---> OFFICIAL: Dell STUDIO 14z Owner's Lounge <---

They are now telling me that the chaillink is no longer offered ant that they are going to remove it from the web site.

 

Something smells fishy here.

 

not only fishy it is starting to stink.

 

Wow. They changed your design without telling you first? Yikes.
Personally, if i get it, I'd rather the plain glossy black (inspiron-esque) with plain silver interior.

 

The mismatch happens because the chassis and the lid cover are separate units, they are not one piece. So, in your case, they took a silver (not chainlink-patterned) chassis and instead of putting a matching chainlink lid cover, they used a different cover (most likely in error). That's why someone else here got a chainlink chassis with a purple lid. So yeah, mistakes like that happen, and you end up with a totally unique design, which is not otherwise offered on the web site. Yours is Groovy!

 

As I expected from FedEx, my laptop is already in my state - they just didn't feel it necessary to update it till midnight. It's a good thing I checked, because i won't be home. There have been times where they've left stuff outside instead of taking it back, so I called in and asked them to delay delivery till the next day. I also have a neighbor watching out to make sure they don't bring it in anyway. So, hopefully, this has been squared away.

That being said, @lexus, that would be cool if you could resell it as a collector's item of some sort. I'm sure those would be worth a lot more.

 

I thought someone in this thread posted a link where to buy a matte screen films to eliminate the glare on these glossy screens. I did multiple searches here, but couldn't find those links (or maybe it wasn't in this thread). Can you please re-post those? Thanks!

 

For people having flicker problem on 720p LG screens:

- does that happen on both Vista and Windows 7 (and possibly Linux if anybody tried)
- does that happen with LG monitor drivers installed (most people just use the default OS drivers or don't even know that monitor drivers exist)
- does that happen with default video card drivers or have you tried something other than the default Dell or OS drivers.

I am almost confident that it's a driver issue (video card or monitor)

 

So my laptop shipped from Reno, NV on the 29th and was supposed to get here tomorrow (8/1/09). But now FedEx is screwing with me! They bumped the delivery until Tuesday!

When I called them the lady in CS said that it was a "Home Delivery" so they only ship Tuesday through Saturday...

It is being shipped to my office though so maybe it will arrive tomorrow.

 

Can anybody help me with the proper order that I should install drivers after a clean reinstall? Also, do I need to install every single one that is listed/detected by the Resource cd software?

 

The different colours and designs are most likely not a mistake. Dell sometimes switches on their website due to stock issues. For example, for nearly a whole week before I bought my Inspiron 15, they had a bit on their website that said only the silver palmrest was available. The next week it was gone, and they were only doing the black palm rest. Typically it's not something they let you customise on their website, but if you phone them up they might be able to.

Covers are a little different because they are customisable on the website. However, Dell does change the default cover due to stock issues. In this instance you can still order another colour often, but it may cause delays to production of your machine.

 

So, my laptop went into the boxing stage on wednesday, i called today, excpecting it to have shipped, and was told it was still in the boxing stage. How long does it normally stay there and is there any way to tell when it might ship?

im just being impacient, i just have new toy fever, i want it now instead of later =P

 

I received mine today!

One problem: No backlit keyboard..

I'm still debating if I should return it or not..

 

I Think i read somewhere in this thread that you can call and have them send you a replacement keyboard which you then swap out yourself. not sure how many pages back that was though

 

can i configure an ALL BLACK 14z? i have the 1555 and i'm not really digging the two tone, but it's ok.

also, how often does the fan go off on the 14z, at what temp does the fan kick in pretty much. my 1555 is crazy and the fan spins on when the GPU temp hits 51C exactly.

 

Xeno, I asked the same question a few pages back and got this answer from MrC:

 

Thanks michalf, that sheds some light on it. still doesent explain why my estimated ship date is august 11th, but i think that may be a fluke if its already in the boxing stage

 

I've got the flicker issue on Windows 7. Can't speak to Vista. I've got the newest Nvidia video card drivers installed also. However, I'm a little iffy on the monitor drivers. In my display properties I've got Generic PnP monitor so I don't really know which driver to install for my 900p screen. I'd love to eliminate my occasional flicker though.

 

IMHO, I don't think the customer should have to install the back-lit keyboard being that they PAID for it to be already professionally installed. I also don't think the customer should have to suffer and have to ship the notebook back and wait another week or two (or more) to, hopefully, have the CORRECT ordered delivered. You should DEMAND for them to send one of their subcontracted installers to install the back-lit keyboard and not spend anytime or money doing somewhat DELL should have taken care of originally.

NOW, the only problem is, that some of these installers are careless and might end up 'leaving a mess behind' when they are done; but at least DELL can't blame you for it and thus DELL will have to resend someone else.

