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

Yes, I'm going to order one once my 1647 arrives in a couple days (I'll check mine to make sure it has the three antennas....

 

Are they even on sale? Last time I Checked I couldn't find them nowhere..(6300)

 

I saw a few on eBay the other day going for about $47

 

Is that compatible?

http://cgi.ebay.com/GENUINE-INTEL-C...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a9e539851

 

To those wondering about the adapter, here is a comparison pic. I would have to say I prefer the 90w adapter but its a good thing to get the 130w because the new bios will draw more power. One benefit is the cord is much longer

 

I just got my 1647 and it's pretty good so far. Definitely need a reformat though since over 80 processes are starting up and slowing things down a bit. Anyone know if it's possible to preserve the XPS theme in Windows 7? That's one of the few pieces I want to keep.

 

Yes, if you mean the desktop wallpapers, I used the Reinstallation DVD and every one of those were preserved.

 

I am just curious how are you going to go about doing a clean install on here. It came with an Operating system disc, would you just pop that in? Would it just install the operating system? OR would you actually need a Windows 7 disc and the back up your activation?

 

What 80% processes? Please, give some examples.

You can disable many things in the startup, uninstall the ones you don't want and disable services you don't want running automatically. Reformatting is a pain, even on a virgin computer...

Look at some of this:
http://www.askvg.com/windows-7-services-that-can-be-safely-set-to-manual
http://www.askvg.com/master-tutorial-to-make-your-windows-7-super-fast/

If you do decide to reformat, make sure you don't delete a hidden partition with system restore. I'm pretty sure I saw it on the Studio 17 before I shipped it back.

 

Yep, just throw the disk in. Don't even need the product key on the bottom of your laptop. Process uses a OEM-SLP product key built into the Motherboard.

 

I actually have a copy of Win7 Professional that I got back when it came out. I need to reformat to put that on (no way was I paying Dell an extra $100 for it). It's a pain in the arse to reinstall but I'm used to it now.

I found a way to preserve the theme as well so I should be good on that front.

 

I don't get it. All Dell computers come with the OS DVD. Dell is probably one of the few companies that give you actual discs and they are included in the price. Why would you use another copy of the OS if you received discs with your laptop? You already paid for them.

If memory serves me well, Dell installation disks with OS come specifically tailored for Dell computers. Most of the drivers are included with the OS and it is typically easy to do a clean install with these. I've had two Dell computers over the years and they both came as I described. The Studio 17 I returned also came with all discs, but I did not open envelopes, so I could not examine the disc contents.

 

Straphanger, I want to purchase a XPS 16 with exactly that configuration! Would you let me know how you got such a great price? Thanks in advance!

 

That was during the Signature Event sale. They haven't gone to that pricing since. Also got a $50 credit for the hassle of waiting over a month for delivery.

 

FYI, TurboBoost came installed on my 1647. Still at A01 though so I had to upgrade to A03.

 

Make sure you are accounting for the SATA driver during install. I know XP and Vista did not always have SATA controller drivers included, thus you would need to either slipstream the driver in a new copy of your installation disc, or have it sitting on esternal floppy (XP) or USB key (Vista). Win7 may have the 1647 SATA controller in the install exe. I'm just not sure. Someone who has done a manual install of retail Win7 on the 1647 would have to school me on that one. Barring anything else, you can always change the SATA operation in the BIOS, install Win7, install the driver off our website from within Windows, and change the SATA operation back in the BIOS.

 

I have similar config but with more RAM, 3-yr svc contract, Win 7 Pro and a few other smaller items. If you factor this in, it is about an avg. price you get these days, not a very special deal. Mine was just over $1900 early Feb.

 

I've done a few clean installs of Win7 on computers with SATA AHCI enabled and it's worked fine. I'm assuming it shouldn't be much different with this laptop but I'll report back when I try it, which won't be until tomorrow.

 

My copy of windows 7 ultimate 64bit installed just fine when i booted from cd and deleted every partion, created one for the os (40GB) and one for everything else (216GB?). Had no problems at all, got to love this SSD


Drivers are not hard to find either.

 

I wish I could've gotten the SSD but the price for a 256 (and even the 128) was a bit too steep for me. Maybe in a year or two when prices drop, I'll get one for myself. Good to know the reinstall process went smoothly for you.

