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

Thanks for the information, and how may I ask did you convince him to let you keep the 90w?
I'd like to keep mine for charging while traveling as it is much smaller and lighter than lugging that 130w around the country. Was that pretty much what you said too?

 

Pretty much just stated that the 130w was huge and that it fixed my heat issues, but the 90w was a lot smaller and better for traveling when I wouldn't be doing any demanding tasks such as gaming. I asked if it would be possible for me to keep them both and that I would greatly appreciate it.

I guess it depends on who you end up getting, some have had luck with keeping them both, others haven't.

 

anybody uses a notebook cooler for their 1647?? which one is the best?? I currently have a Swiss Gear cooler with 2 fans, it's not really doing anything...

 

I have the cooler master notepal X2 and it works great for me! lowers my temps about 5-8 deg. when I am playing games and is pretty quiet when turned all the way up!

 

I'm not sure if this is the case with you, but I saw this suggestion from another thread: Make sure the fans of you notebook cooler are lined up with the vents under the laptop, to ensure optimum cooling. I think the xps 16 has only 3 open mesh-like vents at the bottom (it'd be cool, pun intended, if the whole bottom was vented with that mesh material).

 

This thread has suddenly died...
But dont you think its time to change your first post DeathWalking? Seems like A04 + 130W is the formula to me. Also If no one else here has the HM55 chipset then i guess its safe to say (as of now), this machine has a PM55 chipset and NO switchable graphics (not unless someone says different...)

 

Sure, the 1647 comes with PM55 and thats it.
On the other issue (A04 + 130W) yesterday I found this at Direct2Dell referring to 1647 users,

This is just me thinking stupid or is he lying? Some users here reported that with the 130 watt there is absolutely no throttling in any scenario, so the BIOS is allowing the extra wattage...
If anyone with the 130 watt adapter can confirm this that would be great because I am fighting to get the 130 watt adapter, and I just want to know if its worth it.

 

no 5 series ATI card, just the 4670

btw, read this thread from the start, you'll find everything you need

 

Hey,
I seem to have problems when I use the HDMI output to connect my laptop to my TV. First of all I cant seem to get audio from the cable to the tv, the only audio that is working is the one from the laptop. I went into audio management in control panel and when the cable is disconnected the ATI HDMI Audio Output is shown, when I connect the cable it dissapears.
Secondly but less important is that when I configure the resolution to 1080p I get black borders from the TV and the resolution quality is awful.
If someone can help me with this issue that would be great, thanks

 

I use the Logitech N100, works amazing!!!

 

Zalman ZM-NC2000Black

Zalman ZM-NC2000Black

More Info Here

 

I'd say Dell's statement is incorrect.

In my case (1647), I know the 130w is allowing up to 117 watts (+/- 5%*) running ThrottleStop (disabled), prime95, furmark and Full Brightness, read from the Kill A Watt.... The 90w with A04 couldn't do that.

Running ThrottleStop (disabled), prime95, furmark and Full Brightness with the 90w and after rebooting (BIOS shows 90w), Kill A Watt ranges between 99-103 (constantly moving in that range). Initially, the Kill A Watt does go up to 118 watts on the 90w adapter but quickly gets reduced down to the 99-103 range (by the power management in the BIOS).

For my test:

• 130w runs 116-117 watts the entire test
• 90w runs 99-103 watts the entire test (except spikes to 118 watts for a split second in the beginning).

It's clear to me that the 1647 is capable of drawing more than the stock adapter (90w) is rated for when powered by the stock (90w) adapter (and the fact the Kill A Watt is reporting under the actual usage) and is most likely the reason Dell is so quick to give the 130w adapter... probably more related to liability concerns for Dell.

I hope this helps your decision

*I say +/- 5% since when I had a chance to compare a fluke (with is accurate) to my Kill A Watt, the Kill A Watt under reported by about 3-5% for devices without motors or compressors (i.e. Refrigerators) where the Kill A Watt would over report by 3-5%.

 

That might be why some owners who try to play battlefield bad company 2 might be getting the low framerates on the 1647. they might be using the 90w adapter with there laptops where as I am using the 130w and can nearly max the game out!

 

Can anyone confirm that "320-8335 Premium FHD WLED Display, Obsidian Black, 2.0 MP Webcam"

means RGBLED for 1647 laptops? I just placed an order and I just want confirmation.