What a pain But hey!, if it's SUPER easy, then why not give it a go. At least ask for free next-day delivery on the part.

 

It might be. Many people have been having delays and delays of delays and estimated delivery dates changing here and there etc...

I think the delivery date is more like a lotto or gamble. People should start gambling on what date it will actually arrive and make some money

Not fantasy football, but we can call it fantasy dell delivery.

 

hahaha, start a betting pool on when peoples orders actually arrive. and another on weather they get the right order or not.

 

This is an amazing/gorgeous laptop. Everything is great! I honestly don't think I'll mind not having the backlit keyboard. Instead, I think I'll demand an 8-cell battery and an external DVD drive.

Hope everything is well with your shipment though!

 

When negotiating with Dell, be sure to make a big deal regarding the back-lit keyboard. The option was only $25 as compared to the $99 drive or $100+ battery. Cost-wise, it doesn't make sense for them. They will dread having to return even $1 so they will try to find an alternative (mostly likely in-store credit in a form of a gift card or coupon code). But VALUE-wise, it might. If you know the difference between cost and value you'll know what I mean. Example: the backlit kb to them probably only has a value of no more than $25 financially; but to YOU, it might have a non-financial value of way more than that. THEY messed up the order, not you. So to you, the situation might have a $50 value or $99 value if ya know what I mean...

And if one rep isn't helping you out, don't be afraid to hang up and call again and try another rep; try even having them speak to their supervisor regarding the matter. In reality, deep inside they know that a $25 mistake can end up costing them a $1000 sale in the future and possibly thousands of dollars in the long run as the customer won't buy computers from them anymore in fear of not getting what they originally ordered AND paid for.

Just my $0.02 towards your $25

EDIT: Also, as mention in previous posts, remember to be respectful and professional when speaking to the rep. yes sir, yes mam, thank you, etc. They are human beings and a person would be more willing to help someone else when being courteous and well-mannered as opposed to having someone insulting them etc.

 

-I'm using Vista 64-bit
-I think my screen is actually Samsung
-to update drivers..go to device manager->monitor->update driver? (searches online and says it is up to date)

 

By the way, anybody know how the titles work on here? Notebook Enthusiast, Notebook Consultant etc? Is there a list of all possible titles automatically given? And I'm assuming they are giving by # of posts? Any insight?

 

Try this link : http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=115516

 

Off topic, but here you go anyway.

Number of Posts for each title:
0+ Newbie
10+ Notebook Enthusiast
50+ Notebook Guru
75+ Notebook Geek
100+ Notebook Consultant
300+ Notebook Evangelist
700+ Notebook Deity (and user gets upgraded to Senior Registered User group with available custom title)
2000+ Notebook Virtuoso
4000+ Notebook Prophet
7000+ Notebook Nobel Laureate

Edit - FRAGILEXX YOU ARE A BLOODY NINJA

 

Thank you and Mastershroom!

 

Ordered on phone 7/22/09. No delays. Estimated Ship date: 7/31, shipped 7/30 instead. Arriving today!

Midnight Blue
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8600
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit
1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty
14.0” High Definition+ (900p)
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz
320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Dell Wireless 1515 Wireless-N Mini-card
Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth Internal (2.1)
74 Whr Lithium Ion Battery (8 cell)
High Definition Audio 2.0
Back-lit Keyboard

When I get it later in the afternoon, I will post how my 14z turns out to be .

 

That gets me thinking, anybody else here order it with 5GB?

 

I doubt it; 5GB means you'd need a 4GB module; which is damned expensive.

 

I agree. Only reason I was able to get it was because I originally had a budget in mind for another notebook. Being that I started liking the 14z the more I would look at it (went to local Best Buy 3+ times in one week just to compare notebooks), I was able to add a bit more of a config to this one. That plus I cut out the $99 from the drive that I was planning to include in the order. So the difference was calculated in and that 4GB module cost me less than $165; and when compared to the price of current 4GB modules ($300+ range), I thought it was a good deal. The main, main factor was this though: seeing that I was already spending $1K, I didn't wanna see it as spending $ in vain so I thought the 10-15% expense increase would be worth it and seen as an investment in the long run.

Which gets me thinking, I was planning on purchasing a SSD within 1-2 months, but I might just wait 6+ months because seeing that a year ago, SSD prices were about 3X what they are now, we can pretty much predict that prices will continue to drop and capacities will increase dramatically within the next year. I'm aiming for SSD prices to be that of what HDD prices were 1-2 years ago.

 

It all depends on your priorities. You said you are doing image editing, so of course when using Photoshop, 5GB or RAM is better than 3GB, as it makes a difference, while the disk access speed is a little less important in your case. For me it's vice versa.

