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

Is mobile gaming that important? I generally try to avoid it, and the desktop will be far more competitive.

 

No, this is wrong. I purchased my 14z from Best Buy, ordered the backlit keyboard from Dell and it works just fine. I know exactly what you've done wrong here, because I did the same thing when I first installed it. You have no-doubt plugged the backlight cable in upside-down. I did the same thing...intuitively I plugged it straight in with it laying flat...just like the picture in the service manual. But you actually have to bend the backlight ribbon cable back underneath the keyboard, then plug it in upside-down.

Basically you want to make sure the black tab on the ribbon cable is at the top when you plug in the cable, not the bottom. It's really hard to get it in this way with the cable bent under the keyboard, and so it's quite non-intuitive. The only reason I thought of it was because it seemed strange how the port on the motherboard was offset a little from where the cable wanted to go when it was laid flat. But when you bend the cable back under the keyboard, you'll notice it lines right up with the port.

Anyway, once I made this change the backlight started working as soon as I booted into Vista.

So frustrating when support people tell you things that are patently false just because they have no idea how to help you otherwise. And so frustrating that the installation of the backlit keyboard cable is so non-intuitive.

 

What did the keyboard cost and do you happen to have a part #? I tried to order one, but the sales rep would not sell me one.

N

 

Have a look on Ebay, just type into search "Studio 1555 keyboard backlit" and some should come up. I had a quick look the other day and saw them going for about $30 I think, but it was a very quick look, no doubt you could find them cheaper.

 

The keyboard was $49.99 and came to about $60 after tax and shipping. Item number on the invoice is listed as N734M with description "Keyboard,86,United States English,C10SB". Not sure about Fragilexx suggesting you search "Studio 1555 keyboard backlit"...will this work in the Studio 1440?

By the way, I actually used Dell's online chat to order the backlit keyboard. If you still have trouble with phone reps ordering for you, maybe try the chat?

 

hahah! I had just come back to report how I came to realize this myself! God did I feel stupid. But yes you're right, I had the connector upside down, even though every photo I could find had it that way

I finally figured it out because when I looked at the cable from the keyboard, the little depression marks were on the backside, not on the copper contacts on the ribbon cable, flip it over and voila!

Yes, so disregard my previous statements!

 

Glad you got it fixed. They need to educate tech support about little things like this.

 

I am going to purchase the 14z notebook today, is it worth it to buy the complete care warranty for $130.00 this is the extra cost on top of the 3 year next business day onsite warranty.

Also did anyone purchase the external dvd drive from Dell with their notebook?

 

I purchased the eSATA drive. The same drive is also available with a USB 2.0 connection, which has the disadvantage of slower transfer speeds but the advantage of greater device compatibility and a $20 lower price. It's slim, light and works great. If you're ok with or want USB connectivity, there are, however, much cheaper but otherwise very similar options from other manufacturers.

 

Thanks the dvd drive they have for canada is $120.00 I am going to see what price he will give it to me cheaper I would prefer the eSATA drive as it is faster. If you don't mind me asking what did you pay for it?

 

USD$110 ($119 less 7% EPP discount).

 

ok thanks. The cost here is $120.00 canadian but I have the EPP discount o 12% so I hope they will let me use that I know before that a different rep wouldn't let me use the discount unless it was a whold system.

 

LOL, no it would probably not work; that is just what happens when I have 10 threads open all the same time. MY bad, try putting Studio 14 keyboard into eBay and see if anything comes up. You might get lucky.

There is also the-parts-people link but it doesn't look like they have any parts for the 14z yet. Might be worth emailing them to check.

 

I have, at long last, received my 14z! It is gorgeous and everything I expected it to be.

900p, as mentioned elsewhere, is beautiful. Not a single dead pixel. I am really impressed with the midnight blue finish. It looks very professional. Pictures included below. Excuse the messy desk O_O

If I had to come up with a complaint it would, in fact, be keyboard flex. I am relatively surprised by how much "give" the keyboard has under pressure. Not that you would realistically be pressing hard enough to flex the keyboard regardless, but it is worth mentioning if it is a specific pet peeve for laptop owners.

I am currently downloading PC & 3D mark for comparitive purposes with 5GB and 2.66GHz. I will post the results in an hour or two

 

It almost looks grey in your pics. Must be this crappy monitor on my work laptop.

