time to make sure i get the proper adapter for when its originally shipped to me? sounds nice to have two power adapters .

btw, i got my nice "shiny" 9cell extra battery in three days before EDD (for the battery), but still awaiting the laptop

 

here are some pics

http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q47/MattMJB0188/Dell Studio XPS 1647/

 

Nice pics! Hope the rest of us can join you shortly.

 

Chances are you'll have to ask them after you get the laptop. The reps will acknowledge that there's a throttling issue so they'll issue a 130 watt adapter.

Try to contact them now and see if they can squeeze it in before shipment.

 

This may be a shot in the dark question but I gotta ask. Anyone know if there is a way to always keep the backlit keyboard on. It turns off after like 30 seconds of no use.

The Dell FastAccess Facial Recognition software, anyone know how to get rid of the prompt at the windows logon screen without actually uninstalling the software? Thanks

 

Why have you not reformatted...

 

Yeah that's the first thing I'm going to do with the laptop. Why attempt to manage all the pre-loaded stuff?

 

I don't feel like installing all the drivers, at least tonight. Its been a long day lol. They really didn't put that much crap on this system.

 

The messaging the techs got on 1647 could be interpreted a couple of ways, TBH. What they are supposed to do, regardless of BIOS release date, is to "send 130W adapters to customers who complain of AC adapter overheating" no questions asked. However, the bulletin also says A04 will webpost on Feb XX, so that might be throwing them off. If you press the right buttons, you might even get one of them to spill the beans on the date, but we're so close to the ETA right now, I wouldn't worry about that. We'll talk more about the new BIOS Monday evening.

See what I mean about confusing messaging? I really would not blame the rep in this case. The deal on why he could not locate a 130W for the 1647 is there is no 130W adapter associated with the 1647 in the Recommended Spares List they use to get part numbers for dispatches. What they are doing is using a part number from the list that is associated to several different Latitudes and Precision Workstations. You could just tell them the part numbers they are trying to find are K260C (cord) and JU012 (slim 130W adapter). The same message says 1645 owners automatically get adapters to address throttling in conjunction with A07. The reason for not needing the adapter for 1647 is the CPU. Arrandale on 1647 draws less power than Clarksfield on 1645, but at 90W on 1647 in the new BIOS, the adapter gets pretty dang hot, so you're going to want that 130W regardless.

Get the adapter. Your 90W will get pretty hot in the new BIOS.

This confusion is partly my fault, but I don't care. I'll take the hit. When tech support sends a part, they set up a dispatch type that automatically generates a return airbill and requires old parts returned called a POS, or Parts Only Service. This is for policy reasons that amount to a long, boring story. I'll skip it. There is another dispatch type that requires no return parts called a SHO, or Short Order. This dispatch is used in cases where a new order arrives with missing parts, like a mouse on a desktop order, or a smart card filler insert on a laptop. There's pretty much no way around the return. You could try escalating to a manager, and insisting that you deserve to keep your 90W if you have the time and patience. I did SHO's for all the NBR 1645 customers as a gesture of goodwill for helping drive the throttling issue to resolution on that platform. I have zero say in what tech support does with the 1647. Sorry about that. I have ceased dispatching AC adapters since A07 web posted for the 1645. You will need to contact tech support and deal with them on 1647.

+1

1647, at least for now, will continue to ship with 90W adapters. See Arrandale/Clarksfield bit above. You will need to wait until your system arrives, call, chat or email tech support, and tell them your 90W is really hot. Then you can go through the whole "I want to keep my 90W adapter" bit if you want to.

 

So by calling tech support there should be no problem right? I just tell them its really hot and they won't want the 90w one back?

 

1647 owners need to get theirs through tech support. You will need to tell them the 90W gets too hot. I'd just use chat support instead of calling in. They will want the 90W back. See my long winded post above.

 

Thanks for the responses Bill. You can just disregard my PM that I sent earlier today. I'm hoping that I end up with a slim 130W but I'll be okay with whatever at this point.

 

Hit the little triangle next to the battery meter, on the windows toolbar. You can open the FastAaccess from there. It has a setting for off. I let it do its thing for a week to see if it improved and it is now faster than using a password.

 

Dear Bill,

I'm from Malaysia and I bought my 1647 here as well. How do I get my reps here to acknowledge the problem? It seems that they are blissfully unaware of the throttling issue and heat from the 90W adapter. I tried to get them to read this forum but so far have had no positive response from them.

 

I definitely agree with you on that. But if you don't send back the 90W adapter, would Dell actually try charging your account for the 130W adapter?

 

Thanks Bill and charlielor.