 

Size - Great, just what I was looking for.
Weight - A bit heavier than expected, but no complaints. Edit: I changed my mind, the weight is perfect. Once you pick it up once or twice you'll think it's very light.
Screen - Nothing short of amazing.
Keyboard - Perfect. (Minus the missing backlight for me.)
Audio - The speakers really are great. The placement makes everything sound awesome.
Build Quality - Perfect.
Battery Life (6-cell) - Can't say yet, haven't really tested. Edit: I unplugged it after I let it charge for a while, it gave me a reading of 4 hours 37 minutes remaining. With backlight dimmed all the way; wireless on. No backlit keyboard. Keep in mind this will be much less if you're watching videos or something. But still, pretty impressive.

The 8-in-1 card reader is a bit awkward to use, in my opinion. Putting in an SD card and removing it causes the whole piece to come out sometimes. But I guess it just takes a bit to get used to it.

The colored lid is definitely worth it. I love the rubberized feel!


Red Lid


Compared to the Inspiron E1505


Angle shot. (Power button & power cord) I love the lights.


Keyboard layout.

 

True. My work deals extensively the utilization of Adobe products such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc. The biggest reason for the RAM requirements is due to me working with these apps opened at the same time and working back and forth between them.

Lexus, I see your use is vice versa. What sort of work (or play) do you plan on using this notebook mainly for?

 

Btw, thanks for the photos and thoughts dj! Helpful.

 

I have it set to mobile mode. Im guessing that RMclock detects the lowest voltage that the CPU will allow (based on the base multiplier)?
Some other CPUs probably have lower voltages.

 

So I checked on my delivery with FedEx and now it's in Sacramento apparently. I don't really get why my laptop is going from Reno to Sacramento then down to Las Vegas (where I'm located). Most likely Sacramento is a FedEx hub so it looks like I'll be getting my 14z on Tuesday.

I paid for 2 day shipping, it shipped on 7/30 so I guess 7/30 to 8/4 is two days for FedEx.

 

Has anyone tried registering for the win7 upgrade yet? For some reason it tells me my system in not eligible when i enter my service tag...

 

You have to wait from 4 to 21 days after the delivery date, and then try again.

Mainly for software development (Visual Studio: C#, WPF, ASP.NET, some PHP, some Java ME) and some music recording (from digital piano) and processing. The work laptop is Latitude D630, I like it very much, and I wanted something similar for my personal use. I could hold it on my lap for hours and it never got hot. The heat (or the lack of it) is the main criteria for me when choosing a laptop. In January I was considering a Studio XPS 13, but after reading about heat issues, I changed my mind. A couple of months ago, I thought I'd buy a newer Latitude E6400, but Dell didn't want to make any discounts, and besides the hardware was relatively old. This 14z beats those systems in spec + price department, so instead of buying a business laptop, I decided to try a consumer machine. Because I do programming, often disk I/O related operations are more critical for me than the amount of RAM (which I figured, about 2GB is pretty comfortable for me). Maybe in a year I will buy that 4 GB stick, but now I'm waiting for Intel gen 2 SSD drives to re-appear on NewEgg

 

Digital piano? Like a software that has a piano? Or an actual piano connected to the 14z?

 

Yes, an actual piano.

 

How do you connect it? MIDI?

 

I can connect it in 2 ways: MIDI-to-USB or, if I don't need MIDI, but rather a regular WAV, simply from headphone-out on the piano to the line-in (mic) of the notebook.

 

hmm interesting. I will have to look into the piano i have to see if it's possible.

 

Anybody tried one of those anti-glare screen protectors? This is the only one that would fit 14z that I found so far:
http://cgi.ebay.com.my/14w-16-9-Ant...Protector_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ300321677412

Are they decent or better not waste money?

 

Seems interesting... I doubt I would use one being that anti-glare protectors seem to diminish a bit of contrast and color gamut as compared to a glossy screen. My work involes graphics and photos and color accuracy, althought not perfectly exact with this glossy WLED screen, is important to me.

But if anybody has any comments on the product mentioned above by Lexus, or of any other one, please advise. I might have some use for it in the future if I can't stand the glare when on-location shoots.

 

Anybody ever ordered anything from Unique Skins?
http://www.uniqueskins.com/Categories/Laptop+Skins/Dell/

Under their FAQ they state you can make request for a product not listed; like the Studio 14z. Wondering if they are any good and if legit...

 

Anyone know how the LED battery lights are supposed to work? Mine are doing absolutely nothing.

 

If I remember correctly, there should be a circular shape near one end of the LEDs that you are to hold down for the LEDs to light up and show the battery life.

If that's what you mean...

http://workiteasy.de/dell-m1330-info.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dell_xps_m1330_battery.jpg