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

Damn, I just realized our 1647's can't support Intel's Wireless Display. We needed the HM55.

I was looking forward to this option.

 

EPP offers the i7 620m and the normal site does not. And the discounts are slightly more..

 

turns out im not happy how..haha...If everest is to be believed my ram is running at 100mhz or 800mhz instead of 133 (1066)..why would it be doing this? I wonder if its the 4gb dimm I got sent..it was a refurb after all..

Im going to open this baby up (even though I dont want to, more chance to scratch) and run off 1 dimm at a time and see what happens..ARGH

May have to make a call monday and ask for a new 4gb new to be sent out to replace this refurb..hoo hum

 

I've been hunting for a new Core i7 laptop, after returning a HP Envy 15 for excessive CPU throttling with no planned fix. Right now I'm trying to decide between the Studio XPS 16 and the Lenovo W510. I know the Dell's "had" throttling issues (and by throttling I mean more than just disabling turbo boost) on battery power. The first page of this thread makes it sound like that's been resolved. I wanted to confirm. If I purchase one with the i7 820M, what speed will it run at on battery power? Also, does it come with the 130-W power supply now or do you have to go through the procedure on the front page to get them to send you one? I apologize if this has been talked about already (I'm positive it has) but my searches weren't productive because there are so many posts already.

 

You won't have any kind of throttling under battery use. And the speed will be determined the same as when its plugged in, if turbo boost is needed it will be activated.

 

alright guys im torn between this and a sony vaio f series the difference between the two is 70$ with the dell being cheaper....i just need to know whether or not the screen on the dell is nicer than the one on the sony which everyone raves about.... the specs for both machines are exactly the same including the backlit keyboard (which is kind of important to me). I need to play games on the highest settings possible and i think the dell has a slightly better graphics card...what say you?

SONY VPCF11NFX/B
NoteBook Intel Core i7 720QM(1.60GHz)
16.4"
4GB Memory DDR3 1333
500GB HDD 7200rpm
DVD Super Multi NVIDIA
GeForce GT 330M


Same exact specs on the dell including the 1920x1080 res but instead of a the 330m it obviously comes with the ATI HD 4670

 

What kind of memory slots does this laptop come with and what modules? If I buy the one with 4gb I take it that it comes with 2x 2gb memory modules, is there 3 or 4 module slots? I plan on buying another 2gb separate so that I'll get 6 gb but not sure if it comes with a 2x 2gb or 1x 4gb module, also does the memory it comes with function well with another brand with the same 1066 mhz ddr3 etc?

 

@spazefish There are only 2 slots for ram on the laptop so if you order the 4gb from dell your getting 2gb x 2 sticks where the 6 gb comes with 4gb x 1, 2gb x 1

@lizard5 The ati 4670 is about 5-8% better then the 330m in most games I have seen benchmarks for

 

Do not install 10.x drivers yet. The mobility modder fails to modify them correctly. If you install the drivers straight you will lose all power management features. You should instead use 9.12.

 

DW: The new Catalyst 10.3 has support for mobility cards, it has a lot of nice features for laptops.

 

guys, i've bought myself new HDD, Samsung 640GB, what imaging software can i use to clone the dell recovery partitions and copy it to my new hdd?

I have Acronis Disk Director, but it cant be installed to win 7.

If that is not possible, after I install all the OS, apps, drivers, can I create the recovery partition just like the one shipped to us?

 

Yes, you can do it after the installation too.
Try with Paragon partition manager 10, I use that and works great.

 

Indeed? That's nice to see. Now if only they would release the accelerated 2D API, I'd be happy.

 

quick question: does the dell studio xps 16 have a backlit keyboard?

 

yes
it does

 

After struggling with some Dell reps and returning the 90 watt psu they sent me by "mistake", today I finally received my 130 watt psu.
And Indeed this machine doesnt throttle anymore while running P95+Furmark. I'm finally satisfied.

PS: This adapter is quite big, and its the slim one.