My 1645 had a different part number and item description so currently I believe it is possible that I am indeed receiving an RGBLED screen. Anyway my 1645 said, "320-8333 15.6 inch Wide Screen 16:9 1080p Full HD WLED LCD, W/2.0 MP, XPS 1645"

 

This was taken straight off my invoice from 1/16/2010:

320-8332 16.0 inch Wide Screen 16:9 1080p Full HD RGBLED LCD, W/2.0 MP, XPS 1645

Sometimes they (Dell) do change their part#'s but what you really need to look for is 16'' in size for RGB. All others are, 15.6''.

 

Yup, that's the RGBLED.

"320-8335 Premium FHD WLED Display, Obsidian Black, 2.0 MP Webcam" is what mine said, and I purchased and received the RGBLED. Don't bother calling support, they will tell you that you ordered the WLED and they will try to sell you the RGBLED again for $220.

 

Thanks a lot Turbe, I was just needing a user experience to confirm the mistaken Dell post.

 

Oh thank god! Thanks so much for the reassurance. One question, you ordered the 128GB SSD, what brand and what model is the SSD? I've heard from the tech that it will probably be a Super Talent. Is this true?

 

Dell uses Samsung pm800's.

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

 

Cool, man

 

The agent i talked too told me i could keep the 90w, but i had a return shipping label included with the 130w ps. I have a copy of my support chat though, showing I was told I could keep it.

So bring it on Dell!!

 

I noticed the 1647 is now the featured laptop on the Days of Deals sale but for some reason, it's $50 more expensive than a similarly configured model on the regular XPS 16 home page. Bit strange to me but I'm glad we had the Signature deal back in January.

 

Guys, there is a new BIOS, A05. According to dell what it does is: "Fix external speaker no sound after run audio test of delldiag under DOS".
I guess this is not important for me but what would be interesting is if there is some changes in the throttling behavior and if they changed the GPU's 83C thermal throttling.

 

Mmmm that would be mighty hopeful but mighty amazing if it lifted the gpu throttle limit!

On a side note, anyone using riva tuner to remove the 84 limit? People are saying it is possible...

 

Have you tried downloading it? The link on the Canadian web site is broken.

 

Same on the US site.

 

Not working here as well. Seems like a really minor bug fix for a new BIOS update.

 

ok so i finally got my 1647 (yay me!). just got a couple of queries...

this thing seems to be dragging slow as anything! took forever to boot up first time (they always do), shut it down and rebooted expected it to be much faster but it was still super long. things are running super slow (internet explorerer etc). I am going to do a clean install like I always do ad hopefully that will sort it out, but man if this is what the comp is like out of the box then it is so slow! what are other peoples opinions of the first couple of times they booted up (on factory install)?

secondly, my screen alignment seems to be ever so slightly off. what i mean is inside the screen casing, the actual screen seems off centre, ie it is about 1mm lower on the left side than the right side, would this warrant a screen replace?

any thoughts would be much appreciated

EDIT* I should also note that it gave me an error code saying that it did not recognise the adaptor and that my system would run slow because of this. The error only came up one time though (2nd of 3 bootups)

 

Don't get excited, A05 doesn't change anything with the GPU temp threshold. I installed it and tested myself just now.

 

Well I hope everyone has better experiences than I do. According to dell the "RGBLED" is at the "end of life" LOL

Read my few posts on this topic:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=466082&page=2

Ridiculous.

 

I was going to install A05 today but now since it pretty much does nothing whats the point right?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=462058

Has anyone had a similar problem with Windows 7 XP Mode as this Alienware laptop? It says disable 'TXT' but bios has no TXT option...Anyone know if the new bios adds this option?

 

I'm curious, I have a 1647 coming in with a i5 540m CPU. On the front page of the thread I see that it says it's not supported, but what exactly makes the switch between graphics not possible? Why the hell would Dell even offer a CPU like that if you couldn't take advantage of it?

 

It's not the CPU. It's the motherboard. Dell uses the older PM55, presumably because they want to keep motherboards the same across the 1645 and 1647. Maybe one day the 1648 will come out using the HM55 chipset and hopefully enable graphics switching.

 

In a nut shell the site says the i5 comes with a HM55 chipset, So after being told by 2 sales rep that this is correct i waited for a sale and picked one up. about 2 weeks later I open it up and check the laptop with cpuz to see how to enable the integrated gpu. Turns out dell lied and are still sending them with the PM55, So i contacted dell 2x to ask them why did it not ship with what the laptop was advertised with and after about 30 mins proving to him that dells site is wrong he said a supervisor will contact me after I give him my phone number. 2 days passed and no call so i contacted them and they said they tried to call me (BS!) and that they said that the cpu is not compatible with that chipset. So i gladly show them how wrong they were by sending them the intel page with the HM55 chipset specs and they clearly state i5. After a little more going back and forth they were like pish so what and then I got disconnected? I called back asking to speak to the supervisor and the tech rep that was assisting me said sure.... I waited about 25 minutes on hold and then My call got droped again.... I was calling from a land line so I know it wasn't my phone who got disconnected twice. Unlucky for me It is past the 21 day return time so I am pleased with my laptop as it is much faster then my old asus (p8600, Nvidia 9650gt ddr2). I just hoped that I could not be treated with that much disrespect in the future when I need a repair........ O the best part was, when I called back again the next day they said they had no record of my calls. good thing that the people over the online chat were helpful when I had a wifi issue


img here

 