 

Yea that was my most expensive upgrade when I customized. $445 .. but I think it was worth it.

 

+1
SSD is by far the best upgrade one can do on any computer!

 

Just did a fresh clean install and everything installed fine however I can't seem to find Mcaffee that works on W7. The one in my dell downloads is dated 10-28-08? Other than that everything is good.

 

Mcafee? Please dont do that. Possibly the most overrated and worst anti-virus out there, similar to Norton. I would really recommend you MS Security Essentials, its free and proved as one of the best. If you dont trust MS, try with Avast, Kaspersky or NOD32.

 

Well I kinda wanted it because I technically get 2 years of it. I use AVG on my other systems and I should use that because it takes no resources to run unlike Mcafee.

 

Personally I would recommend NOD32, but it's sometimes too agressive towards some programs, like steam and such.

Therefor I myself use the latest symantec endpoint protection (it's a very well working corperate editon, and I can only say it works like a charm for me)

But there probably are people who think otherwise And yeah, no mcaffee, you'll be getting yourself into more trouble than you want (just my 2cents)

 

Matt I gotta agree with fmac, anything but McAfee.

EDIT: and Padre_s too

 

actually the new norton 2010 is not bad at all. very light on resources.

 

Agree, It's what I use too.

If you are a Comcast customer here in the U.S. you can get Norton Internet Security for free too for up to 7 pc's as they recently dropped McAfee.

 

Actually, I installed Norton2010 on an old AMD and an Inspiron 1545, runs smoothly, and both aren't really race horses. So that proves a bit

 

It also miss a lot. I like the norton firewall configuration.

 

Norton used to be a resource hog, but t seems like they got their act together. Still better and faster light years ahead of Mcrappy.

 

LOL, you guys have convinced me. I put AVG on the SXPS and I can tell it boots faster. A clean install was a good idea, glad I went through with it. Glad Dell gives an OS disc because that made it so easy.

Hey wonder if the new BIOS will be out tonight?

 

They are including this with the 1647's? My last dell didn't include one.

 

Yup...it comes with the 1647

 

Who's the manufacturer (and models) of the 128 and 256 (from Dell) that you guys are receiving?

 

I think I got screwed on the last one, they wanted to charge me $9.95 for shipping.. I just created my own..

 

The 256GB SSD I got was the Samsung pm800, It came with the latest firmware which has Trim supported.


Here are the Samsung specifications:

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/products/flash/ssd/2008/down/pm800.pdf

[Max Seq Read: 220MB/s, Max Seq Write: 200MB/s]

Heres my drive info info:

 

I read several people have 'bricked' their computers when updating the bios. So what is advised to do before installing the latest bios? Obviously not run anything in the background, maybe unplug all usb devices? Anything else?

 

Are any of you using the FastAccess facial recognition feature? It seems nice but I'm not sure if it's worth the resources it takes up.

 

I was using it but since I really don't need it and every so often had to make faces at it before it recognized me I disabled it.

 

What do you mean you had to make faces at it? lol

 

I want one.. those are hard to find outside the big companies (offered as an option).

 

Probably could find some on eBay.

 

Everytime it would say "did not recognize" I'd be moving back and forth in front of it, moving etc until it decided it knew me.

 

It works just fine. First thing I did when I got this laptop (and the 1645, when I still owned that) was to install Win7 onto my SSD (which is equivalent to reformatting). I had zero driver issues in doing so.

It's not worth it. Its also insecure, because you can print a photo and it will recognize you from your photo.

That's me. I got it when Dell was still including them by default. There are 3 distinct antennae built in to this laptop. Works great.

 

How much of a difference would having the 3 antennas in the 6300 have over the 2 antennas in the 6200 be?

 

IF you also have a 3x3 router AND everything's configured properly AND your signal is good you would get 450Mbit/s vs 300: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_N#Data_rates

 

Found another thing I do not like, this time with the RGBLED screen, but not sure if it's limited to just it or the WLED.

Since the actual screen is a few mm below the plastic on top of it, every little spec of dust shows like crazy. It drives me mad lol

Anyone else notice this?

 

yeah, I constantly clean my screen. Its annoying but I don't see any way around it.