 

It is the flash on my camera washing the color out. The blue is very understated though, and does almost appear grey at an angle.

 

I'm looking at it through the amazing display of the 14z, and it definitely looks gray. Comparing the color quality to the Dr. Pepper can, I can assume that the picture quality is fine as well.

Are you sure it's Midnight Blue? Or did Dell make a mistake and send you a color not listed on the site? They have a history of doing so..

It still looks nice though, I actually like it.

 

Yeah it does look grey, can you take some different pictures at another angel?

 

That matte grey does lend it a militaristically efficient look though. Would like to see that on a laptop.

 

Here's a couple more with a brighter flash setting on the camera and a more straight-on angle. I am quite sure it is midnight blue and they did not mess it up. Putting my head at the angle I shot those first images from does indeed make it look grey to the eye.

 

I have to admit, that's an awesome color.

I found my Dell Rep on Facebook. Hah.

 

try turning the flash off. Maybe that will help?

 

The flash off causes even more color washing. It is partly cloudy, the next time the sun pokes through I'll carry it right outside the door and do one more for ya. That should give the best impression of the color under true light. These office lights cannot be helping the situation either.

 

I had the same trouble getting a good picture of my Studio 15 (1537) with the same Midnight Blue lid. That's definitely the midnight blue though -- and I agree, its an awesome color. I love it on my 15. Plus the fact that its non-glossy and doesn't really attract fingerprints is a huge plus.

Just my .02...

 

Hi,

I am interested in getting one of these. I live in the UK so can't get one here but am thinking about using one of those services that set you up with a USA address and then ship the goods to you abroad e.g. Bongo US, borderlinx etc.

Could someone who has bought one of these please be kind enough to give me some info:

1. What are the specs of the power brick, i.e. input voltage range etc?
2. Does the power brick have a detachable mains lead, if so, what type (3-pin, figure 8)?
3. Weight and dimensions of the packaging inc. the laptop (this will affect the delivery cost to UK)?
4. Does the laptop come with an international warranty or is it upgradeable?

I am trying to figure out how much this would actually cost me.

Thanks very much.

 

Well I ordered mine today the ETA is Aug. 24/09 so we will see if that is acurate. I was able to order the backlit keyboard even though it is not an option on the canadian site so if you are ordering from Canada ask the sales rep.

P8600 2.4ghz
3gb 1066mhz
8 cell battery
500gb 7200rpm hdd
backlit keyboard
Ruby Red

 

So I got my replacement laptop because Dell didn't put the back-lit keyboard in my first one. Guess what they didn't put in my replacement either.

Idiots. It's about time to RMA this crap and just go with a real company.

 

It'll suck to lose a fellow proponent on gdgt, but okay.

 

ONE WEEK UPDATE

So after one week of reasonably heavy use (avg. 8 hours use/day) my initial impressions have pretty much remained the same.

Best features (no particular order):

-900p display

-size and weight

-keyboard

-7200RPM HDD

-overall performance

Worst features (no particular order):

-Cheap gloss plastic display bezel and keyboard frame (adding insult to injury, my display bezel is slightly loose at the top so it makes a faint creaking sound when I open the display or press on the top of the bezel)

-keyboard backlight leakage

-lid options. The colored lids were a bit too fun for work so I went with the black chainlink, which has proven to be a fingerprint magnet and feels lower quality than the matte lids. A matte black, or even better a textured black, graphite or grey lid would have been nice.


Miscellaneous thoughts:

-After undervolting (see 14z undervolting thread), it runs significantly cooler. Battery life may have improved as well, but it's too early to tell.

-I've been looking for a new case, and as it turns out the 14z fits in most 13.3" cases I've tried. That's because the width (i.e. depth) is about average for 13.3" notebooks and the length is above average but not significantly greater than many 13.3" notebooks. So, for those of you who have complained about other 14" bags being too big because they aren't designed for 16:9 notebooks, you might want to try some 13.3" bags. For example, the incase 13" Macbook Pro nylon slim case ( http://www.goincase.com/products/detail/nylon-sleeve-cl57324) fits the 14z like a glove (which makes no sense given that its internal length is listed as being only 12.78", but I tried 3 of them and they all fit the 14z perfectly). I ended up going with the STM Alley bag in a small ( http://www.stmbags.com.au/products.php?id=22&name=small_alley_13&category=shoulderbags) which is their 13" sized bag (note: the 14z does extend about 1/4 inch beyond the padded insert in the STM, which I'm fine with because there's a padded velcro flap that goes over and covers that exposed bit with room to spare. On the other hand, the top corners are very slightly exposed because of the way the padded flap is cut, although they do get covered by the large bag flap.) The STM is really compact ( http://www.techbeat.com.au/images/D/temp-detail-62.jpg) and yet has enough room to hold a mouse, power adapter, external dvd drive and a paper notebook in addition to the 14z.