Now that i think about it, i dont think fighting to keep back the 90W adapter is that important, but hey, if i can get it for free, why not id rather be safe and use the 130W all the time anyways.

 

I like having the 130W and 90W because I leave the 130W plugged in at my desk and I carry the 90W around with me when I plan to be away from my desk for more than 4 hours (which is the battery life I get while taking notes/programming/playing Solitare or Chess). It's smaller and lighter than the 130W, and thus I prefer to carry that.

 

@ Bill,

Thanks I just contacted Tech Support and they're sending me out the 130W adapter and I should be getting a tracking number via e-mail within the hour. They did tell me to send the 90w back but whats gonna happen if you don't right? Thanks again.

One last thing, I have BIOS A01 and if I don't install A03 I'll be able to download the new BIOS that resolve the throttling right? You can skip versions right?

 

You can go straight to A07. They are cumulative.

 

And by A07 you mean A04

 

that's what happens when you keep on switching between the 1645 and the 1647 thread.

 

I stopped reading the 1645 thread when it turned into people trying to spread the FUD about Furmark, not to mention all of the people with 2 posts asking a question that had been answered 3 pages back.

 

Has anyone purchased the 1647 from Best Buy? Seems like an decent deal, especially if you have some gift cards to there. Question though, it only comes with a 1 year warranty - can you upgrade the warranty through Dell to 2 or 3 years (including CompleteCare)? I'd hate to have to use Best Buy's "upgraded" warranty...

 

FWIW, the guy at BB said their warranty covers the battery, where as Dell's did not. Don't know how true that is, but the prices seemed fairly similar. I think he said it'd be in the $300's for 3 years coverage.

 

I just thought I'd add, I downloaded Crysis Demo and ran it on HIGH and it played perfectly. No lag, No throttling. Laptop was only semi-warm. No where near anything I read on how 'hot' this laptop gets.

 

Not only that but also the quality of thread just went downhill, especially yesterday.

 

That's good to hear. Have you tried running Prime95 and Furmark yet?

 

You can upgrade and extend your warranty on Best Buy-purchased systems through Dell after point of sale by contacting Dell sales.

That's really intersting if the BB guy is correct. Dell warranties our laptop batteries for a max of 1 year, no matter what you do. If they can sell you a comprehensive warranty that includes the battery for 3 years, I'd look really hard at those terms and give it some serious consideration over what we offer. I can tell you right now the battery will perform at way less than 100% original capacity after a year or so, and they cost anywhere from $150-$180.

 

I'm partially to blame for that. Truly sorry for my part in that. I know better. Good news is Charles deleted most of the garbage, and we were back on track last night. I haven't checked in on it yet today.

 

Bill, I contacted tech support about the 130w adapter and I checked my account and I see it posted to it and shipped however I see an amount. I am worried that I will be charged this. Here is a pic. Does this just post on here automatically like that? I really hope they didn't charge me for the adapter.

 

We all have our moments. Anyway, you are trying to help us out here and your efforts should be greatly appreciated.
Now, back on topic can we expect any surprises next week? My 1647 will ship out soon and I would like to test it out with the 130 and A04

 

Well, the industry standard for battery warranty is 1 yr.. thats true.
HP does offer a long-life battery on some of its models (3 yrs warranty).


.. but my experience with dell batteries is -- right after a year, the batteries start to flag windows that it needs to be replaced. Happened twice to me with inpsirons (at home) and latitude (at work)!

Insider info/scoop is that the batteries are 'designed' to last a year, so we are forced to buy new batteries from dell - not sure if its true, but i won't be surprised if it - since my experience justifies it!

 

I'm still getting pretty decent battery mileage from an Insprion 6000 with 9-cell battery, which I bought nearly 5 years ago. Originally, the battery could last nearly 5 hours and it still gets a workable 2 1/2 hours or so after all these years (with maximum power saving features enabled).

The battery is a tad younger than the system...about 3 1/2 years since it was part of that exploding battery recall fiasco in 2006.

 

I've had an Inspiron 6400 for over 3 years, and the battery seemed to be great up until recently, now I only get about 45 mins to 1 hour. Checking with BatteryBar, it says it's down to about 35% of max capacity now. What is the average battery life of a 6 cell for the 1647? Seems like for me it'll either be the XPS16 or possibly an Asus. I've had Dell laptops for 6 years, so there is some familiarity if I stick with them. Thanks for all the advice!

 

I've got the same thing showing up in my account. I'm thinking (hoping) that once they get the 90W adapter back, the charge will go away.

 

well I feel a little bit better speaking to dell tech support. They said this

"It is just the cost of the replacement part of this system but we will not charge you for that, because you system has the hardware warranty till 2/17/2012 11:59:59 PM, and the AC adapter is covered under this warranty."

