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

you just order with i7-620m? How? It isnt available as an option on Dell website, unless you buy it from the EPP site?

 

When I ordered mine with the 620M was on the main us site, now it's only on epp.

 

Ordered last Thursday and it was there as an option. Any opinions/feedback on the packing for those that got this new??

 

The packaging is actually quite simple.

It's a box shipped in a box really.

Black dell box, etc. The inside, there are literally like 3 pieces. The adapter, laptop in a microfibre cloth pouch, and a small thing of cd's.


That's pretty much it.

 

wow, in the dark, my screen looks awesome. in regular light, my screen looks awesome.

shine a flashlight on it, it looks like it was poorly cleaned on the inside (only on the left side and left bottom). kinda makes me feel like returning it.


is there anyone else that notices this on theirs? or is it just mine?

i tried to clean it, but couldnt, then when i looked closely, it looks like its on the inside. i wonder if my camera can pick it up....(with flash on that is..it should..)


this one is exaggerated by flash:

a bit more realistic:

again: more realistic:



if it was ACTUALLY as bad as the top one, id get dell to fix it for sure, but since u cant see it, unless you take a flashlight and shine it at it, then i think i can live with it for a bit.

 

I don't have that on mine.

 

Well, it's been a long road my friends...

Just ran Furmark and Prime95 with the 130W adapter and there is no throttling at all. I have the log file and can upload it, but I figured it would be easy just to summarize that multiplier hovers right at 18 and 19.

I am now perfectly content with this laptop and haven't had any problems with anything else. I really can't believe that I stuck with this 200+ page thread but I'm glad I've been able to get everything resolved.

 

Well thats great to hear. I hope I can get my 130 watt psu.
I am currently in Argentina so its a little complicated, considering that I bought the laptop in the US. Every time I call Dell they tell me something different but basically they are saying that they understand my problem but cant send me any parts because I bought the laptop in another continent. Im waiting for Bill to get back from his holidays and then I will send him a PM.. this is irritating.

 

Really? I had absolutely no issue with Dell when I asked for my 130w. I simply told them my 90w gets too hot. They asked what BIOS version I had, I said A01 next thing I have an e-mail with a tracking number. They shipped it over night. It was exactly what Bill said, 'No questions asked.' Looks like the 90w gets too hot on the A04 bios and still throttles which I don't understand because Bill said the engineers had this taken care of. I read the 90w is fine for the 1647. I don't know what these guys are doing to test all of this but obviously something isn't being done correctly. They need to ship all the SXPS's with the 130w. What is so difficult about that?

Best of luck getting your 130w, I would keep bugging them, your entitled to it.

 

Thanks, and yes indeed I will continue to call and fight a little.

But what they are saying is that they understand the heat problem but they just cant deliver me the 130 watt psu because my warranty doesnt cover it due to the fact that I bought it in USA and I am not living there. Can this be true?

 

Your warranty should cover that, I mean what happens if you move is your computer no longer covered? That's BS if so. Can you maybe have it shipped to an address in the US? They use fedex and I know fedex ships outside the US. Maybe Bill will know once he returns?

 

Yes I can, but that would be a lot of trouble.
As you said, I will wait for Bill, Im sure he will help.
thanks

 

Thanks for the feedback. I got the same items. As mentioned in my earlier post, it just seemed as though it had been opened because the microfibre cloth pouch which the laptop came in was a little dirty and the adapter wasn't in a plastic wrap. That coupled with the shockingly fast turnaround time for getting mine (given others issues with order/delivery here) made me think I got a refurb or open box or something.

 

Mine came in this week after a month of waiting and my adapter was not wrapped in plastic either, the power cord to it was, but not the slim-line brick. My pouch looked fine but stunk to high heaven due to the recycled plastic it was packed in. I just threw the pouch in drier with a scented drier sheet on low heat for a few minutes to get rid of the stench.

 

Well I had called Dell earlier in the week and was assured that the Bios update was the fix for throttling. The agent insisted that no one was receiving a power supply upgrade.

After reading this I have called them back, and this agent seems to be aware of the issue and is sending the 130w unit. Hes also, however, telling me they need to upgrade the motherboard and heatsinks to meet the new usage.

Anyone else heard this?

 

@Bill / Todd (Dell)??????

@tuck4x4, did you keep track of the rep (with ID/Ext) you spoke to?