Probably the same reason they haven't updated the ridiculously hot 4670, fixed the crappy thermal design, and it took them so long to give out 130w adapters -- money.

It is cheaper for them to just make one system and put different processors in and call it the "1647" or the "1645", so they are using the PM55 instead of having the HM55 and a 5xxx ATI or 3xx Nvidia solution.

 

Perhaps this pending litigation is part of the reason for the recent LCD panel delays.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20000499-260.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

 

If anyone has been following my dell system exchange thread (boy and his laptop thread) I'm actually hoping they can't get me the RGBLED because it's "no longer available" so I can reorder through my university and get american support.

 

I updated to A05 and there's nothing really noticeable. Fan still is revs up from time to time doing basic tasks...not quieter as reported earlier.

 

Just my $.02 but I have a Studio 1558 with the i5-520M AND the HM55 chipset and still cannot use the Switchable Graphics. As far as I could find, Dell basically does not enable the feature via the BIOS or the GPU BIOS. Im not that deep in the hardware of it all but that is what I could find. So even if you did have the H55 board you would still not be able to use the switchable graphics.

 

finally got around to calling dell tech support (xps) again, and i got through this time to get the 130Watt adapter (and longer cord). i was asked to send the 90watt block back but i can keep the old cord as an extra..not sure if ill even be able to use it..

the cord is a different part number than dell bill told us a while back, but he assured that it is a 6ft cord that im getting. and the part number for the slim adapter matched

now when i get it, its a debate where i shuold temp fate and update from my useable a01 to a05. i wonder how many things are fixed, i havent gotten around with reading it thoroughly yet.

so far, i know that the new one has some fix to the sound (which i dont even think is a problem on a01)

i believe throttling was fixed with a04 (and 130watt) but heat from the adapter increased, and i believe a03 made the screen graphics/display seem better (or something like that).

i guess its worth it, should keep bios up-to-date anyways.

i noticed one thing i was having a problem with was wifi, it keeps disconnecting constantly (no power save settings are on AT ALL, not a single one) and this is also while im plugged in. i know my school is known for a crappy wireless connection, so it may not even be the laptop, but if a bios update and new updapter doesnt help with the wireless, are there any suggestions for better wireless cards?

i currently have the intel centrino 6200 (or something along those lines)

 

well That is the latest intel wireless card they make aside from the 6300. Me personally when I upgraded my laptop from the dell 1520 to the 6200 I got tons better signals around my house and campus... Maybe update your driver off of the intel site

I think there is a driver for it on intel's page that turns it on....

edit: Found a driver for it here

and as a side note. I replaced my thermal paste on the cpu and gpu and after 72 hours I am getting idle temps around 40-45 on cpu and gpu 47-51

 

If its disabled in the BIOS then no driver will make it turn on. I just hope he will not mess up his ATI display driver by installing that intel driver.

 

Hey "owners", apart from maybe wanting a 5 series card, or switchable graphics, or heat to go away ... are you happy with the 1647 now that the 130W adapters are coming out and A04/A05 takes care of throttling?

I've been waiting to order and now seems like a good time. Do you think so?

edit: Seems the 1647 is the better system out of 1645 vs 1647 due to needing less power. Is this right?
(I'd probably get the i7-620, RBGLED)

 

About how long battery life do you get from the 9-cell when watching movies, and what is the difference in weight between the 6-cell and 9-cell?

 

I have to ask your help here because I have been coveting the SXPS for nearly a year now, but am so put off by all the design problems and, most of all, the absolutely horrific Dell Support (really, non-support!) which I have experienced in pre-sale and post-order (3 cancelled in past year due to interminable delays and complete inability to reach anyone at Dell who could tell me *anything* much less do anything!)

I love the design appearance and *potential* performance of the product (I would be looking to get a 1647 with i5, 6-8gb RAM, 500 GB HD, RGBLED (if it still exists!) and blu-ray ROM. Plus maybe a few extras that don't come immediately to mind.

My main alternatives would be to stick with my HPdv8t (have a love/hate with it's size, heat, battery life vs, awesome screen, reliability so far and, believe it or not, quite successful support access and results), get the SONY F, or wait for something better, because I really want all the goodies including backlit keyboard, core i5 (which the SONY doesn't have, at least not yet), switchable graphics (may have long wait, lol) and at least the chance of decent support. Oh, and, I'm not a gamer, only use graphics capability for watching and occasional editing of video.

So, XPS 1647 owners, what say you? Love your computers? Got most of the bugs worked out. Feel you have a prayer of getting any support at all if you need it? Wish you had made a different choice?

Last question: what do you think of Studio 1558, i5, 1080p wled (heard it's no RGB, but as good as most other full HD), etc. It has everything I want, a graphics card that doesn't get so hot (even the option for the new Intel HD, which I understand does multimedia very well).

This may not be exactly suited for this forum, but the SXPS is the machine I have wanted for so long, and now that the i5 versions are out, I am dying to pull the trigger, but am gun shy due to history of problems and my sense that support is hidden behind the Wizard of Oz curtain.

Thanks very much.

 

ever since I got my 130w adapter I have yet to see this gpu throtleing when it hits 80ish or so. I redid the thermal paste and the temptures are nice about about 10 deg lower now. I would say it is safe to get one if you truely want one. but if gpu preformace is not for you, you can get a nice sony vaio for arround 900 with pretty much the same specs and a black-lit keyboard but a worse gpu

About 3.5 hrs of watching hd movies with about 25-30 minutes left to check your email after words

 

I really like mine a lot, but I do have some worries. I am not that much of a PC gamer, my job/school requirements have me using the SXPS for photo/video work and it has been great. I game on my xbox 360, never was much of a PC gamer but I have been playing Modern Warfare 2 on here with everything on high and it runs fine, though very hot. The two things that have me doubt my purchase are what the long term effects of the vent blowing all that hot air on the screen are. (imagine a small, but hot hair dryer blowing on the bottom left of your LCD screen for however many hours you are gaming... I am not an engineer, but I can't imagine it would be good in the long term). I agree with you on the design. I really love the looks of this thing, despite the fact its a fingerprint magnet. It bothered me at first, but I am cool with it now. As far as performance, everything is great, just the heat vent issue worries me.

As far as your support question - Dell's support can be very frustrating to get ahold of. Because of scripts the tech support reads, you cannot clearly define your problem and they cannot clearly define an answer, that is if someone is willing to truly help you. In fact, it seems like it is in the best interest of the tech support person to not help you, as they try everything to avoid it. I've had some rough times calling Dell on behalf of my family's computers in the past, however, I found that the online chat for support seems to work the best if there is a problem. I just received my SXPS about two weeks ago,and my computer (and two others on this forum) had dust behind their screen and it was very annoying. It was behind that panel of plastic that covers the screen, so there was no way to remove the dust. I was upset that my brand new computer I just opened up had something wrong with it. I hopped onto Dell Online Chat (which went very quick - suprisingly) and I had a tech come out and replace my screen (ended up being next day, only because someone in my neighborhood happened to cancel their appointment) So my support experience on *this* laptop went great, for another in the forum with the same screen issue, it went bad, and a 3rd person who sent in their's for a screen replacement went horrible. I *think* everyone's issues should end up being resolved with replacements, but it can be a very long, frustrating, and worrying process to rely on Dell's support if something goes wrong.

Here are my conclusions - I am still within my 21 days and I am keeping mine, somewhat hesitantly. The heat vent thing does worry me, but I guess not that much. My true worry is support. I did have a good experience with Dell support last week, but 2 other people had the exact problem I did and got screwed. My overall past experiences have been rough too. I am not familiar with other brand's quality of tech support, so I cannot really compare. I will tell you that the laptop itself is something you will be very happy with. If you want that level of reassurance from the company to help you if something goes wrong, its just not really there. If Dell had great tech support, I would feel 100% confident with my purchase. Sadly, I am worried if something happens that I will get screwed, and it does make me question if buying the SXPS was the right choice for me.

 

I can't comment on movies just yet but with my 1647, I get over 4 hours just listening to music and surfing the web. This is with my screen at the lowest brightness setting and aggressive power saving, which is still pretty bright. YMMV

 

Is anyone else experiencing a lockup every now and then? I noticed my system doesn't like when I power on with the battery. Sometimes it boots slow and I get a black screen for a while then today it froze at the Logon screen, so I held the power button then it turned back on and froze at the desktop and the sound didn't work. Rebooted then and it was completely fine. I think a lockup every now and then is normal. I do remember others posting about lockups with the SXPS 16. Anyone else have this?