Still waiting to see what Bill says, will they charge this if they don't receive the 90w adapter back is what I want to know.

 

I bought my Dell Studio XPS 1647 and yeah, you can upgrade the warranty up to the year that you bought the laptop. As long as the laptop has warranty, it can be upgraded.

The prices to upgrade is ridiculous. $374 to upgrade from Rapid Response Home after remote to Next Business Day upgrade + Accidental care. With that price, you could probably quote out a laptop on Dell, and have it shipped and it'll come with 2 years standard!

I just took the money that could have used upgrade my warranty to purchase a SSD. Best investment I've ever made in a laptop... PERIOD!

 

Yikes, for that price, I might be better off dealing with the Best Buy drones unless I buy directly from Dell Unfortunately, with little ones in the house I pretty much have to have the accidental damage coverage/extended warranty.

 

The way we invoice replacement parts has been the same for my 11 years at Dell. It's been a confusing point for customers all along, and I just don't know why we do it that way. You will not be charged anything. They may start sending nastygrams if you don't send the old part back, but if you do send it back there will not be a charge to your account.

We have a current ETA for the new BIOS, but we can't go public with it. The current target date does fall some time next week, but that can change in a heartbeat if something fails out of test.

Get used to that. Microsoft has come to the party in Win7.

Your insider is not really an insider, methinks. Batteries are hit and miss for all manufacturers as to whether they last one year or 5 years. All the PC vendors get them from the same exact suppliers- mostly Panasonic, Sanyo, Sony, Samsung to name a few. There's just no way Dell has a deal with all these suppliers to make a special battery that fails after 12 months so we can make a ton on our overpriced batteries.

 

Just got home from work and got my 130 watt power adapter, and this after talking with them yesterday! I wasn't expecting this from Dell today, but I guess it worked out.

Sending the 90 watt adapter back to them Monday.

 

DEll-Bill, please check your PMs as I sent one to you with no response yet.

 

I've got my 1647 hooked up with the 130W adapter now. I feel a little like I'm treading on uncharted waters here. Has anyone else tested Throttlestop with the 1647 before?

 

Throttlestop definitely makes a difference. I ran furmark and Prime95 together with it on the Multiplier hovers right around 18 and 19.

Also, the other night I found the perfect configuration in Street Fighter IV that pushed the system to the limits. It would regularly drop to 45 - 50 fps during certain on screen events, but with Throttlestop activated, it hums along at a smooth 60 fps. I'll do a few other tests that are little more accurate later tonight. Gotta' finish some homework first.

 

What seems to be missing from the entire thread is what happens when you leave your TS'd laptop running at this load for a 'reasonable' amount of time? For me, as I do large batch-processing jobs of .RAW files to .TIFF/.JPG, 2 hours would be cool to test.

Now who's willing to put their laptop's life on the line and see if you can run flat out for 2hours -- assumming you have the wattage? Does throttleing eventually kick in (even with TS)?

Typically throttling is there for a reason -- if Dell(laptop), ATI(graphics), or Intel(cpu) did not intend for sustained usage of these components, it is no good. Period. You can throw as many watts as you want against it but it will break without throttling itself at some point if it reaches a max safety threshold. Is the issue becoming one of "these components are not capable of running for sustained periods of time due to excessive heat buildup (for whatever reason)"? The very best of breed machines/equipment will never throttle (reach their max safety) at this sustained usage.

 

With the a03 bios and the new brick the multiplier when doing furmark and prime95 is at 16-17!!!

 

Hi. I replied to your PM. Sorry for the delay.

 

I ran a more accurate test with Throttlestop and Street Fighter IV. For those of you who haven't played the game there is a benchmarking tool that averages your frames per second.

Results (with settings identical on both tests):
With Throttlestop active: 51.18 FPS
With Throttlestop deactivated: 51.06 FPS

So, it looks like it doesn't really have an effect in this game. I'll try some other things and create a log file while I do it as well.

 

True, without throttlestop or A04, you will keep those multiplyers! If I read well enough between the lines, A04 will arrive @next monday (your time).


I'd love to test some stuff, including the new bios. But apparently my sxps is being held captive, because the sleeve I ordered with it still hasen't arrived. So I'll probably be able to test all kinds of stuff on thuesday or wednesday. XD

I will try rendering a 3D screen whilst playing Css or maybe better, a more demanding game. This notebook should be able to do so.

 

Good news everyone. My FedEx EDD has been moved from the 23rd to today, and it's out for delivery.

 

They deliver on Saturdays?