I hope this is not a situation where they send the 130w out to those with basic warranties but upgrade the 1647's by those with longer Dell warranties (and send a 130w)..

 

If that happens, not only will I never buy from Dell again, I will be furious. Overall I enjoy my laptop, but I will not put up with some bs like that.

Although, I am not sure why they would need to upgrade the mobo; the i7's might need a new heat sink, but idk what types of temps they have been showing.

I need to do some more thorough testing, but with playing Mass Effect 2 for a few(3-4) hours on my 430m, the highest core temp I have recorded is 79C.

 

Alright, so. Finally done testing. On A01, I didn't throttle even with Prime95 + Furmark on a 90W adapter. On A04, I now throttle with Prime95 + Furmark on 90W. Any other combo, I don't: Anything with a 130W, I don't throttle. Prime95 alone on 90W or Furmark alone on 90W, I don't throttle. Plus, just for the hell of it I ran Vantage before and after I upgraded BIOS. 300 points higher on A04 with 130W, hell yea.

On a completely random note, anyone know what BIOS A02 did? A03 improved graphics performance, or something like that. A01 was system stability, I think? This one is "Enhance CPU Power Management", which is true, but omits so much.

 

are you saying A01 was already working? lol -_-'

 

+1

That's so weird ... It worked fine under the original bios and with the original power adapter, then they messed things up, then fixed them?

Since no one really answered before about battery life, I'll try a different question.
Is battery life less under A04?

Logical answers seem to be yes if the bios is allowing greater power draw,
but no if they've made sure to limit power draw when on battery.

What have you seen?

 

guys what about heat??? Are your temps higher than before?? I havent had the chance to test mine yet. I only upgraded to A04 and saw my windows memory index drop to 5.9 GRRRRRRRRRR.

I might have to format that thing today and see if it improves.

 

AS far as heat goes mine is the same, my memory index didn't drop, its still 6.7. Re-run the assessment.

 

Where can A01 be found for d/l?

 

Ok I contacted Dell and they are shipping my 130w ps. They also specifically said to keep the 90w for my own use. They did not say a thing about upgrading the heatsinks.

 

BTW, my 1647, i5.... benchmarks at 7880 on 3dmark06.. this is much higher than any other reported 3dmark06s tests that Ive seen.

Whats everyone else showing?

 

If you don't mind me asking, what number did you call to get the replacement 130w adapter? I called and said the adapter was really hot (as Bill from DELL suggested) and they were going to send me a replacement 90w or 65w adapter -- claimed that's all they could see on the parts list for the 1647. The lady I spoke to said the 130w was only for the 1645's.

 

Bill said to email support

 

This is what I did and had absolutely no problem. Log into your Dell account, then click technical support under My support. Fill out the form, wait 5 minutes then tell the rep your 90w adapter is very hot when the computer sits idle and you would like the 130w adapter. They'll ask what bios you are running. Tell them whichever version you have then they should send out the adapter via Fedex overnight and request you send back the 90w.

That's all I did. It was exactly what Bill said and took 2 days.

 

Guys can you check out these numbers on my newly received 1647? I think some speed numbers dont make sense, I dont know mucg about the correct speeds. Especially memory timings and speed I believe I have a slower memory which is why my WEI for memory is 5.9. I thought memory speeds should be 1333mhz and not 667mhs(which is my case)

 

203 pages, 2029 posts later (posts/thread's life in days=2029/39=52 posts per day)... I just read through this whole damn thread (over the course of a few nights), and I've gotta say that while there is some useful information, you've gotta read through a lot of shipping related posts and other such things to get to it! (if you're actually looking for info on the laptop)

I think that I may be placing an order for this soon...

$1,449 (listed as $1,700 with a $251 discount expires Mar. 5, free shipping)
$1,639 after taxes & disposal fees (Ontario, Canada)

Obsidian Black High Gloss no leather
i5-520
1 Year Limited Warranty
WLED 1920x1080
4GB DDR3 1066MHz
128GB SSD this model according to a previous post
HD 4670 1GB
DVD RW
9 Cell Battery
6200 N Wireless
2.0 Bluetooth
2.0 HD Audio
​

I think I will be looking into switching out the DVD ROM for a HDD as mentioned in previous threads, to make up for the lost storage space in the SSD.