 

1. Power. Input: 100-240V ~50-60Hz 1.5A Output: 19.5V 3.34A
2. 3-pin (NOT figure 8)
3. Dimensions of the box: 44.5cm x 40 cm x 12 cm. On the box it says: 8 lbs
4. I am pretty sure that Dell has international warranty.

HTH

 

First dead pixel!

And what happened to michaelf? I want to hear how his laptop turned out!

 

a bit more info for SZQ

Living in DK i'm thinking about getting one to.
To check if the warranty was international I checked with Dell in the US.
it is possible to transfer the warranty to Denmark, BUT as the Dell rep said: " but you need to get at least 3-4 years of regular In home warranty to qualify for the International services." (directly quoted from chat with US dell sales rep).
So if you buy abroad you need to transfer the warranty by filling out the right formula on their site.

-Per

 

LexusForever & PerDal, thanks very much for the info.

 

ordered mine last Friday and the ETA is also august 24th, I guess they send them all out at the same time

 

I am thinking that my eta will change as I think they usually tell you 2 weeks just so that you order.

What is your configuration?

 

Dell 14z T6500 2.1ghz, 3gb Ram, 320gb 5400rpm HDD, Midnight Blue, 8cell battery, 720p LCD, Wireless N, ETA Aug. 24

Took the mid config at 829$ and added the color and 8 cell battery, came at 1026$ with taxes (in Quebec). Payed with AMEX so I'll register for 1 additional year of warranty, yeh.

Maybe I should have gone with 900p screen, but I'm hoping to do some very light gaming. I think the performance will be better at lower resolution. Games will also look better at native resolution...

 

Dell 14z T6500 2.1ghz, 3gb Ram, 320gb 5400rpm HDD, Midnight Blue, 8cell battery, 720p LCD, Wireless N, ETA Aug. 24

Took the mid config at 829$ and added the color and 8 cell battery, came at 1026$ with taxes (in Quebec). Payed with AMEX so I'll register for 1 additional year of warranty, yeh.

Maybe I should have gone with 900p screen, but I'm hoping to do some very light gaming. I think the performance will be better at lower resolution. Games will also look better at native resolution...

 

Just a second: you didn't have that dead pixel first and then it appeared later? Yeah, michaelf disappeared for some reason.

 

I just wanted to share that I saved a bit more than 16 GB of space by deleting the content of the windows.old folder in my win7 installation. Figured I would share it since there are a bunch of people here with win7 installed.

 

I didn't have any dead pixels at first, but after 3 months I had like 10 of them or something on my Inspiron 15. Dell replaced the display. Think you'd be stuck if it's just the one dead pixel, but can't hurt to ask them.

 

Yes, but that's only applicable to an upgrade from Vista. With a clean install there's no Windows.old folder.

 

That is a decent price, I paid $1344.00 for my configuration it also came with 3 year next business day warranty, microsoft office, 3yr mcafee (which I really didn't want but they left it on). I configured it online and the cost was over $1900.00 so I am happy with the price I got.

 

I'm well aware - but i figured there had to be at least a handful of people who were too lazy to do a total reformat out there before a reinstallation, similar to me .

 

Did anyone get the Soundblaster X-Fi option?

What actually is it and what does "software enabled" mean?

 

It's a software program that enhances sound. It comes on a CD that you can install.

 

Yep, just appeared out of nowhere last night.

They're already shipping me another one with a backlit keyboard so it doesn't bother me, hah.

 

I heard that Dell's policy is at least 5 or 6 dead pixels (or 10?), only then will they exchange the screen. But if they are already shipping that to you, that's just great!

 

I completely understand, especially that loose bezel problem at the top of the screen. Except mine was particularly bad at one corner that I had to go out today just to buy some superglue to seal it up. Hopefully I won't ever have to change the screen in the future...

 

Couldn't you get Dell to replace the part?

 

I wouldn't bother, unless there was the risk of escalation.