 

Well today I finally (after 2 weeks of complaining to dell ) got my motherboard replaced along with the fan. The tech did not know what he was doing as he put the heatsink back on with used thermal paste and I told him your doing it wrong and he said that was all he was paid to do...but anyways he left without turning the machine on the make sure it works and when I first turned it on the fan is running at max. and when I go to boot windows it just keeps giveing me bluescreens. So the first thing i did was remove the heatsink and applied some new arctic silver to the gpu and cpu and re attached everything yet the fan still is running at max.... ignoring that issue i just wanted to boot it and now i am constantly giving me bluescreen without any reason at all except for a fatial error!. I tried to do a windows repair and it still didnt work..... the os is a issue I can fix but what can I do about the fan.... and also the tech didn't even put a asset tag back into the bios!

 

FYI guys
Dell posted new drivers for the 1647 yesterday. Video, sound, and Intel turbo-boost monitoring.

 

With out reading a 242 pages.... How is the quality on the i5/rgb xps16?

 

Wow... I am so sorry to hear about that. You should try calling dell, explaining the problem, and demanding a replacement laptop because quite frankly your computer will never be the same.

 

I did... There solution is to send out 2 motherboards( in-case the first one didn't work ), heatsink and ram with a different tech hopefully by 2 business-days... if this does not fix my laptop.... I will demand a replacement!!!!!!

and off subject... taking a look at dells driver page they updated the video driver and in the description they added support for the 5730.......

 

Just ordered my XPS!!

Dell Studio XPS 16 | i7 720QM | ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4670 1GB | 4gb ddr3 1333 | WLED 1600x900 | 500gb 7.2k rpm | 9 cell battery

I dont feeling like reading 243 pages of updates after updates so can someone tell me the most recent list of things I should do or install when the computer arrives? Much appreciated.

 

I dont mean to burst your bubble man but If I were you I would cancel the order(if you are not in a hurry) and wait for the new 5 series GPU refresh . Its very imminent for the xps series. You can also go with the studio 15 which already has the 5 series onboard. Just my 2 cents.

 

Anyone? pls? I'd like to order this weekend.

 

the quality is the same on all the xps series... there all built the same just with the different parts. Everyone here is going to say the rgb is a beast (which it is) but draws lots more power and with the i5 im not sure what you mean by your question

 

Go for it. I love mine.

 

I'm stressed for time and need it now. Also, I'm no that big of a gamer to really need to run next year's games at the highest settings.

Plus, I just learned that my current hp laptop which is 2 years old and the base model of an already low end series (DV5z) can run mass effect 2 at mid to low settings with an an ATI 3200 256 mb. So I cant imagine I'd need more than the 1 GB ATI 4670

 

It depends on what you are going to be using the machine for and what kind of needs you are going to have.

 

Hello again everyone, I used to have an account setup on here, but i dont remember what it is and wanted to start fresh anyways. Plus i am not a 1647 owner yet, but i will be soon, now i just have to figure out if I want to wait until the GPU refresh, i know they have it in the 15, anyone have any inklings on when it will come to xps?

 

Database/visual studio, some PS CS4, and the occasional WoW/starcraft game

 

I'm wondering if the bulky, heavier 130W adapter will actually better the performance of XPS 1647? My 1647 crashed during BIOS update and the tech support sent me the 130W adapter. Then later I talked to another tech support, who told me the crash was not due to power/throttling issues and that I actually shouldn't use A/C power when updating BIOS.

Now i'm confused. Should I return my old 90W or give them back the 130W adpater? If the big 130W doesn't increase stability or performance of XPS 1647, then I'd rather keep the smaller and sleeker 90W adapter.

Any tech-savvy people could help me with this decision please? Thank you in advance!

 

While you are not going to find any differences in actual tasks you may get into trouble in the future, because you may use more demanding apps and games and that will make the 90 watt psu insufficient and cause the CPU to throttle.
I had the 90 watt psu and changed it with the 130 watt psu. I ran Prime95+Furmark which puts CPU and GPU on max load. That is the most demanding thing you can run, running this benchmark with the 90 watt psu the CPU did throttle but with the 130 watt psu the CPU didnt throttle.
So yeah, if you plan on running extreme demanding tasks you should change your 90 watt psu with the 130 one. If not, and if you prefer portability you should stick with the 90 watt psu.
Hope that was clear.