After reading previous posts, I think I'm going to try to squeeze a discount out of a sales rep... I attempted to purchase it through my college with the EPP (which is supposed to work for students as well) but Dell reps (EPP department manager) 100% denied the existence of such a program anywhere or for any colleges/ universities stating that only staff may make use of it and never students. Nobody at my college seems to know any details for it (including the required code to make use of it) despite the fact that a link for it is posted on the front page of the college's website. I may be able to get some answers from my college on Monday, however I am debating just placing the order now and forgetting trying to squeeze any discounts out of EPP at this point. Any comments?

 

I can confirm my WEI memory score has also dropped down to 5.9. However, Everest's memory benchmark is performing about the same. Strange.

 

I knew I wasnt loosing it. Here is my screen cap

 

At least it didn't affect my overall WEI score like yours. I was already capped at 5.9 by my 500GB hard drive.

 

Was able to install the 2nd HDD. I have created separate thread with Pics for those who are interested.

 

The reason why the memory will not run at 1333mhz is due to the processor. Only the quad i7's support memory speeds of 1333mhz, the new dual core i3, i5, and i7's have a max of only 1066mhz.



The i5-520M you have falls under that also look here.

"Memory Types DDR3-800/1066"


http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=47341&processor=i5-520M&spec-codes=SLBNA,SLBNB



If you look at the i7-720QM it shows "Memory Types DDR3-1066/1333"

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=43122&processor=i7-720QM&spec-codes=SLBLY




I have the i7-620M which only supports up to 1066mhz, but for memory I get a 6.8...



Both dimms show 667Mhz on hwinfo32

 

But if your CPU supports the 1066 MHz (which mine supports it also according to that table) and not the 1333mhz how come you are getting 6.8 WEI and Im getting 5.9? I guess what im trying to figure out is whether i have a faulty memory modules installed.

Anyone with the i5-520 and A04 can confirm their memory speed readings?

 

I can also confirm my WEI memory score is also 5.9. (with the A03 BIOS)

 

No idea why your memory score has gone down... mine was 6.8 with A03 and with A04...

 

i have a few old tvs that i use and they only have coaxial/rca/svideo/component inputs.

what are my options to get the laptop screen to display on those tvs? i dont think a magic cable exhists, so im probably going to need some converter box. anyone know some good options at fair prices? preferably less than the price of a dvd/divx player .\

maybe instead of focusing on the hdmi out, i can also use the vga and one of the speaker plugs ..but similar problem...vga to rca device/plug?

 

Something like this perhaps?
http://www.amazon.com/MALE-FEMALE-S-VIDEO-CONVERTOR-CABLE/dp/B0032GX2H2

Or this?
http://www.google.com/products/cata...ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CB4Q8wIwBA#ps-sellers

Or this for $4.00?
http://www.overstock.com/Electronic...mponent-Cable/3171199/product.html?rcmndsrc=2

 

I also have a i7 620m, but why is it that I only have a 5.9 reading as well?? Did you do some special setting?? I have clean installed win7 and the first thing I did was to test the performance after I updated all the drivers, I am still getting a 5.9 for my memory....

 

Hmm, I have 4GB RAM as well with the same score. Others look like they have higher scores with 6GB. Wondering if this could be why?

EDIT: Example, JoshGlzBrk 6GB WEI 6.8

 

thanks,
those are arite, if they work.

i believe the laptop has to support it in order to work. most people say those types of cables dont work. in theory, its not supposed to work. but if the laptop does the digital to analog conversion for you, then the cable would work

 

I also have a 5.9 with a 620.

 

i actually realized it a bit back, it was the 6GB that gave them the better score, and i bet the 8gb would give u an even better score, then all it will need next is the faster speed to put the score to the highest.

 

I've used them with my Dell E1505 with no problems. You can always return them if they don't work on the XPS16xx.

EDIT: And IBM/ Lenovo T- series laptops too.

 

I dont think the amount of RAm installed should matter to WEI. All what WEI does is measure the speed of the memory installed irrrespective of what amount you hav. It seems that there are alot of inconsistenecies with the memory speed that dell puts. ODD..

 

I understand that just wondering why. I have 4GB 1333 installed. It's strange.

 

I installed A04 and my WEI score didn't change at all.

 

So you have 4GB 1333 with a WEI of 5.9 too?
DW has the same too.

Looks like WEI is taking into account the amount of RAM installed.

Does anyone here have 4GB 1333 RAM with a high (6.+) score?