 

Thank you so much for your response. I guess I'll just have to keep the 130W adapter just to be safe. They made the 130W so much bigger though... like a brick, while the 90W is so slim and light. I'm wondering if most other brand performance laptops have adapters this big. My 4year old Gateway laptop adapter is very small.

 

The funny thing is that the computer will not start to update the bios until you plug in the ac adapter... Im not sure why tech support told you that bs for

 

Which model 130W adapter did you get. While the 130W is clearly bigger than the 90w adapter, what you are discribing sounds to be a lot bigger than what I have in front of me. Hopefully they sent you the slim version of the 130w adapter and not the bigger one. Could just be a difference in interpretation on what "big is".

 

So I'm about to get my XPS 1647 today. I don't plan on gaming too much, so I don't know if I'll hit these throttling issues, but..

How do I know if my system is throttling or if its just running as fast as it can? Does the 90W power brick heat up? Is there some system monitor I can check?

 

The 130W adapter I have is of the following dimensions:

15cm long * 7.4cm wide * 2.5cm (1 inch) thick.

I hope that's the slim one you mentioned? If not, i'm gonna phone up Dell again and ask for the slim one cuz my 90W was a real slim one.

 

Hi all

An incredibly dull first post here - I have the i7 1645 with the 9 cell battery. Since I use it on my lap quite a bit I'm thinking of getting a 6 cell too. Does anyone know the part number please?

I've seen U331C mentioned for a 1640 but I'm not certain if the C2D has the same battery as the i7? It probably does but just wondered if anyone could confirm.

Thanks

 

I have no idea... he said if my battery has 50%+ power left then I can run BIOS update on it. And he actually tried to run the BIOS update with me without A/C power. But the BIOS update software didn't go through cuz it says I already have the newest BIOS version (My last BIOS update crashed halfway, that's why I had the 130W adapter sent to me). Apparently my computer recognize the last failed/incomplete/crashed BIOS update as having completed. Anyways... so that tech support guy never found out how ridiculous his solution was.... and now he's out there messing up other customer's systems probably and getting paid for it.

 

Well now i am 100% pissed off.... I checked the dispach number dell sent me and guess what there not fixing... the overheating motherboard! I called dell and they said pretty much in there nice way "tuff live with it" what can else can i do to fix this bs dell has set me up with???


Edit:

THANKS BILL..... shipping my laptop back to dell to get refund...now what to get what to get

 

Thats the same as the one I have, and its slim (PA-4E)

 

guys how do you perform the drivers update for the 1647?
each time I click on download, it launches the Dell Driver Download Manager that tells me: "There are no files to download please go to Drivers and Downloads to select..." + Is there any way to make my xps update the drivers automatically? When I go to Device Manager and ask to update driver, it doesn't even find the new one.

Thanks for the help!

 

I've installed the A05 BIOS and it seems to have solved throttling problems with 90W adapter. My log shows my multiplier at 20 stable (except for times when i changed settings in Crysis, and the multiplier dropped.

GPU doesn't overheat, in fact i hit 77 C max for GPU, and 68 C max for my i5-520M, ambient temperature of 34 C. Only problem is rattling speakers

 

In this case and if you are not a gamer then the 4670 is more than enough. XPS is an awesome machine. Enjoy.

 

Dell's Download Manager is a pain in the arse... as a lot of Dell service/products. It's bettter to just download the drivers independently and delete the Download Manager.

 

Hey guys, im thinking of getting an xps 16. I got an email from dell saying new graphics cards will be out in mai... mid may...

Do you think they would exchange graphics cards on dell machines?

 

It would need to be a motherboard replacement as the GPU is soldered to the motherboard

 

My XPS 1647 is soon here!!!!!

 

Guys what about the throttling issue, if its still a problem as soon I get the laptop I'm gonna file a report immediately and have them send me the 130W brick

 

What new card are they